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Winter isn’t about sitting back and waiting. Winter is when you stack up the chips that will let you go all-in and bet on yourself for years to come.

There is a temptation to treat winter as a hibernation period. Curl up in front of the metaphorical fire. Sip your figurative hot cocoa. Put your allegorical feet up and recover for spring. I’m not sure what an “allegory” is off the top of my head, and the dictionary is on the other side of the room, so I’m keeping it in for the parallel structure. Hey, we’re talking about winter, and it’s not the time to work too hard.

You know what, though? Screw all that. Sure, if you are feeling run-down or had a big year, take an extended offseason. But in my book (which may or may not be full of allegories), winter isn’t about sitting back and waiting. Winter is when you stack up the chips that will let you go all-in and bet on yourself for years to come.

When I look back at athletes I coach that became “overnight successes,” one thing becomes clear: an overnight success is usually earned with year-over-year, all-caps WORK. It only seems like it happened overnight to people that weren’t paying attention.

Winter is when breakthroughs happen. The rest of the world often just doesn’t see them until later. So pour a cup of hot cocoa–the carbs, fat, and protein will help fuel this discussion of how to go all-in on the surest bet of all: your own future.

Health Building

I talked a big game in the intro, but all that swagtastic talk about betting on yourself requires you to be healthy and feeling fresh. If you only take one thing away from this article, make it this: adaptation happens when an athlete feels good.

In training discussions, fatigue is often celebrated as a sign of hard work. But the body rarely adapts through persistent fatigue. During training, athletes introduce substantial stressors from the cellular level on up to the entire musculoskeletal, neuromuscular and endocrine systems. That stress manifests itself in the stress hormone cortisol, muscle breakdown that can be measured via creatine kinase levels, thyroid and sex hormone variation, changing red-blood-cell production and numerous other biomarkers.

The musculoskeletal system is under load, and microtrauma from activities like running can cause deformities even before they become full-blown overstress injuries. All of those stress-related perturbations combine with mental health and lifestyle to create an immensely complex stress equation.

That stress is good in moderation—it’s what leads to adaptation. But go a bit too far, and injury and stagnation await. Think of those biomarkers mentioned above. All of them have long tails, where they’ll often be out of whack for longer than you’d expect based on the usual assumptions that recovery happens in a couple days. And when those biomarkers are not in the optimal range, it will be difficult to perform with the efficiency needed to make running outputs take less energy. So training in a fatigued state can actually create a more inefficient athlete that does more work but gets slower and more tired.

One of my favorite studies was published in 2016 in the journal Physiology Reports. The authors had elite middle-distance runners at a training camp do blood tests each day. If any of the biomarkers measured were negatively moving from baseline, the athletes reduced intensity and volume. After the camp, all of the athletes improved their running economy, and there were no injuries. In other words, feeling good is a proxy for the physiological context to actually adapt to the work being completed.

Unlike those athletes, we can’t get blood tests each day. That’s why it’s key to be dialed into how you are feeling. The first priority of winter is making sure that you have the adaptation time needed to create the physiological context where the work you are doing can translate into long-term, sustainable progress.

Stress Management

Training stress is the first variable in the equation. If it has been a long season, leading to persistent fatigue for more than a day or two at a time, take an off-season. Many pros I coach will take two to six weeks fully off. However, the response rate to time off is highly variable. A pro whose genetics seem designed to create speed may just get faster in that time. Someone with a different genetic context may find themselves playing catch-up for months, delaying progress.

Takeaway: Start with a reset of a few days, increasing the true offseason time if needed physically or mentally. You can still be active, just avoid structured training. And don’t take time off for its own sake unless you need the mental reset.

Next, consider all the non-training stress in your life. Winter is a good time for reflection and reevaluation, particularly given the helpful restart of the New Year. What’s adding to your life, either in joy or uplifting challenges or giving you life through all the millions of ways you may find meaning? All that stuff can stay in, even if it takes away from your running.

What is dragging you down? Maybe consider streamlining those parts of life, going full Marie Kondo on your negative stresses that are not necessary for being a good and fulfilled human.

Takeaway: Try to support a life context that lets you get the most joy out of your time on Earth, optimizing sleep and relaxation time, remembering that life isn’t just about athletics or work.

Nutrition

We are what we eat. That’s why I am a mix of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and chocolate milk. When it comes to nutrition, I am not an expert, but I don’t want you to ever worry about the specifics of it too much. Instead, just make sure you are eating enough. My main guideline for athletes is to ensure they are getting plenty of protein to adapt and recover, and winter is a great time to dial in nutrition for your physiology and background.

