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# Joyful Athlete

The Wisdom of the Heart in Exercise & Sports Training

## Sitemaps

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## Posts

- [The Inner Game: Sports Will find Its Own Sweet Way](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2025/12/17/athletes-inner-game-sports-will-find-its-own-sweet-way/) - Ancient athlete offers his thoughts on what makes football teams inspiring, and what it says about training in individual, non-team sports.
- [Speed Dreams: An 83-Year-Old Former Runner Plans How He’ll Train Next Time Around](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2025/02/08/speed-dreams-an-83-year-old-former-runner-reveals-how-hell-train-next-time-around/) - David L. Costill, PhD, the legendary Ball State sports physiologist, had a grad student who insisted that an average neighborhood jogger could run a world-class marathon, if only he/she would train hard enough. Costill flatly disagreed. After studying a broad range of runners, the student was forced to concede that great athletes are born, not
- [Can Runners Improve Speed AND Endurance? Ha ha ha](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/03/06/can-runners-improve-speed-endurance-ha-ha-ha/) - I’m helping the executive producer of a new film, Finding Happiness starring Elisabeth Rohm (she plays Dolly Polito in American Hustle). It’s a wonderful flick. A software developer donated time to build an Android app on the film’s theme of happiness. Great idea. And because it was a great idea, people immediately started thinking of
- [Male and Female at the Races](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/11/05/male-and-female-at-the-races/) - I'm gazing at the results board after a 30K at Sacramento’s Gibson Ranch, and I'm thinking dark thoughts. Gritting my teeth, I growse: “There’s no way that guy will beat me for third place again if I do two months of speedwork.” I linger by the board, grimly planning my training for the months ahead.
- [Alberto Salazar and the Pecksniffs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/08/07/alberto-salazar-and-the-pecksniffs/) - I love the Italian language. I recently watched the Detective Montalbano mysteries on DVDs from the library. It’s an excellent series, based on the popular books by Andrea Camilleri. It’s human, funny, and heartfelt. I love the sound of Italian. Many Italian words sound wonderful, apart from their meaning. For example, allora. The meaning of
- [Bits & Pieces: Ugly Runners at Home & Abroad](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/16/bits-pieces-ugly-runners-home-abroad/) - Are you as repelled as I am by the clueless behavior of certain world-class sprinters? I was particularly put off by the actions of one sprinter at a recent Diamond League meet. When a young female helper tried to hand him a bouquet of flowers after he won his race, the sprinter repeatedly turned his
- [Carbenflarb: Fact and Fiction About Fats and Carbs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/11/17/carbenflarb-fact-vs-fiction-about-fats-and-carbs/) - Nowhere in the world of running is there more confusion than over the matter of carbs. Despite decades of research, questions abound: How much? How often? What kind? Consulting the running literature, we find a smorgasbord of advice, anecdotes, and conjecture. Okay – let’s rap about carbs. We won’t try to arrive at any quick
- [USADA WADA Biddy-biddy-badda](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2019/11/05/usada-wada-biddy-biddy-badda/) - Yet more ridiculous churning from the bandwagon of the droopy-drawers underpant-snapping virtuecrats in WADA/USADA. Seems WADA is requesting that USADA turn over its data on Nike Oregon Project athletes in advance of possible re-testing. My unrestrained response: ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Good luck with that. Not a single Alberto Salazar-trained athlete has ever tested positive for banned substances.
- [Every Runner's Friend](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/01/15/every-runners-friend/) - Dr. Armando Siqueiros managed high school superstar Jordan Hasay's career with wisdom and humanity. When I stopped running ultras and mentioned it to Joe Henderson, he said he'd noticed that the stages of a runner's career typically last six or seven years. The notion that a runner's career advances in orderly stages fascinates me. Taking
- [The Look](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/06/13/the-look/) - Runners looked different in the 1970s. I'm not sure why. Was it because we believed "long, slow distance" was 7:30 to 8:30 pace? Or because there were so few of us? Or was it a question of style - the difference, say, between 1970s cotton and 2008 Spandex? Running was different then. If you passed
- [Why Distance Guys (and Most Athletes) Should Do Some Sprint-Style Speed Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2022/10/11/why-distance-guys-and-most-athletes-should-do-some-sprint-style-speed-training/) - Sprinting is a very different skill than running. Max sprint speed can be extremely useful to a distance runner when the hammer comes down. And it can be learned. Pete Magill holds the U.S. over-50 record in the 5K (15:02; he ran 14:45 at age 49). In his record-setting years Pete ran 100-mile weeks, but
- [Don’t Let Your Training Break Your Heart](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2022/10/24/dont-let-your-training-break-your-heart/) - Want to have a good time and learn something fresh about training? Check out these Three important TED talks by Sir Ken Robinson. Ken’s talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” has been viewed by an estimated 350 million people in 160 countries. Robinson is part of a growing movement for a change in how we educate
- [Revolutionary Approach to Improving Running Power](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/08/24/revolutionary-approach-improving-running-power/) - Clint Eastwood knows what works for runners. Harry Callahan: Well, I just work for the city, Briggs! Lieutenant Briggs: So do I, longer than you, and I never had to take my gun out of its holster once. I’m proud of that. Harry Callahan: Well, you’re a good man, lieutenant. A good man always knows
- [The Third Voice: Athlete’s Infallible Guide](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2021/07/08/third-voice-athletes-guide/) - During the brief time I spent working as an admin at Stanford after my writing and editing business took a flop in the wake of 9/11 and the 2001 tech crash, the university replaced one of its primary financial reporting systems, which resulted in our having to spend way too many hours in large halls
- [How to Get (Even) Faster](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/03/21/how-to-get-even-faster/) - Are there any shortcuts in training? You bet. I'm guessing you expected a resounding "No!" In fact, there are few shortcuts to improving fitness and race results. Yet, very rarely, someone discovers a new approach to improving fitness, faster. I stumbled across such an insight recently, and I’m eager to share it. It started when
- [Running in Tune With Truth](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2019/08/01/running-in-tune-with-truth/) - (NOTE: The “Master’ referred to here is Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. Swami Kriyananda, a close disciple of Yogananda, is the subject of three excellent books: The New Path: My Life with Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Kriyananda — As We Have Known Him, and Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer, The Life and Legacy of a
- [Secrets of a Joyful Athlete](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2019/08/23/secrets-of-a-joyful-athlete/) - There are 37,000 high schools in the U.S., public and private. The top 40 high school cross country teams compete at the Nike Cross Nationals in early December. Watching the event, especially the post-race interviews, it’s obvious that these are happy kids and happy teams. It’s reflected in the calm, poised, incredibly intelligent demeanor of
- [“Beginner’s Mind” for Athletes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2020/03/14/beginners-mind-for-athletes/) - In my other life, I manage the website of a small private school in Palo Alto, California. I recently interviewed one of the graduates, Hazemach, who attended Living Wisdom School from kindergarten through eighth grade. After graduate studies in mathematics at the University of Bremen Germany, Hazie returned to Palo Alto where he teaches math,
- [Mud](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2020/06/10/mud/) - Okay, no highfalutin’ philosophy here, just lots of glorious mud. Check the cool opening sequence of this YouTube video by Northern Ireland runner Steven J. Reid. I can’t imagine a bona-fide red-blooded trail runner who wouldn’t smile. The GoPro Hero 8 Black action camera is a remarkable piece of technology, and it’s not just for
- [Dopamine Is an Athlete’s Friend](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2020/10/30/dopamine-is-an-athletes-friend/) - I love Tony Holler’s work. The retired Illinois state hall-of-fame track and JV football coach enjoyed awe-inspiring success during his career. He now co-heads the Track Football Consortium. Which, I reckon, will bring up an issue for distance runners, especially youngsters. WHY is this old, over-the-hill former ultramarathon slogger talking about FOOTBALL? You see, I
- [Sports Training Is Very Simple — But That Doesn’t Mean It’s Easy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2020/11/19/sports-training-is-very-simple-but-that-doesnt-mean-its-easy/) - When I was a young lad of twenty-four, I met a man named Gene Benvau who was a direct disciple of the great yogi Paramhansa Yogananda. He’d spent his early years living with his mother at the Guru’s headquarters on Mt. Washington in LA. As a toddler, Gene would follow Yogananda on his rounds of
- [Spiritual Running — “Take It Seriously”](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2021/03/11/spiritual-running-take-it-seriously/) - Don’t ask me how, but my dentist and I somehow got into a conversation — between drillings — about the meaning of life. He was brought up in Germany and attended Jesuit schools. I suggested, as I’ve done so often on Joyful Athlete, that people have always been looking for the same thing: increasing happiness,
- [Relax and Feel](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2021/04/16/relax-and-feel/) - In distance running, the three most successful cultures in the last 100 years – in New Zealand, Kenya, and Ethiopia – all started with individuals who placed a high value on the group, and on making training fun. The Kenyan runners, who were notorious for training extremely hard when it mattered, would simply stop running
- [What’s Your Focus — Process or Goals?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2021/03/26/whats-your-focus-process-or-goals/) - I had to put Ali Abdaal’s YouTube video, “Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results” on hold because it evoked such powerful images of a truth that we can all confirm in our exercise and sports training. Ali is a doctor in Cambridge, England. What is it that drives us forward on the path to progress as athletes
- [Immune Tune-Up: Twin Threat: Winter + COVID](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2021/01/16/immune-tune-up-twin-threat-winter-covid/) - I had a brief email conversation with a friend who’s a naturopathic physician. After sharing his thoughts on the COVID vaccine, he said, “Of course, keeping your immune system functioning at peak levels is the best approach to dealing with COVID.” Not that he — or I — won’t be getting the vaccine; I, for
- [How to Run Your First 50-Miler](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/02/22/how-to-run-your-first-50-miler/) - Running and Weight Loss Marathons (and Ultras) Without Walls Secrets of the Wily Old Ultrarunners See also: Art of the Low-Mileage Ultra. From Eric Robinson, a wise young man who runs 2-4 ultras per month. Despite everything I've said below, I believe that if I were to be reborn and train for marathons and ultras,
- [Defending the Athlete’s Body — In the Time of Coronavirus / Covid-19](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2020/03/23/defending-the-athletes-body-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-covid-19/) - As an endurance athlete you’ve surely gathered your own list of foods and supplements that help you stay healthy and ward off illness when your body is under stress. Famously, within two weeks of running a marathon, up to 40 percent of finishers get sick. I’ve been able to keep well to a large extent
- [Haley Jones — the Extra Quality She Brings](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2019/12/02/haley-jones-the-extra-quality-she-brings/) - Beyond her basketball skills, Haley Jones brings a special chemistry of joy to Stanford women's basketball.
- [Mary Cain and Alberto Salazar: Compassion is Required](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2019/11/08/mary-cain-and-alberto-salazar-compassion-is-required/) - I’ve written strongly in defense of Alberto Salazar. I am moved by Mary Cain’s revelations about her time at Nike: how Alberto relentlessly urged her to lose weight so that she could run faster; how he weighed her in front of her teammates and shamed her when she didn’t reach the goals he had set;
- [Alberto Salazar Has a Pair](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2019/10/02/alberto-salazar-has-a-pair/) - Hurray for Albert Salazar. I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it now. The accusations and the four-year ban of the world’s greatest distance coach are pure baloney — they are the insupportable maunderings of jealous attention-seeking low-energy fat cat athletic overseer virtuecrats. Already, the self-righteous pecksniffs of the gutter press are shaming those, like
- [Joyful Training Takes Self-Discipline, Pays Dividends](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2019/04/24/joyful-training-takes-self-discipline-pays-dividends/) - Tony Holler and Chris Korfist are track training renegades. Tony, a track coach and honors chemistry teacher at Plainfield North High in the greater Chicago area, has trained many high school track state champions. When he coached JV football his teams went something like 39-4. Both coaches preach moderation — they value the athlete’s well-being
- [Influences](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2019/04/11/influences/) - I’m a great believer in the kindness of the Universe. (That’s my generic name for God; replace with the term of your choice.) When I was at Stanford from 1959 to 1966, I was kind of a sad little sonofagun. I was smart enough to get into one of America’s elite universities, but not smart
- [Happiness & Success in Sports](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2018/09/17/happiness-success-in-sports/) - Howdy, joyful athletes! I’m feeling frisky. Just published the last of three books completed over the last four years. Check the links in the sidebar for details. You can read the chapters of the new book, Happiness & Success at School online and download a PDF or order the trade paperback book. As you know
- [Expansive Hearts](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2018/08/03/expansive-hearts/) - “Running is without doubt something that I love, and I sometimes think people underestimate the power of love. I don’t love running because I am good at it, I’m good at running because I love it. It is something that brings me joy because I am passionate about it.” — Shelby Houlihan When I read
- [Tony Holler and John O’Malley: Revolutionaries and Giants](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2018/07/24/tony-holler-and-john-omalley-revolutionaries-and-giants/) - If you read nothing else about running this year, please don’t miss this lengthy, brilliant, very readable and moving article by Tony Holler: Divergent Thinking: Inside John O’Malley. No words of mine required — the article is a beast, a thought-provoking, wonderful read. If you’ve enjoyed anything you’ve ever read here, you’ll love it. Speaking
- [Upbeat Sports Stuff: Budding New NFL Team Culture Bodes Well](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2018/05/22/upbeat-sports-stuff-budding-new-nfl-team-culture-bodes-well/) - Here's a piece from this morning's SFGate. I'm wildly interested in sports cultures - how they come into being, how they're nurtured, and how they fluctuate over time. If this guy's view of the San Francisco Forty-Niners' evolving culture is true, I would advise other NFL teams to watch out... From "Rookie CB Reed: 49ers’
- [Joy Crosses Borders From Sports to Everything Else](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2018/05/01/joy-crosses-borders-from-sports-to-everything-else/) - As a young lad of 34, I moved to a yoga community in the remote foothills of the Sierra, 10 miles outside Nevada City, in California's Gold Country. It was 1976, when the Sixties were rapidly becoming apart of our cultural past, and many former hippies had jobs - as teachers, in health food stores,
- [Coaches with Heart](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2018/03/09/coaches-with-heart/) - The Stanford women's distance medley team were beaten by three hundredths of a second at the NCAA Division I Indoor Nationals this evening. It was a wonderful performance. Still, as a Stanford alum, it makes me a little anxious for the athletes who ran such a gritty race. Are their coaches doing the very best
- [“Emotions Have No Role” — Uh-huh](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2017/12/11/emotions-no-role-uh-huh/) - Years ago, as I’ve noted elsewhere, I posted something on the Runner’s World forums in my usual vein, touting the importance of an expanded heart in sports performance. A high school track coach decided to school me in how sports really works. He said that emotions play absolutely no role in a runner’s success, or
- [Jack Foster — A Giant of the Sport](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/03/08/jack-foster-a-giant-of-the-sport/) - Jack Foster ran a 2:11 marathon. “So what?” you say. At age 41. His amazing marathon set an age-group record that stood for a little over 16 years (1974-90), and won him Silver at the 1974 Commonwealth Games. At 39, he set a world record for 20 miles (1:39:14), and at 42 he won the
- [An Alkalinizing Smoothie for Performance & Recovery](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2017/09/26/alkalinizing-smoothie-performance-recovery/) - In the mid-1990s, I did regular weekly speedwork with a local group of over-40 runners on the track at Nevada Union High School in Nevada City, California. Our little group included plodders like me, but also Carl Ellsworth, then 64, who had won the northern California road race series two years in a row, and
- [Spiked Online Nails It About Justin Gatlin](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2017/08/07/spiked-online-nails-justin-gatlin/) - Justin Gatlin won the 100m event at the 2017 World Championships the other night, and 60,000 decent, hardworking, highly knowledgeable British citizens booed him roundly. Of course I’m being sarcastic, but, I think, very justifiably. Spiked Online magazine in an article posted this morning absolutely nailed the facts about Gatlin’s alleged doping violations: After all,
- [Milt the Magician](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2017/06/15/milt-the-magician/) - What’s a college track/cross country coach to do? Anybody with a lick of sense is aware that the U.S. college system, with its three full-on competitive seasons in just nine months, can easily destroy a runner, or at the very least set back and retard the runner’s progress. What is the solution? A handful of
- [Good Vibes — Video and Web](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2017/06/13/good-vibes-video-web/) - I love it when I find positive sports news, especially during a leisurely lunch or evening break. Recommended: SFGate sportswriter Al Sarajevic reports the morning after the Golden Gate Warriors win their second NBA championship in three years. Al knows what truly made it happen: the Warriors are good guys. Coach Jeremy Gunn recaps the
- [The Joyful Athlete Secret Cure for Jock Itch (and Low Energy)](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/07/28/the-joyful-athlete-secret-cure-for-jock-itch-and-low-energy/) - You feel like you’re running in deep sand. Wearing hip waders. Pulling an anchor. Your training’s sound, your diet’s fine, you’re sleeping well, and you aren’t stressed. What gives? Sometimes it’s the tiny things that can get you. For me, it was measured in micrograms. I was deficient in vitamin B12 and iron – both
- [Butt-First Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/09/24/butt-first-runner/) - It’s Photokina time! Photokina is a monster photo gear expo that’s held annually in Cologne, Germany. Naturally, the new-product announcements have evoked a flood of authoritative commentary, mostly by folks who’ve thought real hard about the specs but have never actually had the equipment in their hands. “I would NEVER buy the Nikon DL 24-500
- [The Love Plant — A Ramble on Sports and Good Feelings (long)](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/10/21/the-love-plant-a-ramble-on-sports-and-good-feelings-long/) - Can positive feelings help athletes perform better? You bet. A best-selling book of the early 1970s was The Secret Life of Plants: a Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man, by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. Tompkins and Bird catalogued a body of evidence suggesting that plants are conscious
- [Stanford and the Warriors: Taking Care of Sports Stars](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/06/23/stanford-warriors-taking-care-sports-stars/) - The Bay Area sports pages have been alive with the Warriors, the once-in-every-fifty-years team that broke the Jordan-era Chicago Bulls’ single-season win-loss record with an astounding 73-9. I’m a huge fan of Warriors coach Steve Kerr. I’ve loved his style, as a player and coach and person, since I watched him play with the Bulls
- [Successful People Pay Attention](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/06/14/successful-people-pay-attention/) - Kirk Tuck, my favorite hard-working pro photographer, is at it again. This morning, Kirk posted a humorous piece, “Lydia in quality control – why it’s good to leave the entourage at home sometimes.” Sorry if you feel that I’ve misguided you by naming this site “something…something…Athlete.” I’m of an age when the world is very
- [Let’s Eat Weird!](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/05/12/lets-eat-weird-2/) - Here are my favorite cheap and easy recipes. I like ‘em ‘cause they taste good and deliver big-time nutrition for athletes without a lot of fuss. I talked in an earlier article about the body’s unfortunate need for salad. Salad, let’s face it, is a pain in the butt. Who wants to spend all that
- [It’s About More Than Sports](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/05/09/its-about-more-than-sports/) - It’s kind of hard to be a joyful athlete if you aren't being expansive in other parts of your life. Conversely, finding ways to be expansive in the other parts can contribute a lot to being expansive in your training. My best marathons and ultras happened when I used them as fundraisers for a small
- [The Arts and the Athlete?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/04/27/the-arts-and-the-athlete/) - In a recent post I celebrated the work of Kirk Tuck, a successful Austin, TX photographer who writes beautifully, almost daily, about his work as a highly successful commercial photographer with clients in business, technology, and the arts. The article was The Sucky Side of Sports Today. This morning, Kirk posted a lovely piece, Why
- [Dumb Jocks at Stanford?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/03/23/dumb-jocks-stanford/) - Years ago, several of the wiser lights on LetsRun were going on about how talented jocks had an easier time being accepted at Stanford; how they were coddled in the classroom; and how they were actually pretty dumb. I just had to laugh. I had three roommates my freshman and sophomore years at Stanford who
- [The Sucky Side of Sports Today](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/02/01/the-sucky-side-of-sports-today/) - Kirk Tuck seldom fails to delight and amaze. The extremely successful Austin, TX photographer writes prolifically on his Visual Science Lab website. What I love about Kirk is the same thing I love about Nancy Brown, a former top-flight fashion model who became a renowned photographer with clients that included Revlon and other big beauty
- [What Makes a Champion? Two Views](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2016/01/20/3540/) - How many of us have thought, at the start of our careers, that if we worked real hard we might get good? And then... And then reality comes along and sticks its foot out and laughs merrily. Nothing wrong with dreaming; even less with aspiring and working hard. But the plain fat fact is that
- [Humbled by the Truth: Beautiful Words from Blanka Vlasic](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/12/16/humbled-by-the-truth-surprising-words-from-blanka-vlasic/) - I saw the headline in the list of notable articles on the Track & Field News website. It said, “Words of Wisdom – Blanka Vlasic.” On a subconscious level, I thought: “Well, it’s probably just another batch of canned platitudes from a superstar athlete.” Okay, I’m humbled. Read the article – every word applies completely
- [Rhythm of the Run - Inner Harmony Reflects Good Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/10/15/rhythm-of-the-run-inner-harmony-reflects-good-training/) - In the 1960s there was a spiritual group in Berkeley called the Kailas Shigendo Yamabuchi. Their main spiritual practices were playing bluegrass and firewalking. They also swam over waterfalls. You would see them in Golden Gate Park in their monastic robes, intent on practicing mandolin and fiddle. They were robust, strong-looking people, the women too.
