Windsor Running
  • Race Timing
    • Race Timing
    • Event Management
  • Race Calendar & Results
    • 2023
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
  • Who We Are
    • Our Coaches
    • Coaching Philosophy
  • Coaching
    • One-On-One Coaching
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Contact Us
  • Race Timing
    • Race Timing
    • Event Management
  • Race Calendar & Results
    • 2023
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
  • Who We Are
    • Our Coaches
    • Coaching Philosophy
  • Coaching
    • One-On-One Coaching
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Contact Us

Windsor Running Blog

Yoga for Runners

7/20/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
I have always been a big fan of high intensity workouts, with running as my activity of choice. I love compiling a playlist of new music and taking off to enjoy the serenity of clipping away miles in solitude. Author of Once a Runner, John L. Parker Jr. put it best - “In mind’s special processes, a ten-mile run takes far longer than the 60 minutes reported by a grandfather clock. Such time, in fact, hardly exists at all in the real world; it is all out on the trail somewhere, and you only go back to it when you are out there.”

This all changed in my early 20s when I injured my IT band and had to stop running for close to six months. In order to avoid going stir crazy, I decided to try a workout I had long since lost interest in: yoga. When I first started taking classes I had a hard time with it; I would get antsy and start fidgeting. When we were supposed to be focusing on our breathing with our eyes closed I would start counting ceiling tiles. Slowly, however, I started to come around to the practice. Even now, years after my IT band has healed, I have found yoga to be beneficial to my running both mentally and physically.

Read More
3 Comments

The Benefits of Running on Vacation

7/15/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
I just returned from a great family vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. While vacations these days are a bit different now that I have a one year old, it was still a great time to relax with my daughter and in-laws. The house where we stayed was right on the beach and there were few roads, save the busy main one that runs along the island. This set up was great for beach time, but was a bit of a struggle for running. It was also incredibly hot and humid down there so I had to employ some tips from Windsor Running’s recent Running in the Heat blog. That being said, my brother in-law and I found some great little loops and got creative so that we could get a few miles in before returning to the crazy toddlers and the amazing food and drink that dominated the week.

The big takeaway from the week is that you shouldn’t take a vacation from your running plan…even when you’re on vacation. In fact, running on vacation should be treated as a reprieve from your everyday routine. Here are a few reasons to stay motivated and consider your running being an important part of your vacation: 

Read More
1 Comment

Lessons for Distance Runners from Sprints Coaches

7/8/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
I am a big fan of reading Steve Magness’ Science of Running blog and book. He is a former coach of the Nike Oregon Project and current distance coach at the University of Houston. Steve is the consummate academic and is always looking outside of traditional running literature for different approaches to training distance runners. As a result, one of his recent blogs inspired me to write about what I have learned coaching sprinters that has translated into making changes in how I coach distance runners.
 
When I first started coaching, I never thought that I would go anywhere near the sprints. I had an antiquated thought that when it came to pure speed, “you can’t put in what God left out.” I had a great sprints coach on staff and he was passionate about working with that group of athletes. But as with many moments in life, we are sometimes forced to step outside of our comfort zone, and into uncharted waters, and when my sprints coach left for graduate school, I stepped into the role. What has been revelatory about the experience is learning about the physiology and psychology of coaching different types of athletes. I won’t say that I’m as passionate about the sprints as I am about the longer distances quite yet, but my team won the DC "state" 4 by 100 meter title this spring so I think we’re doing something right!

Read More
1 Comment

Running in the Heat

7/5/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
​My wife and I were walking the other day and we were enveloped in the humidity that defines Washington, DC summers. As a native of North Carolina, she refers to the humidity as a comforting blanket. Because I grew up in Connecticut, I tend to have a different view and have a really hard time running in the heat in humidity. But because it’s not only my job to make sure that I am in shape so that I can keep up with the kids I coach come fall, but I also love running, I had to find some ways to adjust in the heat of the summer.
            While I’ll get into the science behind how heat affects exercise below, I want to start with a personal story. In 2012, I was training for the National Marathon (now Rock ‘n Roll DC). My buddy and I trained through a winter that saw snowstorms and frigid temperatures. Having run in college in upstate New York, I have to say I reveled in it. While this could be a bit of a revisionist history of the weather, we dutifully completed our long runs regardless of the temperature or weather conditions. As race day approached, there were some perfectly cool days leading up to the race that would have been awesome for marathon running.
            Of course race day arrived and it was in the high 60s at the start and when I crossed the finish line, it was 77 degrees. Needless to say, the heat had a significant effect on how I ran that day. Even though I came away with a PR, I was always left wondering what could have been if the race had been run in cooler temperatures.
            The important take away from the race and the subsequent disappointment with the weather is we have to do the best we can with what we are given. That day was warm and I tried to drink fluids constantly. And while I wish it had been cooler, I did my best to control the variables I could. 

