Posts by stevemagness
How Perceived Control Impacts the Physiological Limits of Performance
The Physical and Psychological- Impact on Limits of Performance When I was beginning my college journey in the world of exercise physiology, VO2max was king. Stick someone on a treadmill, ramp up the pace or incline until they fell off the back of the treadmill or cried uncle and then you were given a magical…
Read MoreEpisode 118: The Future of College Sports and the NCAA
The NCAA and college sports are in disarray. Facing a mass pandemic, postponement and cancelation of fall sports, and a growing understanding by the athletes the leverage that they have. With many of us wondering what in the world is the future of college sports, this week we brough on an expert, Dr. Roger Pielke…
Read MoreEpisode 117: Development Part 2- Middle Distance Training
The Middle Distance Events. That combination of speed and endurance makes them one of the most enjoyable but also challenging events to train for or coach. In this episode, we dive deep into the challenges of training for the 800m and 1,500m.We walk you through: The wisdom of Percy Cerutty on coaching the mid-distance events.…
Read MoreImproving Our Relationship with Failure
She started in the back, where she expected to be, but something changed halfway through the race. She was moving up, and gradually passing one runner after another, keeping a steady rhythm as others slowed. My excitement and enthusiasm grew with each passing lap. “You can PR big! Keep it going!” I’d yell as she…
Read MoreEpisode 116: Endurance Development- Part 1
It’s time for a deep dive into training. This week begins a multi-part series on the development of an athlete. We start with the intake process and deciding where to go with the athlete, and move on to what kind of training the athlete should do. For this week, we focus on the 5k and…
Read MoreEpisode 115: Fartleks, Alternations and the Lost Workout Style
Fartleks, the wonderful invention of Gusta Holmer in the 1930’s, is something we are all familiar with. Run hard for a minute, jog for a minute, repeat twenty times. But in today’s world where everything is measured and coaches rely on that feedback to adjust workloads, the fartlek is becoming a lost art. In this…
Read MoreThe In-Between Zone: Training isn’t just hard-easy.
Since Bill Bowerman popularized the idea of alternating days in which we do a hard workout and follow it up with a recovery day of, runners have fallen in love with the back and forth nature of intervals and then going for a distance run in the subsequent days. It’s no wonder that this…
Read MoreEpisode 114: Do Fast Times Transfer to Being Competitive
Do the fastest athletes always win? The ones who come in with the best seed time. The athlete who threw down that fast mile at Mt. Sac or a blazing 5k at Stanford? If not, how come? In episode 114, we explore the world of racing. What does it mean to be competitive and can…
Read MoreEpisode 113: Being Fit Doesn’t Mean Running Fast
“He’s really fit! They’re going to run really well!” How many times have you heard a coach excitedly proclaim that, only to see their athlete perform poorly? It happens to all of us. We’re left scratching our heads after the race. They were crushing workouts, we might think. How could they not put it together?…
Read MoreDon’t let a focus on individual workouts distract you from the big picture
As a writer, it’s easy to get lost in the details. To zoom in so far that your entire focus centers around finding the perfect word or phrase. You pull out the thesaurus, anguish over the arrangement of a few words, before finally moving on to the next sentence. It’s a labor intensive exercise. And…
Read More