by Coach Matt Russ
Your body type was primarily determined before you were born. When it comes to racing, lamenting your body type is futile and counter-productive. Cyclists can be particularly …

by coach Matt Russ

Fat is the enemy right? If you are trying to achieve a more effective power to weight ratio body fat is the ballast you want to drop, however, during endurance training and …

A well-designed base training phase is crucial for annual progress, but it is often taken for granted as the “easy” time of year. Base is, in fact, the time to address aerobic level fitness, strength, and technique. To make the most of your base phase, you may need to dispose of a few myths and rationalizations.

By Matt Russ
for Triathlete magazine
One of the hardest concepts for an athlete to understand and implement is base training. It is counterintuitive to run or bike slowly in order to gain performance later in the …

This clinic is applicable for all levels of swimmers that want to improve their stroke technique and triathlon swim times. The clinic will include on deck technique demonstration combined with individual underwater video review and stroke analysis. …

By Coach Matt Russ
Athletes will often recognize certain training “truths” but violate them anyways.  It is important to have a list of things you hold universal and try to stick to them.  Often the rules …

There is no doubt that compression clothing helps improve circulation.  You may have noticed your grandmother wearing compression stockings decades ago.  Compression garments are commonly used in the medical community to help improve circulation post-surgery, …

By Matt Russ
for Triathlete magazine
One of the hardest concepts for an athlete to understand and implement is base training. It is counterintuitive to run or bike slowly in order to gain performance later in the …

By Coach Martha Handford

My journey from competitive cyclist/coach to becoming a new mother has been a learning experience, to say the least. I guess I knew that pregnancy would be rough on my body, but …

One of the values performing VO2 tests on a large body of athletes is that you gain perspective on how unique athletes really are. My run VO2 testing protocol is the same for each athlete, and involves an alternating increase in speed / incline every 1 min.. This continues until the athlete basically “taps out” or their oxygen consumption plateaus. Presumably the longest test would correspond to the highest VO2 (or vice versa), but that would take out one key factor in running speed; efficiency. The highest max VO2 values (those that can take in the most oxygen volume in milliliters per kilogram of body weight per minute) for the most part have been posted by our pros or elite age groupers, but there have been some surprises. Remember that your max VO2 is largely determined by genetic factors and is only partially trainable…

By Coach Martha Handford
I am often asked by my athletes whether it is better to train with a group or alone. Typically, I recommend training alone for all your critical workouts because it can be …