- [Struggling for Joy: Running Trails at Rancho San Antonio](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/11/14/struggling-for-joy-running-trails-at-rancho-san-antonio/) - This is a bit of an experiment. I wrote this way pretty much all the time in my diary when I was in the mainstream of my running career. Now that I’m crapped-out and 73, I can only hope my memories will inspire you. This is from May 2006. I ran in the foothills this
- [Rare Old Film Shows the Joy of Running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/10/29/rare-film-shows-joy-of-running/) - Bob Roncker pointed me to this lovely 14-minute video, “The Harriers.” Bob said, “I had last seen the movie in the late 60s. To me it captures much of what there is to love about running.” See if you don’t agree. Wonderful stuff, from a simpler time. Not sure I agree with all of the
- [Podcast with <em>Joyful Athlete</em> Author George Beinhorn](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/09/19/podcast-with-joyful-athlete-author-george-beinhorn/) - Krista Scott-Dixon is the founder of Stumptuous.com, the best strength-training website for women. (Krista profile.) Krista is a sharp, very intelligent individual (she’s a former Toronto University professor). Stay tuned for a podcast with Krista here; meanwhile, here’s the link to our conversation — it’s 53 minutes long. I love to return to the basics
- [Good Vibrations: How Running in a Group Can Help Your Performance](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/07/07/good-vibrations-how-running-in-a-group-can-help-your-performance/) - When we arrived in the U.S. in 1945, we spent a month in a rundown motel in Lindsay, California. My Dad, who’d completed a three-year contract as a mining engineer in Chile, soon found work as a city engineer in his home town of Exeter, 10 miles away. While we stayed at the motel, someone
- [Tony Holler’s Formula for Successful Track Meets, and Some Thoughts on Sports Photography](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/06/11/tony-hollers-formula-for-successful-track-meets-and-some-thoughts-on-sports-photography/) - Photos from the Payton Jordan meet at Stanford on May 2, 20015 (60 photos). Read on for details. (For a smaller view, decrease the size of your browser window.) Doing good work takes a heap of preparation. We run best when we warm up a long time. We’re successful in business when we do our
- [Steve Kerr on Expansive Sports](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/06/04/steve-kerr-on-expansive-sports/) - The San Francisco Warriors play the Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening game of the NBA Finals tonight. I confess, I know diddly about basketball. The comments on articles in the SFGate and SJ Mercury sports sections go right over my head. But I think I can recognize team chemistry. And I’m pretty darn sure it’s
- [Best Ergogenic Brownie for Runners & Cyclists — 2015](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/05/09/best-ergogenic-brownie-for-runners-2015/) - There are times when an aging athlete just wants to pull out the stops and go Screaming-Mimi down the trail. Those times call for special fuels. Your standard Mr. Milquetoast gels and powders really won’t do. On those hot-footing, hell-for-leather days, it’s time to bring out the Heavy Artillery. When my feet start dancin’ and
- [Boston Marathon Lead-Up — Runner’s World Did a Brilliant, Wonderful Thing](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/04/16/boston-marathon-lead-up-runners-world-did-a-brilliant-wonderful-thing/) - I know I’m often tweaking Runner’s World for its upscale, science-based, by-the-numbers approach to the sport. In fact, the mag, which is now linked with Running Times, has wonderful people on its combined staff. I’ve never seen a more inspiring article in RW than its Boston lead-up photo essay on the family members of Meb
- [Huh! Upbeat Feelings Make Runners Faster](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/04/13/huh-upbeat-feelings-make-runners-faster/) - Years ago, when I ran ultras, I used to love to drive to San Francisco and run across the Golden Gate Bridge. I loved seeing the international crowds on the bridge, then jogging in contented silence up the trail that climbs the Headlands, with beautiful views of the Bay and Pacific Ocean. One morning, after
- [Upbeat Running — a Revolution in the Making?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/04/09/upbeat-running-a-revolution-in-the-making/) - When Tony Holler speaks at coaching clinics, he kicks off with a Powerpoint slide that blares: “TRACK & FIELD SUCKS.” Sixty years ago, track was a major sport – college meets drew big crowds, and track athletes were household names – everyone knew Jim Ryun, Evelyn Ashford, and Perry O’Brien. Tony blames track’s decline, in
- [Serious Runner (Uh-Oh)](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/02/16/serious-runner-uh-oh/) - About nine years ago, I stumbled across a fine article, “10 Steps to a Hugely Successful Web 2.0 Company,” by Charlie O’Donnell. O’Donnell made a brilliant point. I had lunch recently with a couple of friends from a music publisher. They were signing some bands to "incubator" deals for just a couple of songs to
- [Planning My Next Life as a High School Athlete](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/01/15/planning-next-life-high-school-athlete/) - I suspect I’m not the only washed-up old crock who dreams of being reborn and having another chance to play high school sports. My high school experience in this life wasn’t exactly distinguished or happy. I’m hoping that, with careful planning, I can improve on it next time around. As a freshman, I ran track
- [Smartest Training Ever of a High School Runner? — Thoughts on Grant Fisher and Mike Scannell](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2015/01/09/smartest-training-ever-high-school-runner-thoughts-grant-fisher-mike-scannell/) - Three weeks ago, Grant Fisher won the 2014 Footlocker high school cross country nationals in a dominating race. Footlocker is the individual high school XC championships. The team championships are the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN), held a week earlier. If you’re interested in the training of young runners, Fisher’s is thought-provoking. It’s described – to
- [Put Iron in Your Legs With Teff Pancakes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/12/13/put-iron-legs-teff-pancakes/) - Found a great pancake recipe featuring teff, the grain that puts the mojo in the elite Ethiopian runners’ legs. Teff contains a ton of iron, calcium, and protein, is easily digested, and tastes great in a variety of dishes. See The Iron-Rich Diet Secret of Ethiopian Runners, at Competitor.com. I love this pancake recipe because
- [Super Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/10/30/super-runner/) - Last time out, I posted words of praise for a Matt Fitzgerald article in Runner’s World, Train at the Right Intensity – Elites spend 80 percent of their miles going easy. Why you should, too. The idea being that we should run our easy runs really easy – not “half-hard,” or even a teensy-bit too
- [Bill Aris’s Truth: How Heartfelt Running Makes Champions](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/05/14/bill-ariss-truth-heartfelt-running-makes-champions/) - Nobody believes Bill Aris. People ask Bill, over and over, how his Fayetteville-Manlius High School cross country girls have managed to win Nike Cross Nationals seven times. (NXN is the de facto high school national team championships.) Bill graciously shares his methods. He patiently describes how he trains his runners. And other coaches suspect he’s
- [Bits & Pieces: For Runners, Happiness Is Ergogenic](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/11/12/bits-pieces-runners-happiness-ergogenic/) - In the history of women’s running, former marathon record holder Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway is a towering figure. Thirty years ago, she won London, Boston, and New York, while simultaneously holding world records at 5000m (14:37.33), 10,000m (30:13.74) and the marathon (2:21:06). At a time when many elites were succumbing to the temptation to take
- [Lighten Up, Mr. Gradgrind Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/11/07/lighten-mr-gradgrind-runner/) - Here’s the first in a series of Bits & Pieces about positive sports cultures and how upbeat attitudes promote success for the individual runner. This is from a really nice Runner’s World interview with Jeff Galloway. Roger Robinson: Let’s loop back to the beginning. Training for the 1972 Olympics, you, Frank Shorter and Jack Bachelor
- [Too-Fast Training For the Compleat Idiot Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/10/29/fast-training-compleat-idiot-runner/) - It’s the worst mistake a runner can make. Runners do it all the time. You guessed it – it’s running our easy runs too hard. Going even a teensy bit too hard on planned easy days keeps the body from fully recovering. The damage comes later, on the runs that count most – the planned
- [The Most Relishable Run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/10/07/relishable-run/) - Had a man-to-man talk with Joe Rosa, as I unlocked my bike in front of Arrillaga Rec Center on the Stanford campus. Joe is a stud in Division I cross country. Over the weekend, he and Stanford teammate Maksim Korolev, a grad student transfer from Harvard, ran away from the field at the Stanford Invitational.
- [Bits & Pieces](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/08/29/bits-pieces-7/) - Want fun? Go read this interview with Phoebe Wright, right now. Then go sign up on the RSS feed at her Stop Phe blog. Then check her Google+ page. How come? Because this site is titled Joyful Athlete and that’s Phoebe. Never mind that she’s a 1:58 800m runner — this is a person with
- [<em>The Happiness Advantage</em> for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/08/15/happiness-advantage-runners/) - At Trader Joe’s the other day, I spied a friend nibbling goodies at the hot station. As I drifted by, I smiled at the Gray Haired Guy serving samples. “Hey, they’re playing the worst songs of our generation.” Oops. Gray Hair was not amused. Deadpan, he opined, “Actually, they wrote some great songs in the
- [Successful Training for Runners Begins With a Focus on the Individual](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/31/successful-training-for-runners/) - Three themes run through joyful sports. (1) The purpose of sports is to increase happiness and decrease suffering. (2) Happiness increases when we train “expansively” – in ways that give us more health, love, strength, wisdom, and joy. (3) To know which actions will give us more joy and which will only bring us pain
- [Jobst Brandt’s Message for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/06/24/jobst-brandts-message-runners/) - Runner’s World published a breathless piece on the Amazing Growth of Running Over the Past Decade. The number of Americans who run at least 25 times a year has grown by 60% since 2004. As Dave Barry famously said at the start of football season: Rah. Yowie zowie. There’s power in numbers, fer shure. More
- [Bits & Pieces: Stephanie Jenks Cross-Trains](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/09/stephanie-jenks-cross-trains/) - Not long ago, I scribbled about the surprisingly high proportion of elite young triathletes who’ve been successful when they switched to running. Think Lukas Verzbicas, Jordan Hasay (in her high school years), Alexa Efraimson, Elise, Cranny, and Sarah Baxter. We can now add Stephanie Jenks. At the USATF Junior Championships, Jenks trailed Mary Cain throughout
- [Bits & Pieces: The All-Out Training of Jacko Gill](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/16/bits-pieces-training-jacko-gill/) - Remember when you felt as young as Jacko Gill? Jacko is The Beast of New Zealand — he’s the hardest-training young shot putter in the world. To watch him work out, have a look at this short YouTube video and be amused. From an interview: How did you get started in your chosen sport? When
- [Bits & Pieces: Running Focused With Fierce Passion](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/16/bits-pieces-running-focused-fierce-passion/) - David Brooks is the author of an interesting New York Times article on his personal search for ways to neutralize the distracting power of the Internet. Brooks came across a Paris Review interview with Adam Phillips, a former child psychologist. Children are propelled by desires so powerful that they can be frightening. “One of the
- [Bits & Pieces: Why Cynicism is Deadly for Athletes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/16/bits-pieces-cynicism-deadly-athletes/) - A study reported in Neurology found that cynical distrust – the belief that others are motivated mainly by selfish concerns – is a good predictor of dementia. That’s right – cynical people are more likely to go nuts than positive people. And isn’t that nice. The universe has spoken. If we want to keep all
- [Bits & Pieces: Running Coach Dan Pfaff’s Mindfulness](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/16/bits-s-mindfulness/) - Dan Pfaff has mentored 49 Olympians (nine medalists), 150 All Americans, and blah blah. You get the point, Dan has huge coaching credentials. Lately, he helped Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi recover from a serious stress fracture. Dan’s thoughts are always enlightening. I’ll come back to some of them shortly. But first, I’m reading an
- [Bits & Pieces: Jordan Hasay Thriving After Oregon](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/16/bits-pieces-jordan-hasay-thriving-oregon/) - LetsRun had positive things to say about Jordan Hasay’s performance at the USATF meet. When Jordan ran for the University of Oregon, she had baffling, uneven results. Since she joined Alberto Salazar’s Nike OTC group, she’s improved steadily. From the LetsRun article: Jordan Hasay is getting a lot better. Last year, Hasay wasn’t even in
- [Bits & Pieces: Rob Krar Wins WS100, Trains by Feel...](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/16/bits-pieces-rob-krar-wins-ws100-trains-feel/) - Rob Krar won the 2014 Western States 100. Runner’s World published an interesting profile of Krar, and I was interested to learn that he does feeling-based training. By necessity, Krar’s mileage during work weeks stays relatively low, around 75. [He works as a full-time night-shift pharmacist.] Krar runs more during his off weeks, as much
- [A heads-up about site changes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/07/16/heads-site-changes/) - If you subscribe by email or RSS, you’ll shortly see news of several short articles that aren’t actually new. It’s Zoltán Kollin’s fault. An article by the wise old Web designer convinced me to hack-up and re-post a recent “Bits & Pieces” article. The problem: too long! I’ve reformed. I’m in rehab. I’ll post long
- [Do Sugary Gels Ruin a Runner’s Teeth?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/06/13/sugary-gels-ruin-runners-teeth/) - Can years of ingesting sugary fuels leave a runner with a fit body and a meth-head mouth? That’s been a worry during my 40-plus-year running career. Dental problems cropped up constantly. I blamed my use of gels during long runs. I tried swishing my teeth liberally with water after ingesting gels to prevent cavities –
- [What Makes Talented Young Runners Great? ](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/05/05/makes-talented-young-runners-great/) - If you’re interested in high school running – and even if you aren’t – give yourself a treat. Don’t miss “Why Are These Teens So Fast?” at the Running Times website. Long-time prep journalist and coach Marc Bloom takes a look at the factors that have helped Alexa Efraimson, Elise Cranny, and Sarah Baxter become
- [What Runners Don’t Want](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/04/08/runners-dont-want/) - NoooooOOOOOOO! I’m sticking my fingers in my ears!! Runners DO NOT want to hear about CROSS-TRAINING! We hear it all the time – if you want to be fast, running is all you need. Everything else is useless – and may even be harmful. And yet. Why are so many multi-sport athletes – duathletes and
- [Hot Weather Hydration — Proceed With Caution!](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/05/02/hot-weather-hydration-proceed-caution/) - Halfway through the American River 50, I noticed wet squiggles on the trail. Could this be the honored pee of Sean Crom? Trail runners, particularly elites like Crom (he won AR50 that year), develop the skill of letting fly without stopping or slowing down, while artfully not besprinkling themselves. Hence the giggle-worthy squiggles on the
- [Bernard Lagat and the Kenyan Custom of Courtesy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/03/16/bernard-lagat-kenyan-custom-courtesy/) - Great short interview with Bernard Lagat in Runner’s World. Here’s what I liked. Lagat doesn’t wrap his training in numbers and technology. Like most East Africans, Lagat trusts his experience – he trains intuitively. Bob Kennedy described how he set out on a training run with a Kenyan elite. After the first half-mile, the Kenyan
- [Bad Guys, Good Guys, Runners Getting Better](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/03/04/bad-guys-good-guys-runners-getting-better/) - I’m in the produce section at Sprouts Market, meditating on my shopping list. I lift my gaze and see a wondrous thing. An elderly Chinese woman is introducing a middle-aged Caucasian male to the wonders of eggplant. Speaking with sweet enthusiasm, she isn’t just giving him her best eggplant recipes. She’s being an un-self-conscious friend.
