Motivation often helps to get things started, but if you’re relying solely on motivation to complete tasks, you could be waiting a long time. No one is motivated all the time, and it is not always present. In such cases, routines help you keep initiating and completing tasks. Routines also bring stability and balance to everyday life.
Continue reading “Routines help when motivation runs out.”
Ground contact time (GCT) measures the time the foot spends on the ground during a running stride. The less time you spend on the ground, the more efficient running is. Fast ground contact time increases running speed and makes running more economical.
Continue reading “Running ground contact time – how to improve?”
Collaboration with Ochy – running biomechanics app
Biomechanics goes together with physiology, combining different areas. Running biomechanics have been studied a lot, but studies have not been able to demonstrate the superiority of one running technique over others. There are as many running styles as there are runners. There are as many differences among professionals as there are among regular runners. One technique is not more optimal or more prone to injury than others.
Continue reading “The Role of Biomechanics in Running: How Proper Technique Enhances Performance and Reduces Injury Risk”
Collaboration with Bikemap.
Combining different forms of exercise can be beneficial in terms of improving running performance. Running and cycling are different activities with their own characteristics. One of the biggest differences between cycling and running is the impact force. Cycling doesn’t have the regular pounding of the legs, but incorporating cycling into your training can still improve your running performance and bring many benefits to your training.
Continue reading “How Cycling Can Improve Your Running Performance.”
A person loses fluid through sweating, among other things. The composition of sweat is different for everyone, and by understanding what kind of sweater you are, you can better influence your hydration. The composition of sweat can be examined with tests, but in everyday life, certain things can indicate if you are a “salty sweater”.
Continue reading “Are you a salty sweater? Understand hydration better”
Targeted training is planned training, the purpose of which is to achieve the individual’s own goals. The main focus consists of realistic training planning, goals and individuality. One and the same model does not fit everyone, everyone has their own strengths, weaknesses and goals, which require a targeted approach. In other words, training is always tailored to everyone’s own needs.
Continue reading “Targeted training is different for everyone”
Do you get enough sleep at night? Is your sleep good quality? Do you wake up in the morning energetic or tired? Sleep has a great effect on the state of alertness, and in addition, morning routines often affect how the day starts. Many people may get enough sleep during the night and still be tired.
Continue reading “Morning routines for an energetic day”
Often when we start training, we have a goal in mind. The goals can be anything from improving general fitness conditions, running a marathon, losing weight, or increasing muscle mass. People often wonder how quickly the training results will be visible. How quickly will I reach my goal?
Continue reading “How long does it take to see training results?”
Running and training are full of myths. Some of them still live tenaciously, even though they could have been proven wrong by science a long time ago. There are many running myths that can affect people’s training and beliefs about how they should train. Some of the myths can also affect how we see training in general. Here is just a small fraction of common beliefs.
Continue reading “Running myths – True or false?”
Setting goals requires careful planning, it is easy to grab many different goals. That is why it is worth thinking about whether one or several simultaneous goals are more profitable, and what should be taken into account. Although the focus here is on physical goals, the same applies to other areas of life.
Continue reading “One or several simultaneous goals”
There are many differences between big and small marathons, which may already affect the choice of race, and where you want to run. Both have good and bad sides, and you should consider them when choosing a race venue.
Continue reading “Pros and cons: big and small marathons”
Surely every runner has already come across carbon plate shoes. You can see them on every professional, and many amateurs have also switched to wearing shoes. But does anyone benefit from carbon plate shoes? Are the benefits of carbon plate shoes so great that it is worth investing in them?
Continue reading “Carbon plate shoes pros and cons”
Let’s be honest, goal-oriented training and running can sometimes be really hard, also mentally. Months of training for a marathon, for example, is not always only a joy. There are bad days, the weather is bad for many days in a row, the darkness of winter tires the mind and the thought of running feels hard. It’s easy to burn out, but it can also be avoided.
Continue reading “How to avoid running burnout?”
The tools of physical training are often seen only as training, and the ancillary tools that go along with it, such as recovery and nutrition. But behind all of these, there are common factors that can help in development. These tools are often underestimated or forgotten. Many runners may also feel that these things are too far away, or only intended for professionals.
Continue reading “The most under-rated physical training tools”
It’s not about motivation, it’s about habit. How to build habits that keep you going when the motivation is low. Have you ever wondered why other people seem to be able to do anything? They always seem motivated. It’s not about motivation but about habits.
Continue reading “It’s not about motivation, it’s about habit.”
Muscle cramps during training or at other times are certainly familiar to almost every one of us. During a cramp, the skeletal muscle contracts sharply. The causes behind muscle cramps are not yet completely clear scientifically, but there may be several possible causes. Let’s go through these causes and what you can possibly do to prevent cramps.
