So you’ve completed a marathon? HOW CUTE!!” I saw this comical (albeit cocky) quote on a T-shirt while completing the Sunmart 50-mile ultra last December, and thought it very true. As a running coach, I’m seeing a growing population of athletes who are looking to push past traditional 26.2-mile marathons and test themselves by going longer.  

I missed out on gymnastics as a kid. Well, to be honest I never felt like I missed anything. The sport never really appealed to me—or so I thought. But when I walked into the giant gymnastics facility at Chelsea Piers to do the Gymtensity class and saw an adult gymnastics class in full swing, I may as well have been 10 years old again. 

Most of the runners that I work with don’t have specific time goals. This is fine. Running is a free-form activity that empowers you to choose from a variety of training programs, races and enriching running experiences. There are occasions, however, when having a time goal can be very rewarding. If you want to train for a specific time goal this year, keep in mind the following tips that can help you stay focused and motivated — even when the watch doesn’t say what you want it to say.
Photo: John Segesta

I found myself standing atop a 400-FOOT WATERFALL listening to the cheers of encouragement from my fellow teammates as I got set to REPEL DOWN INTO A NARROW CANYON where I could barely see the ground below me. This was just one of the obstacles presented to me on my latest multi-sport adventure.

Chondromalacia, or runner's knee, is a condition where the articular cartilage, located underneath the kneecap (patella), starts to soften and break down. This cartilage is usually smooth and allows the knee joint to move freely as the knee bends. However, as chondromalacia worsens, the cartilage breaks down, causing irregularities and roughness on the undersurface of the patella, which leads to irritation and pain of the knee joint.

XTERRA, or off-road triahlon, is the fastest growing new concept in multisport with more than 100 events in 16 countries. Bordering on the extreme, this style of racing takes the conventional concept and ads the unpredictability of Mother Nature. For some athletes, it seemed a bit out of reach, a little cosmic, shall we say, but a new DVD helps all athletes realize they can too can do XTERRA.

Go fast. Go slow. Go long. Go short. Knowing when to push yourself and when to back off can drive you crazy. If you think too hard about it, training can seem really complicated. And as exercise science learns more about human performance, sports terminology grows increasingly complex. However, what science uncovers often supports many tried-and-true training practices. 

Running can bring an amazing blend of benefits: a great attitude, more vitality, clear thinking, a unique sense of freedom and a genuine sense of accomplishment. Most runners feel so positive about these benefits that they influence at least 10 other people a year to hop on the running bandwagon. If you’re one of these people and are thinking about taking up the sport but don’t quite know how to go about it, read on. With the following 10 tips, I’ve taken a conservative approach to get you started so that you ease into it and avoid any aches and pains. If you stick with it, you just may find yourself getting hooked on running.

Spring is here—time to defrost those legs. After hours of winter base miles, cyclists can start getting serious with short, intense intervals sessions targeted at addressing weaknesses and honing strengths. To come up with some killer intervals, we recruited elite-level cycling coach and author of Training and Racing with a Power Meter, Hunter Allen, who designed three challenging sessions that can be added to cyclists’ weekly training programs and help them meet specific goals. 

In a prior article, I introduced a notion that training for sports competition at the elite level was the antithesis of a healthy activity. Since many people seem to think that athletes are almost by definition healthy, I thought I might develop that idea a bit further in this follow-up article.