Outside: She's In My Rear View

Are Women Closing in on Men at the Boston Marathon?
Alex Hutchinson/Outside, Jan 28, 2019

A detailed analysis of historical Boston results wades into the long-running debate on sex differences in endurance

Back in 1992, scientists at UCLA made a surprising prediction in Nature. Since women’s marathon times were improving more quickly than men’s, they forecast that women would surpass men in 1998. While that didn’t come to pass, the idea that women might be closing the gap in endurance races persists, thanks to the feats of athletes like Jasmin Paris, the ultrarunner who shattered the overall course record in the 168-mile Montane Spine Race in Britain earlier this month, and Camille Herron, who beat the entire field while setting a women’s 24-hour running record in December.

But you can only learn so much from individual stories, no matter how remarkable. That’s where a new analysis in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research comes in...

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NYTimes - Anything You Can Do She Can Do Better

The Woman Who Outruns the Men, 200 Miles at a Time
Rebecca Byerly/NY Times, December 5, 2018

Courtney Dauwalter specializes in extremely long races. But her success in winning them has opened a debate about how men’s innate strength advantages apply to endurance sports...

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Outside - Trots and Beer

What Strava Tells Us About the State of Running in 2018
Martin Fritz Huber, Outside/November 29, 2018

This week, Strava, the activity-sharing network favored by endurance athletes and those who stalk them, released its annual “Year in Sport” report, which offers insights on data collected from over 36 million users in 195 countries. Even though Strava is looking to broaden its reach—for better or worse, roller skiers and kitesurfers can now upload their activities on the app—runners and cyclists continue to dominate...

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Runners World - Whoops.

Hardrock 100 Leader Disqualified for Taking Water Outside of Official Aid Station
Andrew Dawson, Runners' World//Jul 23

Less than 10 miles from the finish line, the race leader for the Hardrock 100—a 100-mile endurance race throughout steep and evolving elevation—was disqualified after receiving aid outside of an aid station.

 Xavier Thévenard, 30, of France, was leading the grueling race when he accepted water and ice from friends on the course outside of a designated aid station, according to the The Durango Herald. The race’s rule state that, there is “no stashing of supplies along the course and no accepting aid except within 400 yards of a designated aid station.”

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Training Peaks: Fruitcake or Fast-Pace Work?

3 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Train This Winter
December 15, 2017/Andy Blow, Training Peaks


On the whole endurance athletes are a pretty self-motivated bunch. But even endurance athletes are only human, and as a result we suffer from the same fluctuations in “get up and go” as everyone else from time to time. These dips in motivation can range from the nagging desire to skip training for a day or two to full on slumps where you lose your workout mojo altogether for extended periods of time.


And this time of year can be particularly challenging from a “mojo” point of view because, for the most part, the “A” races for the year have disappeared into the rear view mirror but next season is still a good way off over the horizon. There are also dark mornings and evenings with often colder, wetter weather to contend with (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere at least). At this time of year it’s easier than ever to just skip training altogether.


Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in taking a decent end-of-year break if you’ve had a long, hard season. This is crucial for mental and physical recuperation. But, assuming that your planned downtime is coming to an end sometime in the near future, I thought it might be a good time to offer up a few tips gleaned from more than 20 years of tricking, cajoling and persuading myself to go out and train when frankly I’d much rather have hit the snooze button or spent more time working on the Homer Simpson-esque butt indentations in my sofa instead.... (link to article...)

CTS: So Hush, Already

To Improve Your Training Stop Saying These Four Things
Syd Schulz, CTS Sponsored Athlete/


We all know negative self talk is bad, but how many of us are actually successful at stopping it? I know I often succumb to being my own worst critic, and just telling myself to “cut it out“ and “be positive” is rarely helpful. Ultimately, wrestling with your mind is just not productive — but there are some things you can do to set yourself up for success BEFORE you get bummed out. And they’re pretty darn simple. Even when it seems impossible to control the thoughts running through your brain, you CAN control what you do with them and what comes out of your mouth, and that’s a good start.


Here are four decisions I learned to make that have immeasurably improved my training and approach to sport. I’ve also included the things we say that keep us focused on the negative, and some examples of how you can reframe those responses. I’m leading with mountain biking lingo because that’s my sport, but the ideas apply to ultrarunning, road cycling, triathlon, and pretty much all endurance sports...


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Outside: No Pain, No Painkillers

How to Treat Pain Without Painkillers
Rachael Schultz/Outside, October 17 2017

Learning to push through discomfort, and maybe even a little pain, is practically nonnegotiable for anyone who signs up for a race or commits to a tough training plan. Most athletes pop over-the-counter (OTC) painkillers before or during a race or game to help blunt tenderness, stiffness, and fatigue. “I’d say about 75 percent of endurance athletes across all sports take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) before and during competition,” says Jason Barker, founder and clinical consultant of the online Natural Athlete Clinic.

But rather than turn to things like aspirin and ibuprofen—which up your risk of acute kidney damage, oxidative stress, or hyponatremia while competing—try one of these all-natural ways to soothe soreness in the days leading up to your goal race or when that pain starts to creep in halfway through...

