Running News Daily

Radcliffe announced as event ambassador for the 2022 European 10,000m Cup

Former world marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe from Great Britain has been announced as an event ambassador for the 2022 European 10,000m Cup which takes place in Pacé, France on 28 May.

After the 2018 and 2019 editions were held in conjunction with the Night of the 10,000m PBs before the 2021 edition had to be staged behind closed doors in Birmingham due to pandemic restrictions, the next three editions of the European 10,000m Cup will all take place in the Stade Chasseboeuf in Pacé, just outside Rennes.

Radcliffe is still the second fastest marathon runner in history with her 2:15:25 clocking from the 2003 London Marathon and while Sifan Hassan has taken her European 10,000m record into new territory, Radcliffe is still the second fastest European in history with 30:01.09.

She ran that time without pacemakers - and in the pouring rain - at the 2002 European Athletics Championships in Munich and this time remains the championship record some twenty years later. It could very well remain on the books after this year’s European Athletics Championships which return to Munich. 

Reflecting on her achievements, Radcliffe said: “That performance [in Munich] has a very high place in my career because for me, it was truly a target for a long time to win a championship on the track. I thought that perhaps I wouldn’t run quite so fast on the track after moving up to the marathon but in fact it was the opposite.

“The fact the marathon went so well gave me a lot of confidence in myself. It also brought me more strength physically and mentally. Therefore it helped me on the track and that was surely the case in Munich.

“I hadn’t run a 10,000m that season so it was the only occasion I had to try and break my record and perhaps the mythical European record of Ingrid Kristiansen who had held the record for almost as long as I did. I looked up to her in the 1980s, and the way she ran, when I started running.”

Like Kristiansen, Radcliffe was a fierce and committed front runner and just like the Norwegian did at the 1986 European Championships, Radcliffe led almost every step of the race. Her time of 30:01.09 was the second fastest in history up until that point but she rued how close she was to breaking the fabled 30 minute-barrier.

“That's why, when I crossed the line, there were two emotions. There was the emotion of happiness because I was pleased to take the record at last and set a lifetime best but also the emotion of having missed the 30 minute-barrier by 1.09. Perhaps with different conditions I would have done it, perhaps with other competitors in the race I would have done it - but I was pleased nonetheless!” she said.

Radcliffe made her debut at this distance four years prior when the event was known under its original alias of the European 10,000 Metres Challenge. Radcliffe finished second on that day to Portugal’s Fernanda Ribeiro but the Brit was to notch up individual victories at both the 1999 and 2001 editions of the event, each time with winning times inside 31 minutes - 30:40.70 and 30:55.80 respectively.

Having retired from competitive athletics in 2015, Radcliffe is looking forward to being a spectator in Pacé and the organisers are planning to employ many of the innovations which made the 2018 and 2019 editions of the European 10,000m Cup such a success, including a full programme of events - including kids’ and veterans’ races - and allowing spectators to watch and cheer from the track. 

“It’s what I love and I am sure the French can do the same thing as well and produce a beautiful night of athletics. We will cross our fingers that the night will produce some good performances - not too hot, not too windy and especially with a good atmosphere around the track. 

“Having all the spectators around the track will also protect the runners a bit more and it will also give them a bit more motivation,” said Radcliffe.

The hosts will be looking to retain the men’s team title after triumphing last year thanks in no small part to Morhad Amdouni who took the individual victory in a sprint finish ahead of Bashir Abdi from Belgium and Spain’s Carlos Mayo.

How does Radcliffe see this year’s race unfolding?

“[Last year] was a great race. The French team ran super well. At the moment the men’s team in France is really strong with plenty of talent. In the UK, it’s more in the 1500m and 5000m for the most part but we wait to see what the guys will show in the 10,000m. On the women’s side the level is higher with Eilish McColgan,” she said.

Running for security: the diary of a Ukrainian runner

Two months ago, Ruslan Paul was a significant figure in the Mariupol, Ukraine, running community–hosting free weekly timed 5K runs called ‘runday’ at Mariupol’s Prymorskyi Seaside Park.

In every run club photo Paul shared on his Strava page, his smile lit up the camera. One often forgets how quickly your life can change in the span of a few days, but for Paul, he was living in reality. 

On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on its eastern border. Mariupol is located 60 kilometres from the Russian border and is a three-hour drive from the Russian city of Rostov-on-don.

Mariupol was home to 400,000 people before the war broke out on Feb. 24, and now, up to 90 per cent of the city has either been destroyed or damaged. 

According to his Strava, Paul went for his last run in Mariupol on Feb. 26. “There are such beautiful places in this city, one of which you involuntarily appeal to the creator of this world for the peace and protection of Ukraine,” he wrote. 

On his activity, he posted a picture of himself next to a cross looking out on the Sea of Azov, which separates Ukraine and Russia. 

“We don’t have a city anymore,” Paul expressed. “They have destroyed everything.” 

A week after the invasion, Paul and his family fled for western Ukraine. A man, and his family, who were born and raised in Mariupol, now watch in fear as the city crumbles from bombing by Russian forces. 

Instead of using Strava to post his running activities, Paul began using it as a tool to keep his followers updated on his well-being, replying to comments and sharing his whereabouts. 

“We are safe but hungry, homeless and unemployed,” Paul wrote. He and his family are constantly on the run in western Ukraine, trying to find a home to ensure each other’s safety.

Despite the despair, Paul continues to update his friends from around Ukraine on his Facebook and Strava page about his safety and his life on the run. “We’re alive and well, that’s the most important thing,” Paul writes. 

Running 250 km through the desert: it’s time for the Marathon des Sables

It all started in 1984 when Patrick Bauer (who was 28 at the time) took on a completely self-sufficient 12-day journey across the Sahara Desert, covering 350 km on foot. Two years later the first Marathon des Sables (MDS) was born, with 23 “pioneers” taking on a similar challenge.

Since then, Bauer’s event (he remains the race director) has continued to grow, with a record 1,300 competitors taking part in the 30th-anniversary race in 2015.This year’s race, the 36th edition, will feature 1,100 competitors from 50 countries who will, like the 25,000 athletes who have participated in the event since 1986, take on the 250 km course carrying their food and equipment. Each day race organizers provide the athletes with water and put up a tent for them to sleep under – otherwise they are on their own.

There are five stages in the race, along with a “solidarity” or charity stage that does not count for the overall ranking of the race. The stages range from 30 to 90 km. The athletes don’t know the official course until the day before the race when it is officially announced, but they are guaranteed (according to the event media guide):flat terrain, often hard and stony and suitable for “real runners” as opposed to “trail runners” 

sand (sometimes hard or crusted, but most often soft) that they will have to master (for example by opting for shaded areas so they sink less because when the sun heats the sand, it becomes softer) 

small, normal and giant sand dunes that will make all competitors draw on their reserves 

ascents and descents, not very long but often steep, sometimes sandy, sometimes stony 

technical sections over rocky escarpments and along crests (the authentic “trail running moments” of the MDS) 

gorges that will provide a beneficial and life-saving shade, when competitors pass through them, and dried wadis (supposedly dried river beds… but some years, a trickle of water is flowing!) where competitors can find some vegetation. The daily temperatures are typically in the 30s, but can rise to as much as 45 degrees Celsius.

At night the temperature can drop to 5 C or less. Athletes must carry a week’s worth of food, a sleeping bag, a compass, knife, lighter, whistle, headlamp, venom extractor, signalling mirror and sunscreen. They are also provided with a GPS beacon so organizers can keep track of the athletes at all times. The race takes place in the middle of the desert so that it can be held in total isolation and guarantees that athletes cannot receive any assistance.COVID-19 and the MDS

Last year’s 35th edition took place last fall after being postponed three times. It was a tough year for the event, with an athlete suffering a cardiac arrest during the first stage, then a gastrointestinal bug ripping through the field, leading almost 50 per cent of the participants to pull out, far higher than the normal 5 to 10 per cent attrition rate the event typically sees. 

2022 Coverage

Triathlon Magazine Canada editor Kevin Mackinnon will be on hand to cover this year’s race, one of the 65 accredited journalists covering this year’s MDS. He’ll be providing updates and photo galleries through the first few days of racing in Morocco. There will be 15 Canadians competing at the 2022 MDS. Stay tuned for more from Morocco in the coming days. 

2022 World 10K Bengaluru to be held on May 15

The World Athletics elite label road race event hasn’t been held since 2019 due to COVID-related restrictions.

The World 10K Bengaluru 2022 will be held on May 15, the organizers of the event announced on Thursday.

A World Athletics elite label road race event, the World 10K Bengaluru 2022 will be returning after a three-year hiatus and is slated to be held in full capacity. The run was postponed multiple times in the last two years due to COVID-19.

The event will be conducted in two formats: on-ground and a virtual app-based run. 

The four on-ground events will be flagged off at the iconic Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.

While the open 10K category will have some of the world’s elite athletes, Majja Run (5km), Senior Citizen Run (4.2km) and Champions with Disability (4.2km) will see the participation of amateur runners from across the country. 

The virtual app-based run, meanwhile, will be held via the specialized event app for two race categories – Open 10K and 5K. Registrations for the World 10K Bengaluru 2022 begin on March 25 and close on May 11.

The last edition, which was held in 2019, saw Agnes Tirop of Kenya become the first women’s athlete to defend her title at World 10K Bengaluru. Ethiopia’s Andamlak Belihu took his first win in the men’s race.

Among the Indian elites, Asian championships bronze medalist Parul Chaudhary topped the women’s race.

Lakshmanan Govindan won the men’s Indian elite run ahead of Olympian Avinash Sable.

Five running tips for seniors

No matter what your age is, running can be beneficial to your physical and mental health. Running is a great exercise to improve your cardiovascular system, and staying in good shape and moving your body is especially important as you grow older. 

 Running has a significant impact on your muscles and joints, that is why running slow is good for you, especially if you tailor it by your body’s abilities. 

Here are five tips on how to begin running as a senior!

1.- Know Your Body’s Limits

Check with your doctor first before starting your exercise program. This is important because if you haven’t done any exercises in a while, it is crucial to check whether your body can adapt to any form of increased ability. 

After checking your health, the smartest thing to do is to find a good running program for beginners. Yes, you could just start running and do it until you reach your body’s limit, but this approach could put you on a higher risk of serious injury. 

There are plenty of beginner running plans, and if one does not suit you, you can change it to the one you can handle. After running for some time, you will be able to make your own running plan because you will be in tune with your health and your stamina levels.

2.- Learn How to Stretch

The pre-running stretch is annoying to many runners, but because it is an essential step of your run, it should never be overlooked, especially if you are older. A good stretch can drastically lower your chances of injury, and it will give you time to prepare for the run mentally. 

Take your time to stretch all the muscle fibers that you will need for your runs, such as leg, hamstring, and back muscles. 

Once you’re finished your run, take some time to cool down. Post-running stretches are also important to reduce muscle soreness.

3.- Build Endurance Gradually

Do not be overly ambitious with your uns when you are starting. If you can only run for 10 minutes, that is good enough. After some time, you will be able to run for longer. Running longer than your body’s abilities can increase your chances of injury, but also it can affect your motivation to exercise. If you cannot start running right away, you can start by walking or incorporate walking intervals in your runs. 

Just like your running time, your running pace will also improve over time.

4.- Resting is the Most Important 

As you age, resting becomes the most vital activity in your life. This is also true for running. Typically it is not wise to run every day, especially if you are starting out. Running 2 or 3 times per week can also bring a lot of health benefits. Sometimes your body will need a lot of time to rest and repair the muscles, but if you want, a light yoga session in between your running days is always welcome. Walking and cycling are also great exercises for the no-run days because they do not put too much stress on your sore muscles. 

Apart from rest days, the best way to rest is to sleep. There is nothing better than a good night’s sleep to improve your mood and energy levels. Make sure to get enough sleep. Adults require 6 – 8 hours per night to remain healthy and energized, so never cut off sleep. Also, good sleep quality is essential. Here are some relaxation tips geared toward seniors.

5.- Improve Your Diet 

You probably know that diet has a lot of influence on your athletic performance, as well as your overall health. Eating a lot of fiber and carbs is an excellent choice for a runner because carbs are the primary source of fuel for your body while running. 

Opt for healthier carbs like oats, quinoa, brown rice, sweet potatoes, and cut down on the intakes of simple carbs such as white potatoes, white rice, and bread. Eat a lot of fruits and veggies; especially green vegetables are filled with nutrients that you will need to stay healthy. Consider reducing the amount of dairy, and red meat from your diet, because they may cause inflammation in the body and can be detrimental to your health. Do not be scared to include lots of healthy fats in your diet, because it is vital to older people. Avocados, nuts, and nut butter will provide you not only with energy and omega 3s but will give you healthy and shiny skin.

Hellen Obiri goes for another PB and possibly the Istanbul course record

Hellen Obiri is back in Istanbul where strong elite fields were assembled for the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon on Sunday.

Both course records could be threatened at the Bosporus. Six women are on the start list with personal bests of sub 67:00 and Kenya’s reigning World Cross Country Champion and 5,000 m World Champion is the fastest of them: Hellen Obiri has improved to 64:22 earlier this year.

Fellow-Kenyans Daniel Mateiko and Rodgers Kwemoi head the men’s start list with personal bests of 58:26 and 58:30 respectively. The N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon produced a world record a year ago when Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich won the race in 64:02. 

A year ago the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon was one of very few international races that went ahead during the pandemic. 4,000 runners participated under strict hygiene regulations. Now the organizers of the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon are proud to announce that the race bounced back: Including races at shorter distances a record number of over 10,000 runners were registered for the 17th edition. Around 8,000 of them will run the half marathon.Turkey’s biggest spring road race is a World Athletics Elite Label Road Race. 

“We have worked for a long time to improve our 16 year-old course and to make it one of the most historic and enjoyable courses in the world, as well as one of the fastest. We succeeded in developing the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon further and even had a world record here a year ago,“ said Renay Onur, the Race Director of the event which is staged by Spor Istanbul.

With regard to Sunday’s race he said: “Our elite field is of high quality. With two men having recently achieved sub-59 times, we have a chance that our course record will fall. On the women’s side, I am happy that Hellen Obiri is back. I believe she can go even faster since weather conditions seem to be fine on Sunday. We invite all sport lovers to enjoy this race.“

Hellen Obiri is ready for another very fast race. "If weather conditions and pacemaking are good then I will try to break my personal best. Whenever I come to such a race it is my goal to run well and improve my time,“ said the 32 year-old who improved to 64:22 when she was second in the Ras Al Khaimah half marathon in the United Arab Emirates in February. Since then she has been training in the Ngong hills near Nairobi.

“I am in much better form now than I was before Ras Al Khaimah,“ said Hellen Obiri. Asked about the course record, which is also the Kenyan record, she answered: “The course record will be a tough challenge. But we have a very strong field, so we will definitely give it a try.“ 

Hellen Obiri will indeed face very strong competition in Istanbul. Fellow-Kenyan Vicoty Chepngeno has an outstanding half marathon record. She ran 14 half marathons since 2018 and won eleven of them.

The 28 year-old is undefeated in her past six races at the distance and improved to a world-class time of 65:03 when she took the Houston half marathon in January.

Ethiopian trio Tsehay Gemechu (PB: 65:08), Nigsti Haftu (66:17), Bekelech Gudeta (66:54) and Turkey’s multiple European long distance champion Yasemin Can (66:20) are the other women who have already run below 67:00. Tsehay Gemechu has a very strong half marathon record as well.

She has won four of her five races and is the reigning champion of the Copenhagen half marathon where she clocked her PB last year.

In the men’s race there will be an attack on the course record, which was established last year by Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie with 59:35.

“We will both be going for the course record and a personal best,“ said Daniel Mateiko and Rodgers Kwemoi, who are training partners and belong to the group of Eliud Kipchoge based at Kaptagat. Mateiko improved by almost a full minute to 58:26 when he was third in Valencia in 2021 while Kwemoi was runner-up in Ras Al Khaimah in February with a strong PB of 58:30.

“I am now in better form than I was in Ras Al Khaimah,“ said Rodgers Kwemoi.

Two other runners in the field have already broken the one hour barrier: Kenyans Josphat Tanui and Edmond Kipngetich have personal bests of 59:22 and 59:41 respectively.

Elite runners with personal bests

Men

Daniel Mateiko KEN 58:26

Rodgers Kwemoi KEN 58:30

Josphat Tanui KEN 59:22

Edmond Kipngetich KEN 59:41

Hillary Kipchumba KEN 60:01

Vestus Chemjor KEN 60:47

Moses Too KEN 60:56

Philimon Kiptoo KEN 61:47

Daniel Kiprotich KEN 62:09

Gerald Vincent KEN 62:27

Ramazan Özdemir TUR 63:10

Women

Hellen Obiri KEN 64:22

Vicoty Chepngeno KEN 65:03

Tsehay Gemechu ETH 65:08

Nigsti Haftu ETH 66:17

Yasemin Can TUR 66:20

Bekelech Gudeta ETH 66:54

Pauline Esikon KEN 67:15

Stella Rutto ROU 67:45

Ayinadis Teshome ETH 68:18

Daisy Kimeli KEN 68:34

Medhin Gebreslassie ETH 68:38

Ludwina Chepngetich KEN 70:34

Moira Stewartova CZE 71:08

Fatma Karasu TUR 71:30

Kristina Hendel CRO 71:34

Ukraine war refugee wins Jerusalem marathon

Ukrainian athlete Valentyna Veretska, who fled Russia's invasion of her country and took refuge in Israel, on Friday won the Jerusalem marathon, race organisers said.Veretska claimed the women's title with a time of 2hr 45min 54sec, before celebrating by draping the Ukrainian and Israeli flags over her shoulders.

