Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running

What are electrolytes? Why is electrolyte balance important for runners? How electrolytes and hydration go hand in hand? Coach Claire explains in this podcast episode.

In this week's Team RC Update, Coach Michael talks about the biggest running lessons learned from 2020. Tune in now!

In this week's Uptempo Talks, Coach Dylan and Coach Ruairi talk about the pros and cons of the Strava application. As its best features are now moved behind a subscription, is it worth paying? How valuable are Strava segments to non-paying users?

Miriam Salloum, MPT, COMT, OCS - Build Better Tendons   Have you ever had an issue with your achilles, hamstring, patella, or IT band? As a runner, you probably just answered, “Yes.” Miriam Salloum, aka The Runner’s Mechanic, shares her tendon injury expertise in this episode, including what causes tendon issues in the legs and feet, how to treat these issues, and most importantly, how you can keep running while gradually getting pain free.    Miriam is a physical therapist who  specializes in working with runners at her aptly named business, The Runner’s Mechanic, in Asheville, North Carolina. She hails from Gulfport, Mississippi, earned a BS in Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by a Masters of Physical Therapy at East Carolina University, and then a post-graduate internship at the Mayo Clinic’s prestigious biomechanics  and motion analysis lab in Rochester, Minnesota.    Miriam has practiced orthopedic and sports physical therapy for the past 20 years, helping runners in Western North Carolina and elsewhere with foot and ankle rehabilitation, foot orthoses fabrications, taping techniques, spine and lumbopelvic neuromuscular reeducation, spinal manipulation, and the biomechanical analysis of running gait.   Miriam also uses dry needling techniques used for rehabbing the neuromuscular system. In 2015, she studied these techniques under Sue Falsone, head of Athletic and Sport Performance training for the US Soccer’s Men’s National team, as well as effective treatment of chronic tendon disorders in high level athletes and runners. In 2016, she was the physical therapist for the Olympic Training Site under the Center for Excellence for Sports Science in Johnson City, where she worked with Olympic athletes in bobsled and track and field.   Miriam received her certification of orthopedic manual therapy (COMT) for spine and peripheral joint disorders through Maitland-Australian Physiotherapy and is an orthopedic certified specialist (OCS) through the American Physical Therapy Association. She has been a national presenter for North American Seminars for the past 4 years, educating health professionals in the latest treatments of running related injuries. She models her approach to runners’ rehabilitation after the Speed Clinic & Center for Endurance Sports at UVA and Spaulding National Running Center at Harvard, which has allowed her to utilize the most effective techniques for real time gait re-training.       Questions Miriam is asked: 2:15 You are the Runner's Mechanic.  What does that mean and how did you come up with the name?   3:45 You provide a wide range of physical therapy services for runners, but today, I would like to talk about just a few specific topics that runners face and what we can do to prevent and treat them.  One of the most common issues that comes up with runners is injury to our tendons, most often the Achilles and the hamstrings, but all the other tendons in the legs and feet as well.  Can you talk a little bit about what’s going on with this?   6:45 Let’s talk specifically about the achilles first. Is this so common, who is at risk for this, and what do we do about it?    8:30 What do we do to prevent our tendons becoming like brittle elastic bands, or at least push it down the road, specifically with Achilles because I think I hear Achilles injuries most often, and so what would you say you would do if you felt that niggle after, let’s say, a speed workout?   9:56 Can you talk about why hills are a problem for the Achilles?   11:09 Moving up to the hamstring, let’s talk about that. Who’s at risk for that? Is it the same population, or are there any differences you see between people who have hamstring injuries versus Achilles injuries?   12:13 Let’s start talking about treatment. We hear about for the Achilles, some people say do the eccentric drop, some people say the calf raises, some say do one but not the other, so what should we be doing for rehab for that?   16:08 I’ve heard different advice for insertional tendonitis, and I’ve heard different advice for if the problem is a little higher up. Do you use the same protocol for both, or do you treat those differently?   17:26 Are shoes, and orthotics, and things like that helpful? Can you use those long term? Should people with lower-leg problems always wear a kind of a stacked, non-minimalist shoe?   19:18 Once the rubberband (tendon) is overstretched, that’s it, right? There’s no getting back that elasticity, or can the body kind of heal that?   20:19 For the high hamstring, what is the PT for that?   22:24 What about the other tendon issues? We’ve talked about some of the most common ones, but we see runners that have all sorts of issues with tendons, the outside of the leg, the inside of the leg, the top of the foot, all of that. Can you talk a little bit about those and how common those are?   23:34 So basically, whatever tendon it is, there’s a loading protocol and you can still keep running as long as you’re not in too much pain?   24:13 Let’s talk a little bit about the IT band. Some of the issues that I’ve seen, the IT band gets upset when there’s something wrong with your ankles or there’s something wrong with higher up, like in your hips. Can you talk about that and how those are connected?   26:21 If somebody comes in to you and they’ve been suffering for 12 weeks and they’ve been trying some of this PT work on their own, when is that point where more invasive procedures and treatment have to come? What’s the point where maybe you need to have surgery or something like that? How do you know when it’s really, really severe?   29:00 I know tendons take a really long time to heal, and is it something that even if you do everything right, you could just be one of those people that has a cranky hamstring just forever, or is there hope that doing everything right, eventually you will be pain free?   30:14 In this crazy time, I want to ask you, how are telehealth visits going and how do they work if someone wants to schedule an appointment with you? Questions I ask everyone:   31:42 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give yourself?   32:38 What is the greatest gift running has given you?   33:39 Where can listeners connect with you?   Quotes by Miriam:   “As we go through our life as runners, there’s always going to be changes in our system, and always ways that we can adapt, and have those addressed, and go on.”   “It was kind of perfect that your demographic was between 35 and 55 years of age. These kinds of tendon issues are usually in this population.”   “Tendons don’t like inactivity.”   “Training errors are probably one of the biggest reasons people can start to kick off some of these tendon problems.”   “In the research currently, even with these tendon-loading programs, if someone’s even doing it perfectly to the T and to the best of their ability, there’s still about a 40% rate of chronic tendon issues.” Take a Listen on Your Next Run Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel Mentioned in this podcast:  runnersmechanic@gmail.com Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community RunnersConnect Facebook page claire@runnersconnect.net   Follow Miriam on:   The Runner's Mechanic email Miriam    We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top. The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use. The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