Read More
0 Comments

Running With Your Baby

6/22/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
When my daughter was born, I was fortunate to receive a gift card from my track team to buy a jogging stroller. Because I love running gear, I did a lot of research prior to purchasing the stroller and asked a lot of my coaching friends who have kids which stroller they were using and why. Before I bought anything, I was able to test out two strollers, the BOB Ironman and the BOB Revolution SE. Both had their benefits. I was initially concerned about being able to do some fast running with the Bob Revolution SE, but after seeing this video of former professional runner Anthony Famiglietti laying down a 4:23 mile with the Revolution, those worries were put to rest.
 
In the end, I bought the Bob Revolution SE. If you had asked me prior to having a child whether I would ever describe a stroller as being awesome, I would have said no way. But after using it for a few months, I can honestly say that the only word to describe the stroller is awesome.
 
Here are a few things I love about it:

Read More
0 Comments

Getting out of a Running Rut

6/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
​​Recently, I have been in a running rut. It’s rare, but there are just times when I struggle to get out the door and even put in a mile or two on the roads. I tell myself that I’ll run later or that I deserve the time off because I worked out yesterday. Because I am surrounded by runners and coaches, when I am in a rut, the idea that I am struggling to get out the door is amplified. Even when I am telling my athletes the importance of consistency in training, I know in the back of my mind that I am not practicing what I am preaching!
 
Over the years, I have noticed a pattern to the influences or events in my life, and in the lives of the athletes I coach, that lead to running ruts. As a result, I have a few tips and tricks to help you get out of your rut. If you have a particular question, make sure to reach out!
           
The I’m So Stressed At Work Rut: This one is the worst. It’s ironic that I do the least amount of running during the outdoor track season. I am so focused on helping my athletes and getting the team to contend for league and state titles that I tend to forget about my own fitness. In the back of my mind, I know that I am a better coach, father and husband when I am running regularly, but coming off of the stress of the spring days is really hard! 

As a result, my fix is always to run to or from work. I am fortunate that I live four miles from work so I can commute by foot. But I know other coaches who run from their jobs to the train or even park their car two miles from work so they are forced to get a little time in!


Read More
0 Comments

Getting Back To Basics: Our First Running Routes 

6/3/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Every runner has their favorite routes. Whether it is your after-work loop, your Sunday long run or an out-and-back from home, we all have roads and trails that bring comfort and good memories from miles logged in the past. But the routes that inspire us the most are the original runs that helped shape our identity as runners.
            Recently, I was visiting my parent’s house in Connecticut and laced up my Asics to put in a few miles before dinner. I had been coming off of injuries that had prevented the winter training I was used to and this was going to be my entry back into what would hopefully be some more consistent training. While I knew I was only going to be able to manage three or four miles before I needed to be back, getting my legs moving and my mind back into the training mindset was more important to me than logging more mileage.
            So I set out from home and took a left up a hill that, at one time, had seemed insurmountable. When I was a freshman in high school lacing up my first pair of running shoes, my endurance and strength was in its infancy. And while powering up the small incline was easier than it was 18 years ago, the memories of those early struggles and subsequent triumphs were vivid. As I crested the slope and headed back downhill, my confidence grew as my cadence increased. When I run the routes that made me fall in love with running, my mind always returns to the same topics: old races, friends I’ve made through running, and races I hope to run in the future. 