- [The Dalai Lama’s Simple Wisdom for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/02/28/dalai-lamas-simple-wisdom-runners/) - Why do we run? The answer is blindingly simple. On the western side of the world, many seek happiness in things. The eastern outlook is different. It was described amusingly in a Slate article, “The Dalai Lama’s Ski Trip – What I learned in the slush with His Holiness,” by Douglas Preston. The events described
- [Bits & Pieces](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/02/25/bits-pieces-6/) - Just completed a major edit of the book, with improvements in readability, formatting fixes, and general housekeeping. If you ordered a Kindle or physical copy, I’ll be very happy to email you the latest PDF. Drop me a line via the contact form. The publisher said this morning he’s eager to get the book in
- [Galen Rupp and Alberto Salazar: An Insane Way to Train?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/02/15/galen-rupp-alberto-salazar-insane-way-train/) - Cal Newport is an assistant professor of computer science at Georgetown. Cal is better known as founder of the Study Hacks website, where he ruminates on ways of “working less to work better.” Yesterday, Cal posted a short article, “Where’s Your F Chord? What Guitar Teaches Us About the Quest for Mastery.” It’s a fascinating
- [Running Under the Influence of Love](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/02/13/running-influence-love/) - In an article I posted nearly six years ago, “Where Runner’s World Went Wrong,” I quoted a wonderful piece by Dean Ottati from Marathon & Beyond. It’s not available online, but you can read large excerpts in my old post. Dean is the author of The Runner and the Path, one of the most insightful,
- [Where Runner's World Went Wrong](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/02/26/where-runners-world-went-wrong/) - In the early 1970s, I worked at Runner’s World magazine. It was the start of the running boom, which received a powerful boost from Frank Shorter’s marathon gold at the 1972 Olympics. When I joined the magazine, it was still printed in black and white and had only 5000 subscribers. The readers were fiercely loyal,
- [Bits & Pieces](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/12/27/bits-pieces-5/) - As chief cook and bottle washer for this small but vibrant website, I was interested in a recent Huffington Post article, How Sites Like YouTube Are Combating Nasty Commenters. Not that I learned much. But the article made me think of the wonderful commenting system on SFGate’s sports pages. I submitted a response: The San
- [Richard Sherman’s Classy Coach](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2014/01/22/richard-shermans-classy-coach/) - That Richard Sherman is such a nice boy. Richard is the Seattle Seahawks cornerback who threw a hissy fit after the Hawks won the NFL West title. I’ve been mighty impressed with Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. I put Pete on a pedestal in a recent article, “Expansive Sports.” So I was curious to see how
- [The Simple Joy of Sports](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/05/13/the-simple-joy-of-sports/) - While I was on vacation in Hawaii last summer, I picked up a hitchhiker on Kauai's north shore. A fit-looking young man, he appeared to be in his early twenties, and he spoke with a French accent. He told me he'd grown up in Tahiti but now lived in France, and that he was a
- [Upbeat Attitudes and Fast Running Go Together](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/12/06/upbeat-attitudes-fast-running-go-together/) - Have you experienced this strange phenomenon on long runs? Late in the run, you start to feel your energy flag, and you take a gulp of your customary fuel (fluid/gel/solid). And – golly, that’s strange, your energy immediately lifts, even though you know it will take the body 5 to 20 minutes to process the
- [This & That: New Book Now on Amazon, Misc. Comments on X-C Nationals](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/11/26/new-book-now-amazon/) - The reincarnation of Fitness Intuition is complete. You’ll find the new baby on Amazon. The hardcopy book is available now, and a Kindle edition should be ready in a day or two. Amazon discounts the hardcopy version to $18. I’ll let you know the Kindle price when it goes online. [hr] I was delighted by
- [Expansive Sports](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/11/15/expansive-sports/) - I posted a short version of this in August; since then, I’ve expanded it as a chapter for the revised book, The Expansive Athlete. It’s been a wonderful year for sports books. The last 12 months have seen the publication of three instant classics: Bill Rodgers’s Marathon Man, Alberto Salazar’s 14 Minutes, and Phil
- [Odds & Ends](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/11/15/odds-ends-2/) - Mary Cain is a smart 17-year-old with smart parents. As you undoubtedly know, the multiple American junior record-setter is coached by Alberto Salazar of the Nike Oregon Project. With her parents’ support, Cain has turned pro. Here’s a cut from the announcement: Mary’s parents, Charles and Mary, have been extremely supportive since the beginning of
- [New Book, Extensively Revised](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/10/23/new-book-extensively-revised/) - I’ve replaced about two thirds of the Fitness Intuition book with better material — more solid science that supports expansive sports and feeling-based training; much less personal experience. If you’ve purchased the book, please let me know so I can send you a PDF of the new edition. You can use the contact form. It’s
- [Runners and Demons](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/02/29/runners-and-demons/) - John Burdett writes amazing books. They’re not what you might expect an ancient monk such as yours truly to enjoy. They’re about Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a Royal Thai Police detective who works in the red-light district of Bangkok. Many of the characters in the books are active in the sex trade, including Sonchai’s mother Nong, a
- [Running and the Balanced Life](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/10/05/running-balanced-life/) - In my long-ago life as a staff photographer for Runner’s World, I loved to shoot the famed Dipsea race. It wasn’t the elite competition that made the race special for me. It was the achingly gorgeous trails of Mt. Tamalpais. I shot many photos with a wide-angle lens. I loved to take pictures of solitary
- [College Cross-Country’s Imported Superstars — My Private Discontent](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/09/30/college-cross-countrys-imported-superstars-private-discontent/) - I’m sure Jesse Squires didn’t mean to, but this morning he really got my dander up. Jesses is a fine staff writer for Daily Relay. This morning he reported highlights of the weekend’s college cross-country meets. In the results lists for the Cowboy Jamboree X-C meet, we find the following top finishers: 1. Kennedy Kithuka,
- [Runner Genetics and the Inner Coach](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/09/25/runner-genetics-inner-coach/) - RunBlogRun posted an interesting interview with David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. I’m always on the lookout for information that will help me train wisely and well. (Translation: run faster, longer, enjoyably.) Note the emphasis on “enjoy.” A powerful tenet of my athletic faith states that training
- [A Runner’s Search for Meaning](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/09/12/runners-search-meaning/) - (Warning: spiritual content.) Four months before I arrived at Stanford, in August 1959, my old man shot himself through the head. For his remaining 32 years, he was blind. That summer, we moved to California so that he could attend the Braille Institute. Our protected middle-class life had ended. Living in a crowded apartment building,
- [Stress and the Runner: It’s All in Your Attitude](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/09/05/stress-runner-attitude/) - Hoo boy, check this amazing TED Talk by psychologist Kelly McGonigal: “How to make stress your friend.” McGonigal teaches at Stanford School of Medicine and Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she spent 10 years preaching the evils of stress. Then she found research that showed it isn’t stress that can kill us, but our
- [Beta-testing a Miracle Fuel for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/08/27/beta-testing-miracle-fuel-runners/) - Years ago, I polled the members of the ultrarunning mailing list about their favorite race foods. (See “Cheap Runner Trash.”) The results were amusing, if not to say, nauseating. The ultrarunners’ favorite foods ranged from Krispy Treats to X-Men fruit snacks. One runner said he’d occasionally consume quarter-pound sticks of butter, eaten “plain.” The moral
- [Head Injuries, the NFL, and the Future of Running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/08/30/head-injuries-nfl-future-running/) - When I was a 140-pound guard on my high school’s JV football team, our coach one day got the brilliant idea to have us do a head-on tackling drill. My best friend Bruce and I lined up 10 yards apart and, at Coach’s whistle, charged head-on. I can’t say it cemented our friendship, though it
- [A Fix for Chronic Runner Fatigue](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/08/28/fix-chronic-runner-fatigue/) - The body is like an luxury car with all the extras. You love to drive that big old Caddy, Lexus, or Mercedes. The ride is smooth, it handles wonderfully, the stereo is awesome, and you can barely hear the world outside. But there are sooo many things that can go wrong. A power window fails.
- [This & That: Inspiring Sports Books, and a Landmark Article](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/08/23/this-that-inspiring-sports-books-and-a-landmark-article/) - It’s been an amazing year for sports books. The best of the lot, by far, was 11 Rings: The Soul of Success, Phil Jackson’s account of his legendary career as an NBA coach and player. Jackson gives us the inside story of his relationships with Jordan, Pippen, Bryant, and many other NBA stars. And it’s
- [For Runners Who Want to Lose Weight](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/08/16/for-runners-who-want-to-lose-weight/) - When I worked at Runner’s World, from 1972-76, the owner was still the magazine’s founder, Bob Anderson. (Since sold to Rodale Press, the original magazine with its Joe and Jane Runner demographic morphed into today’s glossy, upscale East Coast rag for Tiffany and Brock Spandex.) Bob started RW as an avid high school runner and
- [Rules for Runners: 13 Keys to Success](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/08/13/rules-for-runners-13-keys-to-success/) - Successful people rules that are pretty much the same in other fields. Here’s highly successful photographer Chase Jarvis’s list of the rules he follows. I was struck by how clearly they apply to running. You can find the original article on Chase’s website: “The Hit List: 13 Things Crucial For Your Success [In Any Field].”
- [Mental Focus and the Happy Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/02/08/mental-focus-and-the-happy-runner/) - Matt Killingsworth did his PhD research at Harvard. For his thesis, he developed an iPhone app that allowed people to track when they were most and least happy during the day. Matt’s conclusion: people are happiest when they’re focused in the now. (Matt gave a TED talk on his work: “Want to be Happier? Stay
- [Foxy Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/04/17/foxy-runners/) - Kent White is one of the world’s best, and best-known, sheet metal workers and antique car and aircraft body restorers. Kent lives in the Sierra foothills, about 17 miles outside Nevada City, California. I’ve known Kent for ages, and last week he invited me to stay at his place and help with his yearly catalog.
- [Developing the Run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/05/25/developing-the-run/) - The U.S. military is split organizationally along two different lines. On one hand are the traditional leaders, who rely on an institutionalized, formal planning system that’s designed to ensure nobody makes a career-endangering move. Its unspoken basis is “Cover Your A__.” On the other hand we find the special ops branches of Army, Navy, Air
- [Jordan Hasay’s Brilliant Decision](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/06/22/jordan-hasays-brilliant-decision/) - It is with a happy heart that I display my favorite photo of this year. It accompanied a Runner’s World online announcement that former high school superstar Jordan Hasay has joined the Nike Oregon Project where she will be coached by Alberto Salazar. Did I say happy heart? Did I say “with glee”? I misspoke.
- [Born to Booze - Are the Tarahumara Worthy Role Models?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/03/02/born-to-booze-are-the-tarahumara-worthy-role-models/) - Is there a runner who hasn’t read Born to Run? The bestseller by Christopher McDougall argues for a simpler, less numbers-encumbered approach to running. As poster children for the New Simplicity, McDougall introduces us to the Tarahumara of northern Mexico, whose members live simple lives and run spectacular distances, shod in flowing ponchos and sandals.
