Learn how to run your best by training to be at your best.

I apologize for the lateness of this update. This dates back to last Saturday when we decided to meet at a location where we had access to some stairs. It was a great workout as all of our stair routines are. The benefit of using the stairs is the ability to force your hips into positions that will increase the range of motion of your hip and your stride. There were no pictures this time but let us show you this stair workout video we posted awhile back in case you missed it.

Next Post we will go over our range of motion/ balance beam combo routine!

Well its Monday and I am just starting the 4th week of this first period of my running progression. I did a tough 6 x 800 meters today, and I can definitely notice the increase in my muscular endurance from just a few weeks ago. I guess you could call this the end of the first major mezo-cycle going into the competition phase of my training. After this week, me and my coach, Scott, will re-evaluate where I’m at, and the meet this coming Saturday will really be a big benchmark for me as I am running the 200 and the 400. I feel like I have come a long ways in the last month. I began this cycle running 6 x 400 meters, which almost killed me the first time, but then worked up to 6 x 600, and now 6 x 800. I have also done a couple sprint ladders, including a tough 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1, and that actually boosted my confidence in my endurance as I was able to finish each sprint powerfully and with some relaxation. Later this week I have 8 x 300 meters fast on the track, and that will lead into the meet this weekend.

I must mention that I need to work more on my flat out speed, as that may be a limiting factor in my ability to bring down my 400 time. I think in order to really get down under 50, I will have to be able to run a 200 in the low 23’s at least. My best is a 23.48, and recently I have only run around 24.30. As my former high school team that I help coach for begin their season in the next few weeks, my workouts will begin to shift to focus more towards building high-end speed as opposed to speed-endurance. This will all be a part of our overall plan to help me reach my peak in the early part of summer.

Next update should be a week from now, and I’ll post my results from the meet!

Runwithpower.com has recently published a fan page on Facebook, and has been growing in numbers over the last month! We just passed the 250 fan mark, and as promised, posted a link to a free workout routine for all Facebook fans of Runwithpower.com! As soon as we reach 500 fans, the larger version of that workout routine will become available for free download. Follow this link to go to our Facebook fan page, become a fan, then get your free workout!!! Then, invite all of your friends to also become Runwithpower.com fans!

We met this morning for another round of training. Similar to last week we focused mostly on building up a muscular system that promotes a strong durable stride. It was early but the guys still worked hard and loved the back to back combination of Standing Front to Back Lunges then straight to Back Foot Elevated Lunges. Here are a few pics of the guys working out this morning.

Loren doing some weighted Hero Squats. Loren is joining us right now for these sessions as part of his training for the spring track season. Also as one of the Runwithpower trainers he ran the majority of the workout today.

Aaron found some time in his baskektball schedule to come over and train. His basketball season is over in a few weeks so he is excited to start working towards his Spring track season as well.

Jason decided to go barefoot for this one. We decided that this also meant he should have to run the first leg of the race which is a brutal downhill at the Top of Mount Hood for several miles barefoot as well. Knowing him, he just might try it!

In the next few weeks will continue to work on this style of muscle training to develop some very powerful and efficient strides. We will be doing some early season bench mark runs coming up in February as well. Many of our guys are already in decent running shape. Josh is of course well into his training for the Boston Marathon so he could run circles around most of us right now. Well some of us anyway.

We will update again next week.

I know it’s been forever since my last post (thanks to all my hw!!) but I am happy to say my training has stayed consistent and allowed me to run strong, fast, and efficient! The Boston Marathon will only be my second marathon in what I hope to be a long and successful running career. I know that every time I train for one I will be able to come away with more experience and a better understanding of how to improve on my goals for next time.

