Outside: What's Harder Than Giving Birth?

What Kara Goucher Learned from the Leadville Marathon 
Martin Fritz Huber/Outside Online, 21 Jun 2019

As you may be aware, Outside has recently made a lot of new friends in the trail running community, thanks to an article that suggested that the demographic should be more proactive about volunteer work. At the risk of squandering the surplus of goodwill, last weekend’s Leadville Trail Marathon brought to mind a contentious question: What would happen if more elite road runners transitioned to trail racing? Or, as we asked in an article from 2015: Are the stars of the ultra scene only successful because the best distance runners tend to stick to the roads?

The answer appears to be “no,” at least if last weekend’s race is anything to go by.

(Link to article)

Runner's World: Dog Is My Training Partner

Who Rescued Whom? Dog Adopts Elite Athlete
An abandoned mutt, who can handle 6-minute miles, turns up on a running trail and encounters a 2:32 marathoner.
Sarah Lorge Butler/Runner's World, Jan 30, 2019

Dog works in mysterious ways.

How else to explain the mystery of an abandoned dog that found the single best runner in Ocala, Florida? Stephanie Pezzullo was running in mid-December along the Santos Trail, a paved route winding out of the city. There were no other people in sight. No runners, no walkers, no cyclists. It was the middle of the day, a cold one by Central Florida standards.

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CTS: Adjust These, Run Faster

Run Faster With Less Effort With These Four Adjustments
Adam St. Pierre/CTS Running Coach and Biomechanist

There are many factors involved in running biomechanics, including body weight, limb length, muscle strength, joint range of motion… and everybody is different in these respects. That’s why there is no singular ideal that defines perfect body mechanics. Rather, each individual must find their own ideal biomechanics. Watch any elite marathon and you’ll see many examples of “perfect” biomechanics – Eliud Kipchoge looks like he’s floating! But you’ll also see examples of elite athletes running amazingly fast with seemingly serious biomechanical flaws. Whether you’re elite or just getting started, here are four areas every runner can optimize to run faster with less effort.

Optimizing the four areas below can lead to faster sustainable paces at a given effort level/power output. It may reduce injury risk by reducing the strain on body tissues – which in turn improves performance by minimizing missed/compromised training...

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Outside: There Goes One More Charity Entry

You Shouldn't Hate on Celebrity Marathoners
Any (non-doping-related) publicity is good publicity
Martin Fritz Huber, Outside/August 9, 2017


I love this time of year, when the harbingers of the fall running season begin to trickle in. The big races announce their elite fields. Marathon promos appear on TV. Packs of high school cross-country runners invade public parks like members of the world’s least intimidating gang...


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Outside: Smartphone A Waste For Elite-Beater

This 13-Year-Old Girl Is Already Beating Elite Runners
Better learn Lanie Szuch's name, because you're about to start hearing it—a lot
Katie Arnold/Outside: May 26, 2017


When Alyana (aka Lanie) Szuch toes the line to defend her title at the GoPro Mountain Games 5K trail race on June 9, she’ll face more than the usual scrutiny. Szuch is 13. The trail running phenom’s victory wasn’t beginner’s luck: Szuch was third woman in the 10K at last year’s games, the second woman at the 2015 Xterra National Championship half marathon last September, and seventh at the U.S. Mountain Running Championships in 2015, when she was only 11...


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Outside: Being Injured...

How to Mentally Recover from an Injury
Brad Stulberg/Outside, May 17, 2017
For an athlete, being injured is often harder psychologically than it is physically. But the elites have developed a few key tools to help stay happy and sane while healing...
(Link to Article)

CTS: Ultra Elites and You

Three Characteristics You Share with Elite Ultrarunners
Jason Koop, Carmichael Training Systems/2 May 2017

Despite their diverse backgrounds, elite ultrarunners share three common characteristics. You have them too. The differences just come down to a matter of degree, and you can enhance all three characteristics to improve your running performance...

(Link to Article)

Outside Online: Pain and Getting Chicked

The Longer the Race, the Stronger We Get 
Meaghen Brown//Outside Online, Apr 11, 2017

 At the outer edges of endurance sports, something interesting is happening: women are beating men. 

Among the world’s most celebrated long-distance footraces, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc is known for being particularly brutal.

The 106-mile course through the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps climbs more than 33,000 feet as it loops around its namesake peak. The weather can be savage—heavy rain, frigid nights, hot and humid days. In August 2013, Rory Bosio took off from the start line without grand expectations, having never won a major event. She trailed well behind the leaders for the first six hours. But as the race stretched into the evening and most competitors slowed, ­Bosio held her pace. When the lanky, brown-haired American runner in pink shoes and a blue running skirt crossed the finish line in 22 hours 37 minutes, she’d destroyed the women’s record by two and a half hours. Bosio took seventh place overall, becoming the first woman to crack the top ten at the event and beating dozens of elite pro men...

(Link to Article)