“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” —Mike Tyson If you do one single thing at a high enough intensity for long enough, every once in a while everything goes wrong. As much as you have trained and prepared, you will eventually get punched in the mouth, so to speak. …
Despite their diverse backgrounds, elite ultrarunners share three common characteristics. You have them too. The differences just come down to a matter of degree, and you can enhance all three characteristics to improve your running performance! Talent: All elite ultrarunners (and elite endurance athletes in general) have a high genetic potential for aerobic power. …
One of the greatest aspects of ultrarunning is its accessibility. You don’t need much expensive and specialized equipment, and you don’t have to be incredibly fit or talented to participate. That is not to say ultrarunning is easy, because it most definitely is not. However, by structuring training to address eight fundamental areas, I am …
By Jason Koop, CTS Coaching Director and author of “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” Chances are, if you are asking the question, you should power-hike (walk). At slower speeds, walking is a more economical form of locomotion than running. It is only when you speed up to near the 12-min/mile range on level ground that walking …
By Michael Franco, CTS Athlete Ah, the Vapor Trail 125. I had my first foray into this race last year and by all accounts, it was the toughest damn thing I had ever done…by far. The race starts at 10 PM in Salida, CO at ~7,000 feet above sea level, and the event objective is to …
Excerpt from Jason Koop’s Training Essentials for Ultrarunning Downhill running is important in ultrarunning. As the old adage goes: What goes up must come down. Add to that the fact that between uphill and downhill running, downhill is much sexier. Go ahead, check out YouTube and gawk at the Salomon videos of young, fearless athletes …
Book excerpt from Jason Koop’s Training Essentials for Ultrarunning In order to keep focus on your fitness, it is important that training be oriented toward the fundamentals. Athletes and coaches are quick to add extraneous stuff to training programs. They want to try the latest equipment, experiment with the newest diet, or start sleeping in …
VeloPress Press Release: Koop’s New Book, Training Essentials for Ultrarunning, Reveals His Unique Training Approach Boulder, CO, USA – April 21, 2016 – When elite ultrarunners have a need for speed, they turn to coach Jason Koop. Now the sport’s leading coach makes his highly effective ultramarathon training methods available to ultrarunners of all abilities …