This time Scott and proposed a few minor adjustments to help maximize my ability to perform as race day gets closer. One area I have been focusing on a great deal more are the elevation changes of my runs. Last time I did a lot of more or less flat running without much hill work. This time around I have incorporated it quite a bit more, utilizing Beaverton’s famous Weir Road which is a mile from top to bottom and includes some serious up hill running. I am confident it will be the longer runs with more challenging inclines that will help me overcome “Heart-break Hill” in Boston. I have heard a lot about that hill and the physical as well as the mental strain it puts on even the most experienced runners.

The other main two components I feel are going to be key to my success at Boston are the speed workouts I have been doing, as well as the specifically designed supplement routines. Every Thursday has been designated my speed work day, and I can honestly say that sometimes my speed days feel more challenging than my long runs. This may be hard to believe, but any true distance runner can tell you that sprinting isn’t exactly our forte. For the last few weeks I have been on a progression where I run 12×400m at about 90sec per lap with about two-three minutes recovery in between, including neutralizers. The next week I moved up and did 12×600m at the same pace proportional to the distance.

Each week I will add 200m to the distance, and I will also be going back through each workout and drop the time I have to do them in to push my body even faster. The whole idea behind these workouts is to be able to run at a pace that’s faster than my goal pace for Boston, so that I can have that extra gear I know I am capable of. Since I want to be able to run a 6:30 mile pace I have been doing my speed workouts at a 6:00 mile pace. Eventually I will work my way up to doing 12×1200m at a 6:00 mile pace or faster. It sounds hard now but I know I’ll be ready.

Today I went back down to the 12×400m workout and had to run them all in 75sec or faster. It was a pretty big step up from the last time I did it but, surprisingly I was able to run them all in about 73sec. It was encouraging to be able to run at that pace and it has really helped me pick up the pace for my longer runs. The last and probably most important new component, which I referenced earlier, is the specific supplement routines that Scott has built for me. Each of them was built to illicit the necessary responses from my muscular system so that I can maintain good skeletal posture and muscular efficiency. These supplements have played an essential part in keeping me healthy as I push my body to meet its potential. Without them my speed, strength, power, endurance, flexibility, durability and overall efficiency of movement would be very limited.

The key to finishing strong in the end won’t have to do as much with the amount of endurance I have, but rather how efficiently my muscular system can work together, allowing it to maximize its ability to support the skeletal system, holding it in the correct alignment, which will minimize the negative side affects of the long hard pounding, and give me the best chance of meeting my goals.

Only 81 days until the Boston Marathon!!

- Josh

Good news! Your running injury is not just a random accident, but has in fact happen for a specific reason and also has a preventable cause. Just about every non-contact, sports-related injury can somehow be attributed to improper function of our muscles. With a bit of knowledge of the body and how it works, you will begin to see how things such as shin splints, microfractures, plantar fasciitis, muscle pulls, IT band syndrome, tendonitis, and other running-related injuries can be prevented when the actual cause behind the injury is eliminated.

Let’s quickly go over the basic training philosophy that is more broadly discussed in the earliest runwithpower posts. Our bodies can be compared to a building. You need a specific set of plans to follow in order to build a solid, functional building. The design of the building, or the blueprints, show us the building’s basic structural components. Well, our bodies are extremely complex in terms of the muscles, nerves, and bones that it is made of. Yet, every human has the exact same basic design or layout. Our muscles and bones form the structure of our bodies. Bones themselves are totally dependent on the proper function of muscles to maintain their alignment in the body as well as their articulation, or movement, in joints.

With that being said, it literally takes every muscle in our body doing its job in order for the body to be like the building that is built to the exact specifications of its basic blueprint. The cool thing about the body is, when it is in this state, which we know as the “anatomically correct position,” the body is able to do all the things we do, like crawl, run, jump, lunge, dash, climb, and tumble, without sustaining injury! This is Law #4 as described in our training philosophy.

