Info

Final Surge Podcast

In the Final Surge Podcast, we interview coaches, athletes authors, and endurance industry experts to help you train with a purpose.
RSS Feed
Final Surge Podcast
2021
December
October
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June


All Episodes
Archives
Now displaying: March, 2017
Mar 29, 2017

In episode 38 of the Final Surge Podcast we are joined by Denny Krahe who is a coach and best known for his running podcast called Diz Runs. Denny has almost 400 episodes of his podcast and releases three a week. We will talk to him about his first ultra run he did recently, his coaching and his new upcoming book Be Ready on Race Day.

How did you get your start with running?

You made the transition from not being a runner until after college to coaching. How did that transition happen?

At what point in this journey did the DizRuns podcast start?

What are some of the best stories that you remember from your podcast?

Recently you made the jump to ultras and did your first ultra trail run, what was that like?

You have done a lot of marathons, but here you get to 26.2, and you had another 10k to go. How did it feel at the 26.2 mark?

What were the big differences in your training leading up to the ultra?

What about fueling, how did your fueling change running the ultra vs. what you were used to in marathons?

What lessons did you learn from the ultra? What would you change next time?

You have a background in exercise science and talk a lot about injuries on your podcast Q&A episodes. What are the most common issues you see with the athletes you work with?

What are the strength and core routines you are using with your athletes to keep them healthy and for injury prevention?

You do a lot of coaching when someone comes to you for coaching where do you find them to most often be at? Are they a new running looking to get started, a more experienced running looking get that extra 1% improvement or somewhere in between?

You recently announced you have a new book coming out. Can you tell us the topic of this training book?

What is the market for this book, half marathon, and marathon?

When is the book coming out and where can they get it?

Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - 80/20
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra’s
Favorite race? - Running with the Bears in California
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Greasy Burger and fries
Your favorite workout - Mile repeats

Denny’s website
Denny’s upcoming book - Be Ready On Race Day 
DizRuns on Twitter
DizRuns on Instagram

Mar 22, 2017

Welcome to episode 37 of the Final Surge podcast where we talk with coach Nate Helming. Nate has been featured in such publications such as Competitor magazine and is the founder of The Run Experience. I recommend you check out his videos on Youtube at The Run Experience. Today we will discuss running injuries, hips, footstrike, nose breathing and more. 

How did you get your start in endurance sports?

Did you do track and cross country in high school or was it just something you did on the side?

What did you do after high school, did you do these sports in college?

You now run The Run Experience and specialize in movement and keeping runners injury free. Did you study Exercise Science in college?

Depending on the survey you want to believe, 65-80 percent of runners and triathletes get injured every year, why do you think the injury rate is so high?

You mentioned thorough dynamic warm up, what does that look like for you?

You mentioned range of motion; one argument is you only need as much flexibility or range of motion as the activity requires. So with running that is not a whole lot. Do you agree with this or do you think we need to work even more on increasing range of motion?

If we look at the newer runner, some of the common injuries we see are shin splints, Achilles injuries, runners knee, tight calves, most of what we see is lower leg injuries, but usually, that is the symptom of a different causing factor. What are some of the things you most often see leading to these lower leg injuries?

You mention hip extension, when I see lower leg injuries, the first thing I look at are the hips, and often, the hips are back when we look at them on video. It is easy to tell someone to get your hips underneath, but it is a different thing to make it happen. How do you work with athletes to get their hips under them?

In your videos on Youtube at The Run Experience, you talk a lot about proper foot strike. While there may not be a one best foot strike for everyone, where are some of the things you look for?

You mentioned during the first mile of the warm up run to breathe through the nose only, does this teach deeper belly breathing?

When working with your triathletes and runners, you have them working with these drills and movements. How much general strength and weight lifting do you do with your athletes?

You mentioned barbell movements, are you working with the Olympic movements or what other types of strength work do you have your athletes do?

You have the 2-week quickstart program on your site, can you tell us what is involved in that?

You have a new mobile app too, what is included in that Run Experience app?

Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Your favorite running book? - Bowerman and the Men of Oregon
Current trainers you are wearing? - Altra Loan Peak 3.0
Favorite race? - Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Sushi and ice cream
Your favorite workout - 90 min trail run working uphills

Youtube 
Website 
Instagram 
Facebook
TheRunExperience App

Mar 15, 2017

Welcome to episode 36 of the Final Surge Podcast where we talk to former Syracuse Orangeman, and current NAZ Elite Runner Marty Hehir about his first year as a professional runner. We talk about his career at Syracuse, how he found out he would be running in the Olympic trials just 2-days before the race and how his training has changed since going pro. Marty helped lead Syracuse to the National Title in cross country with his ninth place individual finish at the 2015 Championships. 

We like to start out by introducing the listeners with our guests by asking how you got your start in running?

What made you want to run at Syracuse, I’m guessing not for the weather?

While I don’t think he is under appreciated any longer, for a while I think Chris Fox was probably one of the best college distance coaches that few knew. What was it like running for him?

When you were thinking about going to school at Syracuse was it something you were thinking about going to school to become a professional runner, or were you a runner for something to do while at school? And at what point did you decide you were going to pursue a professional running career?

How has the transition gone, have you enjoyed it as much as you thought you would or has it been different?

You joined NAZ Elite in August, but you ran at the Trials in the 10k before that. Who were you training with before joining NAZ?

You mentioned you were not even in the trials until 2 days before. What is the back story there? How did you get in?

All runners for the most part have big personalities in their own way. Your group though seems to be on another level. How fun has it been to be part of that group in Flagstaff?

Marty answers the question, does Scott Fauble eat as many burritos as it seems during the week? 

You have a 3k pr of 7:49 and have run a half in 63. So you have a lot of versatility. What do you think you will be focusing on over the next few years?

What races do you have on the schedule?

One thing I love about your team is your openness. Your teams complete training logs are online at FinalSurge.com/nazElite. Do you guys get a lot questions about your training and why do you open it up so much when some others seem to be so secretive about what they do?

First what I have learned from interviewing so many professional coaches and runners is there is no one road to Rome, there are many ways to get there. There are many ways to get to the top, but all of them involve hard work and consistency. So what is some of the biggest changes you have seem since joining NAZ Elite vs what you were doing before?

You mentioned 15x1k. Saturday you did a Lactate Threshold 15 x 1k in 2:58 with 1 min rest. And this is one of the things I love about your online logs is not only do you have workouts, but you have notes that you put in post race. So it looked like you stayed 2:57-2:59 on each rep. And it states you did it with a few other of the guys on the team. Is this a staple workout?

Today you did a leg speed workout where you did a 3 mile warmup, 10x200 in 31 with 200 recovery jog and 3 mile recovery. How often are you doing these types of high leg speed workouts?

What advice would have you have to a runner looking at your logs and looking for ideas. Obviously not everyone is an elite runner, so what could an age group runner in a local 5 or 10k learn from reading your logs?

Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute
Favorite running book? - Born To Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka Clifton 3
Favorite race? - 2015 NCAA XC Championship Race.
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Your favorite workout - Cutdown workout

Coach Ben Rosario in Episode 4?
Marty on Twitter
Complete Training Logs
Marty’s Training Log

Mar 8, 2017

Welcome to episode 35 of the final surge podcast where we welcome Coach Greg McMillan to the show.  If you get any tidbits or learn anything useful from this podcast please head over to iTunes and share a review. Today we are going to discuss How Greg got involved in coaching, we will break down his world famous running calculator app and answer some common questions that coaches and athletes have about it and we will talk a lot about his training from 800 to marathon. Greg’s calculator is now built into Final Surge as one of the calculator options, and when you match that with his training plans there are now over 100 McMillan customized plans available at Final Surge.

How did you get started in running when you were younger?

Can you give us the history of how you got started in coaching?

You started with exercise science. There is the science of coaching and the art of coaching. What is something you learned early, maybe in a classroom, that didn’t translate to real world coaching?

Who were your big coaching influences?

I believe you made a transition in the last few years away from coaching elites runners in person to more of an online model, is that correct?

You developed what may be the most widely used running calculator around. We recently added in your running calculator into the Final Surge software and started adding your plans as an add-on. So let’s start talking about your calculator and your plans.