Mental Health

Rates of mental health issues go up significantly in winter. Researchers theorize that the correlation is partially related to physiological responses to reduced sunlight, along with context-specific issues unique to winter. And on a broader scale, this whole being-human thing is hard. If the goal of winter training is to get the tools to bet on yourself, the most important tool is taking actions that support the mental health that allows you to say “I am enough” and truly mean it. Because as every study in the Journal Of Incontrovertible Facts says, you are amazing just as you are, including (especially!) the parts of yourself that you might not always love.

Takeaway: Winter is a great time to start going to therapy, as is every other season. If you have long-term mental-health issues, consider talking to a psychiatrist and discussing medication if that is warranted. Open up with friends and supporters and friendly dogs and patient trees too.

Base Building

Breakthroughs don’t come from big, hard workouts. That seems counterintuitive, but it’s the most important realization to have about the methodology of running training. Big, hard workouts provide neuromuscular, musculoskeletal and biomechanical stimuli that lead to adaptations relatively rapidly. However, to perform close to your genetic potential and stay healthy, those adaptations require an aerobic foundation that is constantly developing over many years. Without that consistent focus on aerobic development, an athlete gets good at going hard, and eventually, that means going hard—and slow—compared to what they are truly capable of.

Base building is all about developing the building blocks that raise the adaptations from the harder stimuli way higher. Most of your training should be easier than aerobic threshold, the intensity where the body switches from relying primarily on lipid oxidation for fuel to glycogen. By avoiding excessive intensity, the body increases the density of capillaries around working muscles, increases the recruitment of Type I slow-twitch muscle fibers that are more resistant to fatigue, and improves oxygen processing via a number of other variables from mitochondria biogenesis to metabolic efficiency.

However, we are not just an aerobic system. The classic formulation of “MAF” Training relying on a strict heart rate cap to make sure all base building is easy essentially views athletes as closed loop systems, lungs with legs. During base periods, it’s also essential to develop the neuromuscular, biomechanical and musculoskeletal systems via higher-output training in order to create positive feedback cycles where aerobic development actually leads to improved running economy. That is why Lydiard base periods or Canova intro periods deviate from strict easy running to add more intense training elements in moderation.

The hard part about developing a solid base is that it takes time. Aerobic adaptations are a slow burn, the tortoise that wins the race over the intensity-focused hare, but only when you zoom out and see the whole picture. Winter is when there is time to zoom out and contextualize growth across multiple training cycles. Later on, athletes can learn to apply base principles throughout the year to let them continually adapt to new training interventions without having to go through a dedicated base period.

Increase Easy Volume

More easy running leads to faster running with time. Aerobic energy sources are dominant in all events longer than track sprints, even ones that feel hard like the mile or 5K. Think of easy running as gathering fuel for the fire. Yeah, it’s not super sexy to be out there chopping wood.

Why can’t I just light up these few sticks and have a party? The answer is that there is almost no limit to the amount of fuel we can gather during winter because the aerobic system can continue to adapt long after intensity-focused training adaptations are maximized. Any athlete can light a match with a hard workout. I want athletes to be putting that match to a few tons of kindling that is ready to burn.

Takeaway: If you have time and stress to spare, increase the volume of easy running each week. Start by increasing the frequency of your runs until you are running four to six times per week, then add volume to each run, a longer run and even doubles where you run twice in one day (for advanced athletes). Back off at the first sign of excess stress, since increasing volume can be risky. Make sure your legs stay warm during winter runs, which some studies show may reduce injury rates and improve muscle performance. Don’t be the athlete wearing shorts in freezing temperatures.

Add Steady Running or Tempo Running in Moderation

Purely easy running all the time risks reinforcing bad habits. Slog enough, and you may get good at slogging at the expense of all else. Coaches like Lydiard and Canova emphasize some higher-quality aerobic work in moderation to overcome that concern, while consistently developing all energy systems that are important for running.

Takeaway: After a few weeks of easy running and strides (see next section), add relaxed up-tempo runs of 15 to 40 minutes one or two times per week. This doesn’t need to be incredibly structured, but can just be natural progression runs that finish slightly faster on days you feel good.

Consider Cross-Training

Running is just one path to aerobic development. At the cellular level, the body doesn’t consider aerobic stresses too differently, so activities like biking or elliptical or swimming or hiking are great additions too. I like every athlete I coach to have a cross-training option they enjoy since it can support long-term growth and give a back-up option for the inevitable setbacks that will happen along the running journey.

