The road to Boston is paved with MTA coaching

A couple of years ago during a business trip, I went to see the Boston Marathon finish line. I did not step on or pass the famous blue and yellow street decoration. I will run through it at another time, I told myself.

I repeated the same scenario last summer during a family vacation to Boston. At that time, I was going through a mix of emotions. I felt confident that my qualifying time from the November 2017 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon would be strong enough to get me into the 2019 race.

However, on that Boston trip, I was only a month out from emergency abdominal surgery. I had not been cleared to resume full activities at that time. Gentle jogging was as hard core as I was able to get at that point. Would I be able to regain the speed, endurance and fitness that I had developed since I began running in 2011? Would I still find the joy in the struggle? Would I still answer the alarm at oh-dark-thirty for training?

It did not take me long to answer my own questions. Continue Reading →

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Epic Weekend for Academy Members 🙌

Big congrats to Bill Drinkward on running 3:18:47 at the Vancouver Marathon last weekend!!

He writes, “Many thanks to Coach Dominique Hamel for the guidance I needed to successfully score a massive PR of over 6 minutes and a BQ as well. I nearly lost my A-goal when the 3:20 pace Bunny snuck up on me with only 7k to go. I resolved then to fight off that bunny all the way to the finish. I just asked myself then, “how bad do you want it?” And thought about all those training runs to even put me in this position. I ran steadily and hard all the way to the finish and crossed the line at 3:18:47. Vancouver Marathon is an awesome course with fantastic volunteer and crowd support. I highly recommend the experience.”

More Shoutouts Continue Reading →

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Tips for Improving Athletes Performance

To some, athletics is a way of life. It comes with great rewards such as fame and glory. But all this may be at a greater risk. An athlete can sustain injuries during training or while engaging in sports. One can attain a hip, knee, foot or ankle injury. This’s severe and if not treated it could lead to permanent damage or even life loss. There’re some tips to improving sporting performing thus reduce injury risk they include: Continue Reading →

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What counts as an official marathon?

race bibsHere’s a good question about when a distance officially goes into the marathon (or half marathon) count. This was featured in the quick tip on MTA Podcast episode #281.

For the sake of clarity most people only count officially organized races as part of their marathon numbers. In the course of marathon training most people will run the half marathon distance many times so those 13.1 mile (21.1km) runs go in the category of training runs. Continue Reading →

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The Benefits of Running Without Headphones

Me on my 10-mile long run in The Netherlands, appreciating the forest and the solitude.

By Rebekah Mays
Most of us can’t get through a marathon training season without a pair of running headphones.

We just love to listen to music, podcasts, and even audiobooks to help pass the time.

I’ve definitely found that having something good to listen to can make those three-hour long runs a lot easier – not to mention the early-morning and super-cold runs.

But has it become a habit to the point where you don’t even think about it anymore?

I for one often plug my headphones in and get going, never really making a conscious decision about whether I’m going to listen to something or run in silence.

It turns out there are some great benefits to running headphones-free sometimes. Here are four reasons you might consider leaving them at home for your next run. Continue Reading →

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Shoe Rotation During Marathon Training

When I was training for my first marathon I only used one pair of shoes and struggled on a number of levels. Since that time I’ve seen the value in rotating through different types of shoes in training.

I definitely advise runners to have at least two different types of shoes in your rotation and there seems to be evidence to back this up.

Here is what the research seems to say on this topic and some bonus tips on how to prolong the life of your running shoes.

Continue Reading →

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A Look at How We Are Training for Our Next Marathon

*[Audio Content Available For Members Only. Click Here to Join Now]

In this episode we give you an inside look at our training for the London Marathon, what we’ve been doing and how it’s working.

This will be marathon #57 for me and I’m experimenting with higher mileage.

Plus, I’ll explain what I’m doing for strength training and what my morning routine looks like (which is quite the contrast to Trevor’s routine).

And in this episode’s quick tip we feature a listener question about rotating shoes during training. Continue Reading →

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