The 31-year-old was one of around 40 Ukrainians who took part in the race in Jerusalem's Old City, braving unseasonably cold and wet weather.It was her second win since October when she came first in the Tirana, Albania, marathon.

Veretska fled Russia's invasion of Ukraine with her daughter, crossing into neighbouring Poland before travelling to Israel.Her husband, however, stayed in their homeland where he is serving in the army, the organisers said.Israeli Sports and Culture Minister Chili Tropper on Thursday said the Jewish state would welcome 100 Ukrainian athletes fleeing the conflict.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, more than 16,800 Ukrainians have arrived in Israel, according to the interior ministry.More than one million of Israel's 9.4 million residents have roots in the former Soviet Union.Israel has provided humanitarian support to Ukraine but has so far rebuffed Kyiv's requests for military assistance.

It has also refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia, with which it maintains strong ties including security cooperation.In an address to Israeli lawmakers on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the Jewish state to abandon its neutrality and "make its choice".Zelensky, who is Jewish, compared Russia's war on Ukraine to the Holocaust.

Stay fit to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, new research shows that cardiorespiratory fitness reduces your risk of developing Alzheimer's and other related diseases

 According to a new study, having good cardiorespiratory fitness can significantly lower your risk for Alzheimer’s and other related diseases.

Cardiorespiratory fitness and Alzheimer’s disease

The researchers of the study, published by the American Academy of Neurology, identified 649,605 veterans who had completed an exercise treadmill test to assess their cardiorespiratory fitness. They found that the participants with the highest levels of fitness developed 33 per cent less Alzheimer’s over the course of 8.8 years compared to the lowest-fit group.

While scientists still don’t know a lot about why or how fitness is related to Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions, this data supports physical activity, and more specifically, cardiorespiratory activities like running, swimming and cycling, as an effective way to reduce your risk for degenerative brain diseases.

The good news is, other research shows that even just a 10-minute run can elicit positive effects on your brain, so you don’t have to run marathons to get the brain-boosting benefits of running (although marathon running is great for your brain, too). So whether you’re a beginner runner or a veteran of the sport, you can add Alzheimer’s prevention to the ever-growing list of reasons to be a runner.

What should your heart rate be during a 5K race?

Whether you are running your first 5K or your 50th, it can be tough to gauge the pace on the first couple of kilometers. If you are coming from a more experienced running background, you are generally aware of where your pace should be for the first couple of kilometers, but it is still possible to go out too fast and expend too much energy early in the race.

It’s easy to get out too fast as your body feels at its best in the early stages of the race. Instead of focusing on pace for the first kilometer, try to pay attention to your heart rate. 

During the first two kilometers of a 5K, you should be between 80 and 90 per cent of your maximum heart rate. To calculate your maximum heart rate zones (which can vary on age and health condition), subtract your age from 220. For example, a 30-year-old will generally have a max heart rate of around 190–therefore your heart rate should be between 152 and 171 bpm for the first couple of kilometers to ensure you don’t burn out. 

Runners will often use a 10 to 15-minute pre-race warm-up to get their heart rate up for a short race. The idea behind this is to make the transition easier to reach higher heart rate zones early on. 

Many things can affect your heart rate, such as the temperature outside or the clothing you wear–if you are overdressed for the temperature, for example, your heart rate will be higher than if you are comfortably cool. 

There’s no need to look at your heart rate on your watch for every second of the race, but try to take a glance at it as you hit the first and second kilometer markers.

If you can be within your heart rate zones for the first two-to-three kilometers, there is a higher chance of having a negative split or stronger finish over the fourth and fifth kilometer. 

Want to be healthier? Volunteer at a race, New research says even just volunteering at a local 5K can provide a lot of health benefits

From registration to course marshals to the post-race snack table, volunteers are the backbone of any road or trail race. Here at Canadian Running, we tend to focus on running in races, but a recent study from the U.K. found that the simple act of volunteering at a local 5K can benefit your health. Here’s how.

The health benefits of volunteering

The study, published by Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, asked more than 60,000 parkrun participants who were either volunteers, run/walkers who also volunteered or run/walkers who did not volunteer, to answer questions about their motivations to participate, and the perceived impacts on their mental and physical health.

The participants who volunteered exclusively said their main motivations were to give back to the community, to feel part of the community, to help people or because they couldn’t run. Very few volunteers said they were motivated by potential benefits to their mental or physical health.

The researchers found, however, that people who volunteered but did not run still experienced health benefits. According to the results of the study, the exclusive volunteers reported the following:

Improved connections to others/feeling like they were a part of a community (83 per cent)

Meeting new people (85 per cent)

Time spent with friends (45 per cent)

Improvements in mental health (54 per cent)

Improvements in physical health (29 per cent)

The improvements highlighted in the study were all subjective (they were reported by the participants), and the researchers don’t go into detail about exactly how their physical and mental health was improved, but this data shows that even the simple act of volunteering can make you a healthier, happier person.

Other reasons runners should volunteer

Aside from the health benefits, there are many more reasons runners should consider volunteering at a local race. For example, volunteering is a great way for injured runners to still be a part of their local running community and support their friends, even when they can’t be on the startline themselves.

Runners who volunteer will also get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to organize their favorite races, which will give them a greater appreciation for everyone and everything involved the next time they’re on the start line. It’ll also give them more tolerance when things don’t go as smoothly on race day.

Finally, volunteering can be a tonne of fun. While volunteers do have a job to do, they also get the opportunity to cheer on runners, and often get some great race swag, too. So if you’re injured, returning from a running layoff or simply want to give back to the running community, consider volunteering at your next local road race. It’ll be a fun way to improve your health.

How to progress to mile repeats, If you're not ready for mile repeats, use these sessions to work your way up to the classic distance workout

Mile repeats are a classic workout for distance runners to improve running economy and get faster. Intervals of this length and speed can be very challenging, however, and runners who are new to speedwork may not be quite ready for them. If you find yourself in this group, try these workouts to help you progress to mile repeats so you can get the most out of this beneficial workout.

The workouts

You’ll notice the first two sessions are written in minutes, rather than specific distances. Time-based intervals are a great way to introduce yourself to speedwork because they take some of the pressure away from having to hit exact paces. Instead, you can run these workouts by feel, which will help you learn how to manage your effort as intervals get longer.

This progression is made up of three workouts, with the third being your mile repeats. How quickly you progress through each workout will vary from person to person, but we recommend spending at least a couple of weeks at each stage before progressing to the next.

Workout #1

Warmup: 10-15 minute easy jog, followed by form drills and strides

Workout: 6 x (1 min at 5K-10K pace / 3 min easy jog rest)

Cooldown: 10-15 minute easy jog, followed by light stretching

Workout #2

Warmup: 10-15 minute easy jog, followed by form drills and strides

Workout: 4 x (3 min at 5K-10K pace / 3 min standing rest)

Cooldown: 10-15 minute easy jog, followed by light stretching

Workout #3

Warmup: 10-15 minute easy jog, followed by form drills and strides

Workout: 3 x (1 mile at 5K-10K pace / 3 min standing rest)

Cooldown: 10-15 minute easy jog, followed by light stretching

Caster Semenya runs a new personal best in a 3000m win in Cape Town

The two-time Olympic gold medalist, who is eyeing a place in the South African team for the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, was using the shorter race to build up speed for preferred 5000m.

Caster Semenya was the star attraction of the second edition of the Athletics South Africa Grand Prix in Cape Town on Wednesday (March 23) and the two-time Olympic champion didn't disappoint, racing to her fastest ever women's 3000m.

Running in only her second major event this season, the double women's 800m gold medalist took charge of the race with two laps to go and held on to cross the finish line in a personal best of 8:54.97.

Semenya, who was using the race to build up speed for her now preferred event the 5000m, trailed early leader Kyla Jacobs before making the decisive move and dip below nine minutes for the first time over the shorter distance.

“The run was a little bit tricky,” Semenya said in an interview with World Track.

“Fortunately before the start, the wind died down a bit and worked in our favor. It was a great race, happy with the result. The target obviously was to break nine minutes and we achieved the goal [so] now we’ll have to go back to the drawing board and work more on mileage.”

The leaner looking Semenya finished comfortably ahead of her closest challenger Aynslee Van Graan who timed 9:09.63 while her compatriot and training partner Glenrose Xaba finished in third place in 9:12.51.

The triple 800m world champion’s previous personal best over the 3000m was 9:04:20 from Potchefstroom in May 2021 when she was chasing qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021.

She missed out on her target of 15:10.00 which meant she didn't qualify for the Olympics after finishing in fourth place in a 5000m meet in Belgium in 15:50.12 in June 2021.

The South African 5000m national champion, who raced to her personal best of 15:32.15 in May 2021 opened her season with a 5000m of 15:36.55 on March 12 at the Gauteng North Championships in Pretoria.

She is eyeing qualification for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon. The qualification mark for the worlds set for July 15 to 24 for the women’s 5000m is 15:10.00.

2022 Comrades entry process opens

Entries for the 95th Comrades Marathon to be held in August open today Wednesday, March 23, 2022.

This will be the first entry window period and runs until March 31, 2022. During this window period, only those entrants who had successfully entered the 2020 Comrades Marathon will be able to enter, be they South Africa, Rest of Africa or International.

The entry fee for South African athletes will be discounted from R1200 to R1000 in the first entry window period, as per the CMA’s commitment when the 2020 race was cancelled. Rest of Africa and International entrants in the 2020 Comrades Marathon had their entries deferred to either the 2022 or 2023 race; and will therefore not pay an entry fee.

During the second entry window period, from April 20 to  May 16, 2022, all other athletes will be allowed to enter. Entry is free to all runners who have completed the Comrades Marathon 25 times or more.

This second entry window period will not apply should the entry cap of 15,000 entries have been reached during the first entry window period.

CMA Race Director, Rowyn James says, “We have exciting plans in place for this year’s Down Run which will finish at the internationally acclaimed Moses Mabhida Stadium for the second time. Qualifying for the 2022 Comrades Marathon is applicable as of September 1, 2021 till July 12, 2022. The qualifying criteria for this year’s Comrades Marathon remains unchanged requiring completion of a standard 42.2km marathon in under 4 hours and 50 minutes, or a 56km ultra-marathon in under 6 hours and 45 minutes.”

The 95th Comrades Marathon will be the 47th Down Run on Sunday, August 28, 2022, starting at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 05h30 and ending 12 hours later at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, covering a 90.2km distance.

Should you jog or stand between intervals?, Runners have debated the merits of active vs. passive recovery for years, researchers have finally put the two recovery methods to the test

It’s a question runners have been arguing about for years: should you jog during your recovery between intervals, or should you take that time to rest completely? Recently, researchers tried to provide runners with an answer and came out with this age-old conclusion: it depends.

The study

The study, which was published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, aimed to find out how well-trained runners responded to an interval workout with active (jogging) rest compared to passive (standing) rest. To do so, they had 11 well-trained male distance runners (with an average 10K PB of 35 minutes) perform two workouts of 4×2 minutes at their max speed. In one workout, the athletes recovered with two minutes of jogging rest, and in the other, they recovered with two minutes of standing rest.

During each session, the researchers monitored various performance metrics, including oxygen consumption, heart rate, blood lactate levels and the athletes’ rates of perceived exertion. There was very little difference between the two workouts for all of the measurements, except for perceived exertion. In other words, the athletes found the session in which they jogged during their recovery to be harder.

So should you jog or rest?

At first glance, this may make it seem like standing recovery is better, but it’s not quite that simple. Since this is the first study of its kind, the researchers admit it is unclear whether the results would be the same in a longer workout with more intervals.

The researchers also noted that jogging recovery may be better for beginner or intermediate runners when they’re looking to make their workout tougher, but high-performance athletes who are better at maxing out their pace during an interval session may be better off with standing rest.

Finally, the researchers don’t dive into the variability between workouts, and how the type of rest you take will likely differ depending on the type of workout you’re doing. For example, you may get more out of a broken tempo run (that’s done at a slightly lower intensity) if you jog during your rest, but during a VO2 max workout, you’re likely better off with standing rest to ensure you can do each interval at your best effort.

The bottom line

The type of rest you take will depend on your level as an athlete and what you’re trying to accomplish in a specific workout. As a runner, it’s important that you understand these two factors and how they apply to you in order to get the most out of any workout.

If you’re not sure how to determine this for yourself, consider speaking with a coach who can guide you in each workout and help you figure out what’s best for you.

Five creative ways to make running more fun

Does this scenario sound familiar?

You’ve firmly decided to improve your fitness by running. But every time you try, you get bored after the first couple of minutes. And with no motivation, you end up going right back home, disappointed and angry with yourself.

Luckily, meeting your running goals isn’t as difficult as you think. The key to accomplishing them is to make running fun!

But how exactly do you make difficult physical activity enjoyable? Don’t worry, because this article has you covered.

Our 5 top tips will help you supercharge your running routine with excitement and motivation today!

1. Listen to Music or a Podcast

One of the easiest ways to make running fun is to listen to music or a podcast. This will keep your mind occupied and help the time fly by.

Often, a motivating soundtrack can instantly transform your workout from lethargic to energetic.

And if you want to run daily, you can get excited for your run by associating it with a new episode of your favorite podcast.

2. Turn on the Treadmill TV

Most treadmills at the gym have TVs built into them. If not, you can use your gym’s Wi-Fi and head to your favorite streaming site on your phone.

Remember to set a goal on the treadmill and periodically check the distance you’ve run. This will ensure you’re still moving at a good pace and getting all those vital running benefits.

3. Try a Change of Scenery

When you have new scenery to look at, your boring run becomes exciting again. Plus, places with hills and slopes can also make your workout more beneficial to your muscles.

For example, if you always run around the block in your neighborhood, try running at a park, by the water, or on a track. You can mix these up throughout the week so you don’t get tired of the same routine every day.

4. Join a Running Club

Joining a running club is a great way to make running fun while meeting new people. Running buddies can help you reach your goals faster by keeping you motivated.

If you don’t have time to join an in-person club, try a virtual one like this running club.

5. Reward Yourself

Rewarding yourself after running gives you something to look forward to after your workout.

Some ideas for everyday rewards include:

Meeting up with friends

Reading a book

Taking a nap

Watching your favorite TV show

Eating a small treat

Remember to keep track of your fitness goals. Every time you accomplish a bigger goal, give yourself a bigger reward like a restaurant dinner or a staycation.

Once your brain associates running with a reward, you’ll have a much easier time staying consistent with your exercise routine.

Improve Your Fitness With These Fun Running Tips

No matter what your fitness goals are, making your runs fun means you’re more likely to stick with a consistent routine.

Remember that it might take a while to find the tips that help you stay the most motivated. So if the first one doesn’t do the trick, don’t give up! Keep trying new strategies until you find one or two that work best.

And for even more helpful blog posts, be sure to check out the rest of our site today!

2022 Rīga marathon to support Ukraine

The Riga marathon will return in mid-May and show support for Ukraine, organizer of the marathon Aigars Nords told Latvian Television on March 23.

Nords said that the marathon would be dedicated to Ukraine, and the six-kilometer distance would be decorated in Ukrainian flag colors.

"The Riga marathon has always been a business card for Riga, and as one of the great international events of Riga, it is a clear signal that we support Ukraine,” Nords said.

All Ukrainian war refugees and citizens are invited to take part in the six-kilometer distance free of charge. All revenues generated by the participation in the 6-km run will be donated to Ukraine.

This year, runners from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to participate in the Riga marathon. Nords hopes that marathons elsewhere in the world will do the same.

The marathon will take place on May 14 and 15, also becoming an important step in preparing for the world championship in Rīga in autumn 2023. The organizers plan that running events will be similar to those prior to the pandemic without splitting into any groups.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen tests positive for COVID-19

The reigning 1,500m Olympic champion, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, was upset by Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia, who won the men’s 1,500m on Sunday at the World Indoor Championships. Although Ingebrigtsen won his first world championship medal, he said post-race that he was feeling off, later testing positive for Covid-19 when he arrived back home in Norway on Monday.

Ingebrigtsen shared the news on his Instagram page after stating that he felt strange Sunday night, immediately after his final. “Before the race, everything seemed normal, with a negative PCR test and several rapid tests,” explained Ingebrigtsen on Instagram. His coach and older brother Henrik Ingebrigtsen seems to believe Jakob caught it on his flight down to Serbia on Thursday, according to Eurosport. 

“You can minimize risk, but you can’t rule out infection,” Henrik said. “This virus affected his recovery after his qualifying race on Saturday.”

There is much speculation online that Ingebrigtsen raced the 1,500m final with the virus. He took control of the race with several laps to go but was unable to hold off Tefera, whose kick overcame the Norweigan over the final 50 meters to win back-to-back golds in 3:32.77. Tefera also won the 1,500m at the last World Indoor Championships in 2018.