Takeaway: Add one or two cross-training sessions each week. It can be as simple as 20 minutes on the spin bike in the afternoons or a hike with your dog.

Speed And Strength Building

During winter training, start by prioritizing your mental and physical health, even if that means less exercise. When you have a solid health foundation, work on improving your aerobic base through easy running and cross training at least four to six days a week. And now comes the really good stuff. Put that health and aerobic base in a speed and strength context that allows gains to compound over time.

Easy running gets reinforced by speed, making future easy runs more economical. The strength work adds to the economy bucket too, backing up those adaptations. That improved easy running creates a stronger base that makes the speed more efficient. And a positive feedback loop can get rolling.

Your fitness can be like a snowball going down a hill, picking up mass as it goes until it’s a massive fitness snow mountain by the end of winter. The coolest thing of all? That positive feedback cycle between aerobic development from easy running and neuromuscular, biomechanical and musculoskeletal development from speed and strength can continue for many years. So this winter may lay the long-term groundwork for seeing that your true limits are far beyond where you thought they were.

Do Strides

Short bursts of faster running provide a power and strength stimulus, almost like plyometrics, and that power improvement distributes to every effort you do. Every major training approach for elite athletes in the last century has at least some focus on this element, and it’s key to train like the elite, boss-mode athlete you are. There are some fascinating studies that back up the real-world approaches, showing that improving maximum output can enhance running economy at all efforts even with no underlying aerobic changes. Best of all: the adaptations can get rolling in just a few weeks.

While it’s uncertain where that physiological change is coming from, it’s most likely related to how the neuromuscular system interacts with the musculoskeletal system, with the body increasing power output and efficiency per step. If you think of running as a bunch of small forward leaps strung together, improving maximum smooth output may make each of those little leaps cover more ground and happen more quickly. And those gains can accrue over many years, making the easy running-strides feedback cycle one that you can lean on throughout a running career.

Takeaway: After two to four weeks of easy running, add 4 to 8 x 15- to 30-second uphill strides sometime in the second half of one to three normal easy runs each week. These hill strides are just controlled efforts at the fastest pace you can go without sprinting. Google “power hill strides” for a full video tutorial. Later on in winter, you can add flat-ground strides for a heavier neuromuscular stimulus, since turnover will be higher. But flat strides come with greater injury risk, so be careful and only do them if you are 100-percent healthy.

Develop a Consistent Strength and Mobility Routine

Many studies show that strength work can improve running economy and decrease injury risk. Plus, the goal of running training is to find your strong, embracing your full athletic self. Strength work is indispensable, but you don’t necessarily need to do a progressive overload routine that gets harder as you go or requires a gym. Instead, find sustainable routines that you repeat over and over throughout your running life.

Reinforce good patterns

Every runner is different, and there is no set way you have to run and train. However, you want to make sure that you aren’t developing habits that are undercutting your growth. If you have had lots of injuries or feel like you have room to improve your form, consider a gait analysis, working with a PT or strength coach, and/or partnering with a running coach.

Takeaway: We can all use some help sometimes. For example, even though I am a running coach, I have a coach. She is also my wife, so I think I get a discounted monthly rate.

Going All-In On Your Future

As winter comes to a close, you should have a big stack of chips at the ready. You’re working on your health, mentally and physically. Your aerobic base is bigger than ever, and your speed endurance is high too. You’re strong and stable, fast and fresh. As winter progresses, you can add a more traditional weekly workout or tempo run, but there’s no rush. That high-octane aerobic engine you are building will be ready when it’s time.

And when you are ready to crank it up? Start to lay some of those chips down with hard workouts, focused long runs or training races. Bet wisely, but don’t be scared either. You have a big pile, and you can afford to lose a few if you have some setbacks.

Most likely, though, those harder efforts will just give you more chips to put down. Spring will come around, and you’ll be unable to see the dealer from behind your big stack. You’ll be the power player at the table, ready to dictate the action. You wait for the right moment, playing it smart, and then it’s time.

Time to go ALL-IN.

The rapid rise of ATHLOS is set to reach another landmark moment this September after organisers officially confirmed that the women’s-only athletics showcase will make its London debut at StoneX Stadium.

Founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, ATHLOS has quickly emerged as one of the sport’s most ambitious modern concepts, placing women’s athletics at the centre of a high-profile, entertainment-driven competition format. After drawing major attention in New York, the event is now preparing to bring its growing influence across the Atlantic.

The London meeting is scheduled for September 18 at StoneX Stadium, the home venue of Saracens Rugby Club and Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers. The stadium is expected to provide an intimate but electric setting as some of the world’s top female athletes gather for a condensed, high-stakes evening of competition.

ATHLOS will feature seven disciplines, with six athletes contesting each event in a format designed to maximise intensity, head-to-head drama and fan engagement. Organisers have also confirmed a combined prize fund of £1.5 million across the 2026 London and New York meetings, underlining the project’s growing financial commitment to women’s sport.

The London edition arrives just weeks before ATHLOS returns to New York City on October 2, creating what could become a powerful late-season series for elite female athletes. With prize money continuing to rise and global interest building around the concept, ATHLOS is positioning itself as more than just another athletics meeting — it is aiming to reshape how women’s track and field is presented to modern audiences.

The decision to expand into London is also significant given the city’s deep athletics heritage and passionate fan base. Britain has long been one of the sport’s strongest markets, and ATHLOS’ arrival adds another major international event to an already packed calendar.

While athlete entries have not yet been officially announced, anticipation is already building around which global stars could headline the inaugural London edition. If the atmosphere and star power of previous ATHLOS events are any indication, StoneX Stadium could become the latest stage for a memorable night in women’s athletics.

As anticipation builds ahead of the inaugural London edition, ATHLOS continues to position itself as one of the most ambitious new ventures in global athletics. With elite talent, substantial prize money and a format designed exclusively to elevate women’s sport, the series is rapidly carving out a unique place on the international calendar.

The London meeting at StoneX Stadium on September 18 will mark another major step in that journey before the spotlight shifts back to New York City for the season finale on October 2.

Canadian distance running star Natasha Wodak is set to add another important chapter to her decorated career this Sunday as the national record holder prepares for her highly anticipated Ottawa Marathon debut.

Wodak arrives in the Canadian capital carrying the credentials of one of the greatest female distance runners in the country’s history. The veteran athlete currently holds the Canadian national marathon record after producing a brilliant 2:23:12 performance at the Berlin Marathon — a run that firmly established her among the elite names in global road racing. She is also the Canadian record holder over 8 kilometres on the road, further highlighting her range and consistency across long-distance events.

For years, Wodak has remained a symbol of endurance, professionalism, and longevity within Canadian athletics. Whether competing on the track, cross-country circuits, or road races, she has repeatedly delivered performances that elevated the national standard and inspired a new generation of runners.

Now, Ottawa presents a fresh challenge.

While she already owns the country’s marathon record, this weekend will mark her first appearance at one of Canada’s most celebrated marathon events. The debut has instantly become one of the race’s biggest talking points, with fans eager to witness how the experienced distance specialist performs on home soil.

Unlike the rhythm of championship track racing, the marathon demands patience, strategy, and near-perfect energy management across 42.195 kilometres. It is a discipline where experience often proves decisive — an area where Wodak holds a clear advantage after years of competing against the world’s best.

Her presence also brings additional prestige to the Ottawa Marathon, a race that continues to grow in stature on the North American road racing calendar. With one of Canada’s most accomplished runners leading the headlines, anticipation surrounding this year’s edition has risen significantly.

Beyond times and results, Wodak’s continued success represents something deeper for Canadian athletics. At a stage in her career when many athletes begin to fade from the spotlight, she continues to push boundaries and redefine expectations through discipline and resilience.

On Sunday, attention will once again follow every stride she takes through the streets of Ottawa. And for Natasha Wodak, another opportunity awaits — not simply to race, but to further cement a legacy already written among Canada’s distance running greats.

For nearly three decades, one number stood untouched in distance running mythology: sub-eight minutes for two miles.

It was not merely fast — it felt untouchable.

Back in 1996, long before Jakob Ingebrigtsen was even born, Daniel Komen delivered one of the most astonishing performances the sport has ever witnessed. At just 21 years old, the Kenyan phenomenon stormed through two miles in 7:58.61, shattering conventional understanding of human endurance and speed.

Many assumed the performance belonged to another dimension of athletics — a record destined to survive generations.

Then Komen returned in 1997 and proved it was no accident, running 7:58.91. Those two races became the only sub-eight-minute two-mile performances in history, isolated in a universe of their own.

For years, the record felt protected by time itself.

But distance running evolves. And eventually, a new heir emerged from Norway.

