RunnersConnect Run to the Top Podcast

How many of you consider yourselves marathoners? When was the last time you raced something shorter than 10 kilometers? Today's guest, Hugh Enicks, was the top American at the 2011 Masters World Marathon Championships, finishing in 6th place overall. Would you believe me if I told you that he was also age group (50-54) bronze medalist at 3000m in 2011 at the National Masters Indoor Track & Field Championship? That's a lot of range! Hugh, a retired Army officer, took a twenty-plus year break from serious training while serving in the United States Army, before getting back to the grind in his early forties. Now, a dozen years later, he regularly logs training weeks between sixty and eighty miles, and is one of the best runners in the country at his age group. Want to know the trick to his success? He says it's racing at varied distances over the course of the year and not getting stuck in a rut. Here's some of the other things we're going to talk about in this interview: Juggling a serious training workload with the rest of life. The importance of core strength as you age. Acknowledging that recovery is more important than ever before. Logging a high volume of injury-free base miles. As always, to check out any resources we mention during the interview, go to www.runnersconnect.net/rc36. Are you a masters or grandmasters runner? Check out this interview, and let me know in the comments below what you took away from it!

What’s the best way to get more oxygen into your system when you’re in the middle of a hard training run? That’s a question today’s guest, Patrick McKeown, has the answer to, and it’s probably not the answer you’d expect! Patrick McKeown is the author of the book The Oxygen Athlete, in which he proposes methods to increase your body’s oxygen efficiency very quickly, mostly through a basic step: breathing through your nose. As difficult and backwards as they may sound, Patrick has some great research and data to back up his theory. To help you better understand why and how this process works, Patrick is on the show today to talk about: The physiological differences between breathing through your nose and through your mouth. Transitioning from breathing through your mouth to breathing through your nose. Using breath-holding to simulate high altitude training. Achieving higher levels of concentration during both training and the rest of life through proper breathing. I think this is a must-listen interview for anybody who hasn’t investigated this method of breathing yet. How Do You Take In More Oxygen and Use That Oxygen More Efficiently? Interview with Patrick McKeown of The Oxygen Athlete

What’s the best way to get more oxygen into your system when you’re in the middle of a hard training run? That’s a question today’s guest, Patrick McKeown, has the answer to, and it’s probably not the answer you’d expect! Patrick McKeown is the author of the book The Oxygen Athlete, in which he proposes methods to increase your body’s oxygen efficiency very quickly, mostly through a basic step: breathing through your nose. As difficult and backwards as they may sound, Patrick has some great research and data to back up his theory. To help you better understand why and how this process works, Patrick is on the show today to talk about: The physiological differences between breathing through your nose and through your mouth. Transitioning from breathing through your mouth to breathing through your nose. Using breath-holding to simulate high altitude training. Achieving higher levels of concentration during both training and the rest of life through proper breathing. I think this is a must-listen interview for anybody who hasn’t investigated this method of breathing yet. How Do You Take In More Oxygen and Use That Oxygen More Efficiently? Interview with Patrick McKeown of The Oxygen Athlete

Do you need a step-by-step guide for minimizing the stresses that surround a race? That’s what this week’s guest, Sage Rountree, set out to produce when she wrote the soon-to-be-released book Racing Wisely. Sage is a yoga instructor and running coach and Racing Wisely is her fifth published book. In her previous four books, she focused on recovery, but this time she’s tackled an issue that’s never before been covered by an entire book: racing. Sage really does a fantastic job of unpacking the step-by-step process behind racing and presenting it in a fashion that allows one to focus on a simple task: running to the best of their ability on that day (rather than worrying about all of the little things that can easily destroy a great race!). Here are some of the things we talked about: Setting four different levels of goals. Making a “packing list” before your race, for your race day bag. How to racing for time. How to race against competition. Keys to stay focused when a race goes bad. As always, to check out any of the resources we might mention during the show, check out http://runnersconnect.net/rc34. Making Racing Simple: An Interview with Sage Rountree