Jakob mentioned on his Instagram story that he plans to rest and recover, then hopefully get back into training in preparation for winning gold at the World Championships in July. 

Should I try to improve my running distance or speed?

New runners are often confused about how to set goals for speed and distance. If you are a beginning runner, you may wonder if you should improve your distance first or if you should train to get faster. The short answer: Train for distance first.

It's better for you to start by building an endurance base. That means that you increase your aerobic capacity first. You increase your mileage so that longer runs are more comfortable. As you build up your endurance, your speed will also improve.

Once you have established some strength and stamina for going the distance, you can train for distance and speed at the same time. Varying your routine by mixing distance runs with shorter, faster workouts can actually help ensure that you are getting the most out of your training and minimize your chances of injury.

Distance vs. Speed for New Runners

As a new runner, you may be tempted to get faster first. Certainly, better race times are satisfying. But if you participate in speed training before you build a strong endurance base, you put yourself at risk for injury.1

Gradually building your distance as you begin your training is a good way to ensure that you are building the strength and aerobic capacity you will need to start training harder and faster. And if you want to prepare for a race such as your first 5K, it makes sense to go for distance before you start to build speed. After all, it doesn't matter much if you are fast but lack the stamina to finish the race.

When you are ready to add speed, begin with some basic speed training via high-intensity intervals. You might do 200-meter, 400-meter or longer repeats that require you trun at paces faster than your current pace.

Distance Training for New Runners

To build your endurance base, follow these guidelines to make the most of your training time.

Use a Run/Walk Strategy

Don't put pressure on yourself to run the entire length of your desired distance. By doing a run/walk combination, you'll be able to cover more distance and you'll still get a great workout. And you'll build the fitness—and confidence—you need to run longer without walking.

Run at a Conversational Pace

One of the most common reasons why beginner runners stop running before they reach their goal distance: They're running too fast. When you first start running, you should be running at a conversational pace. That means that you can very easily talk in complete sentences while running. If you're gasping for air, you're definitely going too fast.

Some beginning runners are actually physically fit enough to run a certain distance, but they don't have the confidence or mental strength to push themselves farther. In many cases, it's simply "mind over matter." Try to distract yourself by playing mind games, choosing new running routes, or running with other people.

Speed Training for New Runners

Once you have established a solid endurance base, you can start incorporating more speedwork into your training routine. But as with adding distance, it is important to ease your body into speed training gradually.

Running is a high-impact sport. Adding distance or speed to your routine puts a lot of strain on your muscles, joints, and bones, as well as your heart and lungs. If you start tackling too much too soon, you run the risk of getting hurt, fatigued, or burned out.

After you've been running regularly for four to six weeks and have a nice base, you can start by adding strides into one of your weekly runs. You can also try picking up the pace towards the end of one of your runs. After three to four weeks of this, you can start to add tempo runs, fartlek runs, or interval workouts.

Fartleks

One of the best ways to start increasing your speed, fartleks involve running slightly faster for about two minutes before easing back to your normal pace to recover for about four minutes. Repeat these intervals several times throughout your run.

Tempo Runs

This type of run involves starting at an easy pace to warm up, then moving into a speed that is about 10 seconds slower than your race pace for the next 20 to 25 minutes of your run. The goal of this pace is to increase your anaerobic threshold, a critical component for boosting your speed.

Interval Runs

In this type of speedwork, you add short bursts of faster running with recovery intervals at an easier pace.

Mile Repeats

These are a standard for improving your run time and are easy to do. Start by running a mile at a fast pace, then slow down for a recovery period. After about a half-mile at a recovery pace, pick back up for another faster-paced mile. Always be sure to include a warm-up and cool-down before and after your run.

Adding speed work to your runs is a great way to improve your fitness, strength, and aerobic capacity. If you are new to running, it is essential to start by building a solid endurance base before you start working on your speed. Eventually, you can incorporate both speed and distance training, which can be a great way to make your runs more fun and rewarding.

The future of women's sport is very fragile, says Sebastian Coe

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said the state of women's sports is "very fragile" and sports federations need to get it right when writing rules for transgender female athletes.

Coe's comments come after University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history by winning the women's 500-yard freestyle in Atlanta last week.

"The integrity of women's sport – if we don't get this right – and, actually, the future of women's sport, is very fragile," Coe was quoted as saying in British paper The Times on Monday.

"These are sensitive issues, they are societal issues – they go way, way beyond sport. I don't have the luxury to get into endless discussions or the school of moral philosophy."

Thomas competed on the men's team for three years before transitioning and moving to the women's team and setting multiple program records.

Last month, USA Swimming unveiled a new policy to allow transgender athletes to swim in elite events by setting out criteria that aim to mitigate any unfair advantages.

The rules include testing to ensure testosterone is below a certain level – five nanomoles per litre continuously for at least 36 months - in transgender athletes who wish to compete against cisgender female swimmers.

World Athletics requires transgender athletes to have low testosterone levels for at least 12 months before competition.

"We are asking for a greater length of (time) before competition because the residual impact of transitioning like that is more profound," Coe said.

"There is no question that testosterone is the key determinant in performance."

Transgender rights have long been a controversial and politically divisive issue in the United States from sports to serving in the military, and even what bathrooms people are allowed to use.

Coe said he understands the sensitive nature of the issue and said he wants to focus on the science.

Sebastian Coe "It's really difficult to keep the emotion out of this and subjectivity, so we do have to really stick as closely as we can to the science –and that's what we've always tried to do when it's been uncomfortable," he said.

"You can't be oblivious to public sentiment ... but science is important. If I wasn't satisfied with the science that we have and the experts that we have used and the in-house teams that have been working on this for a long time ... if I wasn't comfortable about that, this would be a very different landscape."

Feeling mentally exhausted? Go for a run, Research shows that physical activity is an effective strategy to promote cognitive regeneration after a mentally-exhausting day

Just like a particularly long or hard run will result in physical exhaustion, prolonged periods of cognitive activity (like studying for a test or even just a long day at work) can lead to mental exhaustion. Many people try to counteract this by doing activities wherein they can “shut their brains off,” like watching T.V., but research has shown this typically doesn’t work. What does appear to help? Physical activity.

Get moving to regenerate your mind

The study, published in the journal Psychology and Behaviour, investigated how a single bout of moderate aerobic exercise could help participants recover from experimentally-induced mental exhaustion.

To do so, the researchers put participants through one hour of mentally-demanding tasks in order to induce cognitive exhaustion. Participants were then separated into three groups: one that did 30 minutes of physical activity on a cycle ergometer, one that did 30 minutes of a lower-body stretching routine and one that watched a popular sitcom. Before and after the 30-minute treatment, researchers assessed the participants’ cognitive flexibility performance, mood, tiredness, restlessness, self-perceived cognitive capacity and motivation.

The results showed that the group who did 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise recovered better in almost every category than the other methods (stretching and watching T.V.), with the exemption of tiredness and restlessness.

“In conclusion, this study suggests that a single bout of acute aerobic exercise supports regeneration of cognitive flexibility performance and of subjective well-being,” the researchers said. “This holds true not just compared to artificial active control treatment but also compared to widespread leisure time activity, namely watching TV.”

Considerations for runners

So if you know you have a big test coming up or an important task at work that’s going to leave you feeling mentally wiped at the end of the day, it’s not a bad idea to plan a run afterward (even if you’re normally a morning run kind of person). It’s important to note, however, that researchers focused on moderate aerobic activity, and if you’re feeling mentally drained from a long day at work, a hard interval workout may not have the same effect.

More and more we’re learning how physical activity positively impacts the brain, and this is yet another reason to add to the list of reasons why running is good for your mind.

I can’t go to fight at my age, there is an army for that, but it’s important for people to show that we are alive and strong

On Monday March 7, as the world watched the war in Ukraine intensify, Nikolai Plyuyko did something extraordinary. He went for an 11-kilometer run through the streets of Kyiv.

Plyuyko has participated in 48 marathons in his lifetime. Before retiring, he worked as an engineer and served in the Soviet army. Today, Plyuyko is 75 years old and lives alone in what he describes as “a sleepy part of Kyiv”. Since war broke out, Plyuyko has maintained his schedule of daily outdoor runs, running around 150km in the past two weeks.

He laughs when I ask him if he’s scared of running outside. “During my run, I often hear more than 10 explosions which are within a 20km distance,” he says stoically. “What’s the point of worrying? I’ve lived most of my life anyway.”

The only two days that he didn’t go for a run were when Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, asked everyone to stay at home. “I want to show that we are a brave nation and that we aren’t afraid,” he says. “We want to be strong, not just with our minds, but with our bodies too.” Plyuyko has been greeting every person he sees on his run, trying to lift people’s spirits. “I wish them good health, hope and trust in the fight with the enemy. I tell them that we will win, that we just need to get through it.”

As Russian forces continue to destroy Ukrainian cities, break ceasefire rules and kill civilians, Ukrainians are terrified. In Kyiv, most people stay at home or in shelters overnight and keep outdoor trips to a minimum. At the time of writing, the centre of Kyiv has experienced a slightly more stable period than the first few days of the war, when Russian airstrikes colored the city’s skyline. Still, sounds of heavy fighting reverberate around the city’s historic buildings. During the daytime, the atmosphere is suppressed but hopeful, with people going outside to the pharmacy, to get food in shops and markets or for a quick walk to move their bodies. Yet, against all odds, and potentially their own safety, a small group of older runners are still heading out every day in Kyiv, sometimes running as Russian bombs fall around them.

Plyuyko runs in Natalka, a manicured public park that runs alongside the River Dnieper. In the last few days, he has even started going for a cold-water dip in the freezing temperatures of the river’s lagoon during his run. “I want to train myself to control my thermoregulation and find energy in my body.”

The daily exercise has been helping him process the absurdity of an unexpected war on his doorstep. “I think about many things during the run,” he explains. “I think about everything I’ve lived through.”

In the past week or so, Plyuyko has not only been running laps, but he has been running errands and getting groceries for people less mobile than him in his apartment complex. “I’ve been getting in line at the shop for them and running it to their homes. This is a sign of friendship during these hard times.” Locals have been happy to see him too; they call him “Uncle Kolya” and wave at him or sing him praise each time he passes them.

According to Plyuyko, most of the people who have stayed behind are either the “lonely elderly” or those who are choosing to protect their towns and other people’s lives. He is one of Kyiv’s residents who has decided to stay in Ukraine to see the war through to the end.

Just across town is Volodimir Shymko, a 67-year-old who has also been running to fill the city’s empty streets. “So many people have left Kyiv. I can tell which of our neighbours have stayed behind judging by whether their lights are on, and there are very few people who have stayed,” he tells me solemnly over the phone.

Shymko, too, hopes that his running raises people’s morale. “I can’t go to fight at my age, there is an army for that, but we will see how the situation continues – maybe everyone will be forced to fight.”

Konstantin Bondarev, 61, is based in the south of the city with his wife and two other friends who have come to shelter in his house. He has been running long-distance since 1983. “Now that there has been war, I’ve been running non-stop; it makes things feel a lot easier during such turbulent times,” he tells me. Since 24 February, he has clocked 73km in running distance. “Right now, thoughts of war keep going round and round in my head; from the moment you wake up, you start ringing all your friends, asking if everyone is alive and well over the messaging app Viber. When there are always attacks, you wonder if anyone has been bombed.”

This, of course, has affected his nervous system, so the run has been helping him deal with the stress of the war. “When I run, I can put all that aside – at least for a moment.”

In Ukraine, men between the ages of 18-60 have been banned from leaving the country in case they have to fight in the war, even if they have no military experience. “It’s important for people to show that we are alive and strong. This is our expression of the fight.”

Shymko’s daughter and his grandson have fled to a part of the country that has now turned into a hotspot for Russian attacks. “They want to get out, but they can’t right now. I’m really worried about them; it’s a very grave situation.”

Still, Shymko continues to run, in the past week, he has mustered 32km. The trained engineer, who is now a pensioner, has been a keen athlete since the 1970s. “I’ve run 40 marathons, and I’ve been in Berlin, Prague, Bratislava, Poland, Belgium, all around Ukraine.” And what would stop him? “Only if someone was to shoot at me multiple times,” he says macabrely.

The Guardian discovered Plyuyko and Shymko’s routes on Strava – a fitness-oriented social network that uses GPS data to track movement and allows users to share it publicly. The collected data is also used to create heatmaps, which shows trails left behind by the app’s users, so much so, Strava accidentally uncovered numerous unmapped military bases in 2018.

Calling the interviewees on Viber, the lines often went crackly, and Plyuyko, in particular, had trouble getting the app to work. “Can you hear me?” he would shout into the phone before hanging up multiple times. Eventually, we managed to set things up.

I spoke to everyone in Russian, as it was the only language we had in common, and I later translated the interviews to English. Listening back through the recordings, I could hear how much the men I spoke to really wanted to tell the stories of their lives and their runs. With a real possibility of Russian occupation, they were worried that their histories would be overwritten. When I asked for photos, they sent me dozens of images, some taken now and some taken when they are looking much younger. A horrible thought occurred; did they think this might be one of the last chances to be heard and to be seen by the rest of the world?

 I have a friend in Kharkiv who hasn’t posted about running online for a little while – it’s worrying

“It’s only natural to be scared when you’re running, and bombs are going off in the distance, going ‘boom’,” says Bondarev. “That does take the joy out of it.” On the day I spoke to him, he went on a run that started well but ended quite ominously. “When I ran out, nothing was going on initially, but then a military plane flew by and then by the end of my run, I saw smoke billowing out of something in the distance. I ran home and took a photo.”

Josh Kerr hopes to make history at Hayward Field

Josh Kerr knows the history, that long line of British middle-distance greats who all but monopolised the men’s 1500m back in the 1980s. Those names – Seb Coe, Cram, Ovett, Elliott – conjure up memories of grainy footage, the kind Kerr has watched countless times on YouTube. 

Now that he’s run faster than them all – his PB of 3:29.05 is behind only Mo Farah on the British all-time list – Kerr feels part of that lineage, especially after winning an Olympic bronze medal last year. 

But as much as he appreciates the achievements of past generations, the 24-year-old Scot is keen to kickstart a new golden era.

“Myself and (Jake) Wightman, we’ve run faster than all those guys but they’re not known for how fast they ran, they’re known for what medals they won and what colours they are,” says Kerr. “We hadn’t won an Olympic medal in 33 years and hopefully we’re moving back into an era people will remember as the Kerr-Wightman era. I want to leave a stamp on the 1500 and grab that British record as an extra.

“But,” he adds, “it’s mostly about medals.”

The game is changing these days. In the decade preceding the 2019 World Championships, the quickest winning time in a global 1500m final was 3:33.61, and in just two out of seven championships did the winner come home in under 3:35. 

Then there was Doha, where Timothy Cheruiyot blitzed a solo 3:29.26 to take gold. Two years later in Tokyo, Jakob Ingebrigtsen outkicked and outlasted Cheruiyot to set an Olympic record of 3:28.32.

Cheruiyot is 26, Ingebrigtsen is 21. Neither is going anywhere any time soon, and both are at their best when the pace is hard from the gun, which means that when it comes to global finals, the future is almost certainly fast. 

Kerr knows this, and he prepares accordingly. 

“The 1500 has evolved over the last two or three years,” he says. “We have to be strong and we train like a 5km athlete. That helps, knowing I’m going to get better round by round. It’s exciting for people to watch and it’s really hard for us racing, but that’s what we’re there for: to find the best. 

“I do believe the world and Olympic champions over the next three or four years will be true champions – who are the best at the distance. Jakob last year was the best and he showed that in the final and Cheruiyot was second and I was third: those are honest, clear-cut, black-and-white results, and you can’t ask for anything more.”

Kerr prepared for Tokyo in his typical manner, racking up 65-70 miles (104-112km) a week in training, along with two gym sessions. It’s been his approach since 2018, when he joined the Brooks Beasts in Seattle and began training with coach Danny Mackey. 

Being a three-time NCAA champion for the University of New Mexico, the Scottish athlete had a wealth of options in the professional ranks. Why did he choose the Brooks Beasts? It came down to his trust in Mackey. 

“I’ve had the most amazing, honest conversations with him,” says Kerr. “He knows me very well, I know him very well. He said, ‘this is the coach I am, we’re not the flashiest group but you come here, you’ll get better.’ He stayed true to that promise. I’ve got six seconds quicker since I’ve gone there.

“The training isn’t massively intense but what I do really well: my injury rate is really low and I’m able to stack a bunch of days together and it ends up being a phenomenal fitness level.”

That was exactly what Kerr carried to Tokyo, and while his 1500m PB of 3:31.55 had many underrating him at the time, his workouts convinced him he was ready to run 3:28. 

“I thought, ‘you know what, the best way to run that is evenly,’” says Kerr. “I wasn’t planning on being so far at the back after the first lap but it was just so fast.”

Kerr narrowly avoided disaster in the heats, scraping through as a non-automatic qualifier, but he was far more convincing in the semifinal, finishing a close third.

After the first lap of the final, with Ingebrigtsen pouring it on from the outset, Kerr was 10th, splitting 57.3 seconds. By 800m he’d moved up to seventh. By 1200m, he was fourth, and ready to take aim at the big two out front – Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot – along with Abel Kipsang of Kenya. Kerr waited until the home straight before going for broke, overtaking Kipsang and finishing just 0.04 behind Cheruiyot. 