Continue reading “Muscle cramps during or shortly after training”
Do you drink enough during the day? Hydration plays a significant role in the daily state of mind and endurance. The amount of exercise and different activities increase the need for hydration, but various factors such as temperature and body weight also affect hydration.
Continue reading “Hydration – Do you drink enough?”
Balanced training takes rest into account. There is active and passive recovery, each with its own good points. Passive rest is easier for most and active rest often turns too hard and exhausting.
Continue reading “Active and passive recovery”
Every month and a year, body peace in sports raises its head and the subject is repeatedly on the surface. Athletes talk about how their appearance, weight and body are publicly judged, coaches monitor weight and body composition, social media is full of critical comments. At the same time, there is talk of body peace and performance pressures.
Continue reading “Body peace in sports”
The new year is approaching and many are always setting new goals for the coming year. However, setting goals may not always be easy. Different goals can easily be taken too much and motivation runs out very quickly because the implementation feels tough. So what should be considered when setting goals.
Continue reading “Setting goals”
The effect of everyday passivity on exercise performance can be huge. The passivity of everyday life affects exercise performance and development. There are slight differences in the weekly and daily exercise recommendations for different countries, and it is not considered here. The passivity of everyday life includes everything longer outside of physical exertion and exercise.
Continue reading “The effect of everyday passivity on exercise performance”
Roughly speaking, there are two types of runners, those who do strength training and those who avoid it. Sometimes those who avoid strength training start it, but they find excessive body soreness a couple of days after the training session. This often leads to quitting the whole thing. Before you give up with strength training, here’s what you do.
Continue reading “I started strength training, and I’m too sore…”
Sometimes we miss several training sessions in a row. The longer the break is, the more adjustment needs to be done. So, how to get back in training, if you miss several days of running. And why you missed those running sessions?
Continue reading “How to get back in training, if you miss several days of running”
Hills are so beneficial for all runners, and there is plenty of different kind of hill workouts to choose. Long and short hills, hilly routes, even treadmill hills. Ascent plays a big role in hill training. As not every hill has the same effect.
Continue reading “Running uphill: ascent”
Many professional athletes go to altitude training camps, some like Kenyans living high altitude all the time. There is a lot of discussions about whether you should live and train at altitude or just live. We will look, what the basic information you should know about altitude training.
Continue reading “Running at altitude – how high and what’s happening?”
We are born to run and we are the greatest distance runners in the world. We might lose with speed to cheetahs and antelopes, but we win every other animal in endurance. How about sledge dogs or horses, who has amazing endurance capacity?
Continue reading “Humans are the greatest distance runners in the world”
DNF, failed performance, struggles during the performance are familiar to most of the athletes. Not only professionals but amateur too. It doesn’t matter how hard we worked, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Returning can be difficult, so what you should do after failing to be able to make a better return?
Continue reading “Failing the performance – Returning after the failing”
Does running get easier? Yes. But of course, there are always certain limits. If you are training regularly and systematically, you will become stronger and develop better fitness and physiology.
Continue reading “Does running ever get easier?”
Marathons are fun, right? We all know that after marathon muscles are quite sore for a couple of days. But, there are happening a lot more than muscles fatigue and soreness. Following things might sound crazy and scary, especially if you are a beginner or just planning to run a marathon. Remember, everything is temporary and overall feelings during the marathon and after crossing the finish line beats everything else.
Continue reading “What happens to you when running a marathon?”
I got to chance to read Master Your Core: A Science-Based Guide to Achieve Peak Performance and Resilience to Injury by Dr Bohdanna Zazulak. I also have an opportunity to give one paperback copy to some of you, so keep reading.
Continue reading “Review: Master Your Core – Dr. Bohdanna Zazulak + Giveaway”
Preparing for a marathon often comes up with a pace, and both the words negative and positive split. Everyone has also heard of the guidelines for an easy start and faster second half what is called a negative split. A faster start pace and a slowdown for the second half, in turn, means a positive split. However, for many runners, a negative split distribution produces grey hair.
Continue reading “Negative, positive split vs. steady pace in a marathon – what can we learn from professionals?”
The importance of running shoes is increased over the past several years. Especially the materials and heel to toe drop place an important role in the industry. Without taking a bigger stance on it, will you benefit more from some shoe than others? Let’s consider what you need to know about heel drop, when you go shoe shopping.
Continue reading “Running shoes: heel to toe drop”
Training intensity distribution (TID) can seem confusing, as there is a couple of different styles. People often speak about the 80:20 division, where 80% of training will be performed easy level and 20% of training are speed training. It’s a good start, but at the same time, it does not give many details. We consider three different TID styles in this post.