Do you need a step-by-step guide for minimizing the stresses that surround a race? That’s what this week’s guest, Sage Rountree, set out to produce when she wrote the soon-to-be-released book Racing Wisely. Sage is a yoga instructor and running coach and Racing Wisely is her fifth published book. In her previous four books, she focused on recovery, but this time she’s tackled an issue that’s never before been covered by an entire book: racing. Sage really does a fantastic job of unpacking the step-by-step process behind racing and presenting it in a fashion that allows one to focus on a simple task: running to the best of their ability on that day (rather than worrying about all of the little things that can easily destroy a great race!). Here are some of the things we talked about: Setting four different levels of goals. Making a “packing list” before your race, for your race day bag. How to racing for time. How to race against competition. Keys to stay focused when a race goes bad. As always, to check out any of the resources we might mention during the show, check out http://runnersconnect.net/rc34. Making Racing Simple: An Interview with Sage Rountree

Do you know that you can up your nutritional game without adding major expense or time to your current grocery shopping? Me neither. On our show this week is Matt Fitzgerald. Matt’s running career was launched when he was eleven years old when he joined his father in banditing the last mile of the Boston Marathon (his dad ran the whole race, of course!). He went on to become one of the premier writers in the running world, as he wrote nearly twenty books teaching the masses how to self-coach themselves and be faster runners. Matt is an expert when it comes to nutrition for endurance athletes, and he spent a good portion of this week’s interview talking about key nutritional aspects for distance runners. He also is heavily involved in a new company called PEAR Sports, which includes audio training plans that are connected to their heart rate monitors, to help users fully utilize their heart rate monitors, and we spoke for a little bit about the heart rate monitors. Here are some of the things we talked about: The most-forgotten nutritional aspect for distance runners, and making an effort to raise one’s game dietically. The trick to good nutrition, fast and easy. Taking the middle road when it comes to supplements. The importance of essential fatty acids. Utilizing a GPS-watch and heart rate monitor in training. The importance of training your brain as well as your body. Some tips for getting back into racing shape after some time off. Advice for young writers getting into the industry. As always, to check out any of the resources we might mention during the show, check out www.runnersconnect.net/rc32. If you have ANY questions about nutrition or how technology can help you be a better runner, this interview is a must-listen! Comment below with your favorite running-related technology.

Do you know that you can up your nutritional game without adding major expense or time to your current grocery shopping? Me neither. On our show this week is Matt Fitzgerald. Matt’s running career was launched when he was eleven years old when he joined his father in banditing the last mile of the Boston Marathon (his dad ran the whole race, of course!). He went on to become one of the premier writers in the running world, as he wrote nearly twenty books teaching the masses how to self-coach themselves and be faster runners. Matt is an expert when it comes to nutrition for endurance athletes, and he spent a good portion of this week’s interview talking about key nutritional aspects for distance runners. He also is heavily involved in a new company called PEAR Sports, which includes audio training plans that are connected to their heart rate monitors, to help users fully utilize their heart rate monitors, and we spoke for a little bit about the heart rate monitors. Here are some of the things we talked about: The most-forgotten nutritional aspect for distance runners, and making an effort to raise one’s game dietically. The trick to good nutrition, fast and easy. Taking the middle road when it comes to supplements. The importance of essential fatty acids. Utilizing a GPS-watch and heart rate monitor in training. The importance of training your brain as well as your body. Some tips for getting back into racing shape after some time off. Advice for young writers getting into the industry. As always, to check out any of the resources we might mention during the show, check out www.runnersconnect.net/rc32. If you have ANY questions about nutrition or how technology can help you be a better runner, this interview is a must-listen! Comment below with your favorite running-related technology.

