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5 Tips to “Train Like Kipchoge (Sorta)”,

by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro | May 30, 2023 | Article, Coaching, List, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

The most recent print edition of Runner’s World Magazine (2023/3) was Eliud Kipchoge centered. It had 8 stories that told us from his humble origins to his monastic lifestyle to a dissection of every detail of his record-setting running shoes to Evans Chebet as his most likely successor. It is the most detailed account I’ve seen of Kipchoge related info in one place.

Runner’s World magazine cover for the issue with the 8 Eliud Kipchoge related stories

The story that caught my attention is titled “Train Like Kipchoge (Sorta)”, by Sarah Gearhart, in which she shares five key aspects of Eliud’s training. My first thought was: how can we transfer them to us, simple mortals, to improve our running results. The article talks about how the greatest of all time (GOAT) does it, which doesn’t mean we must apply it in the exact same way. The key is to harness the key lesson of each one and make it part of our current circumstances.

These are the five principles, as per Runner’s World, with a personal commentary on how to apply it to our recreational runner training repertoire:

1 – Sleep like your run depends on it: Kipchoge sleeps 9 hours a night and takes naps. Most of us don’t have the time for that, but neither we are professionals, nor do we run 120 miles per week. The point is to be purposeful about your sleeping habits. Sleep as much as your body needs and don’t brag about your lack of sleep as a badge of honor. Our body recovers and rebuilds while we sleep, which is more valuable than all other recovery tools in your arsenal put together.

2 – Revive Sore Muscles with an Ice Bath: He takes 10-minute ice baths twice a week “to aid his post run recovery.” As recreational runners we may not have the facilities, the time or will tolerate this uncomfortable activity. But the point is that it works for him and despite the pain and inconvenience, he does it anyway because he works diligently on his recovery. Remember that you don’t become a better runner just as you finish your hard workout. You become a better runner once your body has recovered and adapted to the stress it just went through. So, be as diligent as Kipchoge in your recovery.

3 – Upgrade Your Diet with Protein: Kipchoge’s high-carb diet is essential for his training and performance, yet in 2017 he upgraded his protein intake “to aid his recovery as well as help to build and maintain his lean muscle.” The point here is that diet is key to training, performance and recovery. It is not a matter of how many calories we take in but the quality of those calories. If we fuel with a dozen donuts and a pint of ice cream, our weekly milage or our daily nap won’t really provide the benefit they should.

Stationary biking is one of the multiple options to enhance your aerobic capacity without overtaxing your system (Photo: William Adams, Pexels)

4 – Meditate to Build Mental Strength: Kipchoge is a “mindful runner” says his coach Patrick Sang. “While training and racing, he focuses on his breath and his movements, and aims to minimize outside distractions.” While not all of us can or want to live Kipchoge’s spartan life nor we have the will to perfecting the art of mindfulness, we can separate 10 minutes for daily meditation, we can read a book on mental toughness or practice the visualization of our goals without becoming Zen masters.

5 – Build Bonus Endurance on a Bike: Interesting to note that to add to his training volume “without increasing his risk of a running injury, Kipchoge rides a stationary bike for an hour twice a week after his runs.” For mere running aficionados like us, this is what we call cross training. Participating in a non-running activity once or twice a week to enhance our strength or aerobic training while resting our muscles and soft tissues from the pounding of running. Biking, rowing, weight training, yoga, elliptical, etc. Make sure you do something other than running to complement your training.

If these techniques work for the GOAT, scaling them down to our level would be beneficial. Don’t just think about it, do something about it and don’t take too much time getting started. Marathon season is around the corner.

To read the full Runner’s World article, you may click here.

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Proprioception for Runners

by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro | Apr 18, 2023 | Article, Exercises

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

Most likely you’ve heard the term before. Proprioception has become a sports buzz word whose use has increased exponentially within the last 10 years. If you practice yoga or martial arts, you may have noticed.

Somehow, I associate it with Vo2Max. We hear it, talk about it but most don’t know exactly what it is or what it is good for. Proprioception is important for runners, and I will dig into why. But first, let’s define it.

Our body has hundreds of thousands of sensors that tell the brain where we are with respect with our environment (Photo: Pexels)

According to JL Taylor’ in the 2009 Encyclopedia of Neuroscience: “Proprioception, or kinesthesia, is the sense that lets us perceive the location, movement, and action of parts of the body. It encompasses a complex of sensations, including perception of joint position and movement, muscle force, and effort. These sensations arise from signals of sensory receptors in the muscle, skin, and joints, and from central signals related to motor output. Proprioception enables us to judge limb movements and positions, force, heaviness, stiffness, and viscosity. It combines with other senses to locate external objects relative to the body and contributes to body image. Proprioception is closely tied to the control of movement.”

Yes, a dense definition, but worth reading a couple of times if necessary so you understand it. When we run, we are jumping from one leg to the other, so we must be in balance and aware of the position of our body in relation to its surroundings. Here is where improving it comes into play.

Every time your foot strikes the ground, hundreds of thousands of sensors throughout the body send instantaneous feedback to the brain, which immediately responds with adjustments. This is why when we step on something, instinctively your foot goes around it to avoid unpleasantries. The right response/reaction optimizes the control of your motor skills and allows you to work several sections of your body at once, finding the most effective and energy saving paths for motion.