“I was hoping for a better medal than the one I got,” he says now.  

After the Games, he went to Albuquerque, USA, to spend time with his fiancee and a few weeks later he returned to Scotland. The last six months have been a “whirlwind”, but after a few weeks off Kerr was back into base training to prepare for better things again in 2022. 

“It’s about building the motivation back up, climbing back up the hill with fitness and trying to show some better performances,” he says. “And hopefully better colour of medals.”

He had just one race set in stone for the indoor season: the Wanamaker Mile at last month's Millrose Games, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event. After biding his time for seven laps, Kerr powered to the lead at the bell, but couldn’t hold off the vicious surge of longtime rival Ollie Hoare, who won in 3:50.83 with Kerr second in 3:52.27, just shy of Peter Elliott’s British record of 3:52.02. 

“First one of the season is always going to be a bit rocky but I told myself I’d be aggressive, I’d push,” says Kerr. “I may have pushed a little bit too early, but I gave it my all. I like to press a little bit and see who falls apart, and it might be me. I’m not scared of anyone or any distance or any race.”

That may be Kerr’s only race of the indoor season. With an outdoor season overflowing with medal opportunities, he’s giving that his prime focus. 

His main targets are the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in July and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Only after that will he make a decision on the European Championships in Munich. 

“Because that’s enough for my brain to explode,” he says. “We’ll take it step by step.”

When he speaks of such championships, Kerr does so with a calm but resolute confidence that he can beat whoever he faces. It’s not surprising, given he has a habit of toppling favourites. 

When he lined up in the mile at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships, he was a 19-year-old with a 1500m personal best of 3:41.08 – an athlete no one expected to challenge the all-conquering Ed Cheserek. 

When Kerr surged past Cheserek with two laps to run, the ESPN commentator all but dismissed his chances: “That’s Josh Kerr, the New Mexico freshman, and that may just be a freshman move.” 

But it wasn’t. Kerr ran Cheserek into the ground during the final lap, coming home a distant winner. He added the NCAA title outdoors that year – winning the 1500m at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon – and repeated his indoor win in 2018. Those successes taught him he could contend at global level. 

“You have that mindset of wanting to be the champ, to go after the fastest guys,” he says. “You don’t care who anyone is, and if you have that fearless mentality you’re going to be fine in the pros. But if you always look at stats and look up to these guys, you’re going to find it hard to toe the line against them.”

Does he believe he can match Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot this summer?

“Yeah, definitely,” he says. “It’s quite funny, but people were saying, ‘any other Olympics you’d have won with the times,’ but they’re different races. The 1500m is exploding because of the way we’re running these races. Those guys are doing great things for the sport.”

Kerr knows those two will likely be the men to beat again in Eugene this summer. He’s not yet raced in the new-and-improved Hayward Field, but is relishing the chance to do so.

“It’s over the top,” he laughs. “It’s a phenomenal facility and I’m excited to go there and run fast. It’s built for fast times and for history to be made, and that’s what’s going to happen this year.” 

He knows his sport’s history, but he also knows his own, and Kerr can extrapolate plenty from it about what might lie ahead.

“I was 37th (at the World Championships) in 2017, sixth in 2019, and third (at the Olympics) in 2021,” he says. “So in 2022 the trajectory is looking like second or first. That’s always what I’m going for. I’m always looking for progress.”

Sara Hall on Tokyo Marathon, Her Busy Schedule, & What’s Written on Her Bathroom Mirror Right Now

Few professional runners will have a busier first seven months of 2022 than Sara Hall. The 38-year-old American kicked off the year by running 67:15 to break the American half marathon record in Houston on January 16 and on March 6 ventured to Tokyo in an attempt to break the American record in the marathon. While Hall was on record pace through halfway (69:29), she faded over the second half but still ran 2:22:56 to finish 8th overall in the Japanese capital.

Hall is not resting on her laurels, however, as she will race the NYC Half on Sunday before tackling the Boston Marathon on April 18 and the World Championships marathon in Eugene on July 18. LetsRun.com caught up with Hall after she returned home from Tokyo last week to discuss her racing schedule, how she keeps improving deep into her 30s, how much faster she thinks Americans can run with the supershoes, and what goals she has written on her bathroom mirror.

You ran the Tokyo Marathon over the weekend. I assume you’re back stateside at this point. How are you feeling, and how is your body feeling after the race?

It feels pretty good. I would say pretty similar to other flat marathons I’ve done, maybe a little bit more sore on my right side, just with my knee, I think it’s been pulling a little more weight. But thankfully the knee came out of it really well and that was the main concern going in. And so I’m really excited to regroup toward the NYC Half and Boston, assuming I can stay healthy and have good training.

I emailed Ryan (Hall’s husband and coach) before the race and he mentioned that you fell and injured that knee in training a few weeks ago. How much did it affect your preparations for Tokyo, and how much, if at all, did it affect you during the race?

It didn’t affect me at all in the race. I didn’t feel it at all, thankfully. But it was one of those weird things where it just kind of dragged on. I didn’t expect it to be as much of an issue as it was but it was a pretty big setback at a pretty important time. It was hard to quantify how much it affected [my buildup] but I didn’t get in as much in the fourth and third weeks before the race. 

With 10 days out from the race, I was feeling really good and it was finally responding really well to training. So I felt really good going into the race and was optimistic that all the training I had done prior to the knee was still in me and I’d be okay and I still wanted to stick to my original goal and stuff. But unfortunately, I wasn’t quite able to hold the pace I thought I would be capable of out there.

You just ran Tokyo and you’ve got a pretty busy schedule in 2022. You’ve got the NYC Half next weekend and then Boston and then the Worlds in July. You didn’t have to run Boston, but you are running it, so what made you want to run that race?

Well because it’s Boston. I’ve only gotten to run Boston once, it was absolutely incredible as an American out there and [a race where] I really saw Ryan come alive running in his career, probably his favorite spot. The one time I ran it, it was off really limited training off a stress fracture, so I didn’t really get the full experience because I crashed and burned pretty hard. But yeah, I think also having the chance to compete in a marathon, I definitely want some more opportunities for that. I really loved London [in 2020, when Hall finished 2nd] where I just got to compete out there and time was out the window. I think [ahead of] Worlds, [Boston] gives me another opportunity to do that. But really it’s just for the fun of it. I just love racing marathons and am really excited to experience it out there.

Your best marathons so far have come on flat courses. You mentioned you didn’t run as well as you liked in Boston (in 2019, when Hall was 15th), that was also coming off of injury. Do you think you’re a better flat runner than hill runner? And do you expect you might be able to do better on the hills this time around? Have you changed anything that you think might be able to help you succeed on the hills in Boston?

I feel good about the uphills. I do need some more downhill training between now and then, especially because I was starting to do that right when the knee happened, and then that was the absolute worst thing for the knee at the time so I definitely feel a little behind on that, and I think that’s a big factor in Boston to handle the pounding early on of the downhills. It’s a net downhill course. So looking to continue that, and I’m going to really need to stay on top of my recovery, my protein intake with the MuscleTech Pure Series because that eccentric load just really beats you up, so it’s just a fine balance with that. But I’m hoping also the supershoes factor will help, just because it’s my first hilly marathon in a super-cushioned shoe and that, I know from training, helps with the pounding component.

You turn 39 a few days before the Boston Marathon, but you’re not really slowing down very much – you just ran an American record in the half marathon in January. How much longer do you think you can keep going at this level?

It’s a good question. It is kind of surreal to think I’m going to be a masters [athlete] in a year. [laughs] I would have never thought I’d still be competing as a masters. It’s something I try not to think about – I learned this from Terrence Mahon, one of my coaches early on. Deena [Kastor] was joking about being old and he was like, “Deena, once you start saying you’re old, you start the clock.”

I was only, like, 23 at the time, but for some reason that stuck with me, that what you speak about yourself and expect makes a big difference. So I’ve just tried to be really intentional about not joking about that or expecting to slow down. My body’s still handling training really well, I’m finding ways to train smarter because I can’t really train harder or necessarily do more than I’m doing. Obviously my therapist John Ball in Phoenix has helped me so much with staying injury-free. That’s really the biggest limiter. Later in life, you can keep building aerobic capacity for a lot of years, but it’s really just can you stay healthy? So that’s a big focus. Recovering from training, obviously protein intake with MuscleTech, the recovery part is just an art that I’ve continued to try to perfect over the years. So I’m optimistic that my best marathons are still ahead. 

You mentioned training smarter because there’s a limit to how hard you can train. Can you give me an example of something that you feel has helped you in that area to train smarter?

There’s some outside-the-box-stuff I do that I don’t really talk about because they’re my secret weapons. But I feel like those things are really what has allowed me to have the realistic jump I had in Berlin (in 2019 when Hall lowered her pb from 2:26 to 2:22) and I’ve really continued to do more and more of that type of training. They’re kind of secret, but I think what’s helped me is getting outside the groupthink of marathon training in the US. And that goes back to running Boston and Worlds and all these races. There’s a culture of we do things a certain way, but for me, I’ve been able to train in Kenya and Ethiopia and I’m just a curious person. I like to come up with outside-the-box stuff and Ryan’s similar. So I think some of that has really benefited me, having different perspectives and trying different things. 

Since the supershoes came along a few years ago, we’ve seen the half marathon and marathon world records have drop quite precipitously. Recently, we’ve also seen the American records in those events have been lowered in those events, but not quite as much. How much lower do you think those records can go? Now that pretty much every American has access to some form of supershoe, what kind of times do you think Americans can run in those events?

That’s a good question. I think how I felt in Houston after that (where Hall ran 67:15 to break the AR in the half and Keira D’Amato ran 2:19:12 to break the AR in the marathon), and this sounds ambitious, but Josh [Cox, her agent] and Ryan and I are like, maybe breaking 2:18, that might be possible at some point. I’m not there yet, but thinking if you can just keep chipping away little bits. Definitely, the later stages of the marathon, [the shoes] just save your legs. And I think if I can do that, definitely some of these other people – Keira, the people that are running well – can do that too.

As far as the half, I think I can break 67:00. I’m sure other people can too. So we’ll see. Probably under 66:00 eventually, which sounds nuts.

Maybe not as nuts now that the world record is 62:52, right?

Correct, yeah.

You’ve run all of the World Marathon Majors. You’re running the World Championships this year. I know you’d like to run the Olympics one day. Are there any other races on your bucket list that you haven’t gotten to do yet?

Really it’s the Olympics at this point for me. I’d like to podium at a major in the US, but I’ve gotten to experience them all. NYC Half is one that surprisingly I’ve never run and I’ve won all the marquee New York races like the Fifth Avenue Mile and Millrose Games and Mini 10K and Dash to the Finish 5K. And obviously, the marathon is the hardest one to win, so that one and the Half, that would be amazing to go for those at some point. But just to experience the Half will be fun next weekend.

I have one more question. You’re famous for writing your goals on your bathroom mirror. So I’ve got to ask you: what’s written there right now?

Well my Tokyo goals got erased. So now I just have Boston and a picture of a medal and Worlds and a picture of a medal there right now. Those are really gonna be really insanely hard goals. And I think my personality is one where going into Tokyo, it wasn’t an ideal buildup but I’m still gonna just go out there and go for it.

And that has its hard parts with that personality, because you struggle with disappointment a lot. Medalling in those races, that’s a really big ask. But at the same time, you do have those moments where it does come together like those Houston days or the London Marathon days, so I’m going to keep taking big swings and having fun with the process.

Kenya’s Korir and Meringor were the winners of the 37th Los Angeles Marathon

Delvine Meringor of Kenya emerged Sunday as women's champion of the 37th annual Los Angeles Marathon while John Korir of Kenya was the men's winner.  

Meringor held off Korir’s challenge by about 8 seconds at the finish line, winning the women’s race in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 3 seconds. For the second consecutive year Korir won the men’s race in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 7 seconds. Under marathon rules, elite female runners started the race 16 minutes and five seconds ahead of the men.

The elite athletes led the pack of an estimated 15,000 runners from around the country — and the world — covering a 26.2-mile course that spans some of the city’s most iconic neighborhoods. It was the second L.A. Marathon in four months. Last year’s race was moved from March to November because of the pandemic.

First American was Tyler McCandless in 4th place clocking 2:25:18.  "4th place overall and 1st American today at the Los Angeles Marathon…and I qualified for my 4th Olympic Marathon Trials! Stoked," Tyler said.  

Amazing Wins and an Event Record at the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

The United Airlines NYC Half made a spectacular return to the streets of New York City today as the first major NYRR race back at full scale since the onset of the pandemic.

This year’s event featured the strongest professional athlete field in event history, including 23 Olympians, eight Paralympians, six half-marathon national record holders, and the defending wheelchair division champions. In ideal racing conditions, the pro races played out thrillingly over 13.1 miles of New York City streets.

In the men’s wheelchair division, Daniel Romanchuk of the United States defended his title in a time of 49:22, more than two minutes faster than his winning time from 2019 and four minutes up on the rest of the field today. “I’m really happy to be back in New York racing and see the city so alive,” said Romanchuk a two-time Paralympic medalist and two-time TCS New York City Marathon winner.

 For the women open race,  Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia and Irene Cheptai of Kenya pulled ahead early and ran shoulder to shoulder in Brooklyn, across the Manhattan Bridge, and through Manhattan.

Teferi prevailed in the end, setting an event record of 1:07:35 and breaking Molly Huddle’s record by six seconds. Cheptai was also under the old record in a time of 1:07:37. “I was being very careful throughout the race and watching my pace,” said Teferi through a translator. “I’m very happy to have won.” Her victory is all the more remarkable given that she briefly took a wrong turn in the race’s final 100 meters. Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal of Norway was third in 1:08:07. 

The men’s open division saw 22-year-old Rhonex Kipruto outlast a lead pack of four runners and break the tape in 1:00:30, just over a minute off the event record of 59:24, held by Haile Gebrselassie. Edward Cheserek of Kenya was second in 1:00:37 and Teshome Mekonen of Ethiopia finished third in 1:00:40.

“I feel good because I’ve come back again to win, and my first win was in New York,” said Kipruto, referring to his 2018 victory in the Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park. “It was not an easy win today because the course was very hilly. It was about the win, not about the time.”

Today’s events also included the return of the Times Square Kids Run at the United Airlines NYC Half for hundreds of youth ages 8–18. 

Barega upgrades to 3000m gold in Belgrade in one-two for Ethiopia

The Ethiopian domination of the men’s 3000m continued with an eighth gold and a second successive 1-2 in the event, Selemon Barega emerging victorious from a last-lap sprint with compatriot Lamecha Girma in the final morning session at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Four years ago in Birmingham in 2018, Barega had to settle for silver behind Yomif Kejelcha but that was when he was an 18-year-old junior still learning his craft.

Four years on, with an Olympic 10,000m gold and world 5000m silver back home, the 22-year-old had too much strength and speed when Girma attempted to launch an attack on the back straight of the final lap, crossing the line 0.25 clear in 7:41.38.

As in the Olympic steeplechase final in Tokyo last year, and over the barriers in the 2019 world final in Doha, Girma finished in the silver position again, clocking 7:41.63, with Marc Scott timing his effort to perfection to claim Britain’s first medal in Belgrade – and their first in the event since Rob Denmark’s bronze in Seville in 1991.

It was a slow burner of a contest, Barega moving to the front after the opening lap and leading the field to 800m in 2:04.20. At that point, however, he was content to drift back as Kenyans Daniel Ebenyo and Jacob Krop assumed the lead but without ever threatening to make a decisive break.

At the bell Barega was back in front with six others still in the hunt but none of them could match him – even Girma, who had got the better of him earlier in the season in Lievin and Torun.

“We came to Belgrade aiming to make history for Ethiopia,” said Barega. “I have had a good season, so I was ready both physically and mentally to fight for gold. With Girma we discussed the possibility of helping each other make the podium. Our tactic has paid off.

“It was a tough race in which we were focused mostly on the Kenyan guys,” he added. “I decided to lead the race from the beginning because many runners in this final are 1500m specialists. I just wanted to make the pace fast and comfortable. Then I slowed down to save some energy for the finishing kick. It was a good plan and another great experience for me.”

And so the Ethiopian with the awesome range found himself emulating his celebrated compatriots Haile Gebreslassie and Kenenisa Bekele as an Olympic champion at 10,000m and a world indoor winner at 3000m

Gebrselassie, of course, also struck world indoor gold as a 1500m runner in Maebashi in 1999 – as well as taking the 3000m crown in 1997, 1999 and 2003.

The other Ethiopian 3000m golds came from Bekele in 2006, Tariku Bekele in 2008, and Kejelcha in 2016 and 2018.

Scott took the bronze in 7:42.02, 0.95 ahead of Ebenyo in fourth, with Krop in fifth, Zouhair Talbi of Morocco in sixth and Spain’s Adel Mechaal seventh.

Sebatian Coe says sports must fight to keep Russia banned

Sports federations have set precedents by banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition following the invasion of Ukraine and they must remain firm to keep them in place, Sebastian Coe said Monday.

