Bad weather is one of the most consistent sources of adversity ultramarathon runners face. Maybe you’ve been fortunate to train and race in mostly good weather conditions, but if you’re in this game long enough you’re bound to face challenging conditions. Training through the winter in mountainous areas or high latitudes means cold temperatures, snow, …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning This past week, I launched a crowd sourced data gathering project aimed at acquiring race files from a number of prominent ultramarathons around the world. The aim of the project is to find out exactly how ultrarunners pace themselves, as well as how much hiking vs. …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Over the weekend, elite ultrarunner Ruth Croft won the coveted Tarawera Ultramarathon in course record time and in the process, beat out the entire field of men and women. As is the case whenever a female ultrarunner bests the entirety of the field, the age-old debate …
Oh, how we trail runners love and loathe running uphill. Deviations from the horizontal plane elicit agony and euphoria all at the same time. Agony from the heart pumping, legs screaming feeling of increased effort; and euphoria from the accomplishment of reaching the summit. I prescribe intervals to be done uphill roughly 80% of …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Most of us are limited by time, and somehow cram ultrarunning training into our busy lives. Taking an hour at lunch or waking up an hour earlier to get a run in is more often than not the way most normal people with lives, jobs, and a …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Interventions in sport tend to borrow and steal lessons from other disciplines and redirect them in pursuit of improved performance. Take, for example, a pair of compression socks or pneumatic compression device (like the Normatec boots). These devices were originally developed for patients with poor circulation stemming …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Intermittent fasting and time restricted eating have gotten a lot of attention lately. It pops up on podcasts, with social media influencers and in an array of apps that will tell you when and for how long your ideal fast should be. I have even written about …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Oh 2020… what can we say about you? You were a year we’d like for forget, but likely will not. A year of cancelled events, but chock full of twists and turns nearly every week. You brought out the best in us by bringing us the …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning It’s Christmas week and that means your inboxes are likely filled with newsletters and advertorials trying to cajole you into buying more of the ‘the best gifts for runners’ and ’must haves for the trail runner’. Fortunately for you, I have some better more whimsical content lined …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning Earlier this year CTS Athlete Coree Woltering set the Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail. He decided to take up the endeavor with relatively little specific preparation, allowing himself just several weeks to pull all the logistics together, as well as get in …