Today’s Ask a Coach question comes from Pat about the the purpose of post-run “strides.”
Question: Can The Run SMART Project do a video on strides? I’ve always been confused on the purpose of doing strides and the proper pace for them. I’m familiar with coach Jack Daniels’ training paces (Easy, Threshold, Interval, and Repetitions) but don’t know how strides fit in. Are they at Rep pace, but shorter distance? Thanks.
Big congrats to Run SMART coach Chris Miltenberg for being named the National Women’s Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association after bringing home Georgetown University’s first ever NCAA title in Women’s Cross Country.
On Monday, with Miltenberg at the helm, the Georgetown women’s cross country team won its first national championship in program history. A storybook ending to the season for Miltenberg, a 2003 graduate of Georgetown, to bring a national championship back to his alma mater where not only he competed, but so did his wife.
Big congrats to Caroline Curvan for her performance at the New York City Marathon. Caroline bought a Jack Daniels’ Training Plan earlier this year and just wrote us about her results.
Just wanted to let you know that I completed the NYC marathon last weekend. While I didn’t make my goal of 3:59, I did shave 6 minutes off my last marathon PR (and 35 minutes off my last NYC time,) for a 4:05.
I really liked following your plan (although I did make some adjustments which I now see why I shouldn’t have:)
Today’s Ask A Coach question comes from Lior who is training for the Rock ‘N Roll Marathon in Phoenix.
Question: Will I lose time because of the low altitude (1350 feet) compared to all of my sea level marathons? Is it going to affect my performance (targeting sub 2:45) even by as little as one minute or so?
Run SMART Coach: Coach Daniels says the effects of altitude on endurance performance starts at an altitude of about 1,000 meters (roughly 3,000 feet). An altitude of 1,000 feet will have no impact on your performance. Stick to your normal game plan and good luck going after sub-2:45!
Email [email protected] if you have a question you’d like one of our coaches to answer.
It’s Friday – again! Here’s Spoon with The Mystery Zone off their last album Transference.
We’re very proud to post this testimonial from Meggie Smith of New York, NY. Meggie signed up for a nutrition consultation with Run SMART coach Alicia Shay this past summer and was kind enough to share some thoughts about her experience. It’s a testament to how dedicated Alicia is and how much she cares about her clients.
Alicia Shay is one of the most compassionate and caring people I have ever “virtually” met. Alicia’s fund of nutritional knowledge is second to none. Further, as a medical student, I can vouch that Alicia’s proficiency in physiology and disease mechanisms match that of a medical student…and sometime even surpass that! With Alicia’s help I was able to not only improve my running performance (PRs in the half marathon by 2 min and 10K by 2 min), but also able to achieve sustained energy levels, which is important with my busy lifestyle. Alicia was always encouraging and her recommendations were never overwhelming.
Despite temperatures near 80 degrees, Run SMART client Richard Garcia managed to set a new half marathon PR in San Antonio last weekend. Richard finished 3rd in his age group in 1:19:22, a new personal best by over two minutes (Full Results).
Richard purchased a 15-week marathon training plan with a goal of running 2:50 so he’s well on track to reach his goal at the Dallas White Rock Marathon on December 4th.
Good luck, Richard!
Latest Ask a Coach question comes from reader Pat regarding the efficacy of low calorie “energy” drinks:
Question: I recently saw some people taking a low calorie energy drink/shot like 5-hour Energy before a half marathon. Is there any science behind those high B vitamin drinks? By definition a calorie is a unit of energy, so if those drinks have little to no calories, then they can’t have much energy, right? Are they tricking our bodies into feeling more energetic?
We’d like to give a big thanks to Brianna Torres and her crew for collecting all the highlights from this year’s sold out running retreat and packaging them into an amazing video.
We’ve opened up a few more weeks for 2012, including a week focused on marathon preparation in Scottsdale this coming winter. We wanted to provide an opportunity to anyone training for a spring marathon to escape to a warmer climate for a week, refresh your training and learn from some of the top coaches to help you prepare for your goal race.
For more information check out: /coaching/retreat
Run SMART client John Robinson of Savannah, GA set a new PR at the inaugural Rock N Roll Savannah Half Marathon on November 5th, running 1:28:49 good for 79th place out of over 14,000 racers. Robinson came to The Run SMART Project in spring of 2009 with a 1:44 half marathon PR. Last weekend was his 10th PR performance in that time, having set personal bests in every race distance from 5k to the marathon.
“I knew breaking 1:30 was the next goal with the half but I couldn’t tell if it would be this race or his next attempt in January. He nailed it and we both couldn’t be happier,” said coach Mike Smith.
