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Lead Stories: Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The “Masters Runner” according to Coach Bob Glover

Posted March 23rd, 2007 at 12:00 PM by Jim Fortner

Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Motivation, Books, Masters

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

Respected running coach Bob Glover addresses the “Masters Runner” specifically in his books, “The Runner’s Handbook” and “The Competitive Runner’s Handbook”. Both books are very extensive and excellent training guides.

“The Runner’s Handbook” was originally published in 1978 and updated in 1985 and 1996. I have the 1996 edition. It covers mostly fundamental stuff, but over a wide range of running and running-related topics and is mostly oriented to the basic beginning runner and those running primarily for fitness and recreation.

It touches very briefly on training for racing (60 pages) and an introduction to speed training (10 pages). It does include a “Masters Runner” chapter that is mostly oriented to the beginning masters runner, but has a lot of fundamental stuff that applies to masters runners of all levels.
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Running Strength

Posted March 11th, 2007 at 10:21 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

Running strength isn’t quite as definitive as VO2max or LT. It’s a bit ambiguous. However, as I view it, it has two components … physiological and psychological.

The physiological component is related to running economy, but it is also different. I think of both running strength and running economy as sub-elements of a broader subject that I call running efficiency.

Running economy is a measure of how efficiently you use oxygen while running at a specific pace. Improving running economy means that you can physiologically sustain a faster pace at a given percentage of VO2max, or a given pace at a lower percentage of VO2max, for a longer distance.
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