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?”
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)”
Breakfast before morning run or just after? Some of the runners like to eat something before hitting the road, at the same time others struggle with breakfast. Early morning run, often means even earlier breakfast. It is suitable to eat breakfast at least an hour before the run, which might mean very early wake-up.
Continue reading “Fasted vs non-fasted running”
Making a race calendar might be overwhelming, as there are many great races during the year. This post is about how many races should run in a year and what to consider when choosing the race.
Continue reading “How many races can you run in a year?”
How to build a training plan? What you should take account? What is periodization training cycle? This post will answer these questions and help to put your goals in the training plan.
Continue reading “Periodization training cycle”
We all have seen athletes using an ice bath or hear them speaking about a cold shower. After a workout in hot weather, you might want to take a cold shower to cool down. Or just refresh yourself. Is there really any benefit for it or can it be even harmful?
Continue reading “Do you need a cold shower after a workout?”
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”
How important proper nutrition is for you? There are roughly three types of people; eat what they like and don’t really care about nutrition, eat rich nutrient food and cares about nutrition and people between these groups.
Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: why nutrition matter?”
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”
I have written about warm-up earlier, you can find it here. It contained benefits and importance of warm-up, the excellent warm-up protocol to follow. Now, let’s talk about cool-down. How easy it’s just end your work-out doing nothing afterwards? You have just spend around an hour hard exercise you don’t have interest or energy for cool-down. Hands up, if you can recognise yourself?
Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: cool-down, do we need it?”
Everyone’s favourite subject lactate or lactic acid! The topic that rises up regularly, with plenty of mistakes and misunderstanding. You might have heard athletes, even coaches speak lactate soreness. Even you might have feel lactate after heavy exercise? Did you know that lactate or lactic acid doesn’t cause soreness? Nor fatigue? Not even pain? If not, keep reading…
Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: the truth about lactate and lactic acid”
There is a post about weight training benefits for runners, you can find it here. That post considers why runners should add strength training in their program, energy system and different types of strength training such as strength, power and endurance.
Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: Neuromuscular training in runners”
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”
Most of us do some stretching regularly, or at least when they feel muscle soreness. Is it really necessary, or benefit at all?
Common reason why people stretch:
Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: stretching or not?”
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”
Foam rolling has gained popularity in recent years, and various foam rollers have been developed. Almost all gyms have at least one foam rollers and also many have a roll at home too. Foam rolling has been considered an easy way to self-massage and myofascial release. Some people have even replaced stretching with foam rolling. Is the foam rolling really useful?
Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: foam rolling, beneficial or not?”
First, lace your shoes and then start running, maybe slower at the beginning so the body will have time to warm-up, that’s enough? Right?
No pain, no gain! Right? You can’t develop your physics without experiencing some pain? NO and NO!!! Pain should not be a part of the training, fatigue and discomfort should be and they are a totally different thing. Experiencing pain during or after training is the body’s way to tell something is not okay.
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 14”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 13”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 12”
Roughly speaking running performance can be divided into three sections; psychological factors, biomechanics and physiological factors. Each of these section contains several sub-concepts, let’s see some of these factors. Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: The consist of distance running performance”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 11”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WEDNESDAY WORKOUT: part 10”
Are you training often? Are your timing your training to be beneficial?
We all know people who train twice a day, or maybe you do that too. Most of the people train once a day or less, but at some point of development, two exercises a day are necessary when levels and goals are increasing. Recovery plays a huge role when training amount or intensity are increased. This is not only considering those who are training twice a Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: recovery enough?”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 9”
There are three energy systems in human body. I’m not going to explain how they break down, to avoid making this post extra long. I’m going to briefly introduce them and explain their relationship to strength training especially for distance runners and why runners should vary strength training types. Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: Energy systems and strength training”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 8”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 7”
Life is full of uphill and downhills so is running. Expect that in running downhill are nicer than real life.
Correct form to run uphill Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: Uphill and downhill running technique and benefits”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 6”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 5”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 4”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 3”
Recovery that one of the most important aspects of training, but also one of the most least appreciate. We all know that recovery repair damages muscles fibres, strengthen and rebuild muscles. It’s not only important for physically but also mentally.
