Posts by stevemagness
Soccer as the Battle between Endurance and Speed.
Looking at the world cup and soccer as the Battle between Endurance and Speed. With the world cup wrapping up, I figured it was a good time to throw some soccer, or football for our non-American centric readers, into the mix. Soccer, believe it or not, was my first sport. I grew up playing soccer…
Read MoreWhy tapering can be a dangerous thing!
Getting fit is the easy part. Getting fit at the right time is what makes our sport difficult. While we spend the majority of the time getting race ready, often times we let all of that training go to waste by messing up the final preparation for the race. It’s probably the most nerve racking part…
Read MoreHow your perceptions influence reality
The last time I mentioned dating in my blog, I got the most hits in my blogs history thanks to my spiel about breaking up with a girl because she did crossfit. So I figured I should use that same tactic again, to attract more visitors who don’t find my scientific treatise on various studies…
Read MoreClassifying Runners- Fun with numbers
In my book, I had an entire section on individualization and how to classify runners. Most coaches rely on simply splitting Instead, I tried to expound upon a model using a Fast Twitch vs. Slow Twitch fiber continuum for each event. Where we expand and instead of classify someone as a 5k runner for example,…
Read MoreRule Breaking is Contagious- How the Brain causes social concepts to spread
We’re all familiar with the idea that germs and diseases can be contagious. It makes perfect sense that if our family or social circle has people who are sick that our chances of getting sick if we are around them increases. It doesn’t mean we automatically get sick, thanks to the strength of our immune…
Read MoreThe Psychology of mental toughness- Willpower, self-control, and decision making
In the sport of distance running, we are used to embracing the idea of mental toughness. Whether it’s embraced through your standard Steve Prefontaine quote about guts and glory, or from the recent front running, make everyone suffer tactics of marathoner Shalane Flanagan, runners take pride in their ability to hurt. We spend countless hours…
Read MoreTrack is killing itself- Dual meets, Team Scoring, and Bye-Bye non-collegian racing
They’ve got it backwards. Yesterday, the news broke that the NCAA is considering legislation that would end post-collegiate athletes competing in college meets. Two weeks ago, our CC regional rep, who does a fantastic job, sent along the new legislation for us to look over. After confirming with him that indeed this would eliminate non-college…
Read MoreMeasuring Lactate Threshold without being pricked? BSX Insight
I have a love/hate relationship with the latest technology. On one hand, the science geek in me loves all of the latest gadgets. I have a make shift lab of gadgets in my house. I’ve got all the acronyms you could dream of, including a few make shift EMG and EEG devices,…
Read MoreWhy “Gladwell’s” 10,000 rule is just plain wrong.
The battle over nature versus nurture in expert performance is a never-ending one. It seems as we have shifted back and forth between seemingly extreme views of deterministic gene views and Gladwell popularized 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. Of course no one believes it is an either/or question, even if they frame their stance that…
Read MoreWhy Breakthroughs can be dangerous? The Set Point Theory of Fatigue
First off, Thank you so much to all of you who have continued to make my new book, The Science of Running, a success. I cannot express how grateful I am for all of you who helped make it a success and wrote, emailed, or tweeted at me. I’ll have more on that in a…
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