High Miles Running

Struggle with the "dreadmill"? Here are some great workouts to consider when stuck inside.

Five Sanity Saving Treadmill Workouts (+ An Instagram Contest!) - another mother runner Five Sanity Saving treadmill workouts include intervals, strength training, incorporating your music and various race paces.

Many of our clients have a history of (low) back pain, and this article does a fantastic job exploring the research surrounding the different treatment modalities.

If nothing else, the takeaway is that moving is probably the most important thing you can do for back pain. Check out the "McGill Three" back exercises, and consider some of the active therapies/less invasive options before surgery/opioids.

"We need make our default choices more back- (and health-) friendly. There’s a pretty simple adage public health officials stick to: Make it easy for people to stay healthy, and make it hard for them to get sick."

A comprehensive guide to the new science of treating lower back pain A review of 80-plus studies upends the conventional wisdom.

This would be AMAZING!

“Atlanta is a city with an Olympic legacy and an Olympic future,” said Rich Kenah, Atlanta Track Club’s Executive Director. “This is a place where national champions are crowned. From the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship to the 2019 Super Bowl and now possibly the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon, sports fans know they can count on Atlanta to host world-class events for our country’s best athletes.”

Atlanta Track Club Will Bid for 2020 Olympic Trials | Atlanta Track Club

❄️Welcome 2018! ❄️
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“Real Feel” 16 degrees had these Georgians bundled up on our runs this 1st day of January. (It’s embarrassing to say we grew up in OH and MA and can barely tolerate runs in the teens now.) Today we sat down and reflected on our 2017 as runners and coaches, and set our intentions for 2018 ✍🏼
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2017 was a year of some unexpected/unpredictable coaching moments, and some unexpected/unpredictable health/injury derailments, but overall a pretty decent one as it relates to running professionally and personally 👌🏽
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Looking forward to 2018, we sat down together and each set our yearly mileage goals (Coach - 2018; Ali - 1111), and primary/secondary/tertiary PRs for a few distances. We are also approaching the year with intentions of staying injury free (more stretching and strength training!), doing more yoga, overcoming/understanding/resolving some continual health struggles, updating our High Miles Running website, and being more mindful in our coaching, training and interactions with each other as partners in this crazy world. One thing is for certain, as hard as it can be to manage both of us training/running/coaching, what a gift to be able to do so with each other as best friends. 👫

(follow us at highmilesrunning on Instagram)

"WHAT CAUSES THAT FEEL-BETTER EFFECT? Although the quick answer is usually endorphins, they’re not the only relevant aspect of brain chemistry. What’s more, focusing on the nebulous 'runner’s high' ignores crucial changes in brain structure and thinking patterns that running can induce."

This is a really interesting read!

For Depression and Anxiety, Running Is a Unique Therapy Running puts everyone in a better mood. But for some of us, our miles are key to managing depression and anxiety.

“We usually see competitive women, particularly athletically excellent women, only in one of two ways: either competing to defeat one another, or all about team over self. But that’s a flawed, limiting paradigm. The Shalane Effect dismantles it: She is extraordinarily competitive, but not petty; team-oriented, but not deferential. Elevating other women is actually an act of self-interest: It’s not so lonely at the top if you bring others along.”

Opinion | How the ‘Shalane Flanagan Effect’ Works She does not just talk about elevating her fellow women runners; she elevates them. And they win.

REST. And I am not talking about "rest days", but SLEEP. Here is an interesting article about the importance of sleep in general, with the one nugget at the end that stuck out to me (and why I am posting):

"The time taken to reach physical exhaustion by athletes who obtain anything less than eight hours of sleep, and especially less than six hours, drops by 10-30%."

'Sleep should be prescribed': what those late nights out could be costing you Leading neuroscientist Matthew Walker on why sleep deprivation is increasing our risk of cancer, heart attack and Alzheimer’s – and what you can do about it

I was talking to a client earlier in the week about why I start many clients on effort-based training and ask them to complete many of their training runs without their watches. I referenced what is probably Alex Hutchinson's last article for Runner's World, which touches on this briefly in his #3 pillar of running wisdom: The best technology for tracking and guiding your runs is the device between your ears.

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He writes: "I also think running coach Steve Magness had a point when he wrote that running with GPS 'slackens the bond between perception and action.' Instead of speeding up or slowing down based on how you feel, you do it based on the feedback from a device that’s providing an imperfect estimation of how you feel. Do that enough, and eventually you may become less able to detect the subtle differences in feel that can be the margin between an okay run and a great one.

This isn’t a Luddite argument to smash your machines. There are times when a GPS device can be a great training aid, like if you’re doing a long tempo run alone on an unfamiliar course. And it can be a lot of fun to sift through the mountains of data collected by high-end watches and fitness monitors. But ultimately, you need to make sure you’re also spending enough time monitoring the signals from your own body to able to interpret them correctly when it counts."

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I challenge you to leave your technology at home on your next run outside and really pay attention to how you *feel*.

The Seven Pillars of Running Wisdom After five years of Sweat Science, a summing-up of what really matters.

Don't let the radio silence on Facebook make you think High Miles Running (HMR( isn't up and running (pun intended).
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Coach Heintz has been coaching up a storm both for both his private clients and his Marist Teams. He has finally hired a social media director (who happens to be his wife) and started an Instagram Account. Come follow us at highmilesrunning over on IG!
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While the immediate focus has been on Coach and his wife as they get back into running form, we are aiming to focus more and more on the amazing clients and student athletes that are part of the HMR community.
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Are you an HMR athlete and want a shout out on social media? Submit your photos and amazing accomplishments to [email protected]

Coach Heintz shakes out his legs with his brother-in-law in preparation for the big race tomorrow!