Recovery can be divided into two, immediate and long-term recovery. Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: recovery- do you even do it?”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 2”
Save the photo and give it to try! Share #tuusarunning #tuusasports Continue reading “WORKOUT WEDNESDAY: part 1”
Are you running always the same routes and the same type of surface? When you prepare for the road race, it crucial to run road and get comfortable that harsh and hard surface. The impact for the leg is one of the hardest when running in the road, so you need to get used to it otherwise you will struggle. But you still should vary surfaces sometimes, why? Continue reading “SCIENCE TALK: Should you vary the running surfaces”
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”
It’s that time again, the sun comes up late and goes down early. There are more dark hours than light, sometimes the sun hides behind clouds. Days feels shorter and sofa and warm blanket look way too comfortable. Training session waits, but you feel difficult to find energy for that. Here some tips to remember and beat this dark season of the year. Continue reading “Winter training; tired or dark?”
What’s your VO₂max? The questions that almost all runners hear at some point? The number that runners look and try to improve. But what does it really mean?
VO₂max is the maximum oxygen uptake capacity, it is described in ml/ kg/min. In practice, it means cardiovascular and circulatory systems ability to carry oxygen in the Continue reading “VO₂max and vVO₂max, do they matter?”
Do you find yourself out of the breath while running, even in easy pace? Well, you might be out of shape or running too fast for your fitness level. BUT, if you have been running for a while and still battle with catching breath even easy, slow pace, you might use wrong breathing technique.
New part of My favorite series! This time it’s about the books, especially running books. As we know there are soooo many good running books, so I tried to list here some books which include goof information, knowledge, science and stories.
Leave a comment, what is your favorite book!
1. Lore of running – Tim Noakes
Quite fat book, but tons of science based information about injuries, training, etc. If you are running just for fun, you might not need all that information, but others I really Continue reading “My favorite; running books”
Why should you vary your running terrains? First it gives diversity to your running, but it also prevents injuries, improve stamina and performance. It can help build those little leg muscles which play important role for technique and balance.
TRACK
Track is good terrain for interval training. Even if you are long distance runner, now speaking of marathon distance, you should do interval training. On the track you can easily set the distance, without looking continually to your watch. Track is also flat, Continue reading “Running on different terrains”
Does running ever get easier? I heard that question quit regularly. Most of them are my customer (in massage business), they go to the gym and warm up in the treadmill or casually go for the jogging. It’s also question that many beginners might think.
The answer is yes and no. It depends what are you doing.
If you are running regularly the same speed and the same length, yes it gets easier.
But if you are running various distance and various speed, no it’s not get easier. Of course you get better, but at the same time you challenge yourself all the time. The Continue reading “Does running ever get easier?”
Okay, there might be many of you who has run marathon or a few of them, so this post might not bring anything new information for you, but those whose are about to take a part for their first marathon, you might find something good tips. I’m not write anything training, mental or nutrition tips here as I have spoken them earlier, these are more general little tips.
Let’s continue to my favourite series today, as the topic of running coaches. I have picked some these coaches as I have followed their job and admire their knowledge and work that they have done. Some of them have written a book(s) and made running training methods which are still in use and well-known. They have different kinds of perspective to training and running, and even if you disagree some of their thoughts and method, I’m sure we can always learn some new things and even modify some of the training method. As the truth is that more you read and gather knowledge and test things you will learn to find ways that work for you. We are all different so, which works your best Continue reading “My favourite; running coaches”
The last post wrote about running in the bad weather, now let’s look the other side of the coin, running in the heat.
During the heat season we can always choose when to go for the run, the best time of the day is before the sunrise. But we can’t change the start time of the marathon, so here are some tips how to survive. Continue reading “Running a marathon in hot day”
As much, the most of us like idea of good weather on marathon, sunny sky, warm weather, no strong wind everything is beautiful. We have been training in months to compete one certain race and picturing everything in our mind. Then race week coming and forecast show, cold, windy and rainy day, we get upset, even little bit scared. What to do?
Of course, running in bad conditions long distance makes running harder both Continue reading “Bad weather on marathon day”
I thought to start the new series; my favourite. I will choose the running and sports related topic and list some of my favourite things, people, etc. I don’t know how often I will post these, maybe once in the month or more. If you have any a suggestion, I would like to hear them.