So then, where do injuries come from? It comes down to our muscles and how they have the ability to change all the time, based on what they are asked to do. If you make a muscle contract or stretch, it will become better at those tasks. These are examples of stimulus. If you are not giving a muscle stimulus on a consistent enough basis though, it will become weaker, tighter, and lose its functional ability. These are Laws #1 and #2. Now, if a muscle loses its functional ability, then the position of the bones or joints it is attached to will be moved out of alignment. Other muscles will have to take over, or “compensate” for the weaker, underused muscle. You can also overtrain a specific muscle or group of muscles, in which case the bones attached to them are pulled out of their natural alignment.

The problem is, when the skeletal system gets these various misalignments, the result is a much less durable frame with which to move. Suddenly, joints begin moving and rubbing in ways they aren’t naturally designed to, and muscles are forced to move in ways they shouldn’t. The skeletal system’s ability to evenly distribute the force of pressure and impact of running in the most efficient manner is compromised. Trainers and coaches will talk about having good posture when you run, not only to increase performance, but to reduce injury. How can you you really achieve good posture if your body does not have the muscular capacity to hold the joints in their correct positions? Yes, you can think about proper body alignment all you like, but true posture is not achieved by thinking about it. It is simply the way your muscles hold your skeleton without your conscious control.

So how is it that we lose the functionality of our muscular system? It predominately comes with the fact that ever since we were little kids, we have spent most of our lives sitting, allowing our muscles to get a whole lot better at sitting and not as good at moving. The number of hours we sit every day adds up to a whole lot of muscular dysfunction around the hip joint, which is the foundation of the body! Humans were made to move, yet all we tend to do these days is sit around. Even when we go to the gym, how common is it to sit at a machine to work out? All this inactivity and lack of proper stimulus will result in a great deal of deviation from the optimal, original design of the body. The end result is, over the miles and miles of running we put in on these misaligned bodies, they wear and tear and eventually break down. Either a chronic pain begins to emerge in an over-stressed ligament or joint, or a sudden, powerful movement pushes our muscles to the point of tearing.

The next post on this subject contains the good news! You can get rid of these injuries altogether by properly training your muscular system!

Today we got our Hood to Coast training started. There was just 6 of us today since some had other commitments but we were still able to kick off our training with an excellent muscle development workout. This early in the training we are completely focused on building a muscular system capable of withstanding the demands of the Hood to Coast relay. This means we will need to be able to handle running 3 legs various degrees of elevation and distance at completely random times of the day (including in the middle of the night) while being in a seated position in a van for prolonged periods of time.

Being able to handle this is not the real issue for us. We want to do it to perfection so that we can maximize our speed and overall time as a team. The key to doing anything in the running world extremely well is to train for very high levels of muscular efficiency. This means having a muscular system that has very few limitations in strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility. Accomplishing this first enables the act of adding aerobic endurance later on significantly easier. Loren discusses this in his latest post on his Sub-Fifty Quest.

So today we did a stations workout based around stairs, balance beams, free weight benches, ankle weights, and ropes. Each of these was designed to elicit a specific response from the muscular system to create a more powerful Stride. Next week will be something new as each week we make changes to keep our bodies on the proper progression.

Devin working hard on the beams!

Today we also handed out warm-ups and cool-downs to everyone to use as they go for any running workouts they may do on their own during the week. We will make these warm-ups and cool-downs available to you in the next week or so.

We will update you again each week as we continue our training.

This past weekend I got to run the 200 meter in the University of Washington Indoor Preview. It really was just a practice run for me, the first official competitive race of my season. I ran a fairly average time, but a good season opening time for me at 24.30. One thing I tried was wearing my spikes without socks, which I think affected my speed a little bit. I had been talking to a lot of sprinters who said they always run in their spikes without socks, so I decided to try it, being the first race of the season. I found that my feet slid around in my shoe as I hit top speed, so from now on I definitely will be wearing socks with my spikes. I got to try out my new pair of Nike Zoom Mawlers, and they felt great! I’m really looking forward to going back up to UW to run in the open meet in 3 weeks, where I will run both the 200 and the 400.