- [Bill Rodgers’ Magical Book](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/06/12/bill-rodgers-magical-book/) - I worked at Runner’s World from 1972 to 1976. When Bill Rodgers won the Boston Marathon in 1975, I distinctly recall significant grousing among the Runner’s World staff. As if to say “Who’s this Rodgers guy? Who does he think he is to beat Jerome Drayton, Tom Fleming, and all the other guys we thought
- [Barn-Burning Busts Butts](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/03/16/barn-burning-busts-butts/) - I love oddball training. Especially when it’s fun. I’ve noticed recently that when I include a few very hard bursts in my otherwise shambling old-person runs, my body responds by shedding belly fat – and the effect is immediate. Not a bad thing, given my high age (71) and low mileage. Now, along come researchers
- [Must College Spell Doom for a Distance Runner?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/02/17/must-college-spell-doom-for-distance-runners/) - Arthur Lydiard said it long ago. The U.S. college system is a disaster for young runners. With two, maybe three, back-to-back seasons – cross-country in the fall, indoor track in winter, outdoor in spring/summer – it’s tempting for coaches who are bent on furthering their careers to push their runners so hard for race results
- [Running and the Good Life](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/01/31/running-and-the-good-life/) - As I’ve mentioned, I like to drive to San Francisco to run. I park by the Bay and run across the Golden Gate Bridge. The drive to the City takes me past Lake Merced, a popular venue with a five-mile trail that circles the lake. As I drive by, I’m struck by the variety of
- [The Itty-Bitty Runner’s Camera](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/04/23/itty-bitty-runner-camera/) - Note: I wrote this five years ago. Cameras have advanced since then, but the principles apply. I now carry a 13.6-megapixel Sony Cybershot DSC-W300 (hey, I’m out of breath, and I’m a runner). Bought it for just over $300 maybe three years ago, and now it sells on Amazon for $40 to $60. Thus flees
- [Lance Armstrong — Why Dope Matters](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/01/28/lance-armstrong-why-dope-matters/) - There’s so much bilge in the media, around the issue of elite athletes’ supposed “stature.” The notion that sports stars are “great” as people, simply because they have athletic talent, is stupid. Worse is the notion that they should model moral vigor. It’s absurd. It’s childish. Read the news. Really. Charles Barkley nailed when he
- [Why We Run — the Endless Question](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2013/01/21/why-we-run-the-endless-question/) - Why do we run? I’ve asked myself this question often in recent months, as I’ve struggled with health problems. Then I watched live streaming video of the 2012 Nike Cross Nationals, known simply as NXN. The Nationals are Nike’s championships for high-school cross-country teams. (Watch highlights here.) That event, I believe, said more about why
- [Best Trails of the San Francisco Bay Area](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/03/21/best-trails-of-the-san-francisco-bay-area/) - There are many wonderful trails within a 60-minute drive of San Francisco. The best online portal to these trails is Jane Huber's amazing www.bahiker.com website. Mt. Tamalpais (Very Special) The very best running venue in the Bay Area is Mount Tamalpais, in Marin County just north of San Francisco. For a spectacular introduction to running
- [Running’s Super-Hero Future](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/09/24/runnings-super-hero-future/) - I get endless pleasure when I contemplate how the small details of my running reflect the larger issues in my life. Conversely, understanding life’s big patterns helps me understand my training. An example. Over the years, I’ve realized that some things always “work” when I run. That is, they invariably yield wonderful results of enjoyment
- [A (Not Very) Deep Secret of Successful Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/10/16/a-not-very-deep-secret-of-successful-runners/) - What kind of training brings the best results, defined as really rapid improvement? I have no doubt about the formula. In fact, it’s so drop-dead, brain-drainingly simple that it’s stooooooopid. Here goes: “Run very hard, then take it very easy.” “Oh, hey,” I hear some people say. “What about Arthur Lydiard? You’re always preaching Lydiard-this,
- [Run Fast to Race Fast? The Genius of Renato Canova](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/08/24/run-fast-to-race-fast-the-genius-of-renato-canova/) - I’m a training Nazi. Or maybe I’m politically correct. Or just old and fat-headed. But I do believe that when it comes to training, there’s One True Way. I’ll flex a little. I’ll concede that we need to adjust the One Way to our individual abilities. Now then, of history’s great coaches, which ones have
- [Dying to Run Well](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/09/01/dying-to-run-well/) - Joe Henderson is a personal hero. The author of many books and articles on running, Joe is a “writer’s writer.” He’s the kind of craftsman other writers admire, for the year-in, year-out quality of their work. He’s a hero as a runner, too. I return often to Joe’s simple training formula: run everything 1-2 minutes
- [Weirdness on the Golden Gate Bridge](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/07/20/weirdness-on-the-golden-gate-bridge/) - The San Francisco planners decided in their wisdom that the approaches to the Golden Gate Bridge should be more speedy. It’s a good plan, but the vast project has required sacrifices, including a closure of the cyclists-only walkway on the west side of the bridge. (The bike lane reopened May 18.) On Sunday, sunny weather
- [Adapt and Survive — the Happy Runner’s Mantra](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/07/06/adapt-and-survive-the-happy-runners-mantra/) - What are the laws of running? Are there fixed “rules” that can always tell us how to train? “There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance.” Thank you, Professor Einstein. As
- [Zone Training is Broken: Steve Magness on Science Versus Experience](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/06/16/zone-training-is-broken-steve-magness-on-science-versus-experience/) - Steve Magness has written a fine article, Physiological Model of Training- Why it and "zone training" are outdated. I like Steve’s views – not least because they agree with my own. Magness has a master’s in sports physiology from George Mason University, but he doesn’t let it get in his way. Despite that obstacle, Magness
- [A Merry Heart Goes All the Way](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/06/09/a-merry-heart-goes-all-the-way/) - I love it when my views on training are confirmed by smart people. Here’s Bob Kennedy, the first American to run a sub-13-minute 5000m (he did it twice): Besides being exposed to faster tempos, what else did you learn from your Kenyan training partners? BK: One of the biggest things I learned is that sometimes
- [Tough Guys](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/05/25/tough-guys/) - I’ve noticed that people who become very good at one thing tend to become good very quickly at other things they attempt. Stan Pantovic was a photographer who freelanced for Runner’s World in the early 1970s. On the sole occasion when he wrote an article for the magazine, he did an excellent job. Photography had
- [Fun Runner: the Sane Way to Train](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/05/16/fun-runner-the-sane-way-to-train/) - Abdi Abdirahman is a fun-loving guy. The four-time Olympian, who placed third in this year’s US Olympic marathon trials, doesn’t feel that running should be a drag. Abdi was the subject of a profile in today’s Wall Street Journal. “He’s the polar opposite of any other runners I’ve ever known,” said Shelley Duncan, a Cleveland
- [Arthur Lydiard and Swami Kriyananda: The Principles of Success Are the Same in Running and Life](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/05/04/arthur-lydiard-and-swami-kriyananda-the-principles-of-success-are-the-same-in-running-and-life/) - Every few decades, it seems, somebody decides that the time-tested approaches to training are wrong. They’re outdated, old-fashioned, passé, yesterday’s news, and just plain behind-the-times drivel. I think it’s, in part, because we humans – including runners and coaches – have a relentless itch for the new. The longing for “something better” impels us go
- [Learning From Clarence Bass](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/03/29/learning-from-clarence-bass/) - Clarence Bass is a stud. Nowadays, he's also a Seventy-Something. Clarence isn’t a distance runner (hardly – check his career pictorial). But what he knows about exercise is very wise and translates well to running. I had an email exchange with Clarence recently when I asked for his help with a problem in my gym
- [Diet 4th Dimension](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/02/24/diet-4th-dimension/) - What runner in his right mind wouldn’t like to lose a few pounds? A lighter body runs faster, with less effort. It’s a no-brainer: light is better. “I feel like a runner.” It’s not easy to say, when you’re carrying extra padding. The how of weight-loss isn’t difficult to figure out. Motivating ourselves to do
- [This & That: Henderson, Nadel, Lydiard](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/02/10/this-that-henderson-nadel-lydiard/) - I love to share stuff that inspires me. It’s been frustrating to limit myself to the usual long “think pieces.” So I’ll likely be posting heads-ups to the good stuff I find. Here goes. Wonderful article by Joe Henderson about former US 10K road and 10,000m track record holder Mark Nenow, originally published February 1991.
- [Deep Space of Running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/02/09/deep-space-of-running/) - I just discovered a wonderful acronym for runners. SFNAR. Sucks for no apparent reason. It will surely strike a chord in the heart of runners who’ve practiced their art for more than 10 minutes. Let’s face it, things happen when we run that defy rational explanation. Faceplants, for example, happen when we aren’t actually thinking
- [Mystic Bagel](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/01/15/mystic-bagel/) - Sundays after service, we have a bagel bar. I enjoy chatting with friends while munching a whole-wheat cinnamon raisin bagel with full-fat cream cheese and a slug of Smucker’s strawberry preserve. “It’s my weekly indulgence,” I sigh. “No way I’ll run this afternoon.” The last thing on my mind is speed. Still, it’s a December
- [Note to a Friend: Putting the Heart First](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2012/01/07/note-to-a-friend-putting-the-heart-first/) - A friend of mine is a dancer. We had a conversation where we shared our experiences of following our intuition. Later, I wrote her this note. What I’ve been experiencing is the answer to a prayer about a book that writing on spiritual experience in sports. I discussed the book with our teacher’s chief disciple.
- [Rescuing the Run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/11/27/rescuing-the-run/) - I wrote this years ago. In fact, I edited it for the book. But in reviewing the original, I like it better. Here it is. I’ve continued to use the heart rate monitor for all of my training runs, with consistently interesting results. Yesterday, for example, I ran 3 hours 45 minutes wearing the HRM,
- [The Unbearable Urge to Eat Grease](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/11/18/the-unbearable-urge-to-eat-grease/) - My vote for the #1 most unintentionally funny fitness blog post of 2011: My Experiment: Lipo 6 Black Bodybuilding Supplement. The lengths to which some women will go to lose 6 lbs are – let’s face it, there’s no other word – pathetic. My response: Sounds like absolute hell. Honestly, with Joel Fuhrman’s “Eat to
- [Garret Kramer and Stillpower](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/11/11/garret-kramer-and-stillpower/) - It's rare to find an article on sports training that I can agree with with reservations. Garret Kramer is the founder of Inner Sports. He was the subject of a recent interview. I give it my fullest recommendation. Garret’s words are founded in bedrock wisdom about the mental attitudes that create the highest kind of
- [Twisted Path of a Distance Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/11/03/twisted-path-of-a-distance-runner/) - I’ve been reading Joe Henderson’s autobiography, which he’s been posting on his website a chapter at a time, and I’m finding it interesting. That’s because Joe isn’t simply recording the historical facts of his life, but revealing the lessons he’s learned. Stories about personal growth are nearly always uplifting. I’m going to go out on
- [Running Injuries - No Coddling for "Owies"](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/08/27/running-injuries-no-coddling-for-owies/) - In a recent post, I described how I dislocated my finger. The wisdom of the Internet said that it would take 1-2 months to heal. Maybe longer. Hm. I’ve had my share of injuries. In the mid-‘90s, I sprained an ankle in a manner so grotesque that I’d be arrested if I described it. It
- [Good Night, Dave Dudley, Wherever You Are](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/08/18/good-night-dave-dudley-wherever-you-are/) - I sang in the shower a lot my freshman year at Stanford – sad Frankie Laine songs: “Do not forsake, me, oh, my darling...” “It’s a quarter to three. There’s no one in the place, ‘cept you and me...” ‘T’would be better had I never known A lover such as you. Forsaking dreams and all,
- [Tough Love for Injuries](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/08/14/tough-love-for-injuries/) - Medical advice on the Internet says it’ll take my dislocated finger 1-2 months to heal, perhaps longer. I’ve had my share of injuries. In the mid-‘90s, I sprained an ankle in a manner so grotesque that I’d probably be arrested for describing it online. It was the fifth sprain in six weeks – all of
- [Lessons of Running: Faceplants and Fatigue](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/08/05/lessons-of-running-faceplants-and-fatigue/) - I don’t know how runners survive without intuition. Early on, we’re told to “listen to the body.” I suspect not many of us take it seriously at first. We learn the hard way. Experience teaches us that each moment of a run is meaningful, rich with valuable information. All we have to do is learn
- [The Faith of Ryan Hall and Desiree Davila](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/07/19/the-faith-of-ryan-hall-and-desiree-davila/) - Four days after his landmark 2011 Boston race, Ryan Hall talked about his experiences in a blog entry. Ryan speaks unabashedly about his faith. I don’t mind. But I wonder if other, more cynical readers don’t sometimes wonder: “Okay, Ryan, so God is on your side. Well, how come He hasn’t made you win a
- [Breaking Stuff: Time Your Carb Intake to Optimize Your Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/07/05/breaking-stuff-time-your-carb-intake-to-optimize-your-training/) - Every time we run, we’re effectively breaking a bunch of stuff in our bodies. And until it gets fixed, there’s no way we can go out and run again at our best. For some reason, many runners have trouble believing this. Knowing how to train is easy. Just buy a good book and adapt its
- [Grease Spot Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/06/17/grease-spot-runner/) - I wrote this several months ago but hesitated to share it because of its spiritual content. On second thought, what the heck, here goes. I spent most of Friday in the ER waiting room. I had a shamefully good time. Here’s how I told it to a friend. She’s a physician and a minister in
- [Carbenflarb IV: Super Tuber Fuels an Amazing Run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/06/07/carbenflarb-iv-super-tuber-fuels-an-amazing-run/) - Last Friday, I had a freak run. It wasn’t just a notch better than usual. It was scary good. I ran on the levees that extend into San Francisco Bay. Thousands of shorebirds flew overhead or paddled in the waterways. I flew out of the blocks like the Energizer Bunny. It felt like the gas
- [Carbenflarb III: Starting Runs Under-Carbed Is a Really Big Oopsie](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/05/23/carbenflarb-iii-starting-runs-under-carbed-is-a-really-big-oopsie/) - Overtraining, faulty peaking, inadequate taper, positive splits, under-hydration, too much, too little or the wrong electrolytes, testing new shoes and fuels in a race, hypothermia because I didn’t wear my warm winter woolies. I’ve done them all – and a lot more besides. One of the worst mistakes I’ve made, measured by sheer energy-killing, joy-killing
- [Two Kinds of Minimalism: External and Internal](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/05/09/two-kinds-of-minimalism-external-and-internal/) - One kind of minimalism is easy and costs a lot. The other kind of minimalism is cheap, but more difficult. There’s external minimalism – stripping down gear, in search of a simpler, more primitive kind of running. And there’s inner minimalism – stripping away restless thoughts and feelings. Which delivers the best rewards? The problem
- [Which of Your Many Bodies Did You Run In Today?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/04/22/which-of-your-many-bodies-did-you-run-in-today/) - I worked several hours this morning, then took a break to run. Before leaving the house, I went to the closet and shuffled through my spare bodies and picked the Ryan Hall model. I’m not being entirely serious – on the other hand, it does seem that I run in a different body every day
- [Safe Margin - Fastest Way to Get Faster](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/04/11/safe-margin-fastest-way-to-get-faster/) - Ever have a long run where it felt like you were putting out lots of effort, and you were feeling sort of maybe semi-good, but you were actually going fairly slowly? Those runs, where we’re working hard and hardly moving, are a waste. They’re wrong. Why? Because we’re using all our energy to go at
- [Fat Girls](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/03/30/fat-girls/) - About seven years ago, someone of the female persuasion sent the following message to the Ultra list. Below, I'll paste my reply. [This is a rant that can be taken to many sports, so don’t go off on me on THAT angle, please..... ballet, gymnastics, 10K runners, rock climbers, whatever. I don’t do those sports.
- [Pickin' Up Good Vibrations: Places and People Can Make or Break a Run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/02/03/pickin-up-good-vibrations-how-places-and-people-can-make-or-break-a-run/) - Emerging from the Paris Metro, I was amazed and delighted - not to be in Paris or to be seeing the city's fabled postcard vistas for the first time – but by how the women dressed. Walking to our hotel, not a block passed that I didn’t see a woman whose attire was unique, a
- [The Key to Running Success](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/03/11/the-key-to-running-success/) - I live in Silicon Valley, cradle of exciting technologies. Over the years, I’ve witnessed how a little-known success principle operates in the tech sector. I’ve seen that this principle has tremendous power to predict whether a company succeeds or fails. What’s this got to do with running? As it turns out, this deceptively simple principle
- [Make Your Own Running Gel](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/01/25/make-your-own-running-gel/) - When the Clif Bar Company switched the carbs in its ClifShot gels from rice syrup to “organic evaporated cane juice,” I decided to try rolling my own. I’m happy to report that my new formula is working brilliantly. The rice syrup in ClifShot Classic gave me a nice, smooth “ride” without spikes or crashes. So
- [Famous Runner Warms Up](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/01/21/famous-runner-warms-up/) - Well, well. US 10,000-meter Olympian Jeff Galloway likes a long warmup. From "Happiness and Running," a January 16, 2009 post on Jeff's blog: For years, I couldn't figure out why I felt great on a run one day and terrible the next. I now believe that most of the enjoyment comes from pacing the run
- [A Runner's Path](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/02/11/a-runners-path/) - Want to meet a legend? Check this Youth Runner interview with Gerry Lindgren. Lindgren holds the high school indoor records for 3000m and 2 miles (8:06.3 and 8:40.0), forty-seven years after he ran those amazing times in 1964. The photo shows Gerry (on right) in a dead heat with Steve Prefontaine, probably at the Pac-8
- [Post-Run Munchies Solved at Last!](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/02/03/post-run-munchies-solved-at-last/) - What’s the deal with the post-long-run munchies – that feeling, after a long run, that no amount of food can ever fill the bottomless pit? At one point, I decided I would make a concerted effort to find the answer to those cravings. I thought, “I'll attack it scientifically.” After several long runs, I did
- [Carbenflarb II](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2011/01/18/carbenflarb-ii/) - How much carb do we really need? If you asked 100 runners, you’d probably get 100 different answers. Not only are nutritional requirements highly individual, sometimes they’re wildly different. My roommate in the early 1970s, Ian Jackson, once ran 140 miles in a week without taking any food at all – he was on a
- ["True Sport" at the Olympics](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/08/20/true-sport-at-the-olympics/) - I haven't been watching the Olympics. Not as a political protest - we simply don't have a TV. I considered renting one, but decided I could do without the frustrations of NBC's coverage. My memories of past Olympics are soured by the networks' baffling urge to break into long and "boring" events such as the
- [Every Runner's Friend Award - 2010](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/12/30/every-runners-friend-award-2010/) - As we traverse the last days of 2010, I’m beginning to sift through the year’s candidates for the Every Runner’s Friend lifetime award. These are runners who in my estimation during the preceding year – or whenever – showed that they have high-mileage hearts. Past winners have included Joe Henderson, Arthur Lydiard, Ann Trason, and
- [Keep It Simple](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/12/28/keep-it-simple/) - US 10,000-meter record holder Chris Solinsky (26:59.60) believes training should be simple. Duncan Larkin recently interviewed Solinsky for his blog. You are a Nike runner. The stereotype of Nike runners is that they rely heavily on technology, using things like cryosaunas and altitude houses. Where are you at on the technology spectrum? I’m pretty fundamental
- [Happy Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/12/04/happy-runner/) - What makes a happy runner? Yesterday, for perhaps the thousandth time, I found the answer. I’ve been running hard twice a week, in addition to an easy run and a hard gym workout. And I’ve run out of gas. My right Achilles is sore from Lydiard uphill bounding and springing (ill-advised at 68?). And my
- [Running's Sweet Sanities](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/11/12/runnings-sweet-sanities/) - “Going to civilization.” That’s how I think of a run in nature, on single-track trails with birds and sky and rushing mountain streams. “Leaving civilization” is my term for returning to the city. The more time I spend in the great green, the saner I feel. Is there a runner alive who doesn’t treasure our
- [Once More Into the Harmony Zone](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/11/20/once-more-into-the-harmony-zone/) - Lorraine Moller, marathon bronze medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, wrote an article for the latest Running Times on “Becoming a Body Whisperer.” It’s worth reading. Monitoring the body is an essential skill. Moller believes the best way to "listen to the body" is by paying attention to how we feel. I know she’s right.