Proprioception is fundamental for runners because it allows us to:

improve balance.
upgrade control and awareness of our body.
enhance responsiveness.
improve leg injury recovery.
boost stability on uneven surfaces or when avoiding obstacles.
regain balance quickly to avoid falls.
create stability in our joints.
enhances postural and joint stability.
coordinates tendons and ligaments working in unison with the muscles to thoroughly absorb the impact of each step.
expand our running efficiency to boost speed and endurance.

Walking barefoot is one of the best ways to improve your proprioception (Photo Pexels)

All this sounds great, sure, but how do we get better at proprioception, so we become better runners? Here are a handful of tips:

walk barefoot.
balance exercises with closed eyes.
cross training such as yoga or tai chi.
exercises over unstable surfaces.
add movement and weight to floor exercises.
one-leg exercises to challenge your balance.
sitting and stability exercises on a Swiss ball.
strength and plyometric exercises.

Since running is an exercise where we are in contact with the ground one leg at a time, balance is one of the most important aspects of the sport. One that gets lost amid the chit-chat about speed, distance and PRs. Yet, none of the previous conversations can occur if we don’t master our balance, which is done through proprioception. So, let’s work on it continuously so we may become better runners avoid injuries, especially those caused by falls that could have been prevented with proper balance.

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The Joy of Barefoot Walking on Grass

by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro | Dec 15, 2020 | Article, Exercises, Reflection, Science

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

We all know about how important it is to run or walk in the right shoe. Depending on your foot and the way you strike the ground, a shoe may be the right one for you, but this doesn’t mean it is the best option for your running buddy. There are forefoot runners, heel strikers, neutral steps and all the variations in between. But there is one variety where we are all equal: barefoot. We all have the feet we were provided at birth.

Let’s be clear that I am not advocating for barefoot running. It is not for everybody. After the minimalist craze of the early 2000s, lots of people shifted to five-fingers and barefoot without the property transition, assuming it made sense, and a barrage of injuries followed. Some people can handle it, some people don’t.

But what I passionately believe after reading about it and experiencing it, is that barefoot walking on grass is wonderful. The joy of being in direct contact with the earth below you in invigorating and will recharge you for the rest of the day. As I was researching this blogpost, I learned that this practice even has a name, actually two: it is called “grounding” or “earthing”.

I started walking barefoot in my back yard about five years ago. One day, my wife and I decided to go for a barefoot walk around the neighborhood and, surprisingly, it was an invigorating experience. We came back with more energy and more relaxed that than we set out. Since then, I put some 3 to 4 miles out there once every couple of weeks. Getting your feet wet, dirty, stained, and constantly adjusting for the irregularities of the terrain has become a pleasure. I wish I could fit it in more often.

According to an article by Carrie Denner, from The Washington Post, published in July 2018, research suggests physical contact with the Earth’s surface can help regulate our autonomic nervous system and keep our circadian rhythms — which regulate body temperature, hormone secretion, digestion and blood pressure, among other things — synchronized with the day/night cycle. The idea behind it, is that “humans evolved in direct contact with the Earth’s subtle electric charge but have lost that sustained connection, thanks to inventions such as buildings, furniture and shoes with insulated synthetic soles.”

Regardless of what you may think, your feet are ready for the task. In his book Run for Your Life, Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, states that “each foot is an orchestra of 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles and tendons, providing cushioning, spring and control in three planes simultaneously”.

I’ve heard people complaining about the possibility of a rock or a piece of trash damaging their feet, but my experience is that, of course you may get a cut or stung by an insect, but in general terms your feet are ready to avoid it. According to Dr. Cucuzzella: “Our feet have 200,000 sensory receptors that are constantly, an unconsciously, appraising our position so that we can make micro adjustments to our balance”. And believe me when I tell you that it works like a charm.

As for where to go for a barefoot walk, it is understandable that not everybody has a backyard where to go even 100 times around if necessary, but most likely there is a park you’re your place where you can set up for this experience.

In their book “Barefoot Walking”, Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee talk of barefoot walking as an experience to free your spirit. They do so in a very poetic way, that, as someone who has experienced it, is not far from reality: “When you go barefoot you’re plugging back into the soil, back into the earth, and back into our global community. As Henry David Thoreau said, ‘Heaven is under our feet at well as over our heads’ […] In essence, by going barefoot, it is as if you are plugging back into the Source—whatever that spiritual connection means to you—because you are going back to the ground from which we came”.

As if this wasn’t benefit enough, you will make your feet stronger by making them work harder without the benefit of shoes. As Dr. Cucuzzella well puts it: “shoes have eased the burden on our feet so that they need to work less. But our feet are designed to work hard. In doing work, they gain strength. Our ancestors did not have golf courses”.

If you don’t believe in the hype I am placing into this barefoot walking on grass thing, find a nice patch of grass at your local park and invest 15 open-minded minutes of your life into giving it a shot. It may not become a transcendental experience, but who knows, it just may. Isn’t it worth finding out? Let me know how it went.

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