Yesterday, I ran my first race of the fall season: a 25k on trails, in the pouring rain.

Don’t feel too bad for me. Rain is my favorite race weather. And it showed, because I finished 5th.

People always ask me how, at 46, I’m still running long distances without getting hurt and still landing on the podium.

It isn’t more miles and it isn’t stretching. It’s heavy lifting and power training. Those are my secret weapons for durability and performance.

Here’s what that looked like out there.

In the final 3 miles, I was passing everyone. My legs were tired but they could still generate a lot of force with every step. That comes from lifting heavy and doing weighted power work in the gym, two things most runners skip.

Then came base camp after the finish. A lot of people were limping around. I wasn’t. My legs were tired, but at no point, during or after the race, was I in pain.

That’s not luck. It's what I trained for.

Here’s where most runners get it backwards -

They think injury prevention comes from stretching and more flexibility. They think performance comes from running harder or running more.

So they pile on mileage, stretch every now and then, and skip or phone in the strength training.

But you get hurt when the demands of running exceed what your body can handle. Stretching doesn’t close that gap. More miles can widen it. Strength and power close it.

If the same knee, hip, or foot issue flares up every time you build toward a race, this is very likely why.

You keep hoping that stretching more or running more will fix it ... but it won't. More capacity will.

If next year’s races are already on your mind, now is the time to start adjusting your training. Don’t wait until your build season starts.

Want help building strength and power into your running so you show up to next year’s start lines ready to race? Hit reply and tell me what you’re training for.

A

P.O. Box 601, Clarksburg, MD 20871
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