Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running

What is a heel strike? Is it bad to heel strike when running? What part of the foot should touch the ground first? How to find your ideal running cadence and how to prevent overstriding? Find out in today's podcast from Coach Claire.

When can we possibly expect the races to resume? What areas you can focus on right now to enhance your fitness level? Coach Michael explains in this week's Team RC Update.

In this week's episode, Coach Ruairi talks about 10 items that he can't live without as a runner. Listen now!

Kelly Jones: Optimal Nutrition for Performance and Longevity   Is there a perfect diet for runners? What about macros? What are the common mistakes made when switching to a plant-forward diet? Kelly Jones provides her thoughts on these topics as well as body size, glycogen depleted runs, intuitive eating, and more in this episode hosted by Coach Claire Bartholic.    Kelly is a board certified specialist in sports dietetics, focusing on performance nutrition for endurance sports. She has consulted with high level organizations such as USA Swimming, the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Road Runners, and has been featured as an publications such as Runner’s World, US News and World Report, Women’s Running, and Women’s Health.    Her career began as an Associate Professor of Nutrition for nine-years in Pennsylvania and before that she was a Division I athlete in swimming.  Today, as a mom and business owner, Kelly continues to compete in road races and triathlons, and creates recipes and resources that offer practical solutions to optimize physical and mental performance. Although Kelly works with many kinds of athletes, in this episode she focuses her expertise specifically on performance nutrition for runners. She delivers a positive message about fueling properly for running as well as for living your optimal life.    Kelly uses an evidence-based nutrition approach, focusing on what she calls "plant forward performance nutrition." With so many of us quarantined right now, it’s easy for us to neglect our nutrition. Especially with the potential disruptions to the meat industry, it’s more important than ever for us to find ways to add plants to our diets in a way that optimizes performance. Questions Kelly is asked:   2:43 You specialize in performance nutrition for endurance sports.  Can you explain exactly what that means and how you work with athletes? 3:56 What is the best diet? 5:23 What’s the difference between eating for performance vs. eating for longevity? 6:53 How do you feel about eating whole foods during training and races to avoid sugar? 9:04 What’s your philosophy with macros (Carbs, Protein, Fat)? 11:59 Timing wise, when should you eat what? 14:25 What about glycogen depleted runs? 15:44 What is your experience with race-weight, performance, orthorexia, etc…? 19:07 How do you find the balance between eating for fuel and eating just the right amount? 20:50 What do you mean ‘plant forward nutrition approach’? 22:28 What are the challenges with plant-based eating with nutrient deficiency and performance? 25:10 How do you help people to trust their body when it comes to eating? 27:26 Do you find that our bodies adapt easily to new eating habits? 28:52 What advice would you give yourself back when you started running? 29:55 What is the best gift running has given you? 30:29 How can people connect with you? Quotes by Kelly:   “For anyone, I still would recommend inclusion of more plants no matter what you’re trying to follow”   “Could you still train and race with less carbohydrates than what might be recommended? Sure, but are you going to feel as energized physically and mentally as you should? Are you going to perform as well? That’s the question.”   “I’m a big advocate for eating your energy before you need to use it.”   “The glycogen depleted runs, while there’s a lot of people talking about them, there isn’t a lot of research to support them. And what I try to help people understand too is that you might see there’s one study on something, but that doesn’t mean that the practice is what we call evidence based.”   “I try to tell people too, if you have a run where you’re not feeling energized, where it’s mentally hard to get through, it’s physically hard to get through, how is that going to help you get closer to your goal?”   “We don’t really have good evidence that a smaller body size is actually going to benefit racing, but we do have a lot of evidence… that a smaller body size can actually impair your health in the short and long term, and may impair performance more in the long term.”   “When you’re not mentally healthy, it’s really hard to have any other areas of your health work well too.”   “You might be trying to work towards racing optimally, but what about living the rest of your life in an optimal way too?”   “It takes work to eat intuitively, but then it’s never something that you have to do again in the future.” Take a Listen on Your Next Run Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel Mentioned in this podcast:    Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community RunnersConnect Facebook page Kelly Jones Nutrition Follow Kelly on:   Facebook Instagram 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!

How to tailor or optimize your training around your menstrual cycle? What female athletes can do to get the best out of their training at any time of the month? Coach Hayley explains in today's episode.

How do easy runs help you race faster? What is aerobic system and why is it so important? What pace should you run on easy days? Find out in today's podcast from Coach Hayley.

