Caffeine: How a man can feel like a boy The race season is over. Caffeine season has begun. In my training, I often do fasted, caffeinated runs first thing in the morning. Fasted sessions are one method of depletion training. Starting a training session with low glycogen stores stimulates aerobic adaptations in slow-twitch muscle fiber. Adding caffeine to a
How to destroy aerobic capacity I’ve had a high anaerobic threshold for the past several years. Six weeks ago, I followed some bad advice and did way too much intensity for my fiber type. I almost blew up. I had one race during that period, and I finished several minutes behind my usual cohort.
Skimo Racing Skimo fitness tests From April 2018 to March 2019, I'll be doing lactate tests to track my training progress. The following charts will be the results of those tests. Some of the charts below benefit from a comparison to the same workouts from last year. As I add more to the
Do it before you're ready When I first started skimo racing, I planned on easing myself into it. I planned on doing things only when I felt ready. Caution has its advantages, but perhaps not with learning. — At the beginning of December, I raced in the Vert 180 for the first time, a lapped race
It's not the speed; it's the terrain. Last week, I went skiing with my friend Jordy, a competitive freeride coach. He teaches younglings how to throw themselves down very steep terrain and to do it quickly and in control. I put Jordy on skimo skis, so that he could see just what we’re dealing with in
Learn the language > “…in running, the moment someone says ‘HIIT,’ my mind shuts off. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the phrase (it means ‘High-Intensity Interval Training’), and I’m not trying to be rude. Instead, it’s a natural reflex developed over time. [Using HIIT is] a signal that the person
Can gambling theory stop overtraining? The Kelly criterion [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_criterion] calculates the best size bet in a game of chance. A key principle of the criterion is that over-betting will lead to ruin. Under-betting only slows the growth rate. When selecting training loads, “over-betting” will always lead to over-training. “Under-betting”
How to run a 4-minute time trial Over the past week, I’ve run two four-minute time trials. I botched the first one by starting way too fast. The splits of the second trial were much more consistent. To get reliable results, I recommend the following: * Use an 8x 30-second format; * Set interval alarms for each 30″
It's just dark. The power went out at 4am this morning. My brain is still on Mallorca [https://goo.gl/maps/Cr39NcHsUiy] time, so I was already awake, laying and staring in the dark, when the face of my alarm clock went black. I went downstairs, suited up, and pulled on my running
How to come back from an unplanned break I think it was Wolfgang Gullich [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_G%C3%BCllich] who said, “The hardest part of training is starting.” He was close, but not completely correct. It’s true that starting to train is hard. It’s easy to procrastinate. But even worse is starting
Why I stopped using HRV apps Originally published at Uphill Athlete in May 2017. I loved the idea of an app that could tell me to train or not to train, to go easy or go hard. I liked the convenience of one train-or-don’t-train metric. It would take away the second-guessing and keep me healthy
Putting Humpty Dumpty back together again On October 24th, 2016, I hired a coach. I had previously made so many mistakes that I was left with a declining work capacity and worries that I may never train again. Months later, my coach told me, “I was surprised at how fragile you were.”
Jan Olbrecht & the Magic Bullet Theory It’s been known for a long time that training at one’s anaerobic threshold is not a magic bullet. Then why is it still so popular?
Guy's Gone It’s almost 4am and I’m crying in a rocking chair, trying to get my 2-month-old boy to go to sleep. Yesterday, Guy Lacelle died in an avalanche in Hyalite Canyon. For some reason it’s sadder when I hold a baby. Most people know that Guy was a
The Talent Myth > My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso. A friend and training mentor once told me, “The secret of the pros is that they