Last week I had the chance to participate in a Coach Chat courtesy of the folks at RunKeeper. We took questions from the audience and I tired to frame all the answers as generally as possible to help as many listeners as possible. I think the resulting interview was awesome, so I thought I would share the Coach Chat in a different format. If you enjoy this type of podcast, I will definitely do more of them. Please leave a comment with a yay or neh if you want to see this type of question/answer more often. Here’s what we covered: Question #1: I have been regularly for a few months and suddenly started experiencing pain in my upper right leg. how can I tell if this is muscular or something else? I am really missing running! Can I keep running? What I discussed: How to tell the difference between normal running soreness and an injury What to do when you do get injured The mistake you should absolutely not make when facing a potential injury Why you likely won’t lose any fitness if you do need to take time off Question #2: I did my first marathon according to your ”Marathon to finish” in 4 hours 20 minutes and I want on my next marathon (Athens classic marathon) to finish in under 4 hours. What program should I follow and what should my nutrition habits be? What I discussed The role of glycogen when racing the marathon How to train your body to use fat as a fuel source to prevent bonking Post workout nutrition Taking in fluids and gels during training Fasted long runs (running long runs on an empty stomach) Question #3 I realized that I’ve reached certain pace that i can’t run any faster. I’m running around 5’10” per km (8’10” per mile) and I’d like to improve it to something like 4’15” per km ( 6’50” per mile) . Any recommendations for achieving that goal? By the way, 36 old guy with 7 months of running career! What I discussed The importance of long-term development Speed versus aerobic endurance Picking an appropriate goal for yourself Question #4 I’m currently running 3 times a week training for my next 10k to get to sub 55 min. I’ve started this training a month and a half ago. I wasn’t running for a long time, more than 1 year. It is common that I get a bad stomach ache after I ran 10k or more that 10K. I’m not eating my meals close to my training. I usually train at 6.30 PM and have a healthy lunch at 1.30 PM and a snack of fruit or cereal bar in the afternoon. I was told it is common for beginners trying harder. What I covered Dealing with stomach issues when training Training in the heat Question #5 I run 4 times a week 10-20k , I’m planning to do my first marathon in September, any recommendations? What I discussed Marathon specific workouts and specific workouts in general Long runs and important marathon workouts Question #6 Any plans for offering training plans for faster runners? The fastest half marathon training plan is 2 hours – I’d love to see some geared towards ~1:30 runners with emphasis on how to improve speed. What I discussed Why stock and template training plans don’t work for better/faster runners The importance of a custom training plan that factors in your strengths and weaknesses Comparing the training plans of two marathoners with similar PRs but with different talents Question #7 Do you think it’s a good strategy, for those of us with bad joints (knees) to reduce our mileage and increase our speed? I’m

