West Movez

08/18/2024

Finding some joy in my own training.

Been consistent for about 8 weeks, and looking to continue to enjoy the process.

Taking on some online clients, so if you’re interested in mixing strength, mobility and running together send me a DM.

05/08/2024

Solid track workout today, in continued pursuit of that 5:45 mile.

15 minute warmup to the track with 3 strides to open up the hips and wake up the nervous system.

Workout today was: 4x200 at mile effort with 200 easy jog recovery; 3 minute rest, then 3x150 at 800m race effort w/ easy recovery; 3 minute rest then 2x120 at 800m race effort.

The goal for the 200s was 45-47 seconds, and I hit 43, 45, 44, 45 seconds. Felt pretty smooth.

Didn’t bother timing the 150s and 120s, just focused on form and staying tall.

Next week will be a fartlek speed day, and then I’ll start getting ready for the mile time trial.

To supplement I’m starting the running strength program from . The combination of co-contraction work, rotation work, isometrics and general intentional movement is already paying off.

02/26/2024

West Movez runner/teacher/mother extraordinaire completed the Disney Princess 10k and half marathon this past weekend!

She ran a 10k on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday.

Caty is a very dedicated runner with some impressive times on her resume. She puts in time doing 2 strength workouts a week and plenty of running mileage.

But more importantly she does that as a mother and educator.

For those who don’t know, this race weekend in Disney World hosts a 5k, 10k and half marathon. Such a cool event.

LG Caty!!!

01/27/2024

It’s not when you have a good plan and you’re consistent.

Looking forward to a productive week with the online group:

-MILE TIME TRIAL to check in on current fitness and use it as a barometer for future speed workouts and goals

-Strength and mobility work inspired by ’s incredible programs.

-Form check in drills from

-Some optional Swiss ball core work from the legend .

Good programming for runners doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should offer variety and consistency.

Interested in some online running coaching? Shoot me a DM!

10/21/2023

Power development exercises should be in your program if you’re a runner.

The strengthening and increasing development of muscle groups is important, but also these exercises help reinforce synchronization of muscle contractions at higher speeds.

This could improve firing rates and patterning during running.

Todays workout looked like this:

A1) Clean pull
A2) Single leg box jump
B1) KB Goblet Squat
B2) push ups
C1) Z press
C2) side bends
D1) hamstring curls
D2) lying heel touches

Minimum effective dose but with purpose.

10/16/2023

Some great stuff in here on common running mistakes.

TLDR:
-using power meter over heart rate
-mobility work specific to your needs
-weight train like a runner (hint: more rotation)
-take days off (duh)

Discover the four game-changing strategies to improve your running performance. From power meters to targeted mobility and smarter weight training, elevate your game today.

09/27/2023

Reduce the chances of, not completely avoid. That’s impossible. But a solid list.

09/19/2023

One thing I've learned coaching individual and group runners is that there is no one perfect system. The goal of any team sport coach should be to develop a strong system that they believe in but find ways to meet the unique needs of each person.

Joel Smith (Just Fly Sports) had an amazing newsletter today that goes into depth with this topic, and it got me thinking about how I coach HS XC runners and busy adults training for long distance races.

The factors that most coaches don't pay attention to:

-Body structure (and their infrasternal angle). An example of this is wide ISA individuals are better at sprint acceleration and heavy weight lifting, while narrow individuals are better at rotation and being bouncy. This doesn’t mean give up on the things they can’t do; just be mindful of when prescribing weekly conditioning volume and modality.

-Fiber type and neural wiring. Whether a runner or athlete is slow or fast twitch fiber prone has an impact on what they are better at performing in. And that also goes for their nervous system and whether it's primed for fast quick movement or not. Paying attention to this can allow for adjustments.

His post went into further depth, and if you're a coach I highly recommend reading it.

Having seen posts from Dennis Welch recently on what is lacking with certain XC programs across the country, I think a lot of it is the lack of variability in training and the lack of adjustments being made to suit the needs of unique kids.

If I have a kid running distance who has a wide infrasternal angle and is better at force production and struggles being rotational and bouncy, I won't give up on him and not try to work on his long distance running.

I will just have to adjust how he trains, how he gets his weekly volume, etc. He may not be able to handle the same running volume of a narrow ISA person who is better at absorbing force and rotating fluidly.

Not all kids or adults are made the same. As such, their training should not be the same!

Interested to hear others opinions...

08/13/2023

Make sure your recovery runs are the cornerstone of your week.

It's easy to write "recovery run" on strava, but how often are you truly running an easy effort that leaves you feeling good?

If none of your runs leaving you feeling good (like you could keep going and do another hour), than how do you progress at all?

No speed run matters if you can't recover properly.

If you want to get better at running, you have to run a lot.

But most of your runs should be easy. At least 80%.

How many actually fulfill that?

This week, my challenge is to get more people to run their easy recovery runs easier, and set themselves up for success with their 1 or 2 speed days.

The recovery run doesn't have to be the same boring thing. Switch it up. Change the route. Do what you need to do.

But actually go easy and recover.

Today's recovery run to end the week consisted of alternating 5 minutes hiking at 15% incline, and 5 minutes running easy at 3-5% incline.1585 feet climbed on the norditrac.

06/21/2023

has a wonderful post about this, so check it out fully on his page and bookmark it on your browser.

The piece talks about walking mechanics, but a lot of it applies to running as well.

The head, midsection and pelvis all work in concert when we move.

We need rotation and we need fluidity.

-Head forward.
-Both arms swing gently with the opposing leg.
-The heel strikes first as we move toward toe off.

It’s obviously more complicated, but if you can mail the head, arms and heel to toe action, chances are you will organize in an efficient way!

06/17/2023

Threshold running is often overlooked in running plans, but it's an integral piece of the puzzle.

I love putting in one threshold run a week, b/c they're comfortably hard but not as demanding as Vo2 max-style shorter intervals.

The whole point of threshold (or tempo style) running, as the great Jack Daniels says, is to "allow your body to clear blood lactate and keep it below a fairly manageable level.

The shorter stuff raises the ceiling, but the threshold brings up the floor.

Daniels espouses tempo runs and cruise intervals when it comes to threshold work. I like to prescribe lots of tempos at varying time and effort increments.

They're usually anywhere from 5-20 minutes, and it's in that 6-8 RPE level, where you can still talk but only in short sentences.

Today's tempo run looked like this on the treadmill:

-15 minute warm up (5 minutes at 15% incline hiking/5 minutes running at 5%)
-15 minutes at threshold effort (today was between 6.8-7mph on 2% incline, RPE right around 6)
-15 minute cooldown (same as warm up, alternating 15% and 5% incline).

What do your tempo/threshold workouts look like?