VAK training can transform your running.  VAK refers to the practice of stating your running goal verbally – and then experiencing the achievement of the goal Visually, in an Auditory fashion, and Kinesthetically.   For example, your goal might be the achievement of a certain finishing time in a marathon. To begin a VAK training session for this goal, you would simply make yourself very comfortable, relax, close your eyes, and say, “I am going to finish the Boston Marathon in 2:...

About 65 percent of endurance runners get injured during an average training year, and research reveals that the injury rate may be even higher in individuals training for a marathon.   Some running advocates say that 65 percent may not be so bad, because the lower-limb damage rate for sedentary individuals is probably even higher (hypothetically due to a lack of coordination and muscular strength among sofa spuds). If 80 percent of couch potatoes are hurt during an average 12-month ...

Endurance runners sometimes ask why it is beneficial to go to the trouble and expense of having a coach.  They’re thinking that it might be just as good (or maybe even better) to forgo the weekly or monthly tutoring of a real-live human mentor and to follow a high-quality “canned program” instead.  After all (the thinking goes), if you’ve got a great schedule to follow, isn’t that enough, especially if you are the kind of runner who doesn’t need or like “hand-holding?” What is forgo...