When looking at your plans you ask if a runner is level 1-4, can you describe the difference between the levels?

Another question you ask is if the athlete is an Endurance, Speedster or Combo. You go into great detail on this in your book You only faster. But can you explain to someone who hasn’t read the book what the differences are between those three?

One of the ways to figure out what type of runner you are is your running calculator. So If I understand it right, if someone runs a 5k of say 17 minutes and types it into your calculator it says they should be running a 4:54 mile. Now if their mile time is 4:45 that would tend to show they are a speedster if their aerobic training was in place correct?

If that same athlete has recently run a 17 minute 5k it says their Tempo runs should be 5:44-5:58.. but if you use their recent 4:45 mile it would give them a tempo pace of nearly ten seconds per mile faster. So which would you recommend they use, the faster time because they may be more of a speedster of the 5k time because it is a longer event? Of course, this assumes both those events were recent good races and true times. 

In your mobile app you have 4 groups of workout paces. The first two are Endurance and Stamina. How do these two differ and what percentage of time do you think you should spend in each of these sections during a typical week or 12-week training cycle? 

Now let’s jump to your plans and take a look at some examples. Based on the training plans, if someone is following a level 4 training plan they obviously have a good solid base. What do you see as a typical base buildup looking like before someone jumps into a 12-week training plan?

In your 800/1600 training for a combo runner you start out week one with an easy run on Monday, then Tuesday you go into a 800m cruise interval workout with 6-8x 800 with a 200m recovery. Then 3x200 with 200 recovery. Can you talk about this workout and the goal of cruise intervals and what the pacing is for the cruise interval and 200’s?

Then Wednesday you do a 40-50 min recovery.  Then on Thursday for a miler, you go 16x100 race goal pace with 2-400 recovery. You go right after goal pace work week one, so this obviously assumes they are coming in with the base. How often do you tough race pace work?

Then you go Friday/Sat easy days and Sunday a long run up to 80 minutes. How long do you think 800 runners and milers should be working up to on their long runs and do you do them every week?

Your peak week 10 you start out with the recovery run on Monday, Tuesday you comeback with 10-12x200 with a 2-300 recovery jog to work on building sprint speed. What paces are these 200’s at?

Wednesday is a recovery day. You give a wide range of 40-60 minutes. What advice would you tell your athletes on determining if they should go 40 or 60 minutes? 

Thursday is a 20-30 min warmup run.

Then they do 15-20 sets of 15-second strides with a one min recovery jog and 20-30 min cool down. 

Are these strides at 5k pace? 3000 pace or what are you using?

Many coaches I have talked to use strides at the end of their workout, you are doing them in the middle, what is the reasoning?

Then Fri/Sat are easy run days with a time trial on Sunday. how should an athlete run this time trial?

We have a lot of high school coaches who listen to this, and I would expect many of those purchasing the 800/miler plans are likely high school and college coaches. Many high school athletes who are not national level elite may be racing once a week. So if a high school runners has a race on a Saturday, do you substitute one of  your workouts during the week for the race or how are you changing a week?

You start out with an easy run for the first few days then on day 4 you do a goal pace workout where you do 10-12x400 at goal pace, then a couple more easy days and your long run of 70-80 minutes. What some will notice is how similar this is to the 800/mile plan we talked about earlier. Many coaches today treat the 800 through the half marathon with similar training just working on around the edges on some pacing work and a little volume changes, what do you see as the biggest differences between maybe a miler’s training and a 5 or 10k runner?

There are a lot of similarities there, but then things really change when we reach the marathon. One of the big factors in the marathon of course is the wall and how to properly train the fueling systems. What does a runner who is making the move to the marathon really need to know about this jump and teaching their body to burn fat more efficiently along with glycogen?

When it comes to hip mobility, core strength, strength auxiliary work, what do you recommend and how often?

If someone wanted to reach out to you and find out more about your services how could they best reach you?

Final Surge Round

Your favorite running book? - Once a Runner
Current trainers you are wearing? - New Balance 1080
Favorite race? - Mile or 5k
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Cheeseburger, Fries and Beer
Your favorite workout - 10-12 400m

Resources

McMillanRunning.com
Final Surge Plans
You Only Faster
Greg on Twitter

1