Continue reading “Training intensity distribution – how to make it?”
Are you spending hours after hours on the road and gym, but you are still stuck on the fitness level? Maybe first your progress was fast and everything went well, but now nothing happens. This happens to many of us and there can many reasons behind this scene, which we going through in this post.
Continue reading “Training, but stuck on the same fitness level?”
Runners tend to look after their legs and train them to stronger, but foot and ankle mobility is often overlooked and forgot. Poor foot and ankle mobility can cause injuries that can appear upper legs. It also affects the running technique and speed. Foot and ankle absorb the shock when we run, the force is transmitted all the up in the back. Poor shock absorption make ankles stiff and cause calf and shin stiffness and other problems.
Continue reading “Runners foot and ankle mobility for better performance”
Endurance is maybe the main factor for distance runners. What is good endurance, depends on where to focus. People often think that you are really good shape if you are a marathon runner, but downplay shorter distance like 5km or 10km. You might have heard someone say “I’m ONLY running 10 km”. Well, it’s not only 10 km, as it needs way different speed endurance capacity than a marathon, also it’s often difficult pace compared to a marathon.
Continue reading “What is endurance and how to improve it?”
I have an amazing opportunity to get an interview with Janica Järvenpää, a licensed psychologist and sports psychology student. She provided a lot of information for everyone how our mind affects us and of course what we can do.
Continue reading “Let’s talk about sports psychology with Janica Järvenpää”
Our beliefs, values and attitudes are formed over time, through the different influences (family, friends, society…). Sometimes our beliefs can help us and they are positive, but often they can also slow us down. These affect all aspect of our lives, but this post considers sport and training.
Continue reading “How much your beliefs affect you?”
Maybe you made a new year resolution or you are otherwise new to running and training. You are excited about a new hobby or pick up an old hobby again and have a new goal. It’s easy to do many things “wrong”, and learn “wrong” habits and some point slow down or stop progress.
Continue reading “Starting a new hobby – Starting the right order”
In a physical perspective, there is some difference between women and men. Women are often described slower and weaker, because of the physical factors, but that’s not necessarily the thing. Women can be stronger and faster than men, like the same way some men are stronger and faster than other men. It depends on the training background and many other things. But in the scientific perspective, there are many differences between men and women. So should they train the same way?
Continue reading “Should women train differently than men?”
We all know that nothing is better than good night sleep and how important they are. Unfortunately, nowadays many suffer insomnia and other sleeping problems. Sleeping affects us in many ways. This post does not only consider how it affects us but also evening training and sleeping relationship.
Continue reading “Sweet dreams… How sleep affects us?”
The year 2020 is almost over, finally! Who would have guessed what this year will bring? Not me! It’s difficult to even describe this year, every plan turned around as the whole world turned upside down. But still, I believe there are some good things also, as I want to believe that everything happens in reason.
Continue reading “Goodbye 2020, Welcome 2021”
We all know that good running shoes are essential, and you should not use one pair year after year. But why have several different shoes, when you have found a good pair and want to use them? The shoes can affect the running speed, biomechanics and economy, and also injuries.
Continue reading “Why have several pair of running shoes?”
Relative energy deficiency (RED-S) is a result of prolonged insufficient energy intake. It’s common in female sports, repeated weight loss and an eating disorder. But also men can experience RED-S.
Continue reading “Relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S)”
In the case of runners, there is often talk of little tension, which is expected to improve economic running and thus performance. The mobility and flexibility of the core and lower limbs are in a special position. The tension of the core, which limits the rotation and thus the rotation of the leg from the hip, improves economic running. Similarly, lower back, hip, and ankle tensions shift running biomechanics in a more economical direction. So, while a certain degree of tension may be beneficial from a running performance perspective, consideration must be given to how to determine the appropriate tension.
Continue reading “Hamstring movements for runners”
We all have been there, the race which wasn’t going as it was planned. Some point every runner experience the bad race, but they are good for learning. There are many things which, can be overwhelming especially for new runners. Many of us might run our first race, without much knowledge and preparation. I did that too, so here are some things which I wish I had known before the first marathon, and points which many runners had said.
Continue reading “I wish I’d known these before the first marathon…”
I got an opportunity to test Chimpanzee sports nutrition products. The company was totally new to me, and I don’t normally do a collaboration with sports nutrition products and supplements as the field is so wild and there are many things to consider. But Chimpanzee sounded a different kind of company and their products were interesting.
Continue reading “Chimpanzee products reviews”
We often speak certain factors and their importance for running performance. But as often we forget the amount of these factors. Some of the training factors are not as important as others, some provide only minimal benefits or not at all, and still, we use them more than we know.
