Welcome to episode 74 of the Final Surge Podcast where we welcome back Hoka NAZ Elite Coach Ben Rosario who talks about what he has planned for the Boston Marathon. Ben has two elite runners, Kellyn Taylor and Scott Smith who will be competing in Boston. We are just over 10-weeks out from Boston and Ben is offering three new training plans that are specific to the Boston Marathon. These three plans are tailored to the level of runner you are. In addition to the training plans Ben will have a weekly blog post which talks about exactly how to execute the training plans for the upcoming week. Make sure you check out his plans on FinalSurge.com/10weekstoboston and follow along with his professional athletes as they prepare for the unique course that is Boston.
You have two runners joining the great American field at the 2018 Boston Marathon, want to talk about them?
With Boston you never know what the weather will be like, could be 40 and raining or 75 and sunny, but if the weather is not a factor Boston can be a fast course so is the intention to run a PR at Boston?
If you look at the field, especially the women's side, it is an incredibly deep field. Was the goal for Kellyn to always run Boston?
You make your logs available for all your athletes. But for Boston, you are going a step further with 10-weeks To Boston.
You have other plans available for the marathon too, how do these differ from those plans?
Can you tell us about the blogging you have planned for these 10 weeks?
You have 10 weeks before Boston, what do some of the staple workouts look like during that time?
You have a document you include with your plans that talk about your terminology. Can you explain how you use the CV workouts in your plan?
When you get to your long runs are most of them steady or are you working quality into your long runs?
There is a lot of specific work to Boston so runners who have never run Boston can be prepared. This weekly blog is going to be able to help a lot of athletes. We want to get on again before Boston to talk about this training some more.
Welcome to episode 73 of the Final Surge Podcast. We have had some great runners on this podcast. Neely Spence Gracey, Nick Willis, Nick Symmonds, Dathan Ritzehein, Kim Conley and more, but maybe none has had a bigger influence on the running scene, especially the American running scene like today's guest. Today we welcome American mile record holder, Alan Webb. Alan retired from running in 2014 and has not been seen much around the running community since then, but that is about to change. Alan is part of a group starting a new coaching service called RunDoyen. We talk to Alan about the goals of the business and how you or anyone else can get personalized coaching from him and other professional runners. We also spend a little time talking about his training and the state of American middle distance running. Please remember to share this podcast on social media.
Before we get to some questions about your career, let’s find out what you have been up to for the last three years. How is the truck repair business?
There is a new site and Twitter account popping up called RunDoyen. It has listed yourself, Tara Welling, Ryan Vail, Aaron Braun, Jessica Tonn and more. A tweet said you are launching a new concept that reinvents the way the running community connects. Can you tell us what this project is?
Will it be a monthly membership service?
What type of training plans are you offering?
If someone is interested in working with you in a mile program, what is the timeframe?
What was it about this idea that got you excited to get involved in it?
What else can people expect?
What type of feedback are you looking for with communications from your clients?
Are nutrition and physical therapist you have listed on site included?
These are well-known professionals, what type of client you will be working with?
We know your work ethic and how hard you hit it on your workout days. What is your coaching philosophy?
Will you personally be working with someone who wants to run a longer distance like a marathon?
When you ran you were known as someone who liked to hit the weight room and hit workouts hard. Was that something specific to Alan Webb or would you incorporate this into your athletes you are working with too?
We had Jonathan Marcus on recently and talked about some of your workouts, will be dusting off your training logs to bring some of those back?
One of the workouts was a shorter 100's do you remember what your paces were?
Do you have all your old running logs?
It has been three years since you retired if you could paint a picture of what that time has looked like?
Do you have any running goals for the future?
You are arguably the greatest US middle distance runner of all time. So when you looked at retiring, why truck repair?
I want to ask you about the mile. When Steve Scott set it, it stood for 25 years before you broke it in 2007. And now it has been another decade and no one has touched it. Why do you think this has been so hard to break?
You ran 3:46, that is a well respected time. Is American middle distance running progressing the way it should be?
What do you think has been the biggest reason for the resurgence?
What advice do you have for young high school runners?
You had times in your career that you were plagued by injuries. Looking back at it now is there anything you think you would have done differently?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Perfect Mile
Current trainers you are wearing? - Nike Structure Triax
Favorite race? - American Mile Record
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Spaghetti
Your favorite workout - 800's, 8x800
Resources
RunDoyen on Twitter
RunDoyen Website
Alan Webb on Twitter
Alan Webb American record mile race
Welcome to episode 72 of the Final Surge podcast where today we welcome runner and coach Jacob Puzey. Jacob and I have a great conversation about his early running career and how those experiences and the coaches he worked with influenced who he is today and how he coaches. Jacob was the top Canadian male in Boston in 2017, is the 2016 and 2017 Canadian Road 50K National Champion and has a great coaching resume. Jacob's business Peak Run Performance is teaming up with Final Surge in the coming weeks to offer new coaching services in several languages, so watch out for that.
Could you give our listeners your background on how you started running back in the day?
How did the high school career and running career after high school go?
When did you make the transition into coaching?
You have coached high school runners and ultra runners. What are the foundational principles you take in your coaching philosophy that would be applicable to all runners?
I know from your bio you took over some high school programs that did not have a history of success and you created state championship programs. What did you do to turn around and build those programs?
All coaches have influences that have an impact on them as coaches. Who are some of the influences who have impacted your coaching philosophy?
What does the typical athlete you are coaching these days look like, what is their experience level and distances they are training for?