- [Heart & Science: Twin Tools of a Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/10/25/heart-science-twin-tools-of-a-runner/) - I seldom get excited about studies that tell me how running affects the heart. Mostly I find them boring. About the only exception is when studies confirm my real-life experiences as a runner. Cardiologist Eric Larose, MD, professor of medicine at Laval University in Quebec City, studied the damage to runners’ hearts from running a
- [The Buddha's Snarky Advice for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/10/20/the-buddhas-snarky-advice-for-runners/) - Where can runners turn when they have questions? Science? Science is notorious for overturning its principal theories every few years. For decades, exercise physiologists believed that lactic acid caused the “burn” during hard exercise. Then, several years ago, lactic acid was shown to be a fuel for working muscles. The trouble with exercise science is
- [Perfect Pace](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/10/05/perfect-pace/) - Thank God for Covert Bailey. Who is Covert Bailey? He’s yet another exercise physiologist. (They breed like rabbits.) In his lectures and books, Covert shares fitness advice with “ordinary” folks, rather than experienced athletes. Last night, I was re-reading his excellent book, Smart Exercise: Burning Fat, Getting Fit. In the chapter titled “The Aerobic Zone,”
- [Upright Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/08/18/upright-runner/) - Roy Benson coached the cross-country and track teams at the University of Florida from 1969-79. For part of that period, he was president and CEO of Florida Track Club, the outfit that spawned 1972 Olympians Frank Shorter (marathon gold), Jack Bachelor (marathon 9th), and Jeff Galloway (10,000m). Every distance runner alive in this country on
- [Running Warrior](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/07/22/running-warrior/) - What are your goals as a runner? Countless people — and I bow to their superior wisdom — never care about running’s “inside story.” And, well, okay, that’s their choice. But then there’s us — the small, tiny actually, minority of runners who put inner quality first. Who dream, in fact, of running’s peak experiences.
- [Should We "Train Up" or "Train Down"?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/06/11/should-we-train-up-or-train-down/) - Ray Piva haunts my dreams. He plagues my training. He leads me into murky waters of fatigue and bad results. On a Saturday morning in the late 1990s, I drove to San Francisco and ran across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Marin Headlands. It’s a favorite route with wonderful views of Bay, ocean,
- [Coach Aristotle: Great Runs Start With Character](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/07/14/coach-aristotle-great-runs-start-with-character-2/) - What’s your running style? Logical? Passionate? Principled? Brian Clark is a well-known communications expert. Brian loves to help people communicate clearly — in person, in writing, on the Web. In a recent article, Brian talked about the three most important dimensions of persuasion. Surprise, they’re the same ones Aristotle talked about, 2000 years ago. Aristotle
- [Civilized Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/06/21/civilized-training-3/) - Dolly Parton said, “Figure out who you are and do it on purpose.” It’s great advice for runners. Find out who you are. Find out what you can do, and do it on purpose. When your body fails to meet the day’s schedule, why fret? You’ve figured out who you are today. Now you can
- [Two Ways of Thinking About Recovery (One is Wrong)](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/05/20/two-ways-of-thinking-about-recovery-one-is-wrong/) - I love it when my training diary goes “Aaaaaaaaaah.” Outstanding run. Showed the value of FULL RECOVERY. Felt lousy in a.m., but went to the gym anyway and had a hard workout and felt increasingly good. Drove to the Baylands to run. Legs were feeling the heavy deadlifts a bit at first, but then they
- [More and More Speed...](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/05/12/more-and-more-speed/) - Funny, how ideas flock together. Did you see Jay Johnson’s wonderful Running times article, “Speed Development: How and why to improve your real speed”? Jay makes a distinction between traditional speedwork (intervals, repeats), and workouts that improve speed by developing the powerful trainable type IIB fast-twitch muscle fibers. Hm, where have I heard that idea
- [Faceplant](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/04/24/faceplant/) - Casting my mind over the faceplants of years past, I see the hand of God in every one. I will never be persuaded that faceplants occur randomly. I believe they’re the formulated with scientific precision to turn us away from egotism and bull-headedness. Early 1990s. I’m running on a sidewalk in Sacramento during the early
- [And How to Get Faster Still](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/04/08/and-how-to-get-faster-still/) - Upon carefully reviewing my training, I find that I’ve been really stupid. Either that, or a wise universe has my best interests at heart. Last week, I suggested three ways runners can get faster, by targeting the trainable type IIB fast-twitch fibers in their legs. Those three methods are plyometric exercises, done either on hills
- [Innies and Outies](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/03/11/innies-and-outies/) - The Lateral Action blog publishes articles on creativity. Today’s piece, “Creative Block #5 — Being Disorganised” struck a chord. Pared down, it says that creative achievement requires a lot more than inspiration. Inspiration is the motivating energy, and organization is the supporting frame. It doesn’t matter if we’re making music, painting, juggling, or running. We
- [Once More, With Feeling](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/02/25/once-more-with-feeling/) - The five stages of a run — managing them well guarantees enjoyable running. I can’t count the times I’ve started a run feeling emotionally blah and mentally scattered, and ended the run feeling wonderful. The secret is simple: It nearly always happens when I do the right thing. No matter how unpromising things seem at
- [Alkali Joe](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/02/16/alkali-joe/) - What we eat after long runs can make us sick or keep us well. Toward the end of a long run, I ran a bit quicker than usual, a tad above 80% of MHR. It felt right, but I knew I was “pressing my edges,” pushing the body to a point where, given the cool
- [Bits & Pieces](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/02/05/bits-pieces-4/) - Lordy Bess, what a wonderful article by Pete Magill this morning on his Younger Legs for Older Runners blog. It's titled “No Such Thing as a Perfect Race.” You've got to read it. I've mentioned Pete before — he holds the over-45 world record for 5000 meters. He's a smart, helpful, and entertaining guy. Check
- [Defending Jeff Galloway](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/01/20/defending-jeff-galloway/) - Joe Henderson recently posted a fine article, "The Trials," from his forthcoming autobiography, Reruns. While Joe’s piece is nominally about the 1972 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, it’s really a tribute to US Olympian Jeff Galloway. Jeff Galloway has a permanent place on my list of running heroes – and not just because I trained
- [Next Generation Running - Train With Your Favorite Star Trek Characters](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/10/28/next-generation-running-train-with-your-favorite-star-trek-characters/) - Why is Star Trek: The Next Generation so enduringly popular, its characters the most memorable of all the Trek series? (Who remembers the protagonists of Deep Space Nine?) Surely it's because Next Generation's construction mirrors life. Geordi, Troi, Worf, Data, Picard: the five main characters represent Body, Heart, Will, Mind, and Soul - the five
- [Let's Get It Wrong](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/01/13/lets-get-it-wrong/) - What if we never made mistakes in our running? If we never overtrained. Never found ourselves on a long run, miles from nowhere, struggling in limp-home mode. Never took a wrong turn, never ate the wrong fuels, never consumed too little fluid, never went out too fast? Wouldn’t that be cool? Well – maybe. While
- [Goosebumps From the Running Fringe](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2010/01/11/goosebumps-from-the-running-fringe/) - It seems that each generation of runners has its favorite running book. Today, it’s Born to Run, author Christopher McDougall’s search for a simpler, more personally fulfilling approach to running. Along the way, he looks at the deficiencies of modern running shoes, spends time with northern Mexico’s Tarahumara tribe, and witnesses a dramatic 100-mile race
- [Running Coaches vs. Running Teachers](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/30/running-coaches-vs-running-teachers/) - Pete Magill is the oldest runner to race 5K in under 15 minutes. He ran 14:34.27 on the track at age 46, 14:49 on roads at age 47. He’s a smart and entertaining guy. In an earlier article, I linked to Pete’s excellent intructional video of exercises that delay age-related speed losses after age 40.
- [What's With the Post-Long-Run Munchies?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/28/whats-with-the-post-long-run-munchies/) - Years ago, a legendary ultrarunner – I've forgotten his name – told how his wife eventually refused to go to dinner parties with him because he always made such a spectacle of himself, eating and eating while the other guests grew silent and watched in amazement. Pete Sampras, in his interesting autobiography, A Champion's Mind:
- [Heart & Structure](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/18/heart-structure/) - (I wrote this about 10 years ago.) I ran across the Golden Gate Bridge and onto the lovely single-track trails of the Marin Headlands. Climbing the switchbacks with ever more expansive views over the Bay, I was enjoying the sunny morning. (Photo: Cruising downhill on the switchbacks to the parking lot at the north end
- [Elements of a High-Quality Run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/11/30/elements-of-a-high-quality-run/) - What’s it take to create a high-quality run? I suspect most runners tend to associate “quality” with speed. But I’m not entirely happy with that definition, because I think it puts too much emphasis on numbers. It limits quality to the surface of the sport. I never define a run as “high-quality” if it only
- [Bits & Pieces](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/14/bits-pieces-3/) - 1. With much cutting-and-pasting, I've placed the entire Fitness Intuition book online where anyone can read it for free. I feel wonderful about this. If you have friends who might enjoy the book, this will give them a chance to see what it's about, without sending $25 to Amazon or Lulu.com. 2. Speaking of Amazon,
- [Inside-Out Running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/10/inside-out-running/) - I’m reading Robert McKee’s highly regarded book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. The book begins: Story is about principles, not rules. A rule says, “You must do it this way.” A principle says, “This works … and has through all remembered time.” The difference is crucial. Your work needn’t be modeled
- [Energy: Indispensable for Great Runs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/08/energy-indispensable-for-great-runs/) - The last short article ripped from the pages of a much longer piece I inadvisedly posted last week. Over the years I’ve realized that one factor is consistently present during my best runs. I’m talking about energy. Energy is the sine qua non of great runs. Now, then, I’m 67, not fast, and have less
- [More Elements of Quality](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/08/more-elements-of-quality/) - If you read this and experience a weird sense of deja vu, that's because I posted a shamefully long article recently and realized, red-faced, that it was actually four articles in one. So I'm breaking it up to spare future readers the pain. I had a run of wonderful quality today, and it came as
- [iPod, or iDon't?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/08/ipod-or-idont/) - Another short article torn from a long one posted last week. A friend asked me if I run with an iPod. He wanted to know if it would help his running to use the iPod-enabled feature of his Nike shoes. He also asked if I listen to music when I run. I don’t. I don’t
- [Bits & Pieces](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/12/07/bits-pieces-2/) - I found myself at a crossroads with regard to the Fitness Intuition book - what needs to happen next. Prayed hard about it, and the thought occurred to reach for my copy of Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing. Phil Greenspun is an MIT computer science professor and the founder of Photo.net, the Web's
- [Kara Goucher and Lorraine Moller on Feeling-Based Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/11/20/kara-goucher-and-lorraine-moller-on-feeling-based-training/) - We interrupt our normal programming to bring you news of an extremely insightful interview with Kara Goucher, America's top female distance runner. Frankly, I was delightfully surprised to find that Kara trains to a very great extent based on monitoring her inner feelings. I wondered if her coach, Alberto Salazar, might be pushing her too
- ["Getting It Together" On the Run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/09/07/getting-it-together-on-the-run/) - Surely, the body is one source of a runner’s joys. But I’ve never believed that it’s the only one. Many times, my body has run well, while the rest of me performed poorly. What does it take to “get it together” on a run? If you pick up a puppet by an arm or leg,
- [Joseph Bharat Cornell and "Flow Running"](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/11/12/flow-running-and-joseph-bharat-cornell/) - Joseph Bharat Cornell began running in junior high. He never joined the track team. For Joseph, running grew out of his love for nature. In a recent interview, Joseph described his first experience of inspiration in the natural world, at his family’s home in Chico, California: I was five years old. I was in the backyard, looking
- [Crash: The Perils of Contractive Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/10/17/crash-the-perils-of-contractive-training/) - (Written in the mid-1990s) After the first month running with a heart monitor, I was feeling so fit and healthy that I increased my mileage. Inspired by former marathon record holder Ingrid Kristiansen, who believes that limiting long runs to two hours delivers maximum endurance benefits with minimal risk of overtraining, I quickly ramped up
- [Finding the Joy of Running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/10/13/finding-the-joy-of-running/) - A woman posted a message on the Runner’s World online forums, lamenting that she’d spent months training for her first half-marathon, and then hadn’t experienced any of the elation and satisfaction that others predicted she’d feel after she finished the race. I hope she’ll persevere with her training and discover the joys of the sport,
- [Shoes (Not) to Die For](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/11/19/shoes-to-die-for/) - I seldom post reviews on this site, but I'm making an exception. Read on to find out why. Back in the mid-1990s, our local running store in Nevada City, California sold 130 pairs of the long-lamented ASICS Gel Moro trail shoes, with just three returns. The Moros were simply amazing. I put 1500 to 1700
- [Bits & Pieces](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/10/01/bits-pieces/) - 1. The Fitness Intuition book is now available on Amazon. Hurrah. If you’ve read the book and enjoyed it, a review would really help. Gracias. 2. I’ve signed up to write short articles for Examiner.com, the well-run Web effort started by the San Francisco Examiner. Mostly, these will be short pieces (max 400 words) on
- [Why Arthur Lydiard-style Aerobic Training Works So Well](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/09/28/why-arthur-lydiard-style-aerobic-training-works-so-well/) - Great ideas are never invented; they’re discovered. I believe that Arthur Lydiard is the coach who most clearly discovered what works in the training of distance runners – both for improving fitness, and for having a good time. I continue to enjoy my Lydiard-style training. I recently shared my thoughts about Lydiard on the Masters
- [Odds & Ends](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/08/31/odds-ends/) - Random ideas gathered on the run: 1. New Chapters. You may not have seen this, as I posted it earlier at the end of an article. If you purchased Fitness Intuition before July 1, 2009, email me (use the link in the sidebar) and I’ll send you the seven new chapters in a PDF file.
