Running Rogue

The long run might be the most important run in any half marathon or marathon training block. However if you want to get the most from your training cycle, you should be doing workouts within a few of these long runs to practice race pace, learn to run fast under fatigue, and build resilience to finish strong on race day. In this episode, I give you the do's and don'ts for building and executing these workouts and then talk about specific examples for you to try yourself. Every elite athlete is doing workouts like these, and I believe you are worthy and able to do them as well.

We have produced at least 7 episodes for this podcast on race planning for various courses throughout the country from flat like Houston or Chicago to hilly like NYC, Boston, or Austin. Those episodes have been very prescriptive and may or may not be applicable to the course you might face soon. In this episode, I give you 8 steps for building and executing your own marathon race plan in order to give you the best chance for success on race day. Listen, learn and then apply to your next goal race so that you can start smart and finish strong! Other race planning episodes include episodes 5 (general marathon), 8 (Austin), 14 (Boston), 46 (general all distances), 56 (Houston/3M/Austin), 98 (NYC), and 101 (CIM). Episode 150 talks about mental tips for race day.

So you want to do a half marathon before your marathon? Or a 10K before your half marathon? Great, but let's talk about it... In this episode, I give you all the things to consider when doing a prep race including how to define and choose your goals for it, how to execute it whether you are racing all out or not, and of course, how to make sure it becomes an additive piece to the overall path to your "A" race. It's exciting that races are back again, just make sure you get the most out of every opportunity to toe the line!

Training paces and race paces are correlated, but they do represent separate and distinct decisions on the path to your goal. In this episode, I talk about 6 factors to consider when choosing your race pace - purpose, experience, race history, training results, risk tolerance, and of course, the conditions on the day. Consider these factors, and then once you lock in a target, develop a race plan around it, put the blinders on, and go for it! Here is the link to the AIU decision on Shelby Houlihan: https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/disciplinary-process/en/7977-Award-Reasoned-FINAL.pdf

In episode #240, I talked about the importance of slowing down in order to achieve your full potential. Unfortunately, that is so much easier said than done for many athletes. In fact, I think this is the single hardest concept for any runner to embrace fully in their training. As a result, countless runners are hitting plateaus or are chronically injured. In this episode, I give you 6 things to do in order to internalize and execute on this core training principle. I promise it is simple, but that doesn't make it easy!

This topic might be the single biggest topic for questions that I get as a coach. What paces should I train at? How do these paces change with weather? What if I can't hit them? How should my training paces inform my race pace? What does this race result mean for my training paces? And I could go on... These are all good and valid questions, but many of them are underpinned by common misunderstandings about how training paces work. In this episode, I try to bust some of those myths while laying out 9 truths about training paces and how you should use them.

Who else is going through Olympics withdrawal like me?!? I'm happy to have more sleep but definitely miss the inspiration of the Games. In this episode, I talk about 5 inspiring stories and athletes from the Olympic Games and how we can apply those lessons in our own training. Yes, we can learn from the best athletes on the planet. And yes, they are more like the rest of us than we think!

To finish my impromptu series on the phases of training, here is an episode on the taper phase of training (aka peaking mode). These are the final weeks of work where you reduce volume in order to get the body fresh and the mind sharp for race day. In the episode, I talk about what that means including how to reduce your mileage, what types of workouts to do, and of course, how to make sure you mental toolkit is locked and loaded for the big day. Listen once now and then again in Sept, October, or November in your final weeks of training for that fall race!

Last week, we talked about the aerobic strength phase of training with a focus on building endurance through primarily effort-based work. In this episode, we take the next step into the race-specific phase of training and talk about the goals, guiding principles, and workouts you might execute in the final phase of work before the taper. This is the phase where it is time to get specific with your paces, goals, and workouts so that you are properly peaked for race day. You want to step right up to the edge but without going over it. That is easier said than done, but this episode will help you find that fine line. To redeem the offer in this episode, go to manscaped.com and use code 20ROGUE for 20% off and free shipping.

As discussed in my recent episode on periodization, training should begin with a base or priming phase and then proceed to the aerobic strength phase of work. In this episode, I focus on the aerobic strength phase of work in training, including what it means and how to get the most from it. To start, we define aerobic strength and then talk about the guiding principles of this phase. Finally, we talk about the goals of the work during this phase and specifically how to accomplish them with workout examples. This phase is perhaps the most important in your training cycle so do make sure you are optimizing it! To redeem the offer in the episode, go to manscaped.com and use the code 20ROGUE for 20% off and free shipping.