Coe is a two-time Olympic champion runner from Britain who is now the president of World Athletics, the governing body of track and field. He spoke four days before the start of the world indoor championships. Both Russians and Belarusians have been excluded from that event, which will be held in Serbia.

“There’s not a single sports federation out there that naturally wants to exclude teams or individuals. That’s not something that we came into the sport for,” Coe said during a video conference call. “But I think we have to recognize that this is such a game changer. And, yes, it will set precedents.”

Athletes and teams from Russia and Belarus have been kicked out of dozens of sports since Russian forces invaded Ukraine last month, with some soldiers entering via Belarus. The biggest events to be immediately impacted by the decision to ban Russians and Belarusians include the upcoming track championships, the figure skating world championships and soccer.

The bans from soccer, which include the Russian national team from World Cup qualifying and Russian club Spartak Moscow from the Europa League competition, have been challenged by the Football Union of Russia. The first appeal rulings are expected this week from the Court of Arbitration for Sport — the highest sports court in the world.

“We absolutely accept that this will set precedents and those precedents will have to be faced individually and sequentially and they will be with us for years,” Coe said. “We haven’t made this easy on ourselves but it is still the right decision.

“You cannot have aggressor nations, where you have so altered the landscape for the integrity of competition being untouched, while the actions of their governments have so influenced the integrity of sport elsewhere.”

Russia’s opponent in the World Cup qualifying playoffs, Poland, has said it won’t play against the country on March 24. The two next possible opponents, the Czech Republic and Sweden, have said the same.

Track and field had previously been the hardest on Russians following the country’s state-sponsored doping scandal dating back to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Russians now have to be individually vetted in order to compete in international track events. The Russian track federation has been banned since 2015.

“I don’t have a problem with (banning Russians) because that’s what we’ve done in our sport. I don’t see why that should be different in any other sport if you’re making that judgement on the integrity of the sport,” Coe said. “Goodness me, in football, you’ve already seen teams that decided they’re not going to play in playoff rounds.

“The impact is across the board. So they are going to need to remain really firm on this and do exactly what we’ve done.”

Rhonex Kipruto will lead Kenyan cast for New York Half Marathon

Rhonex Kipruto will be hoping for a bright start to the season when he lines up for the New York Half Marathon in United States of America on Sunday.

He is among elite athletes who will be battling it out for top honours in the prestigious race which has attracted a good number of entries.

The race will begin in Brooklyn at Prospect Park before taking runners across the East River via the Manhattan Bridge then head to Lower East Side, up to Midtown, through Times Square and conclude at Central Park.

Kipruto, who has been training in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County will be competing against his compatriots who include Edward Cheserek who has been training in Kaptagat and Stephen Sambu who is also in the US.

The trio will face stiff competition from Ethiopians Tariku Bekele, Birhanu Dare and Ashenafi Birhana, Galen Rupp and Shadrack Kipchirchir from USA among other top athletes.

In an interview with Nation Sport, Kipruto said he has trained well and since this is his first race this season, he wants to gauge his performance as he sets his eyes on the World Championships slated for July 16-24 in Eugene, USA.

“The race will be competitive but I will be out to gauge my performance as we start another season where I’m looking forward to a better one compared to last year. I have trained well but I can’t say that my training is 100 percent,” said Kipruto.

He revealed that last year he participated in various races but this year he wants to concentrate on preparing for the World Championships thus he will reduce the number of races he will feature in.

“Last year I participated in many races and I came to realise they were not of help and that’s why I want to run few races as I prepare to make the team that will be participating in World Championships in July,” he added.

Kipruto was a late inclusion in the Tokyo Olympics team for the 10,000m race after withdrawal of Geoffrey Kamworor which led to his dismal performance where he finished ninth in 27:52.78.

In the women's category, Irene Cheptai will be joined by two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat, Sharon Lokedi and Grace Kahura.

Cheptai, who is also starting her season revealed that she has been training well in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet and she just wants to run a good race as she also sets her sights on World Championships.

“I’m going into the race to just see how I will perform and with such a good field of athletes, I will be eyeing a good race. This is part of my preparations for global events like World Championships and Commonwealth Games,” said Cheptai who finished sixth at Tokyo Olympic Games in the 10,000m after timing 30:44.00.

The Kenyan athletes will be competing against Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi, USA’s Sara Hall, Charlotte Purdue among others. 

Pro Runner Ben Blankenship Believes High Mileage Is Overrated

Ben Blankenship of Oregon Track Club Elite believes there are other important ways to measure running success.

Hear me out: High mileage is overrated.

A couple months ago, I posted that on Instagram. Mostly because it’s true—I don’t think running high mileage is always the best way to reach your potential—and partially because I’m a guy who loves to stir the pot.

It definitely drummed up conversation. I received dozens of comments and messages, some defending mileage, some agreeing with me, but all coming to a similar conclusion: It depends on runners to learn what’s best for themselves.

What worked for me? I came from a low-mileage, high-intensity high school program. The Minnesota track season was only a few months long, due to weather and the popularity of winter sports. We didn’t have an indoor track season either. Outdoors we would race twice a week, go to state, and that would be it.

When I started my college career at the University of Minnesota, coach Steve Plasencia focused on longevity. He wanted us to have a long and prosperous career, even post-collegiately, so he never had us immediately reach for high mileage. Also, back in the early 2010s, not everyone had GPS watches. So when I return to my college running loops, I’m like, man, that used to feel longer than it actually is, because we never actually measured them.

When I began my professional career with the Oregon Track Club Elite in Eugene, coach Mark Rowland eased me into higher volume. Instead of getting stuck in the mentality of needing a certain amount of miles, I put the emphasis on how good my workout sessions were. It was all about being able to handle high intensity at high volume with low rest. 

For example, I remember one workout when I switched between four 1,000-meter repeats on a trail, eight 400-meter repeats on the track, then back to the trail for another four 1,000-meter repeats. I only had half each rep’s time to recover. Whenever I was able to complete those types of workouts feeling strong, I knew I was in good shape.

The philosophy worked. I saw plenty of success in the 1500 meters, qualifying for the 2016 Olympics and earning a spot in the final. 

After that Olympic cycle, I wanted to become a versatile athlete, able to run fast at any race distance. I already had so much quality work behind me that I thought, “What’s left to do?”

My answer at the time was more mileage. So from 2017 to 2019, I upped my weekly average from 75 to 100. I decided to test my new philosophy by chasing the 10,000-meter Olympic standard of 27:28.00, because I have a romantic view of the 10K. It’s poetry in laps.

The guys I trained with were all 100-mile-plus-week types, so I added six-mile afternoon doubles and longer cooldowns with them to prepare. I kept thinking how awesome it was to be a high-mileage runner. At the end of 2019, I got a little banged up with injuries. So to come back stronger, I doubled down on the mileage.

It worked for a while. I debuted over 10,000 meters with a 28:08.20 in August 2020. But I felt stiff, tired, and not very productive in my workout sessions—exactly the opposite of what my philosophy used to be.

Toward the end of 2020, the real injuries started. I hurt my Achilles and my plantar, and suffered a small tear in my hamstring. I eventually ended up with a stress fracture in my tibia in late spring 2021. 

As a result, my buildup to the Olympic Trials wasn’t great. I had almost zero on-the-ground training; I was either in the pool or on the bike. 

While I wasn’t as competitive as I had been in years past, I was amazed at my racing ability, making the semis despite not running much in my buildup. That was eye-opening. What was I doing to get my cardiovascular fitness up? What was I able to do neurologically without the pounding of running?

Now, I know that much of it has to do with how long I’ve been doing this. I have 18 years of running in me, week in and week out. That has allowed me to sit back and say, “Okay, what weaknesses do I need to focus on?” instead of worrying about an entire rounded-out training program. So I realized I don’t have to run high mileage—there are other ways to get better at running.

As a 33-year-old, my focus is to be athletic. After the Olympic Trials, I started to play basketball. I felt strong and powerful, and my range of motion was fluid and comfortable. I returned to training refreshed and ran a couple of good races. 

Not everyone is built for other sports or willing to risk running to play them. I remember my parents putting hockey skates on me and my ankles just not moving that way. But one easy way to stay athletic is to prioritize fast running. A lot of runners will throw strides in after a run when their body is already tired. But I propose making them the main focus sometimes. 

Get to the track, warm up for 15 to 20 minutes, put some spikes on, and prioritize moving quickly. Run efficiently and fast for 80 meters, the first 60 percent easier and the last 40 percent harder. Walk and jog the next 320 meters and do another. In total, do eight to 10. Think about using good form and pulling yourself forward off the ground. On a nice day, you can even find a turf field and kick your shoes off for some barefoot strides. Follow the same idea as before, but instead of measuring out meters, just run the diagonal across a soccer field and jog a lap for rest. 

Keep in mind, this is what I’ve learned throughout the course of my career. If you’re a beginner, you might get overwhelmed by the different perspectives out there. So my main advice is to be a student of the sport. Ask yourself: Why am I running these miles? What am I getting out of the work I’m putting in? Why am I doing this type of workout, this type of run, this type of cross-training?

If it makes sense for you to run higher mileage because you’re new to running and need to build a base, then do it. What high mileage means completely depends on the person; for some 40 is a lot, for others 100 is. But if you’re suffering for the sole purpose of suffering, then you’re doing it wrong. The goal is to improve yourself. Success is more likely to come if you focus on the purpose of your miles instead of the number of miles you run.

The 8 most common running injuries and why they happen

If you run consistently for long enough, there’s a good chance you’ll experience a running-related injury, and there’s also a good chance it’ll be one of these eight common problems. Whether it’s in your knees, legs, hips or feet, running injuries can be frustrating to deal with. Understanding why they happen and knowing what to look out for is the first step in preventing small niggles from becoming big problems.

Ankle sprains

While less common for road runners, those of you who like to put in their miles on the trails are at a higher risk for ankle injuries. An ankle sprain happens when you land on the outer part of your foot and roll your ankle over. Ankle sprains range in severity and usually result in symptoms like discolouration, pain, swelling, bruising and a limited range of motion.

The trouble is, once you’ve rolled your ankle once, you become more prone to rolling it again. Once you’ve given your ankle plenty of time to heal, it will be very important to strengthen the ligaments around your ankle to prevent spraining it again. A physiotherapist will be able to provide you with an appropriate strength training plan to prevent future injuries.

Hamstring injuries

Your hamstrings play an important role in your running stride, but if they are weak, tight or tired, they’ll be more prone to injuries. Many distance runners end up with hamstring strains that appear slowly over time, caused by small, repetitive tears in the muscle tissue.

Symptoms of a hamstring strain could include a dull pan in the upper part of the back of your leg, tenderness in the back of your leg or weakness or stiffness in your hamstring. Most hamstring injuries can be fixed with rest and a strength training program.

IT band syndrome

Your iliotibial (IT) band runs from your hip to your knee. Often mistaken for a muscle, your IT band is actually made up of connective tissue that stabilizes your knee when you’re walking or running. Unlike a muscle, the IT band can’t be stretched or strengthened, but you can stretch and strengthen the muscles around it.

IT band syndrome happens when your IT band rubs against your leg bone, creating friction. In many cases, this “tightness” of the IT band is caused by weak glute muscles, abdominals or hips. Symptoms usually include a sharp pain on the outside of your leg, often just above the knee, that typically gets worse when you bend your knee.

In most cases, treatment and prevention of IT band syndrome include strengthening your glutes, abdominals and hips to take the train off of your IT band.

Stress fractures

A stress fracture is a small, hairline crack that forms in your bone from repetitive stress or impact. Common places runners may experience a stress fracture are on the top of the foot, the heel or in the lower leg. The pain from this injury is often barely noticeable at first, but progresses over time to the point that you can even feel it at rest. You also may notice swelling, bruising or tenderness in the affected area.

If you think you have a stress fracture, you’ll need to see a doctor right away, who can use an x-ray to diagnose the injury. You will have to avoid putting any pressure on the injured area for a while, since it generally takes six to eight weeks for a stress fracture to heal.

Plantar fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of the thick layer of tissue on the bottom of your foot, called the plantar fascia. This tissue is heavily involved when you push off from the ground as you run, and can easily be over-stressed when you increase your mileage too quickly. Weak or tight calves can also put more stress on your plantar fascia.

Symptoms of plantar fasciitis typically include pain under your midfoot or heal (that often comes on gradually), a burning sensation on the bottom of your foot, pain that’s worse in the morning or pain after prolonged activity.

Plantar fasciitis can be difficult to get rid of, and often requires a combination of rest, massage, strength training for your lower legs and a gradual return to running is the best way to fix the problem and prevent it in the future.

Achilles tendonitis

Your Achilles is the tendon that connects your calf muscle to your heal, and can often become inflamed from repetitive activities like running. In most cases, Achilles tendonitis will flare up after you’ve increased your running volume or intensity.

It’s important to treat your Achilles right away when you begin to feel pain, because it increases your risk for rupturing your Achilles tendon, which requires surgery and months of recovery to fix. Common symptoms of Achilles tendonitis include a dull pain above your heel, swelling along the tendon, a warm feeling where your Achilles tendon is located or a limited range of motion when you try to flex your foot toward your shin.

Achilles tendonitis can be difficult to get rid of, so make sure you book an appointment with a physiotherapist to help you solve the problem.

Shin splints

Shin splints are one of the most common injuries for beginner runners, or for people who are returning to running after a layoff. Common symptoms include a dull pain on the front or inner part of your shin bone, mild swelling or tenderness in your shins and pain that gets worse as you run.

In most cases, shin splints will go away with adequate rest. To prevent them from happening, make sure you strengthen your lower legs and feet, and be careful to increase your mileage gradually to give your body time to adapt to the increased stress.

Runner’s knee

We’ve left this one to last because it is arguably the most common issue faced by runners. In fact, some studies suggest up to 50 per cent of all running injuries happen in the knees. Runner’s knee, or patellofemoral pain syndrome, generally refers to pain felt in the front of your knee or around your kneecap.

Symptoms of runner’s knee often include a dull pain in one or both knees that ranges from mild to very painful, pain that gets worse with prolonged activity or prolonged sitting and pain that worsens when doing other activities like walking up stairs, squatting or jumping.

Weakness in your hips and the muscles around your knees can put you at a greater risk for runner’s knee, so strengthening those areas can help get rid of the injury and prevent it in the future. Since knee pain can be caused by a variety of factors, you should see a physiotherapist or sports doctor to have it diagnosed, and to rule out other possible conditions.

Lenny Maughan expresses solidarity with Ukraine in his latest Strava art

Lenny Maughan is using Strava to show support for Ukraine. For his latest creation, the Picasso of Stava art ran nearly 90 miles (145 km) to “draw” a sunflower, which has long been a symbol of peace for the Eastern European country.

Maughan has become widely recognized in the running world for his impressive Strava creations, including his rendition of the artist Frida Kahlo and most recently, his tiger created in honour of the Lunar New Year. These works of art often require hours of preparation and many miles of running to complete.

His sunflower run took 89.5 miles (144 km) and more than 20 hours to complete, on top of five hours of planning before setting off on his run. To make the feat even more impressive, Maughan lives in San Francisco, which is known for its hilly streets, and in total, he gained nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in elevation throughout the entire run.

Runners in Canada and around the world have been using running to express their support for the people of Ukraine with the Ukraine virtual running challenge. 

New Balance to launch new mental health initiative

’New Balance will be launching a collaboration with the Los Angeles-based apparel company, District Vision, which features a collection of specialized apparel and footwear. District Vision also offers a series of online courses aimed toward providing customers with strategies designed to increase mental health awareness through running.

“The goal is to redefine what a collaboration between a performance and a fashion brand can accomplish,” says District Vision co-founder Max Vallot. Both brands will aim to offer long-term benefits beyond the physical results of running.There will also be five online courses offered that focus on education and aim to help runners explore their minds. The first of these courses is “Runners Heart”, which will feature Team New Balance athletes and U.S. Olympians Emily Sisson and Brenda Martinez on what they do as professional runners to get over mental limitations. 

Another course is “MindDiscovery,” offered by New Balance ambassador, rapper and mental health awareness advocate, GaTa. The rapper chats about his recent introduction to the sport of running and how it has shifted the way he now approaches mental health. All courses are now available online on the District Vision website, with each course available for CDN $12.

All apparel is organically hand-drawn by renowned Polish artist Filip Pagowski, featuring mindful aesthetics to make up a functional and artistic uniform for everyday performance. The NB x DV collection is made up of two colourways of the carbon-plated FuelCell RC Elite v2 and an array of custom apparel pieces. 

The collection will be available exclusively at districtvision.com on Thurs, March 17, and the collection will launch globally on newbalance.com on Thurs, March 24.ve always said that I only run uphill to get to the downhill.

It is undoubtedly my favourite part of trail running: zooming downward, letting gravity take the wheel, yelping Mario Kart noises with every near-stumble. As with all things in life, you don’t get to enjoy the reward without putting in the work to get there, and the faster you can get up, the faster you get to the fun part.

Does Yoga Improve Running Performance? Here's The Science.

Stand up with your feet under your hips. Bring your hands together in front of your chest. Breathe in, and as you exhale release all of the tension you brought into this article. Open yourself to the possibilities of the paragraphs ahead.

Now buy a friend a gift from all of our sponsors.