- [Have You "Found Yourself" as a Runner?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/08/31/have-you-found-yourself-as-a-runner/) - Am I the only runner who took years to learn how to train? I’ve met runners who never doubted their training. Usually, they were folks who’d been running a long time. Some had run on high school and college teams. They received their “education” from coaches and experienced runners. Others weren’t on teams, but had
- [Five Arguments for Aerobic Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/08/09/five-arguments-for-aerobic-running/) - In recent articles, I’ve talked about the training methods of Arthur Lydiard. The cornerstone of Lydiard-style training is three long runs, typically 10 to 15-miles on Tuesday and Thursday and 22 miles on the weekend, to be run at a medium to high aerobic pace. Because of my recent four-month layoff due to chronic bronchitis,
- [Getting the Best Out of a Layoff](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/08/07/getting-the-best-out-of-a-layoff/) - Pity the vulnerable runner. It takes no more than a sprain, a cold, a sore Achilles – and the runner is down. Why does the universe hate runners? We train hard, run our best, and bam, a cruel cosmos puts us on our backs. At those times, I’m tempted to think, with no small irritation,
- [Body Bust: When Good Training Gets Out of Hand](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/07/27/body-bust-when-good-training-gets-out-of-hand/) - (I wrote this seven years ago.) A runner can't hope to compete at his best unless he's training high mileage. At age 62, I figure "high mileage" might translate as 60-70 miles on alternate weeks, with easy recovery weeks in between, say, 25 or 30 miles. If I ran any more, I'd risk overtraining. I've
- [A Face Full of Heart](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/07/18/a-face-full-of-heart/) - I gave up mentally sweating and straining and discovered that I was running affirmatively. Instead of fretting-: focus the mind! straighten the spine! breath deep in the heart! keep your attention in the forehead, where concentration is localized in the brain! be expansive! do it for others! practice kindness!--I did the simple, lovely things that
- [Keith Livingstone's Wonderful Book on Arthur Lydiard's Training Philosophy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/07/09/keith-livingstones-wonderful-book-on-arthur-lydiards-training-philosophy/) - Has this ever happened to you? You got sick or injured, and couldn't do much running. But, once you passed through the stages of denial, resistance, and grief, you realized that Mother Nature was doing you a favor. Ten weeks into a bronchitis that refused to go away, I asked a higher power for help,
- [Lessons of an Elite: the Lorraine Moller Story](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/07/02/lessons-of-an-elite-the-lorraine-moller-story/) - After I posted an article about Lorraine Moller's book, On the Wings of Mercury last week, I received an email from Arch Jelley a contemporary of Arthur Lydiard who coached John Walker, the Olympic 1500 gold medalist (Montreal 1976) and former world mile record holder (3:49.4 - the first mile under 3:50). Arch wrote: Arthur
- [Incidental Joy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/06/25/incidental-joy/) - I'm reading Lorraine Moller's book, On the Wings of Mercury, and enjoying it. Moller grew up in New Zealand. As soon as her talent was recognized - it didn't take long; she was winning every youth race she entered - she attracted the attention of a track and field official who introduced her to John
- [The Most Enjoyable Pace](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/05/29/the-most-enjoyable-pace/) - Rich Englehart graciously let me post the transcript of his 2000 interview with three-time Olympic gold medalist Peter Snell of New Zealand (1500 in 1960; 800 in 1960, 1964). This is the second of two followup articles. (Click to read the first: “How to Increase Your Mileage Enjoyably.”) Later, Rich shared these thoughts via email:
- [How to Increase Your Mileage Enjoyably](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/05/29/how-to-increase-your-mileage-pleasantly/) - Seems logical: the best way to increase mileage is to run everything slowly. The added miles will be easy, and they'll take a small toll on the body. So you can run again soon and really rack up the miles. Strange to say, while it sounds logical, it's wrong. At least, that's my experience. I
- [An Interview with Three-Times Olympic Gold Medalist Peter Snell](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/05/26/an-interview-with-three-times-olympic-gold-medalist-peter-snell/) - Here's an interview with Peter Snell, winner of Olympic gold in the 800 (1960, 1964) and 1500 (1964). The interviewer is Rich Englehart, a running journalist who was coached by Lydiard protege Barry McGee, bronze medalist in the marathon at the 1960 Olympics. Rich very kindly gave his permission for the interview to be posted
- [Energy Management 101 for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/05/12/energy-management-101-for-runners/) - I posted a short item recently with a link to a wonderful article by Arthur Lydiard, in which he summed up his training methods. Lydiard is special. Whether you regard his methods as antiquated (they aren't) or "nothing but LSD" ("long, slow distance" - nope, wrong again), there really is no choice but to respect
- [Lydiard Guide Available Online](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/05/05/lydiard-guide-available-online/) - Here's a quick link to an excellent guide to Arthur Lydiard's training system, written by Arthur himself. I recommend saving the PDF version, in case this website ever goes down. I find it helpful to review Arthur Lydiard's wisdom. And here's a link to an excellent article, "Lydiard Misconceptions Explained." I'm currently engaged in re-focusing
- [Exploring Energy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/05/05/exploring-energy/) - Two weeks into a bout of bronchitis, I set out on a three-mile run, feeling depleted and woozy. I wondered if I could shake the blahs by stepping-up my energy. I set the pace at the briskest I could tolerate. It was hard going, like pushing against a wall. Two conflicting urges battled within me:
- [A New Direction: 5 Stories About Energy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/04/10/a-new-direction-5-stories-about-energy/) - John Novak, a running buddy since the 1970s, is an intuitive guy. I don't believe he's ever agonized over how to train. Instead, he feels what's right. And because his feelings are calm and never wildly emotional, he gets the right answers. At the time we last ran together, several years ago, I was floundering
- [The Art of Running, the Law of Running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/01/24/the-art-of-running-the-law-of-running/) - Not long after I went to work at Runner's World in 1972, the publisher invited me to a party at his home. Several top distance runners of the day were present, and I was struck by what hard guys they were. At the time I wondered, as I still do, if being a successful runner
- [Training in an Age of Energy - Further Thoughts](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/01/14/running-in-the-age-of-energy/) - When I wrote Fitness Intuition, I considered several alternate titles: Runner's Intuition, Heart of a Runner, Happy Heart Training, etc. But I concluded that Fitness Intuition was the right choice. I chose a title that didn't have "Running" in it because I didn't want to limit the insights I'd gathered regarding heart and soul in
- [Bliss in a Pill?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/04/01/bliss-in-a-pill/) - Most runners have heard the story of how superstar marathoner Alberto Salazar over-trained and over-raced himself into depression, and how he briefly "recovered" by taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs. What is it about these "feel-good" drugs - sold under the commercial names Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc. - that makes them improve performance? In
- [Just the Facts, Ma'am](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/03/20/just-the-facts-maam/) - Mary Ellen and I were enjoying the beautiful trails of Rancho San Antonio, a 3800-acre preserve in the foothills of the Coastal Range. It was a lovely spring day, temperature in the low seventies, a glorious lull before the approaching storms of the weekend. We were pleasantly tired, walking slowly, hand in hand, letting the
- [The Fitness Intuition Method ](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/03/14/the-fitness-intuition-method/) - In the movies, James Bond leaps in the Aston Martin, cranks it to life, floors the accelerator, and disappears in a cloud of burning rubber. In real life, few people over 18 would treat a car like that. Modern cars don't need much warming up, but they do need some. Here's the advice of TV's
- [Parallels: Photography and Running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/03/10/parallels-photography-and-running/) - When I run, I carry a tiny camera in my pocket. My itty-bitty runner's camera bit the dust recently, bashed during our move to a new apartment. Feeling naked without a camera in my running shorts, I hastened to replace it. The new Sony DSC-W700 is miles beyond the deceased Canon SD700IS, which I loved.
- [Lucky Runs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/03/02/lucky-runs/) - Do our really great runs happen by chance? Are they a question of luck, a whim of the universe, a sport of the cosmos? I used to think so. On any unpredictable day, a mysterious something would go sprong and I'd find myself running in an inner flow, my mind calm and focused, my body
- [Seasons of a Runner 2: Children of Light](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/02/21/seasons-of-a-runner-2-children-of-light/) - Last week I wrote about the "seasons of a runner." I described how my long runs have three "seasons": the "winter" of the warmup, the awakening of "spring," and the "summer" of fast, efficient running. The "seasons" of my long runs come in neat packages: 40 minutes of winter (a warmup at 65-67% MHR), 40
- [Seasons of a Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/02/12/seasons-of-a-runner/) - There's evidence that some ancient cultures marked the year in three seasons instead of four - summer, winter, spring. The three-season concept mirrors my experience as a runner. My runs have three distinct "seasons" - the slow, plodding winter of the warmup, the first stirrings of energy in spring, and the fulfillment of summer. It's
- [A Runner Stumbles](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/02/10/a-runner-stumbles/) - My ex and I were in Sacramento for a weekend of R&R, staying at a nice hotel and eating well. On Saturday I went for a run on the beautiful American River Parkway. I’d lost weight and looked trim and fit. Jogging back from the river, I felt proud – look at me, so fit,
- [A Perfectly Reasonable Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2009/01/29/the-perfectly-reasonable-runner/) - What do you get when you give a 7-year-old an alarm clock and a screwdriver? Right - springs, screws, and bits of metal and plastic strewn about the house. The image of a small boy disassembling an alarm clock makes me think of sports science. Sports scientists are awfully good at taking the body apart
- [Simple Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/12/29/simple-runner/) - Running is complicated at first. Only later does it become simple. At the start, there's confusion: Which shoes should I wear? How fast should I run? How far? What's up with this pain in my knee? This rash? These blisters? On my daily 15-minute run, should I take extra carbs? Gradually, by trial and error,
- [Dining With the Kenyans](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/12/09/dining-with-the-kenyans/) - I picked up Mary Ellen at the Zombie Runner store in Palo Alto on the day Don and Gillian were hosting their grand opening. I arrived before Mary Ellen could leave and puttered around the store, looking at magazines in the comfortable lounging area and yakking with Don, who was brewing espressos at the coffee
- [Solving the Riddle of Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/11/17/solving-the-riddle-of-training/) - Hail the runner who knows how to train. Who never doubts, never questions, never wonders. I've known runners like that. They appeared to know exactly what their bodies could handle. They were seldom overtrained. They didn't waste time poring over books and articles on training. They just ran. Carl Ellsworth was that kind of runner.
- [Learning to Train (addendum)](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/11/19/learning-to-train-addendum/) - Explanation: I wrote the end of yesterday's article in an 11:30 p.m. haze. Here's the final version - improved, I hope. Let's see if I can do better... - Regards, George Eventually, I realized that the times when I “knew” with the greatest firmness were when there was a strong feeling of rightness in my
- [Doing the Numbers](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/11/08/doing-the-numbers/) - Years ago, I led a weekend running workshop at the Expanding Light, a beautiful guest retreat in the foothills of the Sierra, near Nevada City, California. One of the runners was a feisty woman from Reno who told us she spent much of her spare time riding her Harley. Someone asked her, "What do you
- [Runner Meds](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/10/28/runner-meds/) - I found an excellent article on the Running Times website, about Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley, the runners whose "Duel In The Sun" at the 1982 Boston Marathon became a 2007 book. I found the article when I was trying to learn more about Salazar's well-known experiences with the antidepressant drug Prozac. From the 2002
- [Tarzan Go To Gym](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/10/03/tarzan-go-to-gym/) - I'm beginning to think it may actually be possible to have a good time at the gym. Before my hard gym workout today, I ran an easy 30-minute warmup on the Foothill College track. I didn't feel much like running. I awoke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. But I ate
- [Running in the Fasting Lane](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/06/24/running-in-the-fasting-lane/) - If there was ever any doubt that running is about energy, German Fernandez settled the issue for all time with this amazing race. Energy is the holy grail of a runner. Sure, our talent is determined before we're born - we get our VO2Max and biodynamics from Mom and Dad. So being number 1 can't
- [There Are No "Bad Runs"](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/07/07/there-are-no-bad-runs/) - Are easy runs "good" and hard runs "bad"? In my experience, the best parts of running are hidden in every run - even those runs we slog through with heavy legs and eyes heavy with fatigue. Conditions are always neutral. The outcome, positive or negative, depends on the sad or happy attitudes of the heart.
- [Whole-Hearted Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/09/01/whole-hearted-runner/) - My training's working. How do I know? Because the same effort now takes me farther or faster. Part of the reason is that I switched to a "very" hard, "very" easy schedule. I'm running hard, but I'm giving my body massive amounts of rest, and it's working well. Research shows that it takes the body
- [Breathless](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/09/25/breathless/) - Ian Jackson is an interesting guy. Back when dinosaurs roamed the San Francisco Peninsula, we shared a run-down apartment on the wrong side of the tracks, a short walk from Runner's World, where we also shared an office. Ian was a talented athlete. He won the Pacific Division AAU (now USATF) 50K championship. And in
- [Song of the Road](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/10/15/song-of-the-road/) - A recent article in the Independent (UK) described a study that found listening to rock music extended runners' endurance by as much as 15%. Personally, I think the timing of the study couldn't be better, since it mildly confirms a claim of mine, expressed in a recent article, that music will play a key role
- [Lightly I Fly](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/09/22/lightly-i-fly/) - At 25 miles in the 1996 What, Mi-Wok? Trail 100K, I linked up with a young runner who was attempting his first ultra. He was experiencing what ultrarunners euphemistically call a "bad patch." My new friend was what the Indian healing art of Ayurveda calls a "Kapha" - a "heart type." His body and conversation
- [Training in the Age of Energy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/09/04/training-in-the-age-of-energy/) - Who can doubt that we've entered an Age of Energy? Few of the inventions we now take for granted existed 100 years ago. Electricity? Air travel? Radio? Nope. In 1908, these technologies were in their infancy. Paved roads? Few existed outside of cities. In 1894, Sri Yukteswar Giri, a yoga master in Bengal, India, published
- [Ages of a Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/08/14/the-ages-of-a-runner/) - Values of a Distance Runner In the mid-1990s I worked at a health food market in the Sierra foothills near Nevada City, California. One evening, a gentleman with shoulder-length white hair walked up to the counter and said, "I noticed your T-shirt. Do you run ultramarathons?" I said, "Yeah, but I run them very slowly."
- [What Does the Running Body Say about Saturated Fat?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/08/11/what-does-the-running-body-say-about-saturated-fat/) - How can a runner find out if a particular food is good for his/her running? He/she can eat it and go running. Runners who've been at it awhile know which foods agree with them. They get immediate feedback during the next run. If a food helps us run longer and/or faster, it's "good." It's a
- [Old-Man Training Plan](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/08/04/old-man-training-plan/) - In his wonderful book, Lore of Running, Tim Noakes, MD recommends a devious approach to training. In chapter 5, he lists the "15 Laws of Training." Law number 6 is: "Achieve as Much as Possible on a Minimum of Training" (Lore of Running, 4th Ed., p. 291). Noakes believes people underestimate the role that talent
- [Running Magic](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/07/28/running-magic/) - It's moving, gratifying, and happy-making when we succeed in discovering a fundamental principle of running. It's lovely to rediscover something that works every time - that we can rely on, again and again. I had that experience last Saturday. Actually, I rediscovered something I'd learned long ago. It's amazing how easily we forget first principles.
- [An Experiment of One](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/06/08/an-experiment-of-one/) - When it comes to eating to run 100 miles, Charles Corfield gets the best results from science. Corfield is a real-life scientist - his specialty is astrophysical fluid dynamics. He now runs a successful software company, Sandcherry, in Boulder, Colorado. The standard running fuels tied his stomach in knots, so Corfield decided to tinker in
- [Arf! Arf! (Train Like a Dog)](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/05/29/arf-arf-train-like-a-dog/) - When it comes to the psychology of running, dogs know more than we do. A dog expresses enthusiasm without prejudice, reservations, or very much discrimination. (Case in point.) A dog doesn't need to be begged to chase a ball. Yes! Yes! Let's go! Throw the ball! Now! Exercise is not burdensome for a dog. It's
- [Heart Zones](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/05/20/heart-zones/) - Are "heart rate training zones" for real? Running coaches like Roy Benson, Phil Maffetone, and John L. Parker, Jr. tell us to keep our heart rate at 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, or 95 percent of max depending on our goal: easy recovery, endurance, "fitness improvement," speed-endurance, speed/turnover, etc. Inquiring minds want to know:
- [Half a Cheer for Overtraining](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/05/13/half-a-cheer-for-overtraining/) - Back in the day, Ken was a successful ultrarunner. He won the first race he entered, a brutal 50K in the high Sierras, and had a brilliant career. He's got huge energy, a powerful positive attitude, and indomitable will. Yet when it comes to training, he's ultra-conservative. Ken and I were talking in the parking
- [Both Sides Now](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/04/30/both-sides-now/) - Joe Henderson recently posted an article on his website in which he described a landmark day in his running career. In his first high school mile race, he naively sped to the front, but then ran out of gas after the first lap and limped off the track. I plopped onto the grass, staring at
- [The Satisfaction Diet](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/04/25/the-satisfaction-diet/) - Scariest words for fat people: "To lose weight, you need to expend more calories than you consume." In simple English: "Starve!" Several years ago, I lost 20 pounds in six weeks - safely, without feeling hungry, while eating delicious, filling meals. And I continued to lose until I reached my healthy weight. I remained on
- [The Intuitive Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/04/18/the-intuitive-runner/) - Does intuition exist? Is it a reliable guide for training? Research at Heartmath Institute shows how easy it is to prove that intuition is real. Experimental subjects who were shown randomly sorted flash cards containing pleasant or disturbing images reacted to the upsetting images ahead of time, their emotional reactions reflected by changes in galvanic
- [How Jeff Galloway Made the Olympics](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/04/11/how-jeff-galloway-made-the-olympics/) - Nice article by Jeff Galloway, "The Olympic Quest," on the way he made the Olympics and the rewards of helping a friend do the same.
