To assist runners in learning to run stronger I break it up into 3 parts for them. I think in any new skill this type of breakdown if quite common.

1/Watch it being done well in order to develop a picture in your own head of what "ideal" movement you are attempting to replicate.

2/Part/Whole/Part Learning. I am sure just as many would disagree as agree with this style of teaching but I think we have been attempting to run for so long that in order to make any successful change we'll need to break it down into much smaller parts and then build it back up.

3/Number 1 and 2 will not do a runner any good unless they have the body to perform and maintain the movements. In this case it's not the exterior we are worried about. No matter what catch phrase you want to use, core, functional training etc, the foundation needs to be able to withstand the impact of 3 to 4 x your body weight on 1 leg thousands of times per single run workout.

Test: 1/Perform a single leg squat to a 90 degree bend. 2/ On one leg jump off of a 3inch riser landing on the opposite leg and mataining your balance.

 

Sometimes when you hit a rut you really need to change things up to find your drive again. I found it when i put the Rim to Rim to Rim on my calendar, along with 8 to 10 other runners from Edmonton.

Read more: Change of Scenery

I had been starting to wonder why i wasstoring my run log binders. i enjoy my run logs for review from week to week but by the end of the season they get shelved and forgotten. I always think one day I will sit down and start to leaf through the years, and begin to piece together the successes of each season and learn from the failures, and in doing do put together my best plan yet on route to sub 2:40 at 40. Well home with a coughing 5 yr old today, who was too wiped to keep me on my toes, I actually pulled out 2009, which was my best season to date and 2010, great training year and 10 km PR and Transrockies Run but a bust at NYC Marathon. What's cool is that i have never referred back specifically to an old plans when making a new one, but when you look back there begins to be some consistencies. I figure these are ideas or workouts that i beleive are integral for successful training and or racing. Then i find small differences, probably based on the research or books i read during that year, and from those readings, new ideas or workouts may replace old ones or join them to add to internal template for successful training. 

I am a huge proponent of time away from specific training and /or just changing up the scenery completely.  Maybe its my own head that needs it or life getting busier or probably both but my last break from any regular focused training was ~10 months. Upon returning from NYC Marathon and amidst a busy kids hockey schedule I actually began a hockey type training program, my head was in the game and i needed a change up anyway. So i spent the winter and spring training with heavy weeights and doing x-fits. I know this inconsistency in my specific running may not drop me down to a 2:35 from a 2:43 marathon time, or maybe it can and that's what i plan to find out. I am a big believer in athleticism, a word i read again  in Jay Johnsons article. To much of one thing leads to injuries, running is so 1 dimensional yet it is this 1 dimensional development that leads to body breakdown and injuries. It was a slow start at the beginning of September, with  10 km time 2 minutes slower then last fall. I was instantly filled with a lot of doubt, have i gone to far this time?But over the weeks now, while still not setting any speed records my body feels extremely good and strong quickly finding 15 mile long runs very comfortable. While I am back at running now I will continue to incorporate 1 to 2 run specific strength training sessions per week with my 3 to 4 runs and am confident this will be the recipe for strong , consistent training through the spring, my sub 2:40 at 40 yrs old and success in the Trans Rockies Run Race in August. I hope to find the time to keep this better updated with how this routine is going.

Kate and I just returned home following a teriffic holiday to Tanzania, Africa and the climbing of Mount Kilimanjaro. It was a trip of a lifetime and offered so much more then a big mountain. I more or less knew what we were getting in terms of the mountain ascent, but the climbing expidition crew and our travelling companions were the unknowns. But in the end it was those two unknowns that made our trip everything it was. This group of 35 climbers included 35 amazing individuals whose 22 to 69 years of living made for such incredible experiences and stories. I was glued to every conversation that I was fortunte enough to be a part of. The other unknown, but less so then the group was our team of leaders. Ben Webster was a conductor or a perfectly in psync team of guides and porters, I felt like I was watching a best seller on leadership and group management. Ben also brought in two additional experts to assist, Ben and Hector, both were leaders on their own, running their own outfits back in their repsective homelands. Super individuals who had great stories for any other endorphine junky and who worked perfectly along side Ben Webster in the successful expidition brining 28 of 35 climbers to the very peak.

Check out seom cool pics and video.