What? No? Oh I think I got mindfulness confused with hypnosis.

I think many athletes feel like yoga practices can be a whole lot of psychological hooey, an unproven gumbo of faux-spirituality and stretching that is more placebo than prescription. "Give me the evidence," they'll say. When presented with people saying how much better it makes them feel, that becomes more anecdata to incinerate in a bonfire. Double-blind controls or GTFO.

I used to lump yoga and hypnosis and healing crystals into the same hooey pile. But when I was in college, before I became a coach, I decided to take an intro yoga class for a Physical Education credit. In case you were wondering, that's what six figures of student-loan debt went to. Shockingly, that very expensive yoga class may have been the most important experience I had in college.

I sucked at it. But with time I got a bit more proficient. I learned to control my anxiety, first related to the class itself, then outside of class. And that coincides with the window when my running started improving too.

Now, I have no idea what that was measuring. I am so susceptible to the placebo effect that if you gave me a sugar pill with confidence, I'd get high as a kite and maybe be able to read minds. At the very least, the yoga class opened my mind to the potential benefits of a focused practice.

While I fell away from yoga practice over time, I have seen plenty of athletes use yoga to complement their running schedule and have great success. So what are we seeing? Correlation? Causation? A shared sugar-pill delusion? Let's break it down into its component parts before considering the few studies on yoga specifically.

Stretching

Yoga can mean a lot of different activities, but most of the movements involve some sort of stretching. A 2012 article in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy laid out the basics: stretching generally focuses on lengthening the musculotendinous unit, increasing the length between the muscle origin and insertion. Muscle length has an inverse relationship with muscle tension/stiffness, a way to describe biomechanical and neuromuscular factors that affect how muscles contract (this book excerpt from Plyometric Anatomy has more).

Now imagine the tension like a trampoline. Too little tension, and you could picture flopping down lazily and having little energy return. Too much tension, and you'd fall on what amounts to a brick wall. Each athlete will likely have an optimal level for injury risk and performance that varies a ton by the person and over time.

To summarize the numerous studies, the basic conclusion is that stretching before activity reduces running economy, like kids playing on a used trampoline, wishing their parents didn't spend six figures on college yoga classes. A 2015 review study in the Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism journal pegged pre-activity static stretching as a 3.7-percent reduction in subsequent running economy. Meanwhile, dynamic stretching improved performance slightly. That study found no change in injury rates. A 2017 review study in Research in Sports Medicine found no settled science on whether post-activity stretching affects performance. The jury is also out on injury risk.

At the very least, the yoga class opened my mind to the potential benefits of a focused practice.

Notably, most of those studies measure basic stretches in a lab for force-generating muscles. Maybe flow or core-oriented stretches would have different outcomes, more like the dynamic stretches. Plus there is variance across studies and for individual participants within studies. That raises the big question of studies generally: what are we actually measuring?

A good example might be this 2009 study in the Journal of Strength And Conditioning Research, which found that collegiate distance runners who were less flexible tended to be more economical. Read that together with research that has posited that flexibility has a large genetic component, and that genetically inflexible athletes may have better economy. Possibly a genetically inflexible athlete could stretch and still be rather inflexible, yet with good running economy (or maybe not). So maybe we're measuring individual genetic predisposition and responses rather than uniform physiological rules. It probably benefits older athletes more as well, since range of motion can decrease over time.Strength

Yoga often includes bodyweight-strength elements that could play a role in performance. You can think of the mechanisms without me listing them out. Every PT says you need to activate your glutes, and yoga is all about those buns, babyyy. Pros do core work, and I wouldn't be surprised if yogis plank in their sleep. Yoga could theoretically strengthen everything that matters and many of the things that don't.

Maybe a good way to isolate that unique brand of strength is by looking at pilates, which seems a lot like yoga but without as much stretching. A 2018 study in the PLoS One journal found that pilates improved 5K performance by over a minute more than a control condition during a 12-week training program. Note: there were no results reported on the status of those buns.

That study could be measuring something else too. The participants only did two sessions of running a week, so maybe pilates just filled in some major aerobic and fitness gaps that could have been filled in with running or cross training. Or maybe I should stop being such a buzzkill.

Numerous studies support different types of strength work for running economy improvements and injury prevention. Whether yoga overlaps with that would probably require more studies on specific approaches, and who has time for that when you can watch season 2 of Fleabag for the eighth time? Hot Priest is the gift that keeps on giving. And that ending? Trust me, it's worth it.

Psychology

There are also components of mindfulness, brain chemistry and social support that could play a major role in possible yoga benefits. For example, this 2014 study from the Psychology of Consciousness journal found that a yoga and mindfulness intervention in a division 1 NCAA sports team resulted in greater mindfulness, greater goal-directed energy and less perceived stress.

Let's just take it as a given that there will be a slight mental benefit for people that enjoy yoga, maybe a slight detriment for people that don't enjoy it and definitely a major catastrophe for people that are allergic to Lulu pants.

That's backed up by this 2015 systematic review in the Journal of Clinical Sports Psychology that found mindfulness had significant benefits across the literature. Let's just take it as a given that there will be a slight mental benefit for people that enjoy yoga, maybe a slight detriment for people that don't enjoy it and definitely a major catastrophe for people that are allergic to Lulu pants.

Give Me the Yoga Science

Somewhat surprisingly, I can't find definitive studies on yoga practice and running performance. Maybe I'm missing something, but even if there were performance studies, it would probably depend heavily on the type of yoga practice and it would be difficult to make broadly applicable conclusions.

A 2006 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that participants assigned to do brief yoga exercises improved performance over a control group. There were 11 entry-level yoga asana positions: mountain pose, asana 2, forward bend, lunge, plank, staff, upward facing dog, downward facing dog, lunge return, mountain pose return and breath of fire.

But and please read this sentence slowly the yoga group improved less than the group that stood around in a circle for nine minutes and screamed motivational phrases at each other. The example given in the article is: "You're the definition of speed!" I just took a DNA test and it turns out I am 100-percent in love with that study.

Hot yoga could have additional benefits, but again not too much on runners specifically. A 2018 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research had 10 international-caliber field-hockey players do six days of hot yoga and they had a five-percent increase in blood-plasma volume and a slight speed increase at ventilatory threshold.

A 2012 study found that yoga practice increased adherence to other forms of exercise in previously sedentary adults. Maybe that's relevant. I'm really grasping at straws here.

Hey, while we're looking for scientific studies, this one from 2010 says it could improve male sexual function and this one says it could improve female sexual function. This is what happens when you search for "yoga and performance."Putting It All Together

My hypothesis is that the strength and mindfulness (and heat if applicable) components of yoga are likely helpful for many athletes. The stretching element likely depends heavily on genetics and practice type. I used the word "hypothesis" because it sounds better than "throwing darts at a guess board."

Tons of athletes swear by yoga, and I think they are almost certainly right for them. Yoga can provide strength, it can make you aware of imbalances, it can improve body awareness and body image. That's great, and if you are looking for a change, consider adding a yoga practice a couple of times a week, especially if you have dealt with injuries or burnout. Some of the athletes I coach swear by Fightmaster Yoga, which has free videos on Youtube. Or even better, join a class for the social support and guidance. Monitor how you feel over a couple months and make changes as needed.

But way more important than that performance stuff, yoga can make some people happier. If yoga makes you happy, I promise that it will be good for your running life no matter what any study says.

If we're thinking about raw performance variables, adding 10 easy miles per week while staying happy and healthy is probably going to give you a bigger boost. But way more important than that performance stuff, yoga can make some people happier. If yoga makes you happy, I promise that it will be good for your running life no matter what any study says.

Does running prevent heart attacks?

Many runners believe their daily miles give them a free pass to eat whatever they want, but research shows if you’re concerned about your heart health, you have to be mindful of what you eat. While runners can (and should) include less-healthy foods as a part of their diet, they should still focus on eating well to avoid putting themselves at risk for heart attacks.

Running doesn’t prevent heart attacks

Yes, regular exercise will lower your risk for heart attacks, but research shows your diet has a much greater role to play. Consider this study, published last year in the European Heart Journal, which showed lifelong male endurance athletes older than 40 had increased markers doctors use to predict heart attacks, including an increased amount of plaque in their heart arteries and scarring around their heart muscles, compared to their relatively sedentary counterparts.

Another study, published in the BMJ Journals in 2018, showed that out of 798 asymptomatic and seemingly healthy master athletes, 10 per cent had more than 70 per cent blockage of the arteries leading to their hearts. Finally, a 2017 study published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise found that men over 60 who had completed between 27 and 171 marathons had enough plaque in their arteries to increase their risk for heart attacks.

All of this evidence shows that while endurance training can improve other risk factors for heart attacks, it does not appear to reduce the buildup of plaque in your arteries. That is a job for your diet.

Runners: eat with your heart in mind

Heart attacks occur when plaques that build up in your arteries break off. This causes bleeding, which eventually leads to a blood clot that prevents blood flow to the heart. Exercise helps reduce your risk for heart attacks by making the plaque more stable (therefore less likely to break off), but your diet is what prevents plaques from forming in the first place.

As a runner, you burn a lot of calories during your training, so naturally, you’re going to eat more to fuel your activity level. If you replace the calories you lose with lots of sugar, too much meat, or other less-healthy choices, you are far more likely to have plaque build-up in your arteries.

To prevent or reduce the risk for plaque build-up, all runners should follow a heart-healthy diet that’s high in anti-inflammatory foods like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts and other heart-healthy fats and oils. Here are a few examples of some heart-healthy foods runners can add to their grocery carts:

Black beans

Salmon and tuna

Olive oil

Walnuts and almonds

Edamame

Sweet potatoes

Oranges

Dark, leafy greens

Barley

Oats

Flaxseed

Yogurt

Cherries and blueberries

This doesn’t mean that runners can’t enjoy other foods like meat, sugar and refined carbohydrates, but remember to eat those foods in moderation to keep your heart healthy.

What does your running shoe wear pattern tell you?

Wasn’t it Forrest Gump who said that there’s an awful lot you can tell about a person by their shoes? Your running shoes can tell a pretty good story of your running gait and how and where your body makes an impact with the ground. And your gait can tell you the areas of your body you need to work on to strengthen your stride. When buying a new pair of running shoes, your best bet is to read the outsole on your current pair to get an idea of what to look for in your next shoe.

The first step is to look at the wear pattern on a pair of your old running shoes; the more recently they’ve been used, the better (but they should be well used). Don’t use a pair that you walk in, as walking is a different motion to running and will create a different wear pattern, making it hard to get a good read on what’s going on with your gait.

The heel-striker

If your shoes are completely worn down at the back of the heel, it’s a sign that you are overstriding (landing in front of your body). You may want to try a pair of shoes with a lower drop, without an elevated heel as a technique to help you stop over-striding,  which can develop a more natural stride. Another way you can combat heel-striking is by not letting your elbows swing forward past your hips when running. 

If there’s more wear on the inside (medial side) of your heel, you may want to consider a stability shoe that helps prevent overpronation. The opposite is supination, in which you’d see more wear on the outside heel. Most of the major running brands don’t make a specific shoe for supination but a majority of supinators wear a high cushioned shoe to absorb the impact of the ground.

The midfoot-striker

This is the most popular technique for runners. If there’s wear and tear right down the middle of the shoe, it’s usually a sign that you are wearing the right pair. A midfoot strike allows your body to absorb the impact better, equally distributing your body weight and allowing you to run more efficiently.

When buying a new pair, midfoot strikers have the luxury to stick with what they are wearing or to try a mid-to-lightweight shoe to optimize their speed on training runs.

The forefoot striker

A forefoot strike may seem efficient and fast, but it is the least common running foot strike as it’s unnatural for runners. If there’s tons of wear around the toe area, it’s a sign that you are a forefoot striker. This strike can be commonly described as running on your toes and is prone to cause tight calves or Achilles issues. Those who have a forefoot strike are recommended to wear shoes with a higher drop, which is the difference in millimeters between the heel and toe, to alleviate calf or Achilles pain.

Next time you are at your local running store, try on several pairs. Bring your old pair of shoes with you to give the salesperson an understanding of your stride, and a frame of reference for what you need in your next pair. Then buy the one that feels the most comfortable. 

Canadian Olympians Malindi Elmore and Natasha Wodak prepare for their first Boston Marathon

Two of Canada’s best marathoners are currently training together to tackle their first Boston Marathon. Malindi Elmore and Natasha Wodak hold the two fastest times ever run by Canadian women over the marathon.

They also are the top-ever placing Canadian women in that event in a non-boycotted Olympics, finishing 9th and 13th at last summer’s Games.

St. John's native Kate Bazeley, who made her World Marathon Majors debut three months ago in Chicago, is the other Canadian participant.

Placing 13th in two minutes 32.41 seconds went beyond Wodak's expectations for her Olympic marathon debut. The 40-year-old Vancouver resident spent "hours and hours" discussing a race plan with Elmore, 41, of Kelowna, B.C., who was confident the pair could finish inside the top eight. Elmore placed ninth in 2:30:59.

"To say I am excited to race the BOSTON MARATHON is an understatement! This field is absolutely LIT," Wodak said in a tweet. "Honoured to be on the start list with these incredible ladies. And so happy I get to do this with my pal Malindi Elmore."

Bazeley, 37, placed 16th in the elite women's field in Chicago on Oct. 10 in 2:36.46, 11 seconds short of her personal-best time.

"Really excited to be included in this bonkers field! let's see how marathon training in the winter unfolds in Newfoundland," she tweeted Tuesday.

But even these pros need some advice to conquer their Boston debuts. 

What is the purpose of recovery runs?

Recovery runs are perhaps the most misunderstood part of a runner’s training program. These relatively short, very easy-paced runs often get tossed aside as “junk miles,” but they are anything but. They may not be as exciting as an interval workout or as tiring as a long run, but these sessions play a key role in your training program and will make you a fitter, faster runner.

Recovery runs: not really for recovery

The term “recovery run” is a bit of a misnomer. Many runners and coaches talk about how these easy sessions increase blood flow to help clear lactic acid and other waste products from your legs that built up during your last workout, but this isn’t really true.

We know now that even after the hardest of workouts, it generally takes no more than an hour for your body’s lactic acid levels to return to normal. We also know that lactic acid isn’t really to blame for muscle fatigue, and that doing light activity won’t really help repair your muscles. In other words, recovery runs don’t actually do much to promote recovery.

5 reasons recovery runs are still important

So if recovery runs don’t really improve recovery, what’s the point? There are a number of reasons these shorter, easy sessions should have a place in your training plan, both from a performance and health perspective.

They improve your fitness

It may sound counter-intuitive, but recovery runs improve your fitness almost as much as your interval workouts, tempos and long runs do. How? By forcing you to run when your muscles are already tired.

Your biggest training adaptations happen when you’ve surpassed the point of initial fatigue — when you’re challenging your body to go beyond what it’s comfortable with. Ideally, you should do your recovery runs within 24 hours of your last hard workout or long run when you haven’t yet fully recovered so that you start your run in an already-fatigued state. This will allow you to force a greater amount of adaptation, without over-working your body, since you’re running at a very easy pace.

Recovery runs are also an opportunity to teach your body how to run in a fatigued state, which is crucial when you’re entering the final few kilometres of your goal race. The more you practice doing this, the more efficient your body will become at using energy in the future.

They improve your form

OK, so recovery runs themselves don’t improve your form, but their short and easy nature makes them the perfect time to practice good running form, since you don’t have to focus on other things like trying to hit specific paces. You don’t have to think about your form the entire time you’re running, but spending one minute every kilometre focussing on different aspects of your form, like your stride, your breathing or your arm carriage, can help you run more efficiently in your workouts later on.

If you truly want to take advantage of this aspect of a recovery run, make an appointment with a running-specific physiotherapist or other sports medicine practitioner to have a gait analysis done, so you know which parts of your form you should focus on the most, and how to do so safely and effectively.

They increase your weekly mileage

It’s important for runners to remember that it’s your overall training plan, not just specific workouts, that ultimately lead to improved performance. When you’re training for a longer event like a half-marathon or marathon, running enough weekly mileage is one of the most important factors for success. A recovery run is an opportunity to add to your weekly mileage without putting too much extra stress on your body since the volume and intensity are fairly low.

They improve your body’s ability to use fat

You have a nearly endless supply of energy available from fat, but in order to break down fat for fuel, you need oxygen. When you’re doing a recovery run at a pace that allows you to breathe easily (and get enough oxygen), your body is able to use fat as an energy source. Over time, your body will gradually become more efficient at using fat for fuel, which will be hugely beneficial during long races like half-marathons and marathons.

They improve your mental health

It’s no secret that running can help improve your mental health, but not all runs are created equal. Easy runs that don’t leave you exhausted at the end of them are arguably the most enjoyable and tend to have the greatest positive impacts in terms of stress relief and providing that sought-after “runner’s high.”

Recovery run mistakes

There’s no doubt recovery runs provide a lot of benefits, but many runners miss out on them because they don’t do these runs properly. Avoid making these mistakes if you want to maximize the positive effects of recovery runs:

Running too fast. You should be running slow enough that you can maintain a conversation, and shouldn’t be tired at the end of the run.

Running too far. The length of your recovery runs will be relative depending on the rest of your training, but again, they shouldn’t be so long that they induce fatigue.