Let’s started with sports scientists, these include nutritionist, biomechanics, physical scientist, etc. As you know, there are tons of these people, but I have collected here some who I follow in social media and who are active in there and people whose book or other Continue reading “My favourite; sports scientists”
Most of us has bad habits, that’s okay, but if we constantly repeat them, the development and performance start to suffer. As running is not just running, to become faster and better we have to consider every aspect of our life. This doesn’t mean you have to live like elite athlete, but there are many little things which you can do, these also often prevent injuries and improve life quality. Can you recognize yourself any of these bad habits? Continue reading “Runner’s bad habits”
When you hire coach or buy a personalized training program, coaches ask (or they should) things about your life, why?
Once you find the coach who you want to work with, you meet or discuss in some way with you coach, he/she might send you the form to fill up. You will face the question about your life, and might think why we (coaches) want to know about it as you are just want training program. It’s not just that we are seeking some gossip or anything about your personal life. Continue reading “Why coaches want to know about your life?”
Static stretching
Static stretching can be divided to active and passive. In active stretching the position is kept over 30 second, there are no movement only your own pressure. Passive stretching is the same as active, but the pressure is created with some tools or partner, when your own body remain relax.
Static stretching might affect negatively to explosive performance if they performed before the performance. Static stretching increase range of motion so it would be good to do them after performance or day before. Continue reading “Different types of stretching and when to use them”
There is a brief introduction about me in About section, but I thought to tell a little more.
I’m 27 years old young woman from Finland. I have always loved sports, all kinds sports, that’s why I have tried several different sports like basketball (haha I’m short), taekwondo, dance (all kinds of dances; streets, ballet, jazz, etc.). Almost all these sports included some amount of running exercises, but I never consider myself as a runner. I had that long time dream to someday run a marathon, but I never did anything about it, Continue reading “More about me…”
Foam roller that painful, but so wonderful tool, it can help to ease knots and relax sore muscles, but do you take all benefits from it or do you use it right?
1. Don’t only roll. If you have knots, place roll under these and put pressure on, once these knots starts to loosening, you can start rolling.
2. Roll one muscle (muscles group) 30-90 sec. There are no point to roll several minutes on one area as it can increase injuries. If you feel to need more rolling take a break and Continue reading “Foam rolling tips”
Exercise; reps, sets, rest, kilometers, miles, minutes, hours…
OR meaning of the exercise, benefits, focus on the progress, internal locus, number of exercises, benefits, motivation, access to equipment, monitor adherence, self efficacy, daily life…
When training either the own well-being and happiness or to be successful athlete, the training program is one of the major key in the progress. But there are no point to make Continue reading “Exercise or meaning of the exercise”
I have written about shoes once earlier, where I listed down some main things to consider when picking the running shoes, you can find it here.
What are the differences of running shoes and training shoes, and when to use them?
Like the name say, racing shoes are designed for racing, when speaking the road races, such as marathon, these shoes can be 100-200g lighter than normal training shoes. They are designed for minimal support as all extra cushioning add weights. 100-200g weight Continue reading “Racing shoes vs training shoes”
Just run, that’s enough? Or is it?
Becoming the better and faster runner, doesn’t only mean tons of running alone. Runners should also do the strength training to improve their running form, endurance, speed and other physiological factors. M. Chatara et al. (2005) show that strength training improve VO2max, whereas Støren et al. (2008) proved that strength training improved time of exhaustion level in maximal aerobic speed. There are tons of studies which show similar results, and no wonder why most of the elite athlete do some strength training. Even though there are variable between training group, for example Nike Oregon project runners hit some heavy weight training once in the while when most of the Kenyan runners Continue reading “Should runners do strength training?”
Angularity – Beginning of the run, when body is cold and its start to warm up, listening who it’s feeling today, what is the rhythm of feet.
Internal awareness – Body is warmed up, rhythm is found, sense of running have found.
Relaxation – Feet moving easily forward, air going lungs and out without any trouble, heart racing faster than rest, but not disturbingly. Continue reading “States of running”
Locus of control is the concept of social psychology which Julian B. Rotten (1954) developed to search personality. There are internal and external locus of control.
Internal locus of control
People believe that great results are outcome of their own hard work and determination.