During this trying times, many of us are experiencing significant stress. So how do stress and anxiety affect your training? What can you do about this? Should you rest or push harder? Coach Hayley explains in this podcast.

Why you need to stop icing your running injuries? Is icing effective in every situation? Can you use ice for an acute injury? Find out in today's podcast from Coach Claire. 

With Boston Marathon being cancelled, what areas should you focus on now and why you need to find other ways to motivate yourself within running? Coach Michael explains and also talks about the importance of staying optimistic and adaptability in today's podcast.

How do you run when you're dealing with adversity, whether it is internal or external? When and how to adjust your training? When you should run and when to take a break during these turbulent times? Find out in today's podcast from Coaches Ruairi and Dylan.

Tyler Andrews - World Records Will Be Broken   Yes, Tyler Andrews is the World Record Holder for the Treadmill Half Marathon. He is also a US National Champion, a World Championship Silver Medalist, and a World Record holder. And on this Saturday, June 6th, he will not just be racing a 50K, he will be racing a 50K on the treadmill. Talk about mental strength! He will be competing against renowned ultra runners Max King and Mike Wardian in a very special event that you can participate in too at no cost for the full 50K, or you can opt for a shorter distance.  If you’re tempted to go for a world record yourself this weekend against, say, American marathon star Sara Hall or John Raneri in the half marathon, or maybe just watch world records being broken, Tyler will provide the race details for the Chaski Challenge in this episode, including what will make it exciting for all you fans out there who prefer to spectate! He’ll also share his advice for using the treadmill as a training tool and his race day strategy, so if you consider the treadmill a necessary evil, definitely check out what Tyler has to say!   Tyler started his endurance career as a scrawny high school cross country runner only capable of running a 5K in 18:30, before competing in NCAA Div. 3 track and cross country for Tufts University. After graduation, he pursued his running dreams in South America where his hard work led to faster times at longer distances, ultimately earning him a HOKA ONE ONE sponsorship.  Ty has established himself as a world-class endurance runner, making three US National Teams for the 50K World Championships finishing with individual silver in 2016, and winning his first National Championships over 50 Miles in 2019. Over this decade of improvement, he also improved his best times to 2:46 for the 50K (the second fastest 50K time for an American), 5:43 for 50 miles (a 6:52 pace!), 2:15 for the marathon, 1:03 for the half marathon, 14:12 for the 5K, and competed at two US Olympic Marathon Trials in 2016 and 2020. Entering the trail world, he has also set speed records on the Inca Trail in 2019 and Everest Base Camp Trail in 2020. In addition to being a world record holder, Tyler is the Chaski Endurance Collective founder, and his passion for athletics has also led him to empower other athletes over the last 10 years through coaching and mentorship via his work with Strive-Peru. He’s been coaching -- both in person and online -- for most of the last decade and hopes to continue to lead athletes to new triumphs over the years to come.    Tyler is weathering the current pandemic by being creative, making the best out of it, and just saying, “Yes” to stuff.   Questions Tyler is asked:   2:49 Can you tell us a little bit about what life and training has been like over the past year and especially now during the pandemic?   4:39 This weekend, June 5th and 6th, you are taking part in the Chaski Challenge which is open to everyone, and some elite runners are hoping to take down some world records on the treadmill.  Can you first tell me about the open event and what that’s about and how people can get involved?   