By his early twenties, Ingebrigtsen had already built a résumé that bordered on absurd. The Norwegian star possessed the rare combination every distance runner dreams of: raw middle-distance speed fused with championship endurance. Personal bests of 1:46.44 for 800m, 3:26.73 for 1500m, 12:48.45 for 5000m, and even 27:54 for 10,000m painted the portrait of a complete athlete — one engineered for greatness across every layer of distance running.

What made the comparison to Komen so compelling was not just the statistics, but the style. Ingebrigtsen runs with a chilling sense of control, as though pace itself bends around him. Lap after lap, he dismantles elite fields with relentless precision rather than desperation.

And suddenly, Komen’s once-untouchable kingdom no longer looked immortal.

Then came Paris.

At the Stade Charléty in 2023, under the lights of one of athletics’ fastest tracks, Ingebrigtsen produced the race many had imagined for years. Still only 22 at the time, the Norwegian unleashed a breathtaking assault on the historic mark, covering two miles in 7:54.10 — not merely breaking the record, but obliterating it.

The performance was ruthless, elegant, and almost surreal in its execution.

For nearly 27 years, the sport had waited for someone capable of entering Komen’s territory. In one unforgettable night, Ingebrigtsen didn’t just enter it — he redrew the map entirely.

Records in athletics are often described as barriers waiting to fall. But some become legends because they seem immune to history. Komen’s sub-eight masterpiece belonged to that category.

Until another generational talent arrived and made the impossible look inevitable.

In a major statement of intent for the future of trail running, ASICS has officially unveiled its first-ever Alpine training basecamp — a purpose-built performance hub designed to help elite athletes train, recover, and compete at the highest possible level.

Nestled in the mountain town of Les Houches, at the foot of the iconic Mont Blanc range, the newly launched ASICS Basecamp represents a bold investment into the rapidly growing world of trail and mountain running. The facility has been specifically created to provide athletes with direct access to some of Europe’s most demanding alpine terrain while surrounding them with world-class performance support.

Designed as a dedicated mountain chalet, the basecamp can host up to ten athletes at a time, creating an environment where both established stars and rising talents can fully immerse themselves in high-level preparation. The location itself offers endless opportunities for altitude training, technical climbs, steep descents, and endurance sessions across some of the sport’s most challenging landscapes.

But the project goes far beyond simply providing accommodation in the mountains.

Inside the facility, athletes are supported by a complete high-performance system that includes a fully equipped gym, physiotherapy services, medical staff, recovery resources, and even a dedicated data scientist tasked with analyzing training metrics and optimizing performance. Every aspect of the environment has been carefully designed to help athletes maximize adaptation while minimizing the physical stress that often comes with elite-level trail racing.

What makes the initiative particularly significant is its long-term vision. Rather than focusing only on established champions, ASICS is positioning the basecamp as a platform for athlete development — helping remove many of the financial and logistical barriers that can prevent talented runners from accessing high-altitude training environments and professional support systems.

The launch also reflects the brand’s growing ambition within trail running, a discipline that continues to expand globally in both competitiveness and popularity. By investing directly into athlete infrastructure, ASICS is signaling that it intends to play a much larger role in shaping the future of the sport.

As trail running enters a new era of professionalism and scientific performance preparation, the ASICS Alpine Basecamp could quickly become one of the sport’s most influential training destinations — a place where elite ambitions are built deep in the mountains.

Swiss sportswear company On has officially launched its first professional sprint group, marking a significant expansion of the brand’s growing involvement in elite track and field.

The newly established OAC Sprint Group will be based in Los Angeles and coached by respected sprint coach John “JB” Bolton. The inaugural roster includes American sprinters Max Thomas, Samirah Moody, and Johnny Brackins alongside Ghanaian international Benjamin Azamati.

The move represents On’s first dedicated venture into professional sprinting after building its reputation primarily through distance running and endurance-based training groups. With the creation of the Los Angeles-based program, the company now joins a growing list of athletics brands investing directly in specialized athlete development environments.

Azamati enters the group as one of Africa’s most recognized sprinters, having represented Ghana at major international championships and Olympic competition. Thomas, Moody, and Brackins are among a new wave of American sprint athletes transitioning into the professional ranks.

Bolton will oversee the team’s training and athlete development as preparations begin for the upcoming athletics season.

The announcement adds another notable development to the evolving professional track and field landscape, where global brands continue to expand their investment in athlete-centered performance programs.