External locus of control
People believe that results are outcome of external sources, what other people do or the Continue reading “Locus of control and running”
New year is just around the corner, many of you might have just done last run for this year and other are about to go.
Some of you might have made a resolution to start running and others are middle of training plan, heading to spring’s marathons. Whatever your plans for next year are, I hope you achieve them!
Enjoy this evening and let’s welcome the new year and better version of ourselves. Enjoy to next year and smile to each other when we meet each others on the road. It doesn’t Continue reading “Happy New Year 2018!!”
New year, New me! New Year resolution time is almost here, gyms are full of people in January, sports shop are selling products fast, fridges are filled up healthy food and plan list are filled up. Many of the people last whole month some quit after a week or two.
How to stick your new year resolution?
Start easy:
Make a little plans. For example if you want to lose weight and get fit, don’t go to the gym Continue reading “New Year resolution – tips to achieve them”
New Year is coming! Do you have plan for the next year? Maybe running some marathons or half or shorter distances? Are you looking for the new PB or are you a first timer?
Now you have change to win free customized running program. You can choose one program between marathons, half marathons, 5 km or 10 km plans.
What you need to do? Tell me why you should win and what are your goal(s)! You can Continue reading “WIN free running plan!”
Training plan, running, food, Christmas Eve, family visit, hurry… PANIC!
STOP! Are you panicking how to survive for Christmas and training?
You may have training plan which you want to follow, but at the same there are a lot of happening during the Christmas, family visit, a lot of (unhealthy) food, all the preparations before the Christmas. Here are some tips how to survive over Christmas! Continue reading “Training and Christmas time”
Last summer I wrote about how to make treadmill running more fun, which you can find here. There are some tips on how to make treadmill running less boring especially for those how to find it boring.
But when you should use a treadmill? There are many cases when running on the treadmill will be more effective than running in outside.
1. Weather. You have to make yourself comfortable in running every weather, especially Continue reading “When to run on treadmill?”
Overtraining means that body is stressed more than it can handle, when it’s not recover well, which leads weaker performance. It can be divided two; acute and chronic. In acute state recovery takes about 1-4 weeks and in chronic states it takes from 3 months even years. Both elite athletes and non-elite athletes can suffer overtraining. Continue reading “Overtraining and symptoms”
You may have heard that heel striking is a bad thing. Isn’t it?
There are tons of opinions and research which arguing with each others. Many studies has shown that forefoot and even mid foot striking is more economic as runners with these style use more thigh muscles (bigger muscle group) than calf muscles (smaller muscle group). So, you are saving more energy and your calves don’t have to work as much, whereas in heel strike.
You might have seen sprinter, how they run almost on their toes only. How about Continue reading “Forefoot – Mid foot – or Heel strike?”
You might of heard that you should run practice marathon or at least 20 miles (32km) before your first marathon event. Is it true or not?
The answer is: yes and no.
NO. Let’s consider that you have not much running experience, you started to run a few months ago and training for your first marathon, or you have been running years, sometime more regularly and sometimes taking breaks. Your running pace is around 7 min/mile or 11min /km. Your estimated finishing time is around 5 hours. There’s not point to go for the run marathon during in your training as it would take that much time. Continue reading “Should you run practice marathon before your first marathon event”
There are probably as many different versions of interval training as there are runners. There are short and long intervals, but what is the differences between these two and what to take account.
Long intervals also known as intervals or hard training. Intervals are often measured either time or distance, for example 5 x 2min or 5 x 800 meters. The minimum time that one interval takes is often 2 minutes but it normally vary between 2-4 minutes. In distances it’s normally set between 800m – 1500m. Continue reading “Long intervals vs short repetitions”
Running cadence is how often your feet touch the ground during the running. According to the Jack Daniels’ study most of elite athlete takes over 180 step per minute (include both legs), some takes even over 200 steps. So, how many step are recommended to non-elite runners? Many studies and coaches says 180 steps, and I agree with this.
Why? The faster the speed more steps are needed for smooth and economical running. The less step are taken the more time is spent in the air, while landing to the ground is harder. Your lower body ligaments, joints, bones and muscles receive over three times your body weight each landing. Every time your foot land on the ground your muscles and tendons stretch to absorb energy from impact. Once they return the normal length Continue reading “Running cadence – does it matter?”