Continue reading “The perfect recipe of running”
How often you feel physically or mentally tired after work? Some people like to go running the end of the day, but can your occupation affect your training performance? Many factors affect our training performance, and people often forget their job until they feel drained or stress out.
Continue reading “How your job affect your training?”
You might have noticed that I love science and share a lot of tips and information here. For me, science is base to many things, but it’s not determine everything as we all are individual and that’s also my coaching philosophy.
Continue reading “My coaching philosophy”
Sometimes we all struggle with lack of motivation. Especially now as the many marathons are cancelled or postponed because of Covid-19. Many countries have total lockdown and some runners don’t have the opportunity to exercise like normally.
Continue reading “Running motivation – how to motivate yourself?”
Hello, and welcome the year 2020! Last year we have a series of books from different topics that are excellent for getting more knowledge about training, coaching and nutrition. Now, here’s the last part, sport psychology. This post is good for any runner, as we all sometimes struggle with lack of motivation, low self-esteem and nerves.
Continue reading “OTHER: Sport psychology books must-read list”
Let’s continue the must-read book list, now it’s the turn of training books. This category is so wide. There are biographies, guide book, different sports, etc.
Continue reading “OTHER: training books must-read list”
Let’s continue the list of the must-read books list. We have previously list sports science and nutrition book, and it’s time for coaching books.
Have you ever look at others and thought about how they have so much energy? How they seem to have everything in their life? And you just struggle to daily life, going to work, surviving basic task, waiting for the weekend. You might have tried to go to the gym or jog after work several times but always, go back to old habits. There will always be a new Monday, new start. How about if you start now and never stop. No more new Mondays and new short time motivation. What makes you as energetic than others?
Continue reading “OTHER: you are not lazy, you are unmotivated”
There was a post about sports science books a couple of weeks ago. Some of those books contained nutrition too, but these books are only a nutritions based. These books are all science-related and many of them are also used at the university level. However, these books don’t make you a professional. I always recommended consulting a registered dietitian (not nutritionist) if you have any problems with diet.
Continue reading “OTHER: nutrition books must read”
Do you want to know more about sports science, or how the human body works? What happen inside us during rest or activity?
Whether you are not a sports scientist or not seeking a career in sports, but you are training and want to understand more about the human body. Some (or well all of these books) dig deep inside of body, in the cellular level and if you are familiar with this kind of stuff, give it shot. You might learn new things and get new aspect of your training. Also, understanding even the basic mechanisms of the body will help you to read more critically all those “how to get fit”, “get sixpack in 5 weeks”, and other topics.
Continue reading “OTHER: Sports science books must read”
The first part, we discussed mostly the events and how they have started to take part in environmental aspects and what you can do. This part is all about equipment, especially clothes and shoes.
If you type ecological running gear in Google, you will find a lot of sports brands which are one way or another eco-friendly, many of these brands are smaller and not globally Continue reading “OTHER: ecological running part 2”
Running and ecology seem like a good compo already. All we need is running shoes and path, right? Climate change, environmental disaster, extreme weather, travelling, climate emission, trash, ocean pollution, such a few words we hear every day. Running is changed, it not as easy as it used to be. It’s more technical, there are more equipment than ten years ago. Continue reading “OTHER: ecological running part 1”
– What do you do?
– I run.
– How do you not get bored while running? Running is so boring! Do you listen to music or what to avoid boredom? Continue reading “OTHER: Running is boring or is it?”
You may have heard and read thousands of time that nothing special doesn’t happen in the comfort zone. Do you find yourself to struggling in the same place all the time and nothing goes forward, whatever you do? Continue reading “OTHER: breaking out of your comfort zone”
Blisters, black toenails, detached nails, basically nail technician nightmare and common for runners. Almost every runner have some experience of these and already find the best solutions to avoid them as good as possible and treat them. Beginners and those you have never get any blister from running, don’t worry your time will come, or otherwise, you are somehow lucky, or are you even run? Continue reading “OTHER: runners, nail technician nightmare”
We all sometimes need extra motivation. Weather might be bad, you might feel tired after work, skipping your training sounds more fascinating than lacing shoes on and heading out. Here some quotes to inspire you and mass your training.
Don’t run with your legs, run with your heart. – Dean Karnazes Continue reading “OTHER: Running motivation quotes”
Did you make new year resolution? Do you have a goal that you wish to achieve?
Have you written down your goal? The more important question, have you made a plan?
How to set a goal?
Whether you would like to lose weight, run half marathon, get better results from school, improve your overall health. Whatever your goal is, make sure it’s your goal! You are Continue reading “OTHER: Goal setting”
