Juniors Redux and More Belated POMs
A very busy fall season of coaching and travel has kept me away from the blog for far too long. Redress is now in the offing! For the third time in five posts, it is the junior/high school program that...
View ArticleThe 'De-sportification' of Running? P-K POY!
A couple of very good magazine articles-- one in the December/January edition of Canadian Running, on the disappearance of the 10k as a popular race distance, and the other, in the December issue of...
View ArticleMy New (Old) Athlete; POMs (multiple!)
After a much longer than anticipated hiatus (time flies, and not just when you're having fun, apparently), I'm back with some new content, including updates to the regular P-K Performance of the...
View ArticleProject Me: Update # 1
You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but you can certainly refresh that dog's memory concerning the tricks he used to know but may have forgotten. The first and most important lesson any...
View ArticleProject Me: Update #2
As readers of the this blog will know, I prefer not to spend much time talking about my own training. I like to leave the workout blow-by-blow and day-in-the-life cataloguing to the younger guys, who...
View ArticleA Riddle in a Mystery Inside Spandex
This, with apologies to Sir Winston Churchill, is an apt description of the older body when it comes to matching training with race performance. Putting it together on race day is the runner's greatest...
View ArticleHow We Get Ahead in Running: The Meaning of "Consistency"
You've heard it and read it in the running magazines dozens of times before: the key to getting to the next level in the sport, whether you're young or old, is to train consistently over a long period...
View ArticleNot Running: What To Do When It's The Only Thing Worse Than Running
The short answer to the above question is that you drag yourself out the door for a run, once again. After all, every other non-running activity, while it may be pleasurable in itself, by definition...
View ArticleP-K POMS/POY and Miscellany
Where was I? Ah, yes, promising to increase my recent rate of posting to this space back closer to the historical average(now increasing, due to my delinquency!). In honour of the recent pope-ular...
View ArticleReflections on Boston, Thoughts on the Sub-2 Marathon, and P-K POMs
We often hear that what sets running apart from other professional sports is that the fastest and the slowest in the world mingle more or less freely at many of our major events-- the annual big city...
View ArticleProject Me, Update #3; POMs
I'm not even going to bother apologizing for the length of time between this post and my last. My excuse is the best one that it's possible for a running coach to offer: I have been too busy coaching...
View ArticleWinter of Our Discontent; PK POY!
Where was I? Ah, yes. I was coming off that first-time-in-a-fews-years injury sustained during what now feels like a bygone era in my running life-- late last summer. Turns out I remain subject to the...
View ArticleThe ABCs of X-Training
No matter how old I get, this sport, and my body, never tire of schooling me. These past few months, I have been returned for some remedial work to my least favourite course-- X-Training 101. As a...
View ArticleTwo Cheers for A.C.!!
I'm not referring to air conditioning, alternating current, or Al Cowling here (two of which actually deserve the full three cheers, and the third no cheers at all, unless you happen to be one Orenthal...
View ArticleIntimations of (running) Mortality
In the end, the dark tunnel down which my runner persona was hurtling was just the final weeks of the worst winter in 36 years, and the bright light at the end of it, the spring sun.But a near-running...
View ArticleTalent or Drive: That is the Question (or is it?)
We in the coaching business are often asked: What is more important for success in the sport, "natural" talent, or a willingness to go the extra mile in training (aka "drive")? After all these years of...
View ArticleThe Antinomies of (Men) Coaching Female Runners.
If you're a male coach of serious female runners, and if you approach your job with even a flickering awareness of the history of women in sport, or of the many double-binds that still characterize the...
View ArticleRaising Runners
Like most other sports these days, competitive running has become, overwhelmingly, a sport for children. While a significant (and perhaps growing) number of the adults who make up today's massive road...
View ArticleFan-ing The Flame
In a broader culture that values doing over watching (even if that culture doesn't actually practice what it preaches), being a sports fan tends to get a bad rap. And it's true that fans, with their...
View ArticleForm and Substance: The Logic and Style of Workout Design
Beginning and veteran athletes alike might occasionally find themselves wondering how their coaches come up with the workout designs they do-- and, the truth is, the formula is often unequal parts...
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