- [Mental Drift or Mental Discipline?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/04/11/mental-drift-or-mental-discipline/) - Many years ago -- I believe it was the early 1970s -- a study compared the mental coping strategies of elite runners and recreational joggers. The researchers found that the elites deliberately focused their attention -- they constantly monitored their form, pace, turnover, inner physical feedback, etc. Meanwhile, the ordinary joggers allowed their minds to
- [Recovery Part 3: Kitchen-Sink Recovery Drink](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/03/28/recovery-part-3-kitchen-sink-recovery-drink/) - What’s the best recovery drink? While each body is unique, nevertheless every body has certain basic needs that are the same. We all need carbs and protein after long and/or hard runs, for example. I’ve talked about recovery in two other articles (Recovery Part 1: Get Over It and Recovery Part 2: Optimizing Recovery). In
- [Mo Bettah](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/04/07/mo-bettah/) - Just a quick note to say that I've extensively revised last week's dashed-off post - and that I will never, ever post an unedited article again. Rookie mistake -- I've been a writer for 45 years, and I should know better. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. - GB
- [God & the Distance Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/04/04/god-the-distance-runner/) - I want to share a blog post by elite distance runner Josh Cox, titled "Miracles...A Runner's Case for Theism." After some preliminary rambling, Josh gets down to it and tells a wonderful story. Josh graduated from Liberty University, a school that I normally think of as a hotbed of fundamentalism. But Josh seems anything but
- [Salad Wars, Part II: Salad Soup](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/10/31/salad-wars-part-ii-salad-soup/) - In Salad Wars, Part I, I described how I get my veggies easily. Briefly, I prepare three days’ worth of core salad ingredients (Romaine, ground carrots, chopped kale, etc.) in a huge stainless-steel bowl and save them in the fridge. When I want salad, I throw 2-3 handfuls of the salad base in a bowl,
- [Finding the Right Discipline](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/03/20/finding-the-right-discipline/) - I was trotting up Wildcat Canyon and desperately laboring to get my head straight. I’d always assumed that running was wasted time unless it helped me find an experience of joy or love inside. It was my assumption that a higher power could not come unless I succeeded in pushing my restless thoughts away. The
- [Take Out the Papers and the Trash!](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/03/14/take-out-the-papers-and-the-trash/) - After weeks of driving to San Francisco for long runs across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Marin Headlands, I returned to a favorite venue: the Stanford University campus. Stanford's land is vast - its 8180 acres include 2300 acres of lovely tree-lined streets on the main campus and 2500 acres of open land
- [Patterns of Energy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/03/05/patterns-of-energy/) - Can anyone doubt that we are living at the start of a new age of energy? Nearly all the inventions we take for granted today - cars, computers, TVs, refrigerators, iPods - were invented since 1900, and they're all based on energy. We're increasingly finding ways to use energy to do work that was formerly
- [How to Lose Weight](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/02/29/how-to-lose-weight/) - Fitness Intuition is about tailoring your training to your own body. Those needs include food. Yet, at one time or another in most runners' careers, diet becomes a big issue. "I need to lose weight – but I’ve heard that diets just don’t work." "Why is my energy sagging? - is it my food?" Or:
- [The Natural Zones of Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/02/25/the-natural-zones-of-training/) - (Short note. I've decided not to cut 27 chapters out of the Fitness Intuition book, as I announced last Friday. In fact, I've added a chapter, an intro called "Where Do I Get Off?" I was thinking the book needed to be toned down in order to reach a wider audience. But I realize I
- [Crash](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/02/22/crash/) - Over the last year, I've test marketed my book, Fitness Intuition in a self-published edition, and based on the feedback I've received from readers, I've cut 27 chapters. The consensus of opinion seemed to be that the first 10 chapters were fine, but the book was too long, given the nature of the contents. Too
- [Training - the Energy Game](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/02/15/training-the-energy-game/) - Successful runners succeed because they prepare themselves to channel large amounts of energy. They do everything possible to remove obstacles to the free flow of energy. They're careful to get enough sleep, eat good food, and train wisely (not too hard, not too easy). They focus their minds, and cultivate positive thoughts and feelings. Training
- [Running for Results](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/02/07/running-for-rewards/) - Two weeks ago, I talked about how soccer fans distinguish between “The Game of Art” and “The Game of Results.” In Brazil and Argentina, the Game of Art (AKA, the Beautiful Game) brought those countries great success. When their best players were wooed away by European pro teams, the Brazilians and Argentineans panicked, resorting to
- [Beating the High Cost of Running Gear](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/02/01/beating-the-high-cost-of-running-gear/) - My favorite running shoe is the Saucony Grid Hurricane 7 (2005). Road Runner Sports sells them for $99.99. I got my last pair for $69 on Amazon. Recently, I bought a fleece vest to run in dry, cold weather. A similar vest at REI costs $35. Mine cost $14.95 on sale at Cabela's. I love
- [The Way of the Heart](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/01/18/the-way-of-the-heart/) - I was running a loop course through the streets of Palo Alto, working hard to discipline my mind and bring it to a focus. Also, I was trying hard to open my heart. And the result of all my striving was a heart that was ice cold, empty of all warm feeling, and a mind
- [Satisfaction](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/01/10/satisfaction/) - What's it take to make a deeply satisfying run? Not much. The best runs are about inner satisfactions, not outward results. I once heard this explained by a yoga teacher, who pointed out that our experiences are all inside - they're inner reactions to outward events. All the stuff “out there” that appears so bright
- [Our Own Kind of Champion](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2008/01/04/our-own-kind-of-champion/) - My 5k PR is a mediocre 18:18. At no time, not even when I ran that race at age 32, have I shown the least sign of sports talent. Physiologist David L. Costill, PhD says the best indicator of running ability is how hard your heart works when you run a six-minute mile. If your
- [Two Nifty Ideas for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/12/27/two-nifty-ideas-for-runners/) - Good morning, runners! Here’s a scrumptious idea to enjoy with your coffee. It’s from the world of — philosophy! Well, shucks , you could have said good-by. You’ll be relieved to know that this column isn’t actually about philosophy. “Philosophy” means “the love of knowledge.” Which is okay if you’re one of the big guns
- [Running's Big Unanswered Questions](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/12/14/runnings-big-unanswered-questions/) - Have the sports scientists told us everything there is to know about running? Certainly not. There are still lots of questions -- about training, diet, our potential -- that we must answer for ourselves. These are the Black Holes of running science. You know — the big, empty places that the lab boys haven't got
- [Important notice to Fitness Intuition RSS feed subscribers](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/12/08/important-notice-to-fitness-intuition-rss-feed-subscribers/) - Dear Fitness Intuition subscribers, While redesigning the Web site recently, I had to change the RSS feed name. If you're seeing this note in your feed, you're okay - no need for any action on your part. I'm hoping that the few who are still subscribed to the old feed will visit the site, see
- [How to Get Into the Running "Zone"](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/12/06/how-to-get-into-the-running-zone/) - In the movies, James Bond leaps in the Aston Martin, cranks it to life, floors the ignition, and disappears in a cloud of burning rubber. In real life, few people over 18 would treat a car like that. Modern cars don’t need much warming up, but they do need some. Here’s the advice of the
- [A Runner's Heart](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/11/30/a-runners-heart/) - (This is the second article in a two-part series. See Part I: “The Runner’s Brain”) If you’ve read any of the articles on this site, you’re aware that I’m apt to rattle on about feeling-based training. When I began to suspect that the intuitive feelings of my heart were telling me how my body wanted
- [The Runner's Brain](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/11/23/the-runners-brain/) - (This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Next article: "The Runner's Heart.") A tire on my car developed a bubble, and I went to Wheel Works for a replacement. They said it would take an hour, and I strolled to Target to look at sweatshirts, then returned and sat in the waiting room where
- [Balanced Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/11/15/balanced-training/) - I ran my cell phone through the washer today. Again. I arranged to look at a phone that someone had advertised on Craiglist. As I drove the 20 miles to a neighborhood near downtown San Jose, I felt a weird sense of dislocation, of why-am-I-doing-this. I gave the man $30 and took the phone to
- [Salad Wars, Part III: Inner Answers](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/11/06/salad-wars-part-iii-inner-answers/) - This is about eggs and God and a three-hour run in the Marin Headlands. But I’ll get to that in a moment. In my work as a writer and editor, I have a wonderful client. At age 79, he still works full time and drives 40 miles each way from his home in San Francisco.
- [News from Fitness Intuition](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/10/31/news-from-fitness-intuition/) - Dear Friends, There’s a new article at www.joyfulathlete.com: “Gym Workout Charts.” You’ll find it under “Misc.” It’s trivial, and a bit cryptic, but I wanted to put it online in advance of an article about Clarence Bass and learning to train. I’ve taken a substantial hiatus from “serious” writing while I reconsider where Fitness Intuition
- [Workout Charts](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/10/31/workout-charts/) - (Yikes! Correcting a big typo in first sentence. I work out once a week, not once a month!) These are the charts I use to track my gym workouts. I work out just once a week, and I do each exercise just twice a month. Are you wondering if I work out with pink weights?
- [Running Wisdom](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/09/29/running-wisdom/) - Joe Henderson's excellent, long out-of-print book The Long Run Solution is now online here. It's a great read, and 31 years have not changed the truth of its message. In Chapter 18, “Training,” Joe describes his early struggles to find the best way to train. His high school coach wasn't much help — he assigned
- [The Higher Side of Hooplah](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/09/04/the-higher-side-of-hooplah/) - I enjoy running hard, and I plan my training accordingly. My 65-year-old body needs time to recover, so I reserve hard runs for the weekends. Weekdays, I run just twice, 30 minutes at 65-70% of max heart rate. ( I also work out at the gym, and hike with Mary Ellen.) Those weekday runs are
- [Pedal to the Metal](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/08/30/pedal-to-the-metal/) - Running is a simple sport. Perhaps that’s why it’s so popular. Anyone can put on shoes and slide out the door. Unlike other sports, you don’t have to be big, fast, graceful, or have good hand-eye coordination. There are as many styles of running as there are runners. And that’s good. Because human beings come
- [Do the Right Thing](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/08/16/do-the-right-thing/) - I ran at Ranch San Antonio last Sunday. I did several things that made the run a success. I did the most important thing first. I’m 65, and the years have taught me that there’s a higher guidance that will help us, if we ask. It doesn’t step in and help automatically, just because it
- [Hard/Hard Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/08/08/hardhard-training/) - On a Saturday morning in the early 1970s, I drove from my apartment in Mill Valley, across the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco for a long run. I parked at the Polo Fields in beautiful Golden Gate Park and set out on the lovely trails of the park, then ran on the sandy path
- [How Prefontaine Trained](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/08/03/how-prefontaine-trained/) - Kenny Moore, the outstanding feature writer for Sports Illustrated, was a teammate of Steve Prefontaine’s. (Moore was fourth in the marathon at the 1972 Olym-pics where Frank Shorter won gold.) Moore’s recent book on their coach, Bill Bowerman, is wonderful. It tells the inside story of how the University of Oregon became the dominant power
- [Bill Walsh’s Lessons for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/08/01/bill-walshs-lessons-for-runners/) - When Bill Walsh died on Monday, we athletes lost a role model. The legendary coach of three Super Bowl champions changed sports in ways that affect us all. My then-wife turned me on to the 49ers in the late 1980s. I quickly grew addicted. On Sunday afternoons, we would don our 49er hats and munch
- [Learning to Trust Your Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/07/28/learning-to-trust-your-training/) - What’s the “right” pace for the long run? Used to be, you could look in an article or book and find a chart that would tell you exactly how fast you should run. Hardly anyone dishes out that kind of advice anymore. (“If your current 10K PR is X, you should run your long runs
- [Kids](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/07/21/kids/) - Gary teaches 7th and 8th graders. Which is kind of funny, because Gary is 6’5”, was born into a family of large-framed steelworkers, has shoulder-length gray hair and has seen every Stones concert in the Bay Area since 1971 except Steel Wheels. He’s also a minister. The kids adore Gary. He’s mature – defined as
- [How Not to Get Fast](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/07/12/how-not-to-get-fast/) - After 65 years of living and nearly 40 of running, I thought I’d experienced all the ways a runner could get into trouble. On a lovely spring morning in May, I ran 2 hours in the foothills of the San Francisco Peninsula. I felt wonderful. I was taking a new dietary supplement, and I was
- [How to Get Fast](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/07/04/how-to-get-fast/) - The varieties of speedwork are endless. Which one to choose? Is there a single best form of speedwork for, say, the 5K, 10K, or the marathon? Assuming we could identify the One Best Method, how can we adapt it for our own unique talents and fitness level? In an earlier article, Speed Thrills, I looked
- [Speed Thrills](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/05/17/speed-thrills/) - Jerzy and Aniela Gregorek are over-40 world-champion Olympic weighlifters. About a year ago, Jerzy called and said he'd started writing a book and needed an editor. We met at their beautiful Woodside, California home. This wasn't my first encounter with weightlifters. I'd read books by Clarence Bass,, an Albuquerque attorney and lifelong bodybuilder/powerlifter who won
- [Salad Wars](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/05/15/salad-wars/) - Salad Wars In Fitness Intuition, I suggest that our running goes best when we train expansively — that is, when we do the things that promote physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health and well-being. Not an earth-shaking discovery. But it's hard to achieve expansion, on any level, when the body is pinging along on three
- [Chapter 1: Introduction](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/05/13/chapter-1-introduction/) - I've always felt that the best training is the kind that delivers rewards both inwardly and outwardly – where your fitness increases, and your running becomes more inwardly blissful. What’s the best kind of training to achieve both of those goals? I spent 20 years searching for the answer, and I gradually came to understand
- [Oops](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/05/08/oops/) - After 65 years of living, and nearly 40 of running, I thought I’d pretty much discovered all the ways I could get into trouble. Last Sunday, I ran a little over 2 hours in the foothills of the San Francisco Peninsula, and I pushed the pace too hard. Ten days later, I'm paying the price,
- [Going Deep on Mt. Tam](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/04/28/going-deep-on-mt-tam/) - I was running on Mt. Tamalpais, north of San Francisco, in the Coastal Range, and making an effort to greet the hikers I passed, giving them a hearty "Good morning." But as I brake-jogged the steep path from the ridge down to the Coastal Trail, my focus slipped. I turned south on the trail toward
- [Part 2: Optimizing Recovery](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/04/28/recovery-part-2/) - Bodybuilder Clarence Bass, now age 69, once speculated that if athletes could get stronger indefinitely, weight-lifters who trained hard for years would eventually be able to lift apartment houses. Clarence used this wacky logic to illustrate the cyclical nature of training. We train hard to achieve peak fitness — then the body needs rest. The
- [Get Over It! Recovery 101](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/04/24/get-over-it-recovery-101/) - This is Part 1 of a two-part series on recovery. The second article will include a continually expanding list of practical tips for shortening recovery time; e.g., actual experiences with dietary changes, supplements, non-running recovery days, etc. When I began running ultramarathons, I took a subscription to Ultrarunning magazine and, almost immediately, groaned with despair.
- [A Simple-Minded Photographer’s Guide to Gear](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/04/23/a-simple-minded-photographers-guide-to-gear/) - Forty years as a working photographer have taught me that keeping my equipment and methods simple amplifies my joy. Time has worn down any fascination I may have felt with gear-for gear’s sake. More and more, I realize that the deepest creative joys of photography come from the heart. Comfortable as an old coat, simple
- [Pointy-Headed Runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/04/12/pointy-headed-runner/) - Lately I've had trouble keeping my attention focused when I run. I've missed the element of the heart. After 30 minutes today, I felt my attention pretty well focused, but there was no depth, no sense of inner attunement, freedom, or joy. I was looking for relaxation, inward calmness, and "smiling soul." After 30 minutes,
- [Jeff Galloway’s Run-Walkers: No Class?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/04/07/jeff-galloways-run-walkers-no-class/) - Ultramarathoners have always walked during their training runs and races. At the Western States 100, failing to walk at least part of the initial climb out of Squaw Valley can have ominous consequences later in the race, even for the front runners. At shorter distances, walking is controversial. Jeff Galloway, a US Olympian, has helped
- [Weight-Loss Intuition](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/03/30/weight-loss-intuition/) - The standard advice for people who want to lose weight goes something like this: "Eat less saturated fat, starchy carbs, and simple sugars, and get more exercise." The trouble is, the system is simple, but people are complex. If losing weight were that easy, the world would be filled with people who look like the
- [Cheap Runner Trash](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/03/26/cheap-runner-trash/) - I once polled the members of the Internet ultramarathon list regarding their food preferences. Bear in mind that ultradistance events last from five hours to six days. These folks have time while racing to sit down and enjoy a meal. Briefly, here are the results of my poll: Solid Food Pretzels, chicken broth, glucose, cookies,
- [Table of Contents](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/03/23/table-of-contents/) - 1. Introduction I spill all the beans and give away the main ideas of the book. 2. The Simple Joys of Sport Expansive attitudes work at every level of sports, from Little League to the Olympics. 3. The Five Dimensions of Fitness The tools of a runner, and how to create great runs. Section 1:
- [Old Man Runs Like Kenyan](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/03/07/old-guy-runs-like-kenyan/) - Best way to craft great runs? Start slowly. No need to follow the motto of the Dolphin/South End Runners in San Francisco: “Start slow and taper off.” But there’s no denying that the body does like to get up to speed at its own pace, and that it baulks when we push it to go
- [Where Do I Get Off?](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/03/03/where-do-i-get-off/) - In writing this book, I found myself confronting a seemingly unbridgeable gap between scientific objectivity and materialism on the one hand, and a devotional, mystical way of looking at the world on the other. I came at running from both ends at once, and I wasn’t at first aware of any bridges between these two
- [Training That Heals](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/03/01/training-that-heals/) - I generally walk for five minutes at the start of a run, to give my legs a chance to warm up and to set the tone of the run with a prayer. Today, I asked God to show me what to do at every moment of the run. I knew my part would be paying
- [“Sluggish Newbies” Make the Marathon Better](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/02/18/sluggish-newbies-make-the-marathon-better/) - This is an expanded version of my reply to an article on the Slate "Fray" forum, ""Running With Slowpokes: How Sluggish Newbies Ruined the Marathon," by Gabriel Sherman. Sherman doesn't like it that as many as 430,000 people ran a marathon last year - and most of them ran slowly. "I'm an avid runner with
- [World’s Best Water Bottle for Runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/02/18/worlds-best-water-bottle-for-runners/) - I’ve used handheld water bottles since the early nineties, after trying several belt packs and never really liking them. Among the problems I encountered with the belt packs: the constant need to adjust them, removal required to go potty, belt-buckle tummy-bounce, etc.). I saw a photo in Running Times of Ann Trason carrying Ultimate Direction
- [The Difference Is the Heart](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/02/18/the-difference-is-the-heart/) - I'd just finished a 30K in Sacramento. I was standing at the results board, grinding my teeth and thinking: “There's NO WAY that guy would have beat me for third if I'd done hard speedwork the last six weeks.” That was 14 years ago. I was 51 at the time. A woman was standing next
- [Training for Your First Marathon - A Different Approach](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/2007/02/18/training-for-your-first-marathon-a-different-approach/) - Lauri, my neighbor two doors down, is a personal trainer and Pilates and yoga instructor. Lauri emailed me and asked if I would help her friend train for the marathon. I was torn -- on one hand, I know some foxy-old-guy tricks for making a first-time marathon less painful. On the other, I hate the

## Pages

- [Articles Index](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/articles-index/) - Training & Travel Athlete's Inner Game: Sports Will Find Its Own Sweet Way Speed Dreams: An 83-Year-Old Former Runner Plans How He’ll Train Next Time Around Don’t Let Your Training Break Your Heart Why Distance Guys (and Most Athletes) Should Do Some Sprint-Style Speed Training The Third Voice: Athlete's Infallible Guide. Head or heart? Doubts
- [About The Joyful Athlete](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/about-joyful-athlete/) - HOW CAN ATHLETES TRAIN FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE AND ENJOYMENT? The Joyful Athlete shares the findings of a veteran runner who worked as an editor at Runner’s World and has raced at distances from 100 yards to 100K (62.2 miles). While working toward a master’s degree at Stanford University, author George Beinhorn was paralyzed from the
- [Read the First 2 Chapters](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/read-first-2-chapters/) - Here you go – a tiny blip of a preface and two long free sample chapters. I would love to hear your thoughts: gbeinhorn@gmail.com. Thanks. Sample Chapters: Preface: Spiritual Matters Chapter 1: The Simple Joy of Sports Chapter 2: Introduction
- [Preface: Spiritual Matters](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/preface-spiritual-matters/) - In this book I refer, on rare occasions, to my relationship with a great spiritual teacher. At no point do I identify my spiritual path or my teacher’s name. And that’s deliberate. The principles of sports training are the same whether we follow Christ, Buddha, Zoroaster, Moses, Yogananda, Mohammed, or no one. Expansive values of
- [Send a Message](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/1344-2/) - I reply promptly to messages — always happy to hear your thoughts.