In this week's Team RC Update, Coach Michael shares details about some of the wonderful performances achieved by the athletes at last week's RC virtual race. Also, listen to find out what's new on your YouTube live sessions.

In this week's episode, Coach Dylan talks about 10 things he can't live without and how they help with his running. Tune in now!

Andrew Colley: Build Your Best Base Now   If you watched the 2020 U.S.A. Olympic Marathon trials in Atlanta on February 29th, you may have noticed one of the men running with long, flowing. fabulous locks of hair trailing behind him. Or blowing into his face depending on the strong winds that day. And you may have thought: “Who is that guy?” This week’s interview is with professional runner Andrew Colley.  Andrew runs at On ZAP Endurance in Blowing Rock, NC where Runners Connect hosts running retreats every fall.  Andrew is in the top tier of American distance runners and holds some incredible personal records, like 2:12 in the marathon, 1:02 in the half, and 13:40 in the 5k.  This guy is super fast and incredibly talented.   We dive into what kinds of things he and the other men and women at ZAP are doing that helps them be so successful in endurance running.  Is it just talent? Is it the shoes? Is it the food? And what is the team doing right now with the calendar wiped clean of races?   In short, Coach Claire asked Andrew how he could help us become better runners and he absolutely delivered.  We talked about both mental and physical training tips, a little bit about nutrition, and more.   What is refreshing is that professional runners might not be so different from us after all.  Sure, it's their job to run for a living, but we can use similar techniques and habits to get the most out of our running too.  And it sounds like there are a few things Andrew thinks elites can learn from us as well! Questions Andrew is asked:   2:08 How is everyone at ZAP handling the current quarantine situation? 3:12 How do you plan for long-term goals without any upcoming races to plan for? 4:36 How has your training changed, especially the hard to easy ratio? 5:34 How would you explain ‘strides’ to a brand new runner? 7:26 Your last race was the Olympic Marathon Trials in February where you came to the starting line with a 2:12 PR.  It sounds like it wasn't your day. Can you tell us a bit about what happened? 9:19 Is this an injury you’ve had before or a new one? 10:45 What kind of company is ON? 11:04 I reached out to our audience on Facebook and asked them what kinds of topics they'd like to learn about and I think this one from Pete Fenn is great to ask you:  "Do you have any tips or ideas for how to be able to really ‘go for it’ in the midst of races of any distances, to get over the intense feeling that you just don’t have any more gears to go up to?" 13:09 Do you practice mental training outside of running? 14:37 Is it as important to visualize negative race circumstances as much as positive outcomes? 15:54 One thing that I caution my athletes about is:, while we can learn a lot from elite runners such as yourself, we shouldn't train like elites for many reasons.  Do you agree with that? 18:17 How much slower, by minutes, is your easy run pace than your marathon pace? 19:27 What do you do for recovery and what’s the most important? 22:32 What is the nutrition philosophy at ZAP? 25:08 How do you approach nutrient-timing? 25:47 What is your favorite indoor workout? 27:02 What’s next for you with the calendar being pretty empty? 28:38 What advice would you give yourself back when you started running? 29:29 What is the best gift running has given you? 30:30 How can people connect with you? Quotes by Andrew:   “The last thing you want to do is get yourself ready for a hard effort when there isn’t going to be one. So, it’s just about getting that base and keeping a mindfulness that there is purpose behind that base and that it will serve you in the long-term, even if that’s 6-10 months from now.”   “You’re not running top speed for that whole stride, but you get up to it and you touch it. Whereas when you’re finishing the stride, you should be at that speed. It should make you feel like you’re fast.”   “Recovery is not the ABSENCE of training; it IS training in itself.”   “I like to warm up into my runs, whether that’s doing drills or doing the first couple minutes walking. I like to get the body into running mode. I count that as part of recovery because it is easier on your body.”   “To look on the positive note: there are no races in the future, so if I have to miss time I guess this is the best time to be missing.”   “There’s been several times in my career when I’ve just seen the race happen in my head and when the race comes, it’s not surprising. It’s more of a habitual reaction because you’ve been there before.” Take a Listen on Your Next Run   Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel Mentioned in this podcast:  Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community RunnersConnect Facebook page Andrew’s ZAP Athlete Bio ON ZAP Fitness ON Shoes   Follow Andrew on:   Instagram Twitter Andrew’s Website   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!

How to find motivation when you have to run solo during this challenging times? How to choose a safe route and the distance for your solo time trail? Coach Hayley explains in today's podcast.