You are going to be releasing some coaching very soon on Final Surge, how is it you ended up on Final Surge as your coaching platform?
((((30))))What can people expect to find in your packages?
How many coaches do you have?
You have 4 coaches that work on your team, what events do you focus on?
There are many tools runners use. GPS watches, heart rate monitors, HRV readings, Power Meters. What type of technology do you use?
You have a lot of running accomplishments, you were the top Canadian male in Boston this year and a lot of success in Ultras. One of your accomplishments is the 50-mile treadmill record you set. When I saw the video this was the first time I had heard of you. How hard was that to run on a treadmill for 5 hours?
Do you use a treadmill often?
You ran the TransRockies with your brother, for those who do not know what the TransRockies is can you tell them and what it was like doing with your brother?
Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite endurance/running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra Paradigm
Favorite race? - 50k-50miles (3-6 hours)
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Steak, salted chocolate covered almonds
Your favorite workout - Georgetown 400's
Resources
PeakRunPerformance.com
Instagram PeakRunPerformance
Twitter @teampeakrun
Twitter @JacobPuzey
Last summer in episode 56 of the podcast we had on Jonathan Beverly who is a writer at Runner's World and an author of a few running books. He has a new book out called Run Strong Stay Healthy. This book is a great resource for any runner who is interesting in making running a lifetime habit. Most runners end up quitting the sport, but there are several who make it a lifetime habit. Jonathan found 9 keys to focus on to make running a part of your life for life. We talk to Jonathan about those keys and what you can do to stay running.
We had you on episode 56 to talk about your book Your Best Stride, and now you have a new book out called Run Strong Stay Hungry, can you tell the listeners what this book is about?
How did you collect the data for this book?
Why do people stop running?
I personally stopped a few times either for injuries or life changes but kept coming back. How many stories do you run into like mine where people fall away from it in different seasons of their life and then come back to it?
When looking at why people quit running, Do you find it different between mid-pack runners vs elite runners?
When you started thinking about the idea for this book and researching, was there anything that you discovered that really shocked you?
You mentioned key 3. In the book, you list the 9 keys to stay in the race. Do you find one of these 9 to be a key component that everything points back to?
One of the keys you have is making it a habit, with the New Year there are people who start the year with a run streaks, do you find streaks helpful or not?
What advice do you have for making it a habit?
Do these lifetime runners work a social aspect into their routine?
When I was younger racing and the competition kept me interested. Now it is running with friends and helping others with coaching that keeps me interested. The big difference now is I am very much a student of the sport. I go to clinics, I read constantly and I am always trying to learn more. Can you talk about how being a student of the sport can have an impact?
Let’s look at technology. there are things like GPS watches and Starva. I could imagine in some ways this may hurt long-term participation but it could also help it by connecting you with others in your community and creating introductions. How do these new technologies have an impact?
You are a high school coach yourself. How did writing this book change you, do you do anything different in your coaching now?
There are some aspects of this book that can help you stay healthy, what are some of the keys you learned?
Resources
www.jonathanbeverly.com
Jonathan on Twitter
Your Best Stride
Run Strong Stay Hungry
Welcome to episode 70 of the Final Surge Podcast, our first release of 2018. Today we welcome back coach Jonathan Marcus of High Performance West who is also the co-host of the On Coaching Podcast. In this episode, we find out what Jonathan is up to since our first visit over a year ago and take some questions our listeners sent in. Remember if you like the podcast please share it with a friend or on Facebook or FinalSurge where we can be found @FinalSurge.
What is going on with High Performance West?
You recently had a workout from Nick Symmonds. Jerry and Alberto Salazar are two of greatest coaches around and you have stated they are influences on you. They are big believers in lots of high-end aerobic development, but Nick's workout was anything but. Talk a little his workout and what you took from it?
What advice do you have for coaches who read your site and the workouts of the day and how they should employ them?
What is your other project Coaching With Craft
We wanted to open it up to some of our listeners and we gathered questions from them so let's get into them.
I have heard you talk about doing workouts in a way so that after the hard effort you clear lactate with more aerobic running. I have also heard you say that most of what we know about lactate acid is a myth from the 80’s. What do we know and what should we keep in mind? I do mostly 5k-10k road races with 1 track workout a week.
Father of a runner who took over the school's indoor track distance team after they were left coachless had a few questions:
What should the warmups-drills-exercises look like?
You mentioned minimum effective dose often, when do you know when that has been reached?
I am a 33-year-old runner who has been running for 3 years. I started for weight loss and fell in love with the sport. I just broke 20 minutes in the 5k which has been a goal for a year. You talk about looking at the canvass and seeing what is missing. That is what I should be working on. How do you know what that thing is?
I have been coaching xc/indoor/outdoor distance for 4 years. I have done a good job developing 1&2 mile runners on the track, but very little luck with developing 800 runners. I don’t have any of those “jump out of the gym” athletes that you talk about. What types of workouts can I add and when should I add them in?
In one of your podcast, you said Alan Webb did not go to altitude but was getting similar results from his lifting. Can you explain this?
One thing you talk about a lot is, after a workout or rep, you ask your runner to walk you through it. It is easy to talk about what happens on a bad rep, but what about ones that are “fine”? Do you dig deeper or take fine as an answer?
Recently you have talked about how you are spending more time on form and mechanics. Can you talk to us about what you have learned, what you focus on and where should we be going to help educate ourselves on this?
Resources
High Performance West
Jonathan Marcus on Twitter
Marcus from Episode 40