This week’s Five Things: Getting all your stuff ready for your first marathon or century can be stressful. Read about a checklist for your first marathon here. When I lived in western New York, Boyd was just a punk kid hanging with us old folks on group rides. Then he got strong and rode…

This week’s Five Things You’ll Want to Know about Endurance Training discuss differences between male and female runners, nutrition myths, workout recovery, speed work, and ultras. Here are this week’s Five Things: Research on male and female runners reveals some interesting differences between the two. Read about them here. Outside…

Several of my coaching clients and I currently use the “Rule” of 3 for our training during cyclocross season. — The Rule of 3 is in quotation marks since it’s more of a guideline than a rule. Managing your fatigue is the key to lasting through a long cyclocross season and improving your speed and performance. The Rule of 3 suggests that you do no more than three intensity sessions…

An endurance coach explains why he’d like the young athlete in his life to eat more protein — My daughter is a high school swimmer who refuses to heed her dad’s advice that female athletes need more protein in their diets, probably way more than they’re currently getting. Those of you who have raised teenagers understand my daughter is pretty convinced she knows everything. Yet as her season…

Over the past several cycling seasons, I’ve come into my favorite time of year — cyclocross — returning to exercise after an injury. Two seasons started with different broken bones, and two seasons have started with significant asthma issues. So how do you plan for a season when you’re injured…

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) receives a lot of attention from casual gym-goers to elite athletes. And with good reason. HIIT for runners and cyclists works — not only to build speed, power, and VO2max, but to build aerobic endurance and general fitness. Yes, you can increase your aerobic capacity through…

You can improve your performance as well as build stability and a little belly definition with this four-week core strength challenge! — Strengthening your core muscles (the front and back of your torso) is one of the best bangs for the buck in improving cycling and running performance. With this core strength challenge, you’ll building endurance, stability, and performance while riding a bike or running.

The tools I used as a teacher are the same ones I now use to help cyclists and runners improve their performance — I taught middle school kids for 23 years, and there were several tools I used to reach kids to do their best. And the same tools I used for adolescents now work for me as a coach who helps endurance athletes to improve their performance. I taught English, which means…

I’m a man. We’ll acknowledge that right away. — So the topic of female cyclists and runners using their menstrual cycle to boost performance is obviously not something I have personal experience with. What I know about women’s menstrual cycles comes (besides living with my wife and teenage daughter) from research, especially Roar by Dr. …