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 …
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 …
By Jason Koop, CTS Coaching Director Author “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” During an interview at Wimbledon, tennis champion Serena Williams was asked what it was like to have athletes up their game in order to play her. Her answer is not only an insight into what has made her the dominant player of her …
By Darcie Murphy, CTS Ultrarunning Coach We’re told that the statistical chance of being struck by lightning is low. According to National Geographic in any one year your chance of being struck is about 1 in 700,000, and over a lifetime it’s 1 in 3,000. Still, if you’ve been caught unexpectedly by this powerful force …
By Adam St. Pierre CTS Ultrarunning Coach “Make sure you stretch before you run.” “Never stretch before you run, but always stretch after.” “Do some dynamic stretching before you run, and static stretch after you run, but never ballistic stretching.” There are a lot of ideas about stretching floating around the endurance running ether… let’s …
By Adam St. Pierre, CTS Ultrarunning Coach Ultrarunning is often thought of as an older athlete’s game. Often, there are considerably more athletes in the 40+ age groups than the younger age groups, primarily because that’s the population more interested in running ultramarathons. But as parents run longer distances and inspire their children and …
By Jason Koop, CTS Coaching Director Author, “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” Last weekend at the 105-mile Ultra Trail Mt Fuji, Dylan Bowman chased Pau Capell, (winner of the 2018 Transgrancanaria) for 19 HOURS, and passed him just 3 miles from the finish line to take the win. He closed 27 minutes in the final …
In a constant search for energy and performance, athletes tend to focus on the big macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat. They manipulate the percentage of calories from each, going from the classic endurance athlete’s high carbohydrate strategy to a Paleo-esque high-protein strategy, or even a high-fat ketogenic strategy. However, the foods we eat supply more …
By Jason Koop Coaching Director, Author of “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” Racing a 5-kilometer running race may seem antithetical to ultramarathon training, but there are plenty of good reasons why racing fast for 5 kilometers is beneficial for athletes training to run 50 or 100 miles. I should preface this by saying that, while …
By David Henry, CTS Ultrarunning Coach Sooner or later every ultrarunner has to get comfortable running at night. While running at night is still just running, seeing well on a trail can be a challenge unless you address a few key difficulties that crop up in the dark. We’ll tackle each one individually below. Adequate …