Now is the time in my training progression where I begin to “put the gas in the tank.” We use the analogy of an engine and a gas tank to talk about stride building, and running. So far in my training, I have spent the past several months focusing specifically on breaking my hips lose of all the tightnesses, strength imbalances, and compensated muscular patterns that developed over the past year from training without neutralizing the negative effects that it had on my muscular system. If you read back through our philosophy posts, we talk about how the most efficient stride is a byproduct of the body being in the anatomically correct position, which is a result of ALL our muscle fibers receiving the necessary supply of stimulus so that they can do their two fundamental jobs of positioning and movement of the skeletal system. If I had just focused on running, running, and more running, then all I would have to work with would be my current stride pattern, which was quite tight, inefficient, and powerless. Now, though, I have spent enough time redesigning my stride by supplying my muscular system with all the essential and various types of stimulus so that it has become much more powerful and fluid. In essence, I have “built the engine” with which I now get to work with!

Back to the “gas in the tank.” I have not been able nor have really had the need to get out and run all that much in the past few months, other than the occasional strides and various stair workouts. This next month however, I begin a new running progression that will hopefully start adding some muscular endurance to my stride. All the tools are there, I just now need to integrate all the training I have done up to this point into some serious running workouts. To kick it off, I did a workout on the track that consisted of six 400 meter runs, each one divided into four 100 meter segments where I would stride the first 50 meters then accelerate into a sprint for the next 50, then pull back into a stride for the next 50. The demands of accelerating and decelerating were fairly brutal and I was feeling it by the third interval. In between each run, I did several stationary exercises sequenced in such a way that they would help maintain proper alignment and movement of my hips, legs, back and shoulders. Our bodies tend to tighten up and compensate when we fatigue, which results in inefficient muscular patterns that limit our physical performance. These compensated muscular patterns and various tightness must be counteracted or “neutralized” properly by various forms of stimulus in order to achieve the greatest benefit from the workout. In the training programs that are coming soon, we will show you exactly how this is done.

I will continue updating on how my training is going, and mix in some training tips for those of you who are starting your seasons or run for the fun of it. Thanks for reading!

I was sitting at my Son’s Soccer game awhile back and one of the other parents was talking about how cold it was on her run this morning. I was reminded of the importance of taking care of yourself when running in the cold winter weather. In Northwest Oregon it seems as though the temperature drop 20-30 degrees in early October and then we settle into the 33-45 degree rain nightmare for six months. When the temperature does drop though you have to be aware of some things when you go out to run.

Here are a few tips we wanted you to be aware of if you are going out for a run. First be aware that it is ok for you to run outside when the temperatures drop below freezing.

1. Choose the right clothes – Keep in mind your body will make it seem like it about 20 degrees warmer than it really is outside. So you will still sweat while your running or working out. This means you want to avoid choices like cotton that hold on to your sweat. As you run it makes it easy to get chilled as the sweat freezes. Try to make sure the layer closest to your skin is a dri-fit material designed to draw moisture away from the skin.

2. Protect the extremities – Make sure to keep your head, hands, and feet warm. Check out your local running shop for hats gloves, and socks to help keep the feet warm. Keeping your extremities warm is a great way to prolong your run. I have been working out in the cold plenty of times and needed to stop because my feet could no longer take it.

3. Stay Hydrated – Like I mentioned earlier you will still sweat in the cold so it is important to make sure you stay hydrated. Stay hydrated before your workout and then make sure to have some water at a spot along your run. It is very common for us to not drink as much water when it is cold outside so make the effort. Being dehydrated can have a serious negative effect on your run.

4. Warm-up inside – If at all possible try to do your warm-up somewhere warm. This will help to make sure that you are allowing the muscular system to be capable of accomplishing everything necessary for a proper warm-up without the negative side effects of the cold.

5. Careful with your Asthma – Make sure you check with you Doctor if you suffer from asthma before you go exercise in the cold. The cold air can worsen symptoms of asthma and other respiratory problems so make sure it is safe before you go exercise in the cold.