Running Rogue

In episode 120 in April 2019, I chatted with Molly about her aspiration to qualify for Boston and her heartbreaking near-miss in April 2018 at Mt. Charleston. In that race, she collapsed at mile 26.0 in the finishing straight and ended up in an ambulance, even though she was on track to comfortably BQ. Fast forward to October 2021 a couple of marathons and a pandemic later, Molly earned her Boston qualifier at the St. George Marathon. She did it with several ups and downs along the way, taking lessons forward from each failure. The journey wasn't easy or short, but she did it. I find her story inspiring and very relatable for many on similar journeys. Whether you are chasing Boston or not, you can learn from Molly's relentless pursuit of and eventual completion of this goal. Congrats Molly!

October 10th and 11th brought an epic return to marathon racing in the US via the Chicago and Boston Marathons. The conditions were tough for many, but the energy and magic were amazing anyway. I was in Boston to run and experience one part of that myself. In this episode, I break down my post-marathon musings that might be helpful in you processing your races too.

With fall races on the horizon again (or already done), you will soon be faced with the question: how do I continue to improve in my next training cycle? In this episode, I talk about 4 over-arching principles and 7 things to consider for finding improvement within your next cycle. For example, should you increase volume or intensity? Or should you add strength or focus on recovery?  I will answer these questions and more and also help you hone in on the incremental improvements needed to reach your long term potential.

Congrats to everyone who ran in the Berlin Marathon this past weekend. It is so amazing to see major marathons happening again after such a long break! With that as inspiration, I put together this episode with final tips for the London, Chicago, and Boston Marathons including general tips for all three races and individual tips for each one. I talk about course logistics, course strategy, and weather considerations for all three. If you are racing one of these, then this is a must-listen!

The long run might be the most important run in any half marathon or marathon training block. However if you want to get the most from your training cycle, you should be doing workouts within a few of these long runs to practice race pace, learn to run fast under fatigue, and build resilience to finish strong on race day. In this episode, I give you the do's and don'ts for building and executing these workouts and then talk about specific examples for you to try yourself. Every elite athlete is doing workouts like these, and I believe you are worthy and able to do them as well.

We have produced at least 7 episodes for this podcast on race planning for various courses throughout the country from flat like Houston or Chicago to hilly like NYC, Boston, or Austin. Those episodes have been very prescriptive and may or may not be applicable to the course you might face soon. In this episode, I give you 8 steps for building and executing your own marathon race plan in order to give you the best chance for success on race day. Listen, learn and then apply to your next goal race so that you can start smart and finish strong! Other race planning episodes include episodes 5 (general marathon), 8 (Austin), 14 (Boston), 46 (general all distances), 56 (Houston/3M/Austin), 98 (NYC), and 101 (CIM). Episode 150 talks about mental tips for race day.

So you want to do a half marathon before your marathon? Or a 10K before your half marathon? Great, but let's talk about it... In this episode, I give you all the things to consider when doing a prep race including how to define and choose your goals for it, how to execute it whether you are racing all out or not, and of course, how to make sure it becomes an additive piece to the overall path to your "A" race. It's exciting that races are back again, just make sure you get the most out of every opportunity to toe the line!

Training paces and race paces are correlated, but they do represent separate and distinct decisions on the path to your goal. In this episode, I talk about 6 factors to consider when choosing your race pace - purpose, experience, race history, training results, risk tolerance, and of course, the conditions on the day.  Consider these factors, and then once you lock in a target, develop a race plan around it, put the blinders on, and go for it! Here is the link to the AIU decision on Shelby Houlihan: https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/disciplinary-process/en/7977-Award-Reasoned-FINAL.pdf

In episode #240, I talked about the importance of slowing down in order to achieve your full potential. Unfortunately, that is so much easier said than done for many athletes. In fact, I think this is the single hardest concept for any runner to embrace fully in their training. As a result, countless runners are hitting plateaus or are chronically injured. In this episode, I give you 6 things to do in order to internalize and execute on this core training principle. I promise it is simple, but that doesn't make it easy!

This topic might be the single biggest topic for questions that I get as a coach. What paces should I train at? How do these paces change with weather? What if I can't hit them? How should my training paces inform my race pace? What does this race result mean for my training paces? And I could go on... These are all good and valid questions, but many of them are underpinned by common misunderstandings about how training paces work. In this episode, I try to bust some of those myths while laying out 9 truths about training paces and how you should use them.

Who else is going through Olympics withdrawal like me?!? I'm happy to have more sleep but definitely miss the inspiration of the Games. In this episode, I talk about 5 inspiring stories and athletes from the Olympic Games and how we can apply those lessons in our own training. Yes, we can learn from the best athletes on the planet. And yes, they are more like the rest of us than we think!

To finish my impromptu series on the phases of training, here is an episode on the taper phase of training (aka peaking mode). These are the final weeks of work where you reduce volume in order to get the body fresh and the mind sharp for race day. In the episode, I talk about what that means including how to reduce your mileage, what types of workouts to do, and of course, how to make sure you mental toolkit is locked and loaded for the big day.  Listen once now and then again in Sept, October, or November in your final weeks of training for that fall race!

Last week, we talked about the aerobic strength phase of training with a focus on building endurance through primarily effort-based work. In this episode, we take the next step into the race-specific phase of training and talk about the goals, guiding principles, and workouts you might execute in the final phase of work before the taper. This is the phase where it is time to get specific with your paces, goals, and workouts so that you are properly peaked for race day. You want to step right up to the edge but without going over it. That is easier said than done, but this episode will help you find that fine line.  To redeem the offer in this episode, go to manscaped.com and use code 20ROGUE for 20% off and free shipping.

As discussed in my recent episode on periodization, training should begin with a base or priming phase and then proceed to the aerobic strength phase of work. In this episode, I focus on the aerobic strength phase of work in training, including what it means and how to get the most from it. To start, we define aerobic strength and then talk about the guiding principles of this phase. Finally, we talk about the goals of the work during this phase and specifically how to accomplish them with workout examples.  This phase is perhaps the most important in your training cycle so do make sure you are optimizing it! To redeem the offer in the episode, go to manscaped.com and use the code 20ROGUE for 20% off and free shipping.

I often get the question: where does cross training fit into my run training?  The answer to that question is more nuanced than you might think. In this episode, I define cross-training for you and then talk about for whom and how it might fit into your overall running routine. Spoiler alert: it may not be for everyone and that's ok. To use the offer code mentioned in the episode, go to takecareof.com and use the code rogue50 for 50% off on your first order.

In one of the most counter-intuitive concepts in sports, you can only optimize your potential as a runner by slowing down. Yes, I said it. You have to go slow in training in order to go fast on race day. In this episode, I present 5 different ways that you need to slow down in training in order to get and smash your long term goals. If you can set your ego aside and embrace these concepts, then you will find breakthroughs in your running for many years to come. 

Running is running. The elites do it more and faster, but their experiences aren't as different from ours as you might think. In this episode, I bring you 7 lessons from the first weekend of the Olympic Trials. These are lessons that you can apply in your own running and life. Thank you to an amazing group of athletes - Allyson Felix, Cory McGee, Woody Kincaid, Elise Cranny, Karissa Schweizer, Heather MacLean, Elle Purrier, Emma Coburn and Abbey Cooper for the inspiration! To redeem the offer code from the episode go to: greenchef.com/rogue100 and use code rogue100 for $100 off and free shipping.

With this episode, I take a departure from my usual training content to talk to you as fans. Yesterday, we learned that Shelby Houlihan, American record holder in the 1500m and 5K, is now serving a 4-year ban for ingesting a banned substance. She claims that the banned substance - Nandrolone - was ingested via a burrito from a food truck. WADA did not buy her story and confirmed her ban via the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).  In this episode, I discuss why I don't believe Houlihan's story to this point, but also why I think you should still have hope in the sport. True or not, please, please don't let this make you jaded. There is too much inspiration to still be had. Instead, dig in, get educated, and then choose who to invest in. As a fan, you have that choice, and I encourage you to use it.  To join the She Squad, go here: https://www.roguerunning.com/womenhalfmarathon To use the care/of offer code, go to: takecareof.com and use code rogue50 for 50% off on your first order. 

Long distance running is an efficiency game, and far too many of us are constantly pressing the edge and running ourselves ragged instead. Relaxed running is fast running, but that's so much easier said than done. In this episode, I give you 5 tips for finding new gears by embracing this concept. Learn to relax and stay in control while running, and it will pay off. 

It's that time of year in many places where the training starts to get hard thanks to the heat and humidity of the late Spring and Summer months. In Austin, we've already seen mornings at 70+ degrees and 90%+ humidity. For better or worse, this means you have to make adjustments to your training in order to optimize your work in the summer in order to get your fall goals. In this episode, I give you 5 tips to do so as you learn to embrace the suck! Links to Podcast Training Options: Renegades She Squad Links to Craft Baselayer Tanks: Men's Women's