You can watch an HD version of the video by clicking on the YouTube icon and then changing the number to the right of the closed captioning sign to 720pHD.

Read more about the workout at Flotrack.org.

This workout is simple. Get a kettlebell, do the exercises in the video. That’s it.

The one exercise I left out of the video is the Turkish get up. Great general strength exercise. Five reps of the Turkish get up on each side is a nice amount of work for the novice.

You buy a Kettlebell for $30-$40. A worthwhile tool when you only have a handful of minutes after your run for general strength.

Simple question: If you were to design a routine that strengthened the hip girdle area and lasted five minutes or less, what exercises would you use, how many reps and in what order?

Couple of things to consider:

•  This comment and this comment correctly highlight that lateral leg raises are targeting the lower back and gluteal muscles.
• Maybe something that looks like one thing is actually another.  I never thought of the leg swings as an ankle mobility exercise.  Please take the time to read number three on Mike Boyle’s list of Eight Mobility Drills Everyone Should Do. (Note: Gary Gray is person who came up with the Lunge Matrix.)

So here we go – let’s see what we come up with. There are thoughtful people reading this blog and the collective knowledge of the group is many multiples of my individual experience.

I suggest you link to YouTube videos in your comments as our comment service (Disqus) will show a thumbnail of each video you reference.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

There’s something in Daniel’s article that I think is important for coaches and athletes to understand. Coach Mark Wetmore said of the women’s team:

“Honestly, this year, we gambled a little bit and focused on the conference championship more than usual,” Wetmore said. “It was the first year in the Pac-12 and CU wanted to have an impact. In the case of our younger women, they already had raced hard at our conference meet and were a little over the hump.”

Here’s a coach who knows when the athletes are going to run their best; it’s calculated and to a large extent, it’s controlled. Sounds simple, but it’s actually very difficult. Many teams and many runners train hard all the time, running a nice race here and there, yet they can’t “call their shot” and run their best on a specific date. But this is the point of training – to be able to run your best on a specific date (and at a specific distance) – and I think it’s important for coaches and athletes to go back and analyze their training to see if they’re running their best when when they want to. Again, simple concept – run your best on the day you’ve chosen as “the big day” – but much easier said than done.

The other thing that I though I should share is this question that Daniel sent me via twitter.

@coachjayjohnson: Reader asked me why women run 6K and men run 10K in #NCAAXC. Do you know why the divide still exists?

I responded with:

@danielpetty politics that havent changed. Favors schools with strong middle distance as you can see with the top four. Sexist? Maybe.

It is a bit odd, isn’t it, that there is such a big difference in the length of the race? And while my wife, who was an All-American in cross country at Georgetown, is very happy with yesterday’s outcome (Georgetown – ranked number one at the start of the season, yet never won a meet until yesterday – won it’s first NCAA title), there is little doubt in my mind 6k cross country is a completