Running Coaching from David & Megan Roche
Running Coaching from David & Megan Roche
If you are tired and looking for ideas, try one of these anytime, anyplace workouts, after a 15-minute warm-up of easy running.
Tempo runs are a key part of trail training, especially if you're preparing for a race. Here's how to do them.
One of our favorite semi-structured workouts involves short, controlled intervals within an easy/moderate aerobic run. Here’s how it works.
An overview of the biomechanics of hill running, how and when to do hill intervals, and why they'll make you stronger.
Here are some mental tips and low-key workouts for making easy treadmill miles less "blah" and more "woohoo!"
You can get strong and support faster running on just a few minutes a day.
The first and second rules of running training are that you don’t overdo hard workouts. The third is that sometimes it’s a good idea to almost overdo hard workouts. Here’s how to get the most out of back to back long runs.
Most workouts should be sustainable and repeatable. But some workouts should empty the fitness tank entirely. That’s where these eight workouts come in.
Road marathons are a unique beast. Here's how you can adapt big, sexy marathon workouts for your next trail race.
The best way to get better at running hills? Run more hills. These eight workouts offer a variety of ways to get after it.
Strength training is a huge and intimidating concept, especially if you're new to it. This all-in-one cheat sheet will help you get started.
As runners, we sometimes forget that upper body training exists. But training your upper body can make you faster with just two moves.
Circuit training heats up your fat-burning metabolism while ensuring that your body stays loose between sets, diminishing injury risk. Keep the circuit quick—no more than 10 minutes—so it doesn’t cut into your running time.
There are a lot of ways to strength train, and some work better than others when it comes to running. Here's how to find the right routine.
The coolest thing about this simple routine is that you can do it for years without worrying much about changing approaches.
This short routine can help build strength in all your most important running muscles, all in a short post-run package.
This super-short mobility band routine can help protect you from injuries and become a stronger athlete.
Do you have your goals set for next year? This 12-week plan is all about setting up the framework for big breakthroughs later. Let's get started!
Hill intervals are mirrors. They reflect back what you see in yourself. Each hill interval is slower than flat running.
You pull up to the trailhead. You get out of the car. And running feels impossible. That’s where a warm-up comes in.
60 x 400 meters is a workout that almost killed Quenton Cassidy in the book Once A Runner. This workout is fake. Don’t do this workout.
Yasso 800s are legendary in the annals of running workouts. What's the magic behind 10x800, and how can you apply it to your training?
Dr. Frankenstein is Ron Warhurst, the legendary Michigan track-and-field coach. And Frankenstein’s monster is The Michigan workout.
These 15-to-30-second hill intervals with one to two minutes easy running recovery have been one of the only universal elements in training plans for athletes coached by Megan and me.
There is no such thing as an easy run on Magnolia Road. Mags is brutal and unforgiving. All it demands is your soul.
If you look at elite athlete training logs, combination workouts are often a staple. They involve pace and/or time variation across multiple sets that introduce different stresses into a single day.
These workouts are designed to suck. That way, future workouts and races will suck less.
Tons of different things can work for training, but when it comes to speed, it’s often use it or lose it (with exceptions that make it interesting).
While most efforts should be sustainable and repeatable, the body also adapts to very hard efforts in moderation. There may be a number of reasons for that.
Hill work at the exclusion of speed development on variable terrain will probably result in a slower runner over time than would be possible with a well-rounded training plan.
Every workout is a brick, and no brick makes a wall. Have the courage to go for it and gather some big bricks before races, whether that’s through Canova-specific workout principles or other methods
Use eccentric muscle training to run better, faster downhills.
No matter the self-inflicted goal distance, I’ve found that the key to preparing—physically and mentally—is to focus on building the sort of strength you’ll need on race day. Here are five workouts that do that.
Trail running with an aversion to climbing is like surfing with a fear of being underwater. I can't do anything for hydrophobic surfers, but all of us can be better uphill runners.
If you've been neglecting speed, strides might be the solution. Here is what they are, why you need to do them, and how to get the most out of them.
Mountain running puts unique strain on your legs. Here's a 5-minute circuit to build strength and resilience.
A favorite workout is like a favorite song. Reuniting with them can bring back sepia-colored memories of past experiences.
VO2 hills kick your aerobic capacity into high gear, which can improve performance at all distances and paces.
Self-criticism sabotages their potential. The key is to remove opportunities for self-criticism from training by designing judgment-free workouts.
On up-down intervals, you push hard up and over hills, learning to exert yourself to the point of red-lining on the ups, before recovering on flats and downs while still moving at race pace or faster.
Spend five minutes after every run on injury-prevention exercises; your strong, healthy body will thank you! If all you do is run, you’re going to get hurt.
While potentially boring, treadmill time is also a major opportunity to control your training and make the most of your limited time.
The warm-up is one of the most important parts of any run. All tin people need lubrication before they can start moving and grooving without risking muscle strains and other compensation injuries.
A good warm-up routine cuts through the self-doubt and can make sure your legs are ready even if they feel like bricks when you wake up.
Identical runs build on top of each other week after week, creating a strong foundation. But as you’re building, you can throw in a few splashes of paint to make the process more interesting. Surges are a great way to do that.
Perfect training involves a meticulous plan, with each element building on top of a previous one over months and years. Good training is simpler. It involves consistency over time, doing what you can when you can, mixing workouts with easy running.
The criteria for these workouts: they can be done without a watch, they never involve running back-and-forth like someone doing a speed-search for lost keys and they can be as hard or easy as you feel like.
It took immersing myself in training methodology to learn that those big workouts are the final 1 percent of training. The 99 percent that comes before is way more important.
Physically, the occasional big training session or block can supercharge all of the normal adaptations from training. The flip-side of big workouts is that overtraining is on the same spectrum as supercompensation, so they need to be preceded and followed by adequate recovery.
Adding tempo running before or after intervals can contribute to major fitness gains during training builds.
You may have heard the training saying: "Easy runs easy; Hard runs hard." I think there's an important addition to a well-rounded training plan: "Medium runs medium."
The recovery interval, not just the workout interval, is a big part of what determines training stimulus. “Float” recoveries involve running the recovery interval a bit faster than you would if the goal was solely to run the next work interval fast.
Hard workouts don’t make good runners. Smart workouts do. It’s not just easy days that many runners make too difficult . It’s their hard days too.
If I could only give an athlete one structured workout each week, they would be running hill strides, every time.
The key is to hone your speed while simultaneously building your strength, which is important for all trail runners focusing on races half-marathon and below, no matter what their training background.
Cross training can help because in addition to making you good at that specific activity, it supports physiological adaptations that play a role in strong, healthy running. Let’s break it down.
Knowing how to structure your training each week will help you make consistent fitness gains- so you can be at your best when you need to race in epic places like Switzerland.
This workout will help you zero in on relaxed speed and build muscular endurance. Here's a chance to rebuild your relationship to your speed.
The track can present an opportunity to build speed, or it can be an injury waiting to happen. Let’s use four questions to dive into the training theory behind track workouts.
While specific training methodology varies, these 5 general principles are nearly universal. And you can check off most of these boxes in a relatively short time.
The hardest part about designing your own training plan is adapting universal principles to your unique body, brain and life.
If you’re an ultrarunning superfan, you’re probably not just following Western States, but also the spring racing season that leads up to Western. So here’s a quick viewer’s guide to the five most competitive trail ultras in March and April.
Winter is the time of year when lots of trail runners plan the upcoming race season. If you aren’t careful, you are at risk of making decisions that are not best for your long-term love of running.
Watch David Roche break down training tips and tricks for leveling up in your next ultramarathon.