Watch for hills. A very hilly route can turn an easy run into a challenging run if you’re not careful. If there are hills on your route, make sure you manage your effort on the ascent to avoid turning your run into a hill workout in disguise.

Take a break. If you’re feeling particularly beat up after a hard workout, consider swapping your easy run for a cross-training session. This way, you can still get the aerobic benefits while reducing the stress on your body, which will lower your risk for injuries.

Berlin champion Guye Adola and Hamburg winner Tsegaye Mekonnen are set to run in Hamburg

Former Hamburg winner Tsegaye Mekonnen and reigning Berlin Marathon champion Guye Adola are among the top runners for the Haspa Marathon Hamburg on 24th April. The two Ethiopians feature personal bests of sub 2:05 as do three other runners on the start list. Guye Adola heads this list with a time of 2:03:46. Organizers announced athletes of the men’s elite field today. The women’s race will feature the debut marathon of Ethiopia’s 10k world record holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw, which was announced a fortnight ago.

Organizers of the Haspa Marathon Hamburg expect a total of 20,000 runners including races at shorter distances on 24th April. Online entry is still possible at: www.haspa-marathon-hamburg.de

It was back in 2017 when Guye Adola ran a sensational marathon debut in Berlin. Clocking an unofficial world debut record of 2:03:46 which remains his PB he came surprisingly close to beating Kenya’s superstar Eliud Kipchoge. Adola was even leading the Olympic Champion until around 40 k before Kipchoge finally managed to overhaul him and win by just 14 seconds.

Injuries, health problems and Covid 19 restrictions stopped him from competing a couple of times in the past few years. However Guye Adola then came back to Berlin to beat Ethiopia’s superstar and pre-race favorite Kenenisa Bekele comfortably in September last year. In very warm conditions the 31 year-old clocked 2:05:45.

Having coped so well against the fastest marathon runners on the planet Guye Adola could be in a position to take away the course record from Eliud Kipchoge. The Kenyan won his debut race at the distance in Hamburg in 2013 and set the current mark of 2:05:30.

While Guye Adola has never raced in Hamburg Tsegaye Mekonnen is a former winner of the Haspa Marathon Hamburg. The 26 year-old clocked 2:07:26 in 2017 when he took the race, denying the 2012 Olympic Champion Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda by just five seconds. Tsegaye Mekonnen had made headlines before when he triumphed at the Dubai Marathon in 2014. As an 18 year-old he achieved a time of 2:04:32 which still stands as the unofficial world junior record today (World Athletics does not recognize junior records in the marathon).

There are four other runners on the start list of the Haspa Marathon Hamburg who have run faster than Kipchoge’s course record. Kinde Atanaw ran 2:03:51 when he took the Valencia Marathon in 2019 while fellow-Ethiopian Abebe Degefa was fourth in that race with 2:04:51. Barselius Kipyego of Kenya showed fine form last autumn when he ran 2:04:48 for fourth place in Paris. Eritrea’s Afewerki Berhane, who has a personal best of 2:05:22, is also going for Germany’s biggest spring marathon.

Among a number of debutants Stephen Kissa might be capable of a surprise. The Ugandan ran a very fast half marathon time of 58:56 in New Delhi in 2020.

More information about the Haspa Marathon Hamburg and online entry is available at: Haspa-Marathon-Hamburg.de.

Marathon workout: the race simulation long run, Experienced marathoners can get more out of their long run with goal pace intervals to mimic the specific demands of race day

The long run is arguably the most important part of marathon training. While beginners will mostly use the weekly staple to slowly build up mileage so they can handle the marathon distance, more experienced marathoners will use a few of their long runs to simulate race day. By using your long run to practice your race pace and nutrition strategy, you can build confidence heading into race day.

How to simulate your race during your long run

There are a few factors to consider when using your long run to simulate race day. The first is pacing. The goal here is not to do your entire long run at your goal race pace (that would be overkill and likely lead to burnout before race day arrives), but instead to include some race-pace intervals during your run to mimic the feelings of late-race fatigue.

For example, an experienced marathoner could use the middle of their long run to run three to six kilometres at their goal race pace. Doing so once or twice (with five to 10 minutes of easy jogging in between) will give you practice both running at your goal pace and continuing to run afterward when you’re more fatigued. Alternatively, you could run intervals of two minutes at marathon pace followed by two minutes at easy run pace for six or eight kilometres in the middle of your run to achieve a similar effect.

The second factor to consider is nutrition. The long run is your opportunity to practice and perfect your nutrition strategy heading into race day, and when you combine this with race-pace intervals, you’ll get a much better idea of what works for you and what doesn’t.

Finally, depending on the marathon you’re preparing for, you may want to plan a route that simulates the course you’ll be running on. If your goal race has some rolling hills, for example, it’s a good idea to do your race simulation long run on similar terrain.

When should you do a race simulation long run?

It’s not necessary to turn every one of your long runs into a race simulation (and in fact, that is inadvisable). In the first several weeks of marathon training, all of your long runs should be done at an easy pace as you build up your mileage. Race simulation long runs are best saved for later in your training cycle, when your fitness level is higher.

You also shouldn’t do these every week, since they can be quite taxing. Once or twice in your training cycle is likely adequate to build your confidence and give you a good idea of where you’re at in terms of your readiness for race day. Additionally, on the weeks that you plan to do a race simulation, you may need to modify your other workouts (or eliminate one entirely) to give your body more recovery time.

Not for beginners

We said this already, but it’s worth bringing up again. If you’re training for your first marathon, you’re probably better off not doing this type of workout at all. When you’ve never done the marathon distance before, the long run is there to help you gradually build up your mileage so you can handle the distance on race day. Adapting to the increase in distance every week will already be hard enough work for your body, and it will likely do more harm than good to stress it even more by adding intervals into the mix.

If, however, it’s your third or fourth marathon and you’re looking for a way to give yourself an extra edge, the race simulation long run is the perfect way to prepare for the specific demands of race day.

Acceptance and commitment therapy: mental flexibility training for runners, what's more important for runners — mental flexibility or mental toughness?

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has long been used to treat anxiety, depression and other stress-related mental health issues, but athletes are increasingly turning to the strategy to improve their mental performance in competitions. While mental toughness is often regarded as being necessary for athletic performance, ACT promotes mental flexibility instead, which many experts argue is more effective on game (or race) day.

Mental toughness vs. mental flexibility

The concept of mental toughness is fairly straightforward: having a strong mind means you can push through pain and adversity to accomplish a goal. Whether you’re fighting lactic acid buildup as you sprint to the finish line in a mile race, or you’re hitting the wall at kilometer 35 of a marathon, a mentally-tough runner will be able to get through the hard parts to still cross the finish line under their goal time.

As most runners know, this often isn’t the way things go. Even a very mentally tough runner will still have a race that won’t go to plan, whether that’s caused by factors that are within or outside of their control. Runners who have a high degree of mental toughness will still, at least sometimes, fall short of their goals.

This often leaves runners frustrated, wondering why they couldn’t just “tough it out” or “push through the pain,” or even wondering if they were really as mentally tough as they thought they were. These thoughts can lead to a downward spiral of negative self-talk, potentially impacting future workouts and races.

Mental flexibility, just as it sounds, is a far less rigid way of thinking. Rather than trying to ignore your thoughts, feelings and emotions, it encourages you to stay in contact with the present moment by welcoming all sensations, both positive and negative, in order to continue to pursue your goal. These feelings, however, don’t control you. A mentally flexible runner does not allow their short-term emotions (like the negative thoughts that creep in during the last 10 kilometers of a marathon) to dictate how they choose to act.

Acceptance and commitment therapy

Mental flexibility has its roots in ACT, which encourages people to embrace their thoughts and feelings, rather than trying to fight them, ignore them or feel guilty about them. This is important for runners because let’s face it: things aren’t always going to go the way you planned.

In times of high stress or hardship (like the last mile of a 5K or the middle of a hard workout), it’s easy to believe our thoughts and emotions are facts, but they are really just a reflection of how we are feeling, not reality. By acknowledging negative thoughts and emotions during a tough workout or race, you can put yourself back in the driver’s seat, effectively removing the control they have over you.

For example, you’re part-way up a tough climb during a workout or race and you think to yourself “I’m not good at hills.” Your brain is telling you this because in the moment, running up that hill feels very hard. If you believe that thought as a fact, you’ll be more likely to stop trying or give up. ACT teaches you to address that negative thought and create some distance from it, which puts you back in control and helps you to keep going.

Stay present, and let your values guide you

So how do you improve your mental flexibility? Just like with physical training, mental training takes time, consistency and patience. For runners, there are two key ways you can use ACT to improve your mental performance:

Stay present. One of the hallmarks of race-day anxiety is the tendency to focus on the future. You’re feeling tired now, so how will you make it to the finish line later? The temperature is hotter than you expected, and what if you can’t handle the heat? Part of ACT is focusing on the moment you’re in and not worrying about what’s to come. In other words, tackle a race one kilometer at a time, instead of thinking about how much farther you have to go.

Be clear on your values. As runners, we tend to fixate heavily on our running goals, and while having goals is a good thing, they can sometimes cause us to lose focus on why we’re actually out running. Are you only on the startline because you want to run a new PB, or is it really because you want to challenge yourself, be a part of something bigger than you or have a great experience?

Your values are the foundation of your goals, but are far less rigid. Focusing on those values will help you redirect your mind when your performance goals go sideways and allow you to put your result into perspective. Doing so will not only decrease your pre-race anxiety and help you enjoy the experience more, but it will prevent one bad workout or race from affecting future performances.

The bottom line

All of us will have moments during runs, workouts and races when things get hard and negative thoughts begin to cloud our brains. Being mentally flexible will help you to acknowledge those thoughts and emotions (rather than trying to ignore them) without allowing them to take over. This will reduce your anxiety and ultimately help you perform better.

ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon returns in December

Race organizers Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), today announced that the ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon will take place on December 17, 2022. ADSC is also delighted to confirm that ADNOC will continue to be the Official Title Sponsor and Energy partner of the flagship event for the next three editions.

Building on the success of the 2021 race, which attracted over 12,000 runners alongside a highly competitive elite field, ADSC and ADNOC have committed to grow event participation locally by supporting and inspiring new and existing runners, with the long-term goal of doubling the size of the UAE’s running community by 2025.

Running events

This new approach will focus on creating a culture of participation and inclusivity, providing the community with more running events and opportunities throughout the year.

Speaking at the Leaders Sport Business Summit in Abu Dhabi, Aref Al Awani, General Secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports Council, said, “We are pleased to announce our strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and looking forward to our distinguished partnership to continue supporting the success of the ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon. The Abu Dhabi Marathon has risen to a global level and has become one of the important sporting events inspiring platforms for awareness, education and consolidation of the importance of sport in the daily life of our people and residents. Last year’s elite race saw fierce competition from an incredible field of international talent. This year, we look forward to welcoming the stars of the sport back to Abu Dhabi and reinforcing the capital’s status as a world-class sporting destination.”

ADNOC’s Group Human Capital Director, Dr. Saif Al Nasseri said, “We are extremely proud to renew our partnership with Abu Dhabi Sports Council. As we look to build on the success of the past three races, we are committed to making the marathon accessible to a wider audience, providing support and training to runners of all abilities and encouraging our community to start their health and wellness journey with us.”

Training sessions

Working in partnership, ADSC and ADNOC will deliver a series of community initiatives, including a year-round calendar of official training sessions, workshops and year-round race preparation events, providing a structured program that caters for all levels, from first time fun runners to competitive athletes.

In addition, the ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon runner and spectator experience will be further enhanced, with active community consultation helping to shape every aspect of the race weekend, to ensure it retains its status as one of the region’s leading marathons and the largest and most inclusive mass participation event in the UAE.

Registrations for all event distances are now open for the fourth edition of the ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon.

2022 Lewa Marathon goes in-person after two-year hiatus

Athletes and fans from Kenya and beyond can look forward to a fun-filled June after the planned return of the Lewa Marathon. 

The 23-year-old race, which has been held virtually for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be staged on June 25 at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. 

Chief executive officer of the conservancy, Mike Watson, expects the event to be action-packed and to intensify its efforts towards the fight against climate change. 

"While still providing an exciting and exhilarating marathon experience, the Lewa Safari Marathon 2022 aims to be the most environmentally friendly event Lewa has hosted to date,” Watson said. 

He described the marathon as an example of the role sports can play in enhancing environmental change. 

"This drive is inspired by the urgent need to reduce our carbon footprint, which aligns with our ethos and standards as we strive to be a model for biodiversity and ecosystem preservation," he said. 

Watson was speaking during the launch of the annual marathon, which will be sponsored by various institutions, including Safaricom, Huawei, Kenya Breweries Limited, and Tetra Pak. 

Speaking at the same event, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa echoed Watson's comments, saying sports has the ability to transform people's lives for the better. 

"The Lewa Safari Marathon brings together three things that we really care about as a company; Sports, Community, and Conservation. We remain committed to supporting the marathon because we have seen how it continues to transform lives and that speaks to the essence of our purpose,” Ndegwa said. 

Huawei's deputy CEO for public affairs, Fiona Pan, said: "Environmental sustainability is a key pillar of Huawei’s sustainability strategy and that is why this marathon is and continues to be a key activity that we support together with our partner Safaricom.”

Team Kenya coach Janeth Jepkosgei hopeful of Kenya's chances in World Indoor event

Team Kenya coach Janeth Jepkosgei is confident that her young charges will win some medals for the country at the World Athletics Indoor Championships starting Friday at Štark Arena, Belgrade, Serbia.

The 38-year-old, who last competed for Kenya at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, said that though she can’t predict the type of the medal they will get, something nice will come from the Balkans.

Jepkosgei is in a team of 10 athletes and six officials that was to left at 11.55pm on Tuesday aboard an Emirates flight for the three-day championships.

“You can tell from their body language in training that they are hungry for results. They are simply happy free souls,” said Jepkosgei, the 2007 World 800m champion and 2008 Beijing Olympics 800m silver medallist.

Though a different experience virtually for all the members, this being an indoor championship event, Jepkosgei said that she has instilled the essence of being courageous and tough at that particular stage.

“They need not to be scared and should fight to the finishing tape,” said Jepkosgei, who described her team as Kenya’s future stars.

“I have told them that they have a long and bright future ahead, hence being in the team should motivate them. They deserve to represent Kenya, “explained Jepkosgei, who is indebted to Athletics Kenya for giving her a chance to handle the national team for the first time.

“This is another responsibility and stage in my athletics career after having hang up my spikes from competitive running back in 2015. I am happy but I am in the process of learning,” said Jepkosgei.

Kenya only won one medal- bronze by Bethwell Birgen in men’s 3,000m-from the last 2018 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The last time Kenya won gold in the men’s event was in 2014 in Sopot, Poland where Caleb Mwangangi reigned supreme in the 3,000m.

Hellen Obiri (3,000m) and Pamela Jelimo (800m) won last for the country in 2012 Istanbul, Turkey.

Team captain and Africa’s 100m record holder, Ferdinand Omanyala and his teammates have promised a good show with the sprinter targeting a sub 6.57 seconds in the men’s 60m.

The 2018 World Under-20 5,000m champion Beatrice Chebet is eyeing a podium place in the women’s 3,000m alongside Collins Kipruto in the men’s 800m.

Kipruto will partner with World Under-20 800m bronze medallist Noah Kibet in the 800m event.

Chebet, 22, said she is eager to emulate Obiri on her maiden major tour as a senior in the women’s 3,000m where she will team up with prodigy Edinah Jebitok.

Jebitok, who competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, will also double up in the 1,500m.

World Relay 2x2x400m silver medalist Naomi Korir makes the women’s 800m team that also has Eglay Nalianya.

Abel Kipsang, who represented Kenya at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is a lone ranger in men’s 1,500m, while Jacob Kiprop and Daniel Simiu will battle in the men's 3,000m.

Peter Wanyoike and Catherine Njihia are the March 2022 Kenyan Athletics Training Academy (KATA) 10K Time Trial champions with individual personal records

Peter Wanyoike edged out 42-year-old Peterson Wachira from Nyahururu during the 10k time trial held in Thika Kenya on Wednesday morning (March 16) on the newly upgraded Bob Harris Road. He completed the course in 29:57.8 after covering the first 5Km in a slow 15:40.5 while Peterson finished in 30:06.0 which is a 95.79% age-graded.  

The monthly time-trial, the 7th since Kenyan Athletics Training Academy was officially opened in September last year, saw most KATA athletes post their Personal Bests with third-place finisher Zakariah Kirika and women champion Catherine Nikihia maintaining remarkable consistency.

Zakariah clocked 30:25.7, bettering his previous 30:41.9 while Catherine, the winner of the women category clocking 35:35.2. Her December time on the same course was 36:54.1.

Others with positive results included Peter Mburuwho clocking 30:43.5 from December’s 31:28.2, Paul Ng’ang’a 34:01.7, improving his 34:31.9 and Alfred Kamande who timed 34:41.4. Alfred did 35:16.5 in December.

60-year-old KATA athlete Charles Ndirangu clocked 38:08 which is 87.54% age-graded. 

With Athletics Kenya lining up a lot of activities in April, the KATA 10k Time Trial 8th edition is slated for 20th.

