Inexperienced coaches often start their season planning with a quick search for the ‘secret sauce’ used by the country’s top programs. They stumble upon legendary workouts like ‘The Michigan’—sessions that sound epic, garner hype for being borderline sadistic, and feel undeniably cool. It has a name, it has the allure, and it worked for the…
If you walk into a traditional running store or consult a generic marathon plan from the 90s, you’ll hear the same tired advice: “Don’t lift too heavy. You don’t want to carry extra bulk. Just do some lunges and resistance bands.” This advice is not just outdated; it is actively holding you back. For the…
Can you still use a pace-based calculator if you prefer training by heart rate? Absolutely. Here is the blueprint for merging two of the most popular training methodologies. Runners love data, but not all numbers tell the same story. In the endurance world, we speak two primary languages: Pace (the external output) and Heart Rate…
As coaches, we often talk about “generational talents”—athletes who don’t just win, but fundamentally shift the paradigm of what we believe is possible at the high school and collegiate levels. We saw it with Mary Cain, we saw it with Katelyn Tuohy, and now, we are witnessing it with Jane Hedengren. If you’ve been following…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve been bombarded by the media obsession with Zone 2 training. You see it mentioned on Strava, Social Media, Runner World, even NPR called it the latest trend in fitness. I’ll break it down for you, explain how Zone 2 is defined and then compare it to the…
I stood at the 2.5-mile mark of the NH XC Division 1 championships at the brutal Derryfield Park course a few years back, watching one of my most dedicated varsity runners approach. She should have been surging. Instead, she looked gray. Her form was breaking down, her eyes were glazed, and she was fading fast….