- [Joyful Athlete Testimonials](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/joyful-athlete-testimonials/) - “Your book is tremendous. It has powerfully influenced my own practice, and I am recommending it to all my coaches plus our students in our Level 2 Precision Nutrition certification as part of a ‘bodymind’ curriculum unit.” – Krista Scott-Dixon, founder of Stumptuous.com, leading strength training website for women “George Beinhorn and I have independently concluded
- [Chapter 2: Introduction](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/chapter-1-introduction/) - I’ve always felt that the best training is the kind that delivers rewards both inwardly and outwardly – where our fitness increases, and our exercise becomes increasingly enjoyable. What’s the best training to achieve both results? I spent several decades searching for the answer. And I gradually came to understand that the “method” is both
- [Chapter 1: The Simple Joy of Sports](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/chapter-2-the-simple-joy-of-sports/) - During a vacation in Hawaii last summer, I picked up a hitchhiker on Kauai’s north shore. He was a fit-looking young man in his early twenties who spoke with a French accent. He told me he’d grown up in Tahiti but was living in France, and that he was a professional body-boarder. I asked if
- [This & That](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/this-that/) - Bits & Pieces: Stephanie Jenks, Dan Pfaff, Jacko Gill, and more. Bits & Pieces: Steve Magness, etc. I love Steve’s practical approach to training. Three Inspiring Sports Books and a Landmark Article. Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, and last but by no means least, NBA coach Phil Jackson. Henderson, Nadel, Lydiard. Great articles by Joe Henderson
- [Diet](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/diet/) - Do Sugary Gels Ruin a Runner’s Teeth? Check out this surprisingly simple way to prevent runner’s meth-mouth syndrome. A Fix for Chronic Runner Fatigue. There are many possible causes for failure to improve running fitness and poor recovery. Beta-testing a Miracle Fuel for Runners. Chia may be more effective when combined with finely ground almonds.
- [Training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/training/) - Hot Weather Hydration — Proceed With Caution! Science gets it...wrong again. Drinking ‘ til your belly bursts is wrong. Can Runners Improve Their Speed AND Endurance? Ha ha ha. Don’t even think about it. A look at oops-theory. Running and the Balanced Life. Running teaches us to balance our lives. Ignore the lesson and we
- [Commentary](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/commentary/) - Richard Sherman’s Classy Coach. Sherman’s breakdown was a fleeting moment; Pete Carroll’s response was inspired. Jordan Hasay’s Brilliant Decision. Wonderful news for her fans. Must College Spell Doom for a Distance Runner? Too many runners have been flushed down the U.S. college system, by coaches hoping to advance their careers. This holocaust must stop! Lance
- [test](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/test/)
- [Gear Guide](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/gear-guide/) - Beating the High Cost of Running Gear. Cheap is better! So is simple. World’s Best Water Bottle For Runners. Itty-Bitty Runner’s Camera

## Categories

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## Tags

- [deficiency](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/deficiency/)
- [nutrition](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/nutrition/)
- [running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/running/)
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- [associating](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/associating/)
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- [Jack Bacheler](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/jack-bacheler/)
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- [health](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/health/)
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- [Philip Maffettone](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/philip-maffettone/)
- [joy of running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/joy-of-running/)
- [individual](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/individual/)
- [what runners want](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/what-runners-want/)
- [how runners look](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/how-runners-look/)
- [fasting](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/fasting/)
- [spiritual aspects](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/spiritual-aspects/)
- [spiritual](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/spiritual/)
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- [overcoming](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/overcoming/)
- [pain](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/pain/)
- [endurance](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/endurance/)
- [aerobic](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/aerobic/)
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- [base training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/base-training/)
- [older runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/older-runners/)
- [long run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/long-run/)
- [spiritual factors](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/spiritual-factors/)
- [fats](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/fats/)
- [saturated fat](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/saturated-fat/)
- [career](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/career/)
- [body](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/body/)
- [hear](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/hear/)
- [will](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/will/)
- [beginning runner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/beginning-runner/)
- [2008](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/2008/)
- [Beijing](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/beijing/)
- [personal growth](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/personal-growth/)
- [values](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/values/)
- [pace](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/pace/)
- [speed](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/speed/)
- [football](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/football/)
- [singing](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/singing/)
- [music](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/music/)
- [Yogananda](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/yogananda/)
- [breath](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/breath/)
- [breathing](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/breathing/)
- [yoga](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/yoga/)
- [tai chi](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/tai-chi/)
- [Breathplay](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/breathplay/)
- [gym workouts](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/gym-workouts/)
- [harmony zone](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/harmony-zone/)
- [chanting](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/chanting/)
- [Rod Dixon](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/rod-dixon/)
- [Prozac](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/prozac/)
- [5-HTP](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/5-htp/)
- [mood](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/mood/)
- [Alberto](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/alberto/)
- [Salazar](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/salazar/)
- [spirituality](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/spirituality/)
- [college](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/college/)
- [Stanford](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/stanford/)
- [science](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/science/)
- [heart monitor](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/heart-monitor/)
- [aging](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/aging/)
- [shoes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/shoes/)
- [ASICS](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/asics/)
- [Gel Moro](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/gel-moro/)
- [trail](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/trail/)
- [road](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/road/)
- [stability](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/stability/)
- [Kenyans](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/kenyans/)
- [the economy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/the-economy/)
- [recession](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/recession/)
- [depression](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/depression/)
- [inflation](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/inflation/)
- [economic worries](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/economic-worries/)
- [Bill Walsh](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/bill-walsh/)
- [warmup](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/warmup/)
- [warming up](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/warming-up/)
- [personal best](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/personal-best/)
- [PR](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/pr/)
- [emotion](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/emotion/)
- [reason](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/reason/)
- [research](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/research/)
- [performance](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/performance/)
- [faceplant](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/faceplant/)
- [stumble](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/stumble/)
- [patience](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/patience/)
- [seasons](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/seasons/)
- [runner's high](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/runners-high/)
- [expansion](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/expansion/)
- [phases](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/phases/)
- [stages](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/stages/)
- [bad runs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/bad-runs/)
- [photography](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/photography/)
- [cameras](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/cameras/)
- [nature](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/nature/)
- [enjoyment](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/enjoyment/)
- [experience](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/experience/)
- [supplements](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/supplements/)
- [wisdom](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/wisdom/)
- [energy management](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/energy-management/)
- [Arthur Lydiard](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/arthur-lydiard/)
- [joy](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/joy/)
- [Peter Snell](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/peter-snell/)
- [long slow distance](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/long-slow-distance/)
- [enjoy running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/enjoy-running/)
- [how to increase your mileage](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/how-to-increase-your-mileage/)
- [aerobic training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/aerobic-training/)
- [training for the marathon](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/training-for-the-marathon/)
- [Lorraine Moller](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/lorraine-moller/)
- [spiritual dimensions](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/spiritual-dimensions/)
- [periodization](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/periodization/)
- [self-acceptance](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/self-acceptance/)
- [accept yourself](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/accept-yourself/)
- [Stu Mittleman](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/stu-mittleman/)
- [layoffs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/layoffs/)
- [expansive training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/expansive-training/)
- [long-term development](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/long-term-development/)
- [periodized training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/periodized-training/)
- [Kara Goucher](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/kara-goucher/)
- [New York Times](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/new-york-times/)
- [David Biderman](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/david-biderman/)
- [taper](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/taper/)
- [heebie-jeebies](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/heebie-jeebies/)
- [practical religion](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/practical-religion/)
- [focus](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/focus/)
- [improvement](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/improvement/)
- [post-race depression](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/post-race-depression/)
- [letdown let-down](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/letdown-let-down/)
- [Born to Run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/born-to-run/)
- [chia](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/chia/)
- [iskiate](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/iskiate/)
- [injuries](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/injuries/)
- [feeling-based](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/feeling-based/)
- [Star Trek](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/star-trek/)
- [Next Generation](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/next-generation/)
- [Deanna Troi](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/deanna-troi/)
- [gender](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/gender/)
- [men](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/men/)
- [Sharing Nature with Children](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/sharing-nature-with-children/)
- [Joseph Bharat Cornell](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/joseph-bharat-cornell/)
- [zone running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/zone-running/)
- [carbs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/carbs/)
- [half-marathon](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/half-marathon/)
- [quality](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/quality/)
- [flow in sports](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/flow-in-sports/)
- [Ananda](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/ananda/)
- [Kriyananda](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/kriyananda/)
- [articles](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/articles/)
- [intuitive training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/intuitive-training/)
- [concentration](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/concentration/)
- [iPod](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/ipod/)
- [spiritual practice](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/spiritual-practice/)
- [posture](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/posture/)
- [screenwriting](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/screenwriting/)
- [munchies](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/munchies/)
- [insatiable food cravings](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/insatiable-food-cravings/)
- [Peter Magill](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/peter-magill/)
- [Pete Magill](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/pete-magill/)
- [psychic](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/psychic/)
- [mistakes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/mistakes/)
- [Ann Trason](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/ann-trason/)
- [Christopher McDougall](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/christopher-mcdougall/)
- [Jordan Hasay](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/jordan-hasay/)
- [Dr. Armando Siqueiros](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/dr-armando-siqueiros/)
- [high-school runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/high-school-runners/)
- [running heroes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/running-heroes/)
- [run-walk](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/run-walk/)
- [slow marathons](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/slow-marathons/)
- [Joe Henderson](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/joe-henderson/)
- [materialism](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/materialism/)
- [movies](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/movies/)
- [vibrations](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/vibrations/)
- [racing](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/racing/)
- [Tim Noakes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/tim-noakes/)
- [Lore of running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/lore-of-running/)
- [acidity](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/acidity/)
- [alkalinity](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/alkalinity/)
- [acid and alkaline](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/acid-and-alkaline/)
- [listening to the body](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/listening-to-the-body/)
- [stages of a run](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/stages-of-a-run/)
- [inner quality](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/inner-quality/)
- [will power](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/will-power/)
- [weight training for runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/weight-training-for-runners/)
- [runners and weight training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/runners-and-weight-training/)
- [deadlift](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/deadlift/)
- [Pavel Tsatsouline](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/pavel-tsatsouline/)
- [Clarence Bass](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/clarence-bass/)
- [Keith Livingstone](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/keith-livingstone/)
- [Barry Ross](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/barry-ross/)
- [improving running speed](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/improving-running-speed/)
- [age-related speed loss among runners](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/age-related-speed-loss-among-runners/)
- [tempo](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/tempo/)
- [tempo runs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/tempo-runs/)
- [steady-state pace](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/steady-state-pace/)
- [injury](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/injury/)
- [running psychology](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/running-psychology/)
- [strength](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/strength/)
- [Jay Johnson](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/jay-johnson/)
- [avoid overtraining](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/avoid-overtraining/)
- [Bowerman](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/bowerman/)
- [threshold](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/threshold/)
- [caution](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/caution/)
- [Bruce Fordyce](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/bruce-fordyce/)
- [training schedule](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/training-schedule/)
- [fatigue](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/fatigue/)
- [training plan](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/training-plan/)
- [control](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/control/)
- [harmony](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/harmony/)
- [inner](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/inner/)
- [peak experiences](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/peak-experiences/)
- [running form](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/running-form/)
- [Frank Shorter](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/frank-shorter/)
- [biomechanics](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/biomechanics/)
- [inner feeling](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/inner-feeling/)
- [Covert Bailey](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/covert-bailey/)
- [Buddha](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/buddha/)
- [heart rate monitor](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/heart-rate-monitor/)
- [Bhagavad Gita](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/bhagavad-gita/)
- [sweet spot](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/sweet-spot/)
- [Paramhansa Yogananda](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/paramhansa-yogananda/)
- [Swami Kriyananda](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/swami-kriyananda/)
- [Lorrraine Moller](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/lorrraine-moller/)
- [body whispering](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/body-whispering/)
- [inner running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/inner-running/)
- [simplicity](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/simplicity/)
- [making a living](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/making-a-living/)
- [challenging economic times](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/challenging-economic-times/)
- [chris solinsky](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/chris-solinsky/)
- [humor](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/humor/)
- [Kim Jones](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/kim-jones/)
- [Uta Pippig](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/uta-pippig/)
- [fuel](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/fuel/)
- [electrolytes](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/electrolytes/)
- [gels](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/gels/)
- [post-run munchies](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/post-run-munchies/)
- [Gerry Lindgren](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/gerry-lindgren/)
- [running as religion](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/running-as-religion/)
- [Tarahumara](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/tarahumara/)
- [minimalism](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/minimalism/)
- [fat girls](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/fat-girls/)
- [weight](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/weight/)
- [female](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/female/)
- [character](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/character/)
- [get faster](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/get-faster/)
- [efficient training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/efficient-training/)
- [variability](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/variability/)
- [change](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/change/)
- [Chris McDougall](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/chris-mcdougall/)
- [simple running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/simple-running/)
- [barefoot running](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/barefoot-running/)
- [potato](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/potato/)
- [blessing others](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/blessing-others/)
- [ultramarathons](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/ultramarathons/)
- [Boston Marathon](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/boston-marathon/)
- [Ryan Hall](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/ryan-hall/)
- [Desiree Davila](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/desiree-davila/)
- [faith](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/faith/)
- [ankle sprain](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/ankle-sprain/)
- [piriformis sciatica](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/piriformis-sciatica/)
- [active recovery](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/active-recovery/)
- [inner guidance](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/inner-guidance/)
- [garret kramer](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/garret-kramer/)
- [stillpower](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/stillpower/)
- [pizza](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/pizza/)
- [fat](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/fat/)
- [grease](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/grease/)
- [faceplants](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/faceplants/)
- [falling](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/falling/)
- [Joe Henderon](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/joe-henderon/)
- [Mark Nenow](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/mark-nenow/)
- [Marc Bloom](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/marc-bloom/)
- [Samantha Nadel](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/samantha-nadel/)
- [over-training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/over-training/)
- [tired legs](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/tired-legs/)
- [future](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/future/)
- [sci-fi](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/sci-fi/)
- [history](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/history/)
- [Diet](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/diet/)
- [training](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/training/)
- [weight-loss](https://www.joyfulathlete.com/tag/weight-loss/)