"We welcome runners to our next event in Thika, Kenya,"  says director Bob Anderson.  "We do not charge an entry fee and there is no prize money.  What we offer is an official 10k time. Times are published on our sponsor My Best Runs website."

Place, name, time, bib number and age.

1.Peter Wanyoike M 29:57.8 (210) Age 262. Peterson Wachira M 30:06.0 (216) Age 423. Zakariah Kirika M 30:25.7 (213) 214. Peter Mburu M 30:43.5 (211) 265. Peter King’ori M 31:38.7 (218) 256. Eston Mugo M 31:45.3 (220) 297. Erick Cheruiyot M 32:10.5 (214) 278. Raphael Gacheru M 32:48.3 (225) 239. Christian Muthini M 33:00.4 (234) 2910. Paul Ng’ang’a M 34:01.7 (224) age 4211. Alfred Kamande M 34:41.4 (217) age 2412. Samuel Chege M 34:59.4 (236) age 2513. Nicholas Kitundu M 35:19.6 (233) age 2214. Catherine Njihia F 35:35.2 (68) age 2315. Levis Kuria M 35:38.8 (231) age 2116. John Mwangi M 36:24.0 (235) age 4017. Solomon Njenga M 37:04.6 (232) age 3818. Lamech Cheleket M 37:32.1 (228) age 2319. Samuel Kamau M 38:01.7 (73) age 2720. Charles Ndirangu M 38:08.6 (237) age 60

Karren Chepkemoi F 20:37.9 (5KM) 69 age 21

Erick Mutuku M 15:05.8 (5KM) 229 age 20

Achilles problems? Try the Alfredson protocol, this series of exercises will strengthen your Achilles tendon to get you back on the road after an injury

Achilles problems plague many runners, and injuries like Achilles tendonitis or Achilles tendinopathy can be frustratingly difficult to get rid of. The Alfredson protocol is commonly prescribed by physiotherapists to help heal and strengthen the injury-prone tendon, and should become a regular part of your strength training routine if you’re prone to Achilles problems.

Can you strengthen your Achilles?

The Achilles is a tendon, not a muscle, and has very little blood supply, which led many researchers in the past to believe that you couldn’t train them. This was distressing news to a lot of runners, especially those who suffer from frequent Achilles problems. After all, if you can’t train your Achilles, how can you heal it, or prevent it from becoming injured again in the future?

On top of that, your Achilles also impacts performance. If your tendon is longer and stiffer, it can store more energy, which is then released when you push off the ground with your toe. This makes you a more efficient and powerful runner. If you have a weak Achilles tendon but can’t train it, does this mean you’ll always be at a disadvantage?

The good news is, more recent research is showing that you can, in fact, train your Achilles tendon (take a look at this study in twins, which showed the Achilles tendon getting stronger after regular exercise). The bad news is that researchers and experts have not yet come to an agreement about how to train the Achilles effectively.

The Alfredson protocol

One thing that is widely supported by physiotherapists, however, is the Alfredson protocol. The Achilles is slow to adapt, so the program requires a minimum of 12 weeks to complete, and some runners may need to go even longer, depending on the condition of their Achilles when they started. Runners should do three sets of 15 repetitions for each exercise, twice daily, to achieve the best results. It’s important to note that if you have recently injured your Achilles, this protocol might be too intense right off the bat. Make sure you see a physiotherapist first, who can help you gradually build up your strength.

Follow these steps to perform the Alfredson protocol:

1.- Stand on the edge of a small step on the balls of your feet so that your heels are hanging over the edge, holding onto a railing or wall for balance.

2.- With your knees straight, lift your heels and rise up onto the balls of your feet.

3.- Leaving the foot of the injured/painful Achilles on the step, lift your other foot a couple of inches into the air.

4.- Slowly drop the heel of your injured Achilles toward the ground, keeping the ball of your foot planted firmly on the edge of the step.

5.- Return your non-injured foot to the step and repeat the process again.

Once you’ve done three sets of 15 repetitions, repeat the entire process, with your knees slightly bent.

Some soreness or pain is acceptable when performing these exercises, but it shouldn’t be debilitating. Always listen to your body, and talk to your physiotherapist if you’re not sure if/when you should stop.

1500m world record Gudaf Tsegay sets sights on first global title in Belgrade

The past six winners of the women’s world indoor 1500m title have all either been Ethiopian or Ethiopian-born: Genzebe Dibaba (2018 and 2012), naturalised Netherlander Sifan Hissan (2016) and Swede Abeba Aregawi (2014), Kalkidan Gezahegne (2010) and Gelete Burka (2008). The sequence is unlikely to be broken in Belgrade.

In physical terms, Gudaf Tsegay might be only 1.63m (5ft 4in) tall but metaphorically the 25-year-old stands head and shoulders above the rest of the 22-strong entry list. In February last year she relieved Dibaba of the world indoor record with her sensational 3:53.09 run in Lievin and, 13 months on, the form book suggests that the clear world leader will succeed her compatriot as world indoor champion.

Tsegay ran a scorching 3:54.77 in Torun on February 22, the second fastest in history, and 3:57.38 in Madrid on March 2. Nobody else has cracked four minutes indoors in 2022. The next quickest is also Ethiopian. Axumawit Embaye, who won in Karlsruhe in 4:02.12, finished second to Aregawi in Sopot in 2014 and fourth in Portland in 2016 – behind Hassan and Ethiopian team-mates Dawit Seyaum and Tsegay.

Tsegay has won all nine races she has contested at all distances in the past three indoor seasons. Her last indoor defeat dates back to February 8, 2019, when she finished fourth over 3000m in Madrid.

She has not lost a 1500m race indoors or outdoors since the 2019 World Championships final in Doha, when she finished third behind Hassan and Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon. Her last indoor defeat at the distance was on 10 February 2018, when she placed third at the World Indoor Tour event in Boston.

Even when she fell on the opening lap of the mile race at this year’s Lievin meeting in February, she picked herself up, resisted a mid-race challenge from Embaye, and  proceeded to win comfortably in 4:21.72, breaking the 20-year-old meeting record.

Tsegay is on a run of three global bronzes, having finished third in the 2016 world indoor 1500m final, the 2019 world outdoor final in Doha and in the 5000m final at the Tokyo Olympics last year. Barring unforeseen disaster, the 2014 world U20 silver medallist’s long pursuit of a Midas touch seems destined to finally meet with a golden global success in Belgrade.

Heather Maclean could be a danger in a tactical affair, having gone from fifth to first with a 29.71-second last lap at the US Indoor Championships. Josette Norris, who finished second in that race, has also displayed great form this year.

Other potential podium placers include Ethiopia’s 2019 African Games 800m champion Hirut Meshesha, who was second in Karlsruhe in 4:02.22, and Uganda’s Winnie Nanyondo. Fourth in the 800m at the 2019 World Championships, Nanyondo improved her Ugandan indoor 1500m record to 4:03.54 in Torun.

Your final meal the night before a marathon can have a big impact on how you perform the next day, here's how to get that meal right

Nutrition is important no matter what distance you’re running, but what you eat the night before a marathon can have a significant impact on your performance the next day. Follow these guidelines to ensure your last supper helps, rather than hinders, your performance on race day.

Why is the night before so important?

When you’re running shorter distances, like a 5K, 10K or even a half-marathon, as long as you maintain a healthy balance of carbs, fats and proteins in your meals, you’ll be well-fuelled come race day. The marathon, however, is a different beast. During events that last longer than three hours, you will eventually deplete your glycogen stores, a phenomenon called “bonking” or “hitting the wall” that usually occurs sometime after the 30K mark.

Of course, fuelling during your race is necessary to prevent that from happening, but starting the race with topped-up glycogen stores is also just as important and necessary. For this reason, in the days leading up to your race, you should shift your daily energy intake from being made up of about 50 per cent carbohydrates to 75 per cent, particularly in the final two days of your taper.

While your carb-loading needs to start several days in advance of your race, the meal you eat the night before is important because it is your last opportunity to fuel yourself before you get to the start line. Yes, you’ll eat breakfast in the morning, but since it takes around six to seven hours to fully digest your food, that meal won’t actually benefit your race all that much (although it can harm it, but that’s another topic for another day).

Pre-race fuelling considerations

As we mentioned before, in the last few days before your race, 70 to 75 per cent of your energy intake should come from carbohydrates. It’s important to note that this doesn’t necessarily mean eating more. A normal diet would consist of about 50 to 60 per cent carbohydrates, 10-20 per cent fat and the remainder of your energy needs coming from protein, and by increasing your carbohydrate intake, you should decrease your energy intake from fat and protein slightly.

The reason for this is that both fat and protein can be more difficult for your body to digest, so eating large amounts of either nutrient in the last one or two days before your race could result in stomach problems when you start running. In your final meal the night before the race, avoid a high-fat or high-protein meal to ensure your body will be able to have your food fully digested by the next day.

Fibre is another factor you should watch out for. When you’re trying to consume larger amounts of carbohydrates, it’s easy to accidentally go overboard with your fibre intake eating brown rice, whole wheat bread and other whole-grain items, which can also be hard on your gastrointestinal system. In the days leading up to your race, and particularly the night before, you may want to substitute some of your whole-grain options for refined varieties instead.

How to eat the night before the race

Keep the following guidelines in mind when planning what you’re going to eat the night before your marathon:

Make sure three-quarters of your plate is filled with carbohydrates (think rice, pasta, potatoes, oats, etc.)

Eat to satisfaction, but don’t stuff yourself (you don’t want food still sitting in your stomach the next morning)

Stick with familiar foods that you know agree with your system.

Avoid raw or rare foods — save the sushi for after your race.

Choose refined carbohydrates, like white rice, pasta and bread, and avoid high-fibre foods like whole grains, beans and legumes.

Eat a high-carbohydrate bedtime snack, like a small bowl of oatmeal or granola.

Pre-race dinner suggestions

If you’re not sure what to cook the night before your race, here are a few quick suggestions to give you inspiration:

White rice with salmon or chicken and asparagus.

Chicken, white or sweet potatoes and wilted spinach.

White pasta dressed with olive oil and a sprinkling of parmesan chees (a little goes a long way), with roasted zucchini and chicken or firm tofu.

Japan’s Mariko Yugeta, 63, runs two sub-3:05 marathons in seven days, after running 3:04 in Tokyo, she followed it up with a 2:58 in Nagoya

The first 60+ woman to ever break three hours for a marathon, Japan’s Mariko Yugeta, added a new feat to her previous world record. A week ago, Yugeta won in the 60+ category at the Tokyo Marathon with a 3:04:16, and a week after that, she bettered her time by almost six minutes, running a 2:58:40 at the Nagoya Women’s Marathon.

Yugeta, 63, ran Tokyo and Nagoya as a fitness test for April’s Boston Marathon, where she hopes to lower her world record time of 2:52:13. Through 2021, she ran into some injury problems, which kept her out of the Osaka International Women’s Marathon in January.

The force that has driven her motivation for over 40 years is regret. When Yugeta was 21, she was mesmerized by the finishers at the 1979 Tokyo International Women’s Marathon. She spent the next three years training, making her marathon debut in 1982 in Tokyo, where she finished nine minutes over her goal of sub-3:00.

Since then, Yugeta has had unfinished business. A sub-3 marathon became her lifelong goal, and she finally achieved it at the Tokyo Marathon in 2017 (2:58:17), when she was 59.

When you put her personal best time into an age grade calculator, it comes out to 2:14:03, one second faster than the current women’s marathon world record held by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei.

Yugeta’s achievements bring to mind the 1984 U.S. Olympic gold-medal-winning marathoner Joan Benoit-Samuelson, who is the only woman ever to run a sub-three marathon in five consecutive decades. (Benoit has not yet run one in the 2020s.)

In a 2021 interview with Maurten, Yugeta said she doesn’t really think about her age when she runs. She aspires to run sub-4:00/km this April in Boston, to become the first woman 60+ to run a marathon under 2:50. She currently teaches high school phys-ed and trains alongside her 16- and 17-year-old high school students.

Global 1500m champions Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Samuel Tefera ready to clash in Belgrade

Two global champions are on a collision course in the men’s 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, with Olympic gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway looking to depose Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera as the world indoor champion.

Based on their recent clash in Lievin, where Ingebrigtsen broke Tefera’s world indoor 1500m record, clocking 3:30.60, the pressure and expectation will rest with the 21-year-old Norwegian. That Lievin race was Ingebrigtsen’s sole outing of the indoor season, and he looked majestic as he bounded away from Tefera over the final 300 metres after the pacemaker stepped aside.

A championship final, of course, will present a very different challenge, but Ingebrigtsen showed in Tokyo and at last year’s European Indoor Championships that he has the tactical nous to go with his physical gifts. With his long-time rival Timothy Cheruiyot bypassing the indoor season, he will likely have to do his own pace-making if he wants a fast final, the kind of race in which he has become nigh-on unbeatable.

Tefera, however, will not go down without a considerable fight, and the 22-year-old Ethiopian gave Ingebrigtsen a much better race in Lievin than the three-second margin of victory suggested.

Perhaps Ingebrigtsen’s biggest challenger, though, will be Kenya’s Abel Kipsang. He finished fourth in the Olympic final last year and showed impressive indoor credentials when taking victory in Birmingham last month in 3:34.57. A recent 1:45.84 clocking for 800m outdoors in Nairobi signals he’s got the speed to be a threat here.

The British challenge will be led by Neil Gourley, who clocked 3:35.32 in Boston last month and who was runner-up in a slow 1500m final at the British Indoor Championships. He will be joined by George Mills, who impressed in Birmingham last month when clocking a PB of 3:36.03 against a world-class field.

Another athlete keen to see a fast final will be Oliver Hoare, the Australian who clocked a 3:50.83 mile to win at the Millrose Games in New York in January. In that race he powered away from Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr, showing the kind of closing speed and strength that will make him dangerous, particularly in a fast race.

Spain’s Ignacio Fontes, like Hoare, was an Olympic finalist last year and he booked his place here with a runner-up finish behind Adel Mechaal at the Spanish Indoor Championships, with Mechaal later electing to focus on the 3000m in Belgrade.

Germany’s Robert Farken is another who’ll have high expectations after the 24-year-old lowered his PB to 3:35.44 in Birmingham last month, while Ethiopia’s Teddese Lemi clocked an indoor PB of 3:35.84 last month and has 1:44 800m speed – which should prove useful in this realm.

Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran will be hoping to reproduce the form that saw him take victory in Staten Island last month with a 3:53.64 mile, where he was followed in third place by compatriot Luke McCann, who will join him in Belgrade.

The US charge will be led by Josh Thompson and Sam Prakel, who finished second and fourth respectively at their national championships.

The Fukuoka Marathon will return in a revamped form this year

On Mar. 14 the JAAF, Fukuoka Athletics Association and Fukuoka Prefectural Government announced that the Fukuoka International Marathon, discontinued after its 75th running last year, will return in a revamped form this year on Dec. 4 under the tentative name "Fukuoka International Marathon 2022." The new version of the race will inherit the history and tradition on which the curtain came down so shockingly last December.

The Fukuoka International Marathon began in Kumamoto in 1947 as the "Kanakuri Prize Asahi Marathon" in honor of the father of Japanese distance running, Shizo Kanakuri.

In its early years it was held in different cities across the country, first coming to Fukuoka in 1951 and settling there for good in 1964. It took the name Fukuoka International Marathon at its 28th running in 1974, and with numerous course changes over the years continued to be held under that name.

Most of the world's best runners competed there, and in the 1970s and 1980s its high-level races were so exciting that it was known as the best marathon in the world. World Athletics selected the Fukuoka International Marathon to receive its Heritage Plaque, making it effectively a World Heritage Site of the sport.

But in March last year it was decided to discontinue the race after its 75th running on Dec. 5 that year, with economic issues and declining interest cited as reasons for the decision. 

The news of the cancelation was greeted with widespread shock and dismay. In light of the reaction, the prefectural government and the two athletics federations met to discuss possibilities for bringing the race back.

The statement issued today read, "As a result of exploring ways to preserve the history and value of the race, we have created a new race management organization and reached an agreement with the Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting Co., Ltd to handle to brunt of broadcasting duties. Under this arrangement it will be possible to go ahead with the new version of the race."

JAAF head Mitsugi Ogata said, "I am very happy that we will be able to stage this race in a new form while maintaining its history and tradition." Fukuoka governor Seitaro Hattori commented, "This race is one of Fukuoka's great winter traditions, and by holding it again we hope to help our people feel that things are opening up again after being shut in by the pandemic.

We hope that this will bring energy and life to all the citizens of our prefecture and to marathon fans everywhere. We in the prefectural government want to build on Fukuoka's reputation as a home for sport. We hope to see this race once again be a proving ground that will help produce top-class athletes who will go on to success around the world."

The race will be held on Dec. 4 this year on the same course as last year. Initial plans call for an elite field of around 100, with organizers expected to apply for JAAF Grade 1 labeling to enable it to continue as part of the Japan Marathon Championship series and play a vital role in selection for national teams and qualification for the MGC Olympic marathon trials.

The organizing group's statement concluded, "We will aim to hold the race up to the same standard as in the past, but will work to develop both it and the Japanese marathon world further."