Last week I had the chance to participate in a Coach Chat courtesy of the folks at RunKeeper. We took questions from the audience and I tired to frame all the answers as generally as possible to help as many listeners as possible. I think the resulting interview was awesome, so I thought I would share the Coach Chat in a different format. If you enjoy this type of podcast, I will definitely do more of them. Please leave a comment with a yay or neh if you want to see this type of question/answer more often. Here’s what we covered: Question #1: I have been regularly for a few months and suddenly started experiencing pain in my upper right leg. how can I tell if this is muscular or something else? I am really missing running! Can I keep running? What I discussed: How to tell the difference between normal running soreness and an injury What to do when you do get injured The mistake you should absolutely not make when facing a potential injury Why you likely won’t lose any fitness if you do need to take time off Question #2: I did my first marathon according to your ”Marathon to finish” in 4 hours 20 minutes and I want on my next marathon (Athens classic marathon) to finish in under 4 hours. What program should I follow and what should my nutrition habits be? What I discussed The role of glycogen when racing the marathon How to train your body to use fat as a fuel source to prevent bonking Post workout nutrition Taking in fluids and gels during training Fasted long runs (running long runs on an empty stomach) Question #3 I realized that I’ve reached certain pace that i can’t run any faster. I’m running around 5’10” per km (8’10” per mile) and I’d like to improve it to something like 4’15” per km ( 6’50” per mile) . Any recommendations for achieving that goal? By the way, 36 old guy with 7 months of running career! What I discussed The importance of long-term development Speed versus aerobic endurance Picking an appropriate goal for yourself Question #4 I’m currently running 3 times a week training for my next 10k to get to sub 55 min. I’ve started this training a month and a half ago. I wasn’t running for a long time, more than 1 year. It is common that I get a bad stomach ache after I ran 10k or more that 10K. I’m not eating my meals close to my training. I usually train at 6.30 PM and have a healthy lunch at 1.30 PM and a snack of fruit or cereal bar in the afternoon. I was told it is common for beginners trying harder. What I covered Dealing with stomach issues when training Training in the heat Question #5 I run 4 times a week 10-20k , I’m planning to do my first marathon in September, any recommendations? What I discussed Marathon specific workouts and specific workouts in general Long runs and important marathon workouts Question #6 Any plans for offering training plans for faster runners? The fastest half marathon training plan is 2 hours – I’d love to see some geared towards ~1:30 runners with emphasis on how to improve speed. What I discussed Why stock and template training plans don’t work for better/faster runners The importance of a custom training plan that factors in your strengths and weaknesses Comparing the training plans of two marathoners with similar PRs but with different talents Question #7 Do you think it’s a good strategy, for those of us with bad joints (knees) to reduce our mileage and increase our speed? I’m

When you stretch, microtears occur in your muscles and obviously that’s not a good thing. That’s quickly becoming common knowledge in the exercise industry. What’s the solution? Phil Wharton, along with his father Jim, pioneered a standard known as Active Isolated Flexibility, or AIF. The short version of AIF is that you need to dynamically stretch in order to achieve proper musculoskeletal balances that will allow you to stay healthier and train in a more consistent fashion for a longer period of time. The long version? That’s going to be covered on this week’s show. Phil Wharton was a young runner when he developed a particularly bad--and painful--case of scoliosis (curvature of the spine). In his quest for correcting the problem, he and his father became musculoskeletal specialists and therapists with a “secret” to allowing the body to work on it’s own. By the way, Phil, through AIF, corrected his scoliosis and THEN was able to train himself to a 2:23 marathon personal best, too! Here are some of the things we talked about: The best practices of stretching. How to use active isolated flexibility to avoid injury. The role diet plays in your training, beyond your overall health. How to deal with and heal an ever-irritating malady, such as plantar fasciitis. As always, to check out any of the resources we might mention during the show, check out www.runnersconnect.net/rc30.

When you stretch, microtears occur in your muscles and obviously that’s not a good thing. That’s quickly becoming common knowledge in the exercise industry. What’s the solution? Phil Wharton, along with his father Jim, pioneered a standard known as Active Isolated Flexibility, or AIF. The short version of AIF is that you need to dynamically stretch in order to achieve proper musculoskeletal balances that will allow you to stay healthier and train in a more consistent fashion for a longer period of time. The long version? That’s going to be covered on this week’s show. Phil Wharton was a young runner when he developed a particularly bad--and painful--case of scoliosis (curvature of the spine). In his quest for correcting the problem, he and his father became musculoskeletal specialists and therapists with a “secret” to allowing the body to work on it’s own. By the way, Phil, through AIF, corrected his scoliosis and THEN was able to train himself to a 2:23 marathon personal best, too! Here are some of the things we talked about: The best practices of stretching. How to use active isolated flexibility to avoid injury. The role diet plays in your training, beyond your overall health. How to deal with and heal an ever-irritating malady, such as plantar fasciitis. As always, to check out any of the resources we might mention during the show, check out www.runnersconnect.net/rc30.

