 First off, we use the term “stride” to mean a short build to faster than race pace for approximately 15-20 seconds with a walking rest of about 1 minute. It’s not a max effort sprint (but not too far off either). Strides are primarily done after a run, to trigger some fast twitch muscles and work on proper run form.
So, if you’re running on a treadmill and have strides on tap, how do you go about doing them? Changing the speed for a 15-20 second stride on a treadmill can be mighty annoying if you’re constantly trying to push buttons. Instead of worrying about changing the speed at all, simply set the treadmill to the pace you’d like to do your interval. When you’re done with y0u’re 15-20 second effort simply jump off and walk around the gym a bit to recover. When it’s time to go again, jump back on and you’ll already be at full speed. Note: Use of the handrails for a couple seconds is strongly advised! 
Continue reading Strides on a treadmill
 If you’re reading this tip – you’re lucky. I would consider it one of the biggest lessons we’ve learned as triathletes.
As promised in the last tip about avoiding orthotics, here’s some great ideas to get you going on strengthening your feet. Having strong feet will help eliminate the need to throw corrective support into your shoes, and help you get rid of those lingering injuries. Essentially, what you’re doing with orthotics, is making up for something that’s missing (or wrongly thought to be missing) in your basic foot structure. Pronation or is not necessarily a bad thing, it is your body’s way of cushioning some of the blow from the impact of a run stride. You simply have to have strong feet and ankles to keep from getting injured. A great way to see this is to walk bare foot. If you’re pronating while walking bare foot – why try to correct it with supportive insoles? If anything, orthotics or supportive insoles are a band-aid. They’ll help the problem for a while, but then that part of your body will get even weaker and further problems will arise. We’ve personally had issues with this. We have high arches and assumed we needed some sort of support underneath. What this did was make them weak from under-use (an arch after all is a structure that gets stronger when pressed on from above), and we both developed some annoying pains in our heels and toes. Thankfully we caught it quickly and didn’t simply upgrade to the next most supportive insole.
If you look back into the 70′s when marathons were taking off and most of North America was running WAAAAAYYYY faster than they are now – then you look at the injury rate and the shoes they were wearing – you’ll bring up some puzzling questions. Plantar Fasciitis: quite possibly non-existent until the advent of the well supported, well cushioned running shoe. NOT TO SAY supportive and cushioned shoes are bad, they have their place. Stress fractures are bad. We’ve simply forgotten how to keep our feet strong in today’s ‘latest and greatest do-dad’ shoe market. The well supportive shoe also brings up issues of poor run stride. I.e. They allow you to run with poor form because you’re no longer concerned about how hard you hit the ground with each stride.
Anyway, people have written books on that topic and I think you hopefully get the point. So, how to strengthen you feet.
Continue reading Strengthen your feet
Working on run form is important. With these 3 simple drills you can teach your body to improve your run stride and efficiency, as well as muscle activation patterns. They don’t take long, 5 minutes at the most. Throw them in as part of your warm up, during a [...]
This drill is from Matt Fitzgerald’s ‘Brain Training for Runners‘. A great book.
Lace the fingers of your two hands together and make a big circle with your arms at shoulder level, like you are simulating a basketball hoop for someone else to toss a ball through. Run 100m [...]
Anytime of year, but especially winter, is a great time to jump on to the treadmill. Unless you are lucky enough to live somewhere with warm weather or an indoor track, many runs are happening on the treadmill. In our observational surveys of treadmill users it seems that very few people [...]
Many of us don’t take the time to properly prepare our bodies for our run training sessions. We step out the door and start running, maybe with an easier jog at first but often not for long. Taking longer to warm up into your runs is an excellent tool [...]
If you live somewhere that gets snow in the winter, avoid falling into hibernation mode. Consistency is key to successful triathlon training so throw on lots of layers and get out the door. You may think that you can’t benefit from trying to run in 2 ft of snow, [...]
 We spend a lot of time worrying about run mileage, frequency, and intensity but your running form is equally important. A lot of us assume that the way we run is the way we run and that there is little we can do to improve our natural gaits. Wrong. Focusing on proprioceptive cues (being mindful of specific things that you are doing with your body) while you run can make a world of difference. Those that paid attention to Craig Alexander’srun form in this year’s Ironman World Championships were super impressed with how he “popped” forward off the ground with each stride – basically he minimized his time on the ground and maximized the effect of that time on the ground. In the book “Brain Training for Runners” Matt Fitzgerald gives great examples of run cues and drills to help us do just that. One is to imagine yourself running on water. To avoid breaking through the surface you have to be quick and light, yet forceful. By thinking about actively driving your feet to the ground instead of passively allowing them to drop while running, you can increase leg stiffness on impact and improve your ability to generate forward thrust quickly, with minimal ground contact time. Also, if, in the instant before your foot makes contact with the ground, you contract the muscles in the glutes on that side of your body and keep them engaged thru the ground contact phase of your stride, you will minimize wasteful side to side rotation, maintain greater stability in your hips and generate more forward thrust. Next time you are running pick a single cue “run on water” or “butt squeeze” and focus on it.
You may also want to take a quick look at our tip on mimicking the best.
Continue reading Run on water
Studying pictures is a great way to improve your own form. Find someone who does it well and compare your own photos or video. They don’t have to be triathlon specific. What does Michael Phelps or Inge De Bruijn do that you don’t? Or, what COULD you do that [...]
Saving time in transition can make a big difference to your overall day, but not if comes with the cost of discomfort later in the run. Elastic quick tie laces can help you get your shoes on very quickly. However, in order for the elastic laces to feel ‘normal’, [...]
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About this site:
These triathlon and endurance sport related tips have been compiled by Heather and Trevor Wurtele over the years of their progression from working age-groupers to full time professional triathletes. Heather is now a 4 time Ironman Champion and top 10 World Championship finisher. Trevor has an Ironman PR of 8:22 and a 2:51 Ironman marathon.
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