Read More
0 Comments

Guest Post: What One Mom Learned About Running During and After Pregnancy

5/28/2016

5 Comments

 
Picture
I threw up at the end of the one mile run for the Presidential Physical Fitness Challenge when I was in the fifth grade---and I didn’t even pass the test.  From there, I failed to make either of the two teams I tried out for in high school----the basketball team and the softball team.  To high school me, fitness consisted of 15 minutes on a stationary bike or the Cindy Crawford exercise workout and that was about it.  

When I headed off to college, I bumped it up a little and used the Stairmaster in the fitness center on a regular basis, but I wasn’t working up a big sweat.  Something happened during my sophomore year and I started to run.  One day I heard that my dad had run a three mile loop around our house.  After a few weeks, I heard that he was doing this pretty consistently and I decided that there was no way that my father was going to be able to run more than I could; so I started to run.  

By my senior year of college I was running 3 miles fairly regularly when a professor told me to come for a run one Sunday morning.  The next thing I knew I was doing a 3 mile speed workout with a one mile warm-up and a one mile cool down.  I had never run this far, nor timed a run, but when he said that in four weeks we would be going to a half marathon, I couldn’t say no.  

Since then, I have run 21 marathons, countless road races, endless training runs, and even coached cross country and track teams.  

Since then, I have had a baby and I ran and swam each day until he was born.  In fact, his middle name is Miles because we ran the Boston Marathon together when I was 13 weeks pregnant.

When I discovered that I was pregnant, I was less than two months away from running the Boston Marathon, and was slated to run a ten miler the next morning.  I immediately began to look up advice about running during pregnancy and couldn’t find much.  I decided I would see a doctor in a few weeks and would just keep on running!  I ran the 10 mile race in the snow and ran another 10 miles the next day with one of the Windsor Running coaches. 

What did I learn that might help others?

Read More
5 Comments

The Benefits of Running for Time Versus Distance

5/13/2016

0 Comments

 

"...use time instead of distance ... because the human body has no idea whether it is using the metric or imperial system and a mile to one person is very different than a mile to another." 

Picture


vs.
Picture
​One of the cornerstones of any marathon program in the United States is the 20-mile run. It’s commonly prescribed on Sundays in order to give those training for a marathon time to get those miles in, enjoy their Sunday brunch, and recover with family and friends. But if the 20-mile run is so essential, why do coaches from countries on the metric system prescribe a run that is slightly shorter than 20 miles? Is that run any less beneficial when trying to set a personal best? Are Europeans going to be slightly slower because they didn't get the sacred 20 miles in?

Another question coaches and runners should be asking is why do generic training plans leave out the fact that a 20 mile run for someone training at 8:00 min per mile is a significantly different workout than the same workout run at 10:00 min per mile? The answer is generic training plans are built for the “average” runner. And while they do work for some, you will get more benefit from an individualized plan.
 
This is why Windsor Running plans will routinely use time instead of distance because the human body has no idea whether it is using the metric or imperial system and a mile to one person is very different than a mile to another. What our bodies do recognize is time spent at an elevated heart rate. Workouts based on time will ultimately allow you to see bigger improvements in your training and you will have fewer injuries because your body won’t be forced to fit into a cookie-cutter plan that wasn’t written for you.
 
We have included some of the other great benefits to running for time versus distance below. 

Read More
0 Comments

Balancing Running and Strength Training for Maximum Gains 

5/8/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
It is no secret that RUNNING is the key to success when it comes to improving your ability to RUN.  While strength training is a vital component to get faster, if you aren’t actually practicing the skill of running, you will not improve. Tom Brady didn’t develop the ability to throw tight spirals by solely doing wrist curls – he practiced the actual skill repeatedly over time.  Without that regular, practical, application of the skill in practice, he’d just have strong, well-defined forearms! Great for bodybuilding, not for quarterbacking. 
​
Point being, if you want to improve your running, RUN!  As athletes, unless you are a bodybuilder, powerlifter, or weightlifter (Olympic lifts), strength training is a tool that supplements your actual activity and makes you better at whatever it is you’re trying to improve upon.  Whether that is running, riding a bike, or tossing your kid as high in the air as possible while freaking your spouse out (my personal favorite), the time spent strength training is utilized to improve our abilities at all of those things. 

So how do we balance the two?



Read More
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Contact

Email

legal

Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Windsor Running © COPYRIGHT 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.