How many of you forty year olds out there run with the teenagers and college kids, and regularly beat them? On our show this week was world record holder Anthony Whiteman, who at age 40 last summer ran a 3:58 mile in Nashville, TN to win the professional track meet and become the first man to ever break 4 minutes over the age of 40 in an outdoor mile. Anthony, who talked to us all the way from Britain, told us exactly how--as a 41 year old--he has continued to run at a high level his entire life. Here are some of the things we talked about: Changing a training plan as one ages. Jumping back in the game after an extended off period. What it means to be a magpie, rather than a sponge. What the “no running” movement really is about. As always, to check out any of the resources we might mention during the show, check out www.runnersconnect.net/rc31 If you’re ever going to age (which I hope all of us do!), this is a must-listen interview! Let us know what new ideas pop into your head as you listen.

How many of you forty year olds out there run with the teenagers and college kids, and regularly beat them? On our show this week was world record holder Anthony Whiteman, who at age 40 last summer ran a 3:58 mile in Nashville, TN to win the professional track meet and become the first man to ever break 4 minutes over the age of 40 in an outdoor mile. Anthony, who talked to us all the way from Britain, told us exactly how--as a 41 year old--he has continued to run at a high level his entire life. Here are some of the things we talked about: Changing a training plan as one ages. Jumping back in the game after an extended off period. What it means to be a magpie, rather than a sponge. What the “no running” movement really is about. As always, to check out any of the resources we might mention during the show, check out www.runnersconnect.net/rc31 If you’re ever going to age (which I hope all of us do!), this is a must-listen interview! Let us know what new ideas pop into your head as you listen.

What’s the most positive change you could make to your training plan to immediately, positively impact your next six months of racing? If I told you the answer is to race less, run less and probably train slower, would you believe me? In today’s interview, we’re going to begin to understand why it’s normally better to run slower than we feel like we should and why sometimes the best strategy is to spend less time running. On our show this week is Jeff Gaudette, the founder of RunnersConnect, who was also a several time Maine state champion in high school, received multiple NCAA All-American awards while at Brown University, and finally completed his career as a professional runner for the Hanson’s-Brooks Distance Project in Detroit, MI. Jeff explains to us the dangers of running easy runs too fast and the benefits of tailoring your training to your specific fitness level. Here are some of the things we talked about: Take the next logical step, and listen to your body. The absolute importance of specific strength work to avoid injuries. Why strong body control is the key to long-term injury-free training, and some specific general strengthening exercises worth trying. How the optimal race schedule may be structured and why your racing schedule may be slowing your fitness progression. Why a training community or team is extremely valuable to all runners. If you’ve ever experienced an injury, or ever will experience one, this is a must-listen interview! After listening, let us know some ways you’ve stayed injury-free. Links and resources mentioned in this interview: The Lunge Matrix as a Warmup Intelligent, Injury Free Training: Interview with Jeff Gaudett

What’s the most positive change you could make to your training plan to immediately, positively impact your next six months of racing? If I told you the answer is to race less, run less and probably train slower, would you believe me? In today’s interview, we’re going to begin to understand why it’s normally better to run slower than we feel like we should and why sometimes the best strategy is to spend less time running. On our show this week is Jeff Gaudette, the founder of RunnersConnect, who was also a several time Maine state champion in high school, received multiple NCAA All-American awards while at Brown University, and finally completed his career as a professional runner for the Hanson’s-Brooks Distance Project in Detroit, MI. Jeff explains to us the dangers of running easy runs too fast and the benefits of tailoring your training to your specific fitness level. Here are some of the things we talked about: Take the next logical step, and listen to your body. The absolute importance of specific strength work to avoid injuries. Why strong body control is the key to long-term injury-free training, and some specific general strengthening exercises worth trying. How the optimal race schedule may be structured and why your racing schedule may be slowing your fitness progression. Why a training community or team is extremely valuable to all runners. If you’ve ever experienced an injury, or ever will experience one, this is a must-listen interview! After listening, let us know some ways you’ve stayed injury-free. Links and resources mentioned in this interview: The Lunge Matrix as a Warmup Intelligent, Injury Free Training: Interview with Jeff Gaudette