By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning For what seems like an eternity now, we’ve been warned about the potential for age to detrimentally affect muscle mass retention. Recommendations aimed at older athletes have become so ubiquitous you could go across any of the major endurance media outlets, from Runner’s World to Ultrarunning Magazine …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Abby: ‘I feel like I’m just on the rivet‘ Jason: ‘That’s OK, just keep pressing’ Abby: ‘OK, I’ll do that’ This was an exchange I had with Abby Hall, an elite athlete I have had the pleasure of working with worked the past four years, while crewing …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Earlier this month I had the honor of crewing and pacing one of my athletes at the Bigfoot 200, which is first leg of the Triple Crown of 200s. Two-hundred milers present a different set of stressors and require different race strategies (as discussed in my …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Given the same ingredients, trained chefs can create a wide range of dishes. The same is true for trained coaches; we use the same basic training principles and workout ingredients to create training programs for different athletes across a range of sports. Periodization–the ways coaches organize training …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning The past seven weeks supporting Timothy Olson’s bid to set the fastest known time (FKT) on the Pacific Crest Trail-and the months of preparation beforehand-have been a huge test of endurance, and I wasn’t even the one doing the running! On paper, Tim’s accomplishment was tremendous: 2653 …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning I have spent the past six weeks crewing for Timothy Olson as he attempts to set an FKT on the Pacific Crest Trail. As of his stopping point on Sunday, July 11, he has 11 days, 8 hours, and 25 minutes to reach the northern terminus and …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning As the summer racing season is in full swing, many trail and ultrarunners are taking to the challenge of overnight FKTs, 200 milers and other trail adventures spanning more than 48 hours. These longer ultras present a unique challenge of managing alertness and wakefulness as time passes. …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Throughout the history of ultrarunning, the Western States Endurance Run has served as a litmus test, or key indicator, of the state of the sport. Researchers, coaches, athletes, and fans look at the longitudinal data about finisher rates, the number of silver buckles awarded for sub-24hr finishes, …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning This year’s Summer Olympics was scheduled to be a hot one. Tokyo, already known for hot and humid summertime conditions, would have been (and probably will be) hotter than the previous three Olympic host cities (Kakamu et al. 2020). Athletes, coaches and sport scientists will do almost …
By Jason Koop, Head coach of CTS Ultrarunning Ultrarunner Timothy Olsen recently began his quest to set the Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Pacific Crest Trail (track Timothy’s progress here), and I am part of the merry band of crazies supporting his effort from start to finish. For about the next eight weeks I’ll …