By Adam St. Pierre CTS Ultrarunning Coach I don’t run with headphones… ever. No music, no podcasts, no audiobooks. I like to have all of my senses “tuned in”, especially my hearing. Listening to the sound of your own running can help you to remain injury free, and here’s how! When you run, you can …
Working an aid station at the Leadville 100 MTB last weekend, one of the coaches pointed out the women’s field seemed smaller than it used to be. Another coach, who was tracking down race results to confirm CTS Athlete Larissa Connors had won her second consecutive title, confirmed there were a total of 142 …
By Mara Abbott Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor As many of readers here know, as soon as you get a coach you have an ever-present voice eager to explain training principles and the physiological changes you will experience if you follow the plan. I have been a coached athlete for most of my life – …
By CTS Athlete Fairlee Frey The string of texts from my KS-Kenda teammate Jen Malik more or less went like this: “Dude! There’s going to be a World Cup XC Eliminator event… in the United States… in like 2.5 weeks… in Georgia?…Wooo!! Wanna go??!!” Over the course of the next 9 minutes, we decided …
By Jason Koop CTS Coaching Director Author “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” The use of poles in ultramarathons has become increasingly popular. Once largely confined to European races, ultrarunning-specific trekking poles can now be seen in nearly every mountainous ultra in the United States. Advancements in materials and construction have helped to make poles lighter and …
I have been competing in endurance sports since I was 9 years old, and as my life progressed so have my goals and motivations. This is perfectly normal, of course, but it’s relevant to your journey in sport because some athletes get stuck in a rut, pursuing the same goals at the same events …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor Two weeks ago my farmers market co-worker, Max, made a terrible mistake. He made some off-hand comment about not eating breakfast. Max works in the fields on the farm all day, yet somehow, “I am not really hungry for lunch, either.” I noted, in no uncertain terms, …
Increasing your activity level and weekly training hours leads to a lot of positive changes in your fitness and health, but many athletes notice some effects that are not as pleasant. When you exercise more, you need to consume enough energy to support your workouts and activities of daily living. Between the changes to your …
By Syd Schulz CTS Athlete and MTB Pro I’ve learned a lot about being an athlete through meditation. Or rather, I’ve learned a lot about being an athlete through the process of failing and succeeding and failing and succeeding to cultivate a daily meditation practice over the past two years. I’ve learned to let go …
At some point during the process of coaching an ultramarathon runner, the subject of weight vests invariably comes up. More generally, the question is whether adding external resistance is beneficial for improving ultramarathon performance. Natural Resistance Running up and down hills is the most common and sport-specific way runners add resistance and build leg …