"What exactly do you say about running? Isn't it just one foot in front of the other?"

I went on a date recently. I finished my entire drink before the guy finally stopped talking about himself.

When he asked me what I did for a living, that's what he replied.

Suffice it to say, there was not a second date. 🙄🤪

But it did get me thinking about how there are some simple truths about running.

Like, there are only two ways to run faster:

1. take quicker steps
2. take longer ones

Ideally, you want to do a combination of both, but it's not as simple as me just telling you to do it.

The problem with longer strides is that you increase the chance of "over-striding" which means your foot lands before your center of mass has a chance to catch up. Your front leg will be locked at the knee as you reach forward, which creates far more impact force with each step, upping your injury risk.

Learning to take quicker steps, however, is often a far better approach.

Here's the why and the how of increasing your cadence...

(take that Tinder guy...)

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read more (6 minutes)

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ask me anything

Q:

I saw your Instagram post about running and lifting on the same day. I can't do that with my schedule. What can I do instead?

A:

The point of lifting weights after your runs is essentially to make the hard days hard and the easy days easy.

We build when we recover, not when we work.

When you run one day then lift the next, you will never fully recover from your previous workout before it's time to do the next one.

So if you run hard at the track on Tuesday, then lift Wednesday, and run a tempo on Thursday, your legs will never catch up.

You sacrifice both your strength gains and your speed since you haven't had time to recover.

In other words, you won't get very fast or very strong.

What I like to do instead is get your strength in as soon as you can after your hardest running days.

It can look like this:

After your Tuesday track session and the Thursday tempo and even on your weekend long run day, spend 10-20 minutes doing your strength work (you can find mine here).

In between days, you either rest completely or you have a very easy recovery run day.

If you are pressed for time, it's better to trim 10 minutes of your run and swap in some strength.

But if you absolutely cannot do this and fit in all the work you want to do, all is not lost.

The trick is maximizing recovery.

So if you run speed Tuesday morning, try strength Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. That will at least give you a little more time to recover.

If you can only work out in the mornings, you can alternate strength days, but you'll want to spread out your speed days further. For example, track Tuesday, lift Wednesday, easy run Thursday, tempo Friday.

You may only be able to fit in one day of speed with this plan since you don't want to lift the day before your long run either.

Alternative option: a 10-day running cycle might work better than a 7-day running cycle since there's more room to spread out the hard days.

Bottom line: There are lots of ways to schedule your workouts to get fast and strong. Just don't work fast and strong efforts day to day.

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podcast

The PR Training Lab is back!

Go behind the scenes with me as I create a custom training plan for one lucky runner.

In this episode, we feature Kendall:

🏃🏽‍♀️41 years old

🏃🏿training for a sub-20 minute summer 5k

🏃🏼‍♀️recently ran 3:15 in London Marathon

Will Kendall's marathon speed translate to a fast 5k? I explain what I think as I create a custom 5k training plan for Kendall recorded live on the show.

If you would like to win a free custom training plan and be featured in a future episode, first write a review of the show on Apple Podcasts and then enter here. ​

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inspo

"Every marathon I ran, I knew I had a faster one in me."

— Dick Beardsley

Have a great run today, Coach Claire

P.S. Stressed about your upcoming spring race? There's still time to get your Race Week Companion! Build your confidence and make sure the most important week of training is smooth and stress-free. Get yours here.​

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My mission is to help runners just like you reach goals they never dreamed possible through science-backed training and plant-based nutrition.

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Since 2016, I've helped thousands of every day runners become fitter, faster, and stronger with truly customized training and coaching.

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I also love to share what I have learned from my own journey starting as a non-runner to a 2:58 marathoner at age 42, as well what I have learned coaching runners, completely FREE. I do that every week in this newsletter and on the Planted Runner Podcast.

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