Over the past few months I have had a few questions about injuries and what I do to stay fit, so I wanted to dedicate this blog to cross training.

I always seem to come back from injuries better than ever, and I feel I have a pretty good grasp on what it takes to get back to peak form quickly.  I think when I am done running I should just coach injured runners and send them back to their coaches ready to go.  There is no secret recipe to cross training, and you don’t have to have access to an Alter-G treadmill, even though they are much more readily available and the easiest way to simulate actual outdoor running. However, the type of injury you have will dictate what range of cross training you will be able to do.   (continue reading…)

I was recently talking to my wife Kalin about Haile Gebrselassie because we were amazed that he still made yet another world record attempt this weekend.  It is incredible to think that after all these years he is still break barriers.  If you would have asked me a year or two ago if I would still be going at his age, I would have been surprised.  However I now feel that I have so much more life in my career.  She said to me “do you think you are going to still be able to train like this when you are that age?” (continue reading…)

So in the last blog post I had a few requests to look at periodization of training.  I thought it would be a good idea to post some sample training weeks, as well as what the different training has been like for me over the years, pulling from high school, college, and the two post collegiate systems I have trained under.  First, here are some samples of the best weeks that I have had in each system.  This is how a normal week would look during these training periods. (continue reading…)

This past week USA Triathlon was at Nike Campus picking Alberto’s brain about how to get the guys faster off the bike.  I had dinner with them one night because I know one of the nutrition experts who works with them.  I joked with them about how when my running career is over I am going to make a switch back to the Triathlon. (continue reading…)

I chose this weeks quote of the week on my website from Bill Bowermam. “There is no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.” I was reminded when I was home in Michigan the past 10 days that I have gotten soft living in Oregon. (continue reading…)

On my website the quote of the week is by Napoleon Bonaparte, “Ability is nothing without opportunity.” The reason I used this for my quote of the week is because of all the great high school races that took place over the past two weeks, and how they reminded me of how I got to where I am today. (continue reading…)

Finally after years of putting it off I have created a website. Actually, my good friend Phil Astras created it for me. I am very happy with how it came out. You can check it out at www.ritzrunning.com. It will be updated weekly and feel free to give me any suggestions on how to improve it or what you would like to see go up on it. You can contact us through the website or leave me a comment on the blog. I think looking back at it, I would like to add a section on my family and some more personal non-running related info. One thing you will see is that my blog will continue to be updated through the website or you can always read it here. I hope you all enjoy it. Until next time…

I would have written earlier than this, but the NXN High School Cross Country Championships were hosted by Nike here this past weekend in Portland. I love this weekend, but for someone like me that is all consumed in training, it is a very busy weekend as well. It was so cool to see all the kids in town and I am envious that we did not have NXN when I was in school. We always had a great cross country team in high school but we never had the opportunity to race the best teams in the country. (continue reading…)

So since I love my wife and wanted to give her a special present, I got her a trip to NYC with her Mom and gave her a stack of cash to go on a three day shopping spree. I figured she works hard and supports me so much that she needed a little vacation away. I also thought that it would be good for me and my two year old daughter Addy to get some good Addy-Daddy time.  Believe it or not this is the first time I have ever had her by myself overnight, let alone four days. (continue reading…)

The old saying “you are what you eat” could not be more true than when you are an endurance athlete. The body is definitely a finely tuned machine and I can always tell when I am eating well or when I need get back on track. I can tell now that I have been on downtime and that I need to get back to the healthy eating I am used do. (continue reading…)