Does beetroot juice actually make you faster?
A large part of what I focus on in this column is how you can alter your training to enhance performance. Training-schmraining…wouldn’t it be nice if there were ways to enhance performance without putting in any extra effort? Unfortunately, most effortless strategies that make as faster are dangerous and against the rules (EPO, blood doping etc.). […]
How does your hill running technique compare to elites’?
Happy New Year readers! With 2016 finally upon us, it’s time to start laying down base training for a successful year of racing. During this early phase of your year, it’s a good time to think about and train things that you really don’t have time for during the race season. One of these components: […]
How nuclear bombs tell us to take time off
The off-season is officially upon us! YA. Time to dial back the volume and intensity, take care of low-grade injuries, get back to other aspects of training you’ve missed, and just generally take it easy and dream up performances to come in 2016. At our club, Health and Performance, I have seen a number of […]
Should you start testing your urine?
With the off season approaching, it’s time to start thinking about making small changes that can help you to improve upon your 2015 running performances. One area that’s always good to strive to learn more about: diet. On this topic, one of my pet peeves revolves around fad diets based on cool sounding pseudoscience that […]
The three keys to fueling your marathon
The fall marathon season is almost upon us! With only a few weeks to go for many of you, it’s time to taper, to let the body recover and to get ready for battle. At this point it’s difficult to make any significant fitness gains, so dial back on that running. It is, however, quite easy […]
Minding the gap: men vs. women in running
At the 2015 ENDURrun, we had a number of different spirited challenges within our Health and Performance team. One was a very entertaining and fun challenge between a loving/ ruthlessly competitive couple- Howie and Manny. Howie ended up taking the 160K, week-long challenge by 19 minutes, or just under 2%, after around 16 hours of […]
Are you running slow enough?
In the past, I have written about the importance of interval training to improve running performance. Yes, it is very important to hammer above your lactate threshold a couple of times per week depending on where you are in your training to get the most out of your body. This is the gold standard of […]
How effective are altitude tents?
Every runner has heard of altitude training. The principal is simple: go somewhere high up where the air is thinner and force our bodies to adapt to the decreased oxygen concentration. These hypoxic conditions stimulate a release of the hormone EPO which causes a spike in the production of red blood cells, increasing the oxygen carrying capacity […]
Why sit-ups need to disappear
There are many uncertainties in healthcare, but this isn’t one of them: sit-ups are not good for your back. Understanding that sit-ups are bad for the lumbar spine is not a new development. Yet, for some reason, we still do them. I see it all the time in practice– leg and back pain triggered (or […]
Is pain slowing you down?
As you read this (as long as you are reading it in the first full week of May, 2015), a local runner named Charlotte Vasarhelyi is trying to conquer a 6-day running event. The premise of the event is simple: ignore your brain and its valiant efforts to slow you down and keep running. Do this for 144 […]