6:45 How do you watch that?   8:01 You do see in the recreation running community, a lot of times there’s this huge disconnect between elites and everybody else. There’s so many other sports that have just these rabid fans and we don’t always see that in track and field or marathoning or even ultra running, so that’s really cool that you’re trying to find a way to connect the two.   9:51 The more fans, the more sponsors, the more money, the more growth. It seems like if more elites take that point of view, it will only help them in the end.   10:45 Talk about the prizes. It’s okay to shout out some of the companies. I’d love to hear who’s supporting this. Your main sponsor is HOKA ONE ONE, right?   11:47 Let's talk about the elite field for a moment.  You've got Sara Hall headlining the Women's half, John Raneri in the Men's Half, and then you’ve got Michael Wardian, Max King, and you in the Men's 50k.  Sounds like a really exciting lineup!  Can you break down the field for us, and do you have any predictions?   14:20 You’ve got some stiff competition, so I think that’s great that you picked some people that will give you a run for your money.   15:08 Why did you choose a treadmill and not your backyards?    16:28 Do you have to do special things like call up the people like Guiness, or how do you certify that it’s an official world record? Do you have to do all sorts of logistical stuff like that?   18:46 Can you tell me a little bit about the Chaski Endurance Collective, the organizer of this event?   21:55 I’m going to ask you to put on your coaching hat for a minute and give our listeners some treadmill tips because people hate the treadmill, and some of them grow to love it eventually, but what’s some of your best advice for using the treadmill as a training tool?   25:00 A lot of people ask me as the coach, “What about the incline?” Do you mess around with the incline or are you planning on doing that during your race?   26:10 In the race, do you plan on switching your speed up or are you just going to set it and forget it? What’s your strategy?   28:10 You’ll be able to see what your competitors are doing in real time, is that right?   28:42 You’re going to be watching the half marathon while you’re racing at the same time?    28:57 After this is all over, what’s next?   31:14 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?   32:30 What is the greatest gift running has given you?   34:14 Where can listeners connect with you?   34:38 Once again, your race is happening on June 6th at what time?   Quotes by Tyler:   “We just wanted to make something that was super compelling so that a person who might not normally follow the elite side of the sport can tune in and watch something that’s going to be super exciting, that’s going to be, ‘Hey, these people are going for world records, and they’re racing each other, and look at how close it is, and they’re blowing this record out of the water.’ That’s really what we’re going for with the broadcast.”   “How can we take a sport like elite road racing or ultra running and make it more approachable to a fan who’s engaged as a participant, but doesn’t really follow the elite side of the sport yet?”   “Normally, there’s no reason that a professional runner would try and go run a super hard, fast time on a treadmill. There’s just no incentive there.”   “I’m a very control-freaky kind of person sometimes , and I love to be able to control as much as I can on race day.”   “Every race that I was planning on this year has been canceled at this point, so it’s really just a matter of trying to get creative and trying to find other ways to either put on cool events or find other things that I can get excited about.”   Take a Listen on Your Next Run   Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel Mentioned in this podcast:    Fastest Known Time Chaski Endurance Collective Chaski Challenge Event Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community RunnersConnect Facebook page claire@runnersconnect.net Follow Tyler on:   Facebook Instagram Twitter We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top. The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use. The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

Why running alone feel so much harder? Why the effort level is low when racing alone? What can you do about this? Coach Hayley explains in this podcast. Listen now!