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Outside: Five, No Four, Sir

4 Signs That You're Not Training Enough
Matt Fitzgerald/Outside, July 12 2017


All endurance athletes—from the champion ultrarunner to the first-time triathlete—have specific goals. And these goals are met by training. For most of us, training simply consists of following numbers on a page—three miles today, an hour run tomorrow, rest the next day. So how do you know if you’re training enough? How can you really ensure that you’ll be dialed come race day?


Here are general signs that it’s time to step up your workouts. While none of these alone is a definitive indicator of undertraining, if a few of them occur simultaneously, it may be time to spend more time on the trails...


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CTS: Cramp Causes and Fixes

Causes, Prevention and Treatment of Cramping
Chris Carmichael, CTS/July 20, 2017


Endurance sports are all about pushing yourself and testing your limits. Sometimes your brain has to step in and protect you from yourself, like when you bonk and your brain conjures up nausea in an effort to get you to slow down and address the problem. Other times your body skips protection and moves straight to kicking the crap out of you in a creative and painful way, otherwise known as cramping.


Muscle cramping is something athletes deal with at all levels of the sport, yet they’re often talked about with a sense of mysticism, like there’s a cramp fairy who magically appears and zaps your hamstring just as you get up to sprint. Science offers a number of theories for the cause of cramps, two of which are particularly interesting...


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What's Good For A Hundred Might Not Hurt For Less

Seven Steps to Recovery After Running 100 Miles
Jason Koop, CTS/June 27


I just returned home from supporting athletes at the 2017 Western States Endurance Run, and I’m tired. I need a recovery week and I didn’t even run the race! Congratulations to everyone who toed the start line, fought through their individual rough patches, and persevered to the finish. It was an exciting race, full of inspirational stories and great displays of sportsmanship. Now that it’s over, or when you reach the end of your 100-mile ultramarathon, it’s time to recover.


The biggest misconception about recovery after a 100-miler is that it happens quickly, and the biggest mistake athletes make is getting back into structured training too soon. To be a healthy ultrarunner and continue racing or participating for a long time, it’s essential to give your body and mind a significant break between events. For many athletes, running is an integral part of your lifestyle, which means the recovery period following a 100-miler requires patience and an unfamiliar change to your routine. It’s worth it, and here are some tips for optimizing recovery so you can continue to run strong...


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CTS: Only Four Things. Cool,

4 Things Cyclists, Runners, and Triathletes Do Poorly
Carmichael Training Systems/June 15, 2017


You’re a smart person and endurance training isn’t rocket science. To be perfectly frank, you could probably figure out most subjects if you had the time and motivation to do so. So we understand if you’re looking at a bunch of training manuals, websites, and magazines and figuring you can handle this training thing on your own. But as good as you are on your own, here are 4 important things most athletes are not very good at...


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CTS: So It's Mind And Matter After 40

Are You Just Getting Soft? Mental Toughness and Performance Decline in Athletes Over 40
Chris Carmichael/CTS, June 10, 2017

I spoke at two book signings this week and during both Q&A sessions I was asked about the impact of age on declining endurance performance. It’s one of the most common questions I get, and I’ve written about it previously. I’ve also been reading about mental toughness and the connection between hard training and pain tolerance. Somewhere in this milieu of information I suddenly remembered Muhammad Ali’s quote: “A man who views the world at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” That’s when it clicked.

Now, before I can get to what clicked I have to give some background on what we’re talking about...

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CTS: I'm Only (Not) Sleeping

Why Can't I Sleep After A Hard Workout or Race?
Chris Carmichael/CTS, June 8 2017


Here’s a scenario a ton of athletes experience, but few talk about: The night after finishing a big endurance competition or a long and strenuous workout, you lie awake in bed or toss and turn despite being thoroughly exhausted. Your sleeplessness may be compounded by feeling like you are radiating heat or you can feel/hear your heartbeat. And even if you are able to get to sleep initially, you struggle to stay asleep and fail to have a restful night. What gives? How can an exhausting event leave you sleepless?


There isn’t one simple cause for post-exercise insomnia, but there are definitely factors that contribute to it...


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Training Peaks: Functional Training

Functional Training For The Run
Allie Burdick/Training Peaks, April 28 2017

Running was once thought to only be performed in the sagittal plane (forward motion). However, we now know there is a frontal plane movement due to weight shifting from one side to the other, as well as transverse movement through the torso when your shoulder and opposite hip link up. Since strength and stability through all three planes of motion are clearly present, it makes sense to train them equally. This will help your body endure the stress of weekly workouts, create efficient and strong movement patterns, and lessen any imbalances that may lead to injury...

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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...

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Outside Online: My Past Propels Me

Why I Run in Prison 
Rahsaan Thomas is incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, where he found running while serving a life sentence 
By: Rahsaan Thomas Apr 2, 2017//Outside Online

I run inside San Quentin State Prison, around a quarter-mile track surrounded by gigantic walls and barbed-wire fences. The track is half dirt and half concrete. It circles the “Field of Dreams,” a baseball diamond with a tennis court, basketball court, and pull-up bars nearby.

My past propels me to chase acceptance and freedom.
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