Are you beginner, have you started to running lately? Maybe looking for taking the place for half marathon or marathon next year. Or want to improve your running and speed. You might have been thinking when to start to build speed.
Often, when people start running, they run about couple weeks and notice how their endurance are developing, little by little they can run farther. They might have reached 5km and now they want to run it faster and faster. That’s it the normal way to think, but Continue reading “Beginner; When to start build the speed?”
New things are coming for you!
I have planned so many new things and updates which will take place during this year. My life has been hectic and next couple week I will be busy, but then things are about to change little by little.
You have might notice that there’s coming one post per week, that’s about the change, I try to post twice a week. Also there will new themes and subjects such as: Continue reading “New things are coming! What do you want to read?”
Autumn is here, or depending where you are living. The season that some of the people love and others hate. Days get shorter and colder. People start speaking about Autumn fatigue, how tired and lazy they are, how they would rather spend evenings inside wrapping themselves in cozy blanket. But, if you are runner, you know that you have to hit the road, even though the warm bed is more comfortable. So, here is the brief checklist for the Autumn running: Continue reading “Checklist for autumn running”
“No human is limited” – Eliud Kipchoge
Eliud Kipchoge has run by far the fastest marathon ever recorded and it’s about the start Berlin marathon just now when this post coming out. So within two hours we will know do he managed to break the new World record.
Everyone how following him running career knows he is incredible strong runner both physically and psychologically. If you have watched Breaking2 documentary even scientists were amazed his strong mentality. Continue reading “What limits you?”
Recovery is a massive part of the training, but often forget or underrated. Lack of the rest and recovery could lead injuries, tiredness, bad workouts, weight loss, dehydration, etc. The amount of your weekly recovery depends on your training amount and fitness level.
You have might have seen runners who have two rest days during the week and runners who have none of them. Runners who have more rest during to week have often lower weekly mileage and are less fit. And then there are runners who don’t have any rest days during the week, they might have couple during the month. These runners weekly running amount are often high. So why they don’t spend rest day as they are training so Continue reading “Recovery day or rest day?”
It’s about that time of the year, within the couple next months many runners start their off season. What is off season and why is it so important?
Off season is one of the most important cycle of your training. Once you have finished your training and race season and before you start new training cycle, you should spend off season. Off season usually last two to three weeks.
Many of the runners don’t know how spent off season or what is it actually means, should you still go for the run or not? Let’s image that you have run couple race during Continue reading “Why off season is important?”
There are many reasons to increase weekly running amount, for example when you have been training for a while and need to new challenge and develop your running fitness or start training for marathon. Often during marathon preparation program mileage/kilometers amount increases gradually, this increase depends about your fitness level and how long your training program is.
There are different ways and method to do this. And for sure you can also mess this process totally. Too fast increase may lead to overload and injuries, which no one want.
That has happened almost each one of us at the some point of our life. You might have been running in years, and once suddenly you are not interested in to lace your shoes and hit the path. Back of your head you are going through internal struggle, either to keep going or just stop and figure it out something else than running. You probably have tons of great memories and experience from running, you might have got new friends, so giving up all of these is not easy.
Step back and think, is there any reason why you feel like that. Are you bored with training, whether your competition has gone worse than you expected, are you injured Continue reading “What to do; lost the love of running”
Rest/Sleep
Proper night sleeps are the one of most important things for the every athlete. If you are waking up early, make sure you go to the sleep early. Quality of the sleep is more important than the amount, of course you have to get good amount the sleep, but if your sleep quality is poor, the long sleep do not necessarily help.
Healthy food
The healthier food the better. Diverse and healthy food is the key for the good training. Junk food don’t give your body what it needs, it might only give your mind the short pleasure. Eating the same food all the time, might increase cravings to eat junk food, also Continue reading “Things every runner should do”
Sports psychology and athlete-coach relationship are both massive subject, I can easily spent hours to speak about them and I don’t even everything.
Coach job is to observe, develop athlete and help athlete to develop their skills. It matter who is your coach, especially if you have certain goals. Your coach can be very talented, but if your thoughts and characters don’t meet up, you mind find difficult to work with your coach, also this might eventually affect your own motivation to train.
Coach need to be good listener and observer, he/she has to be able to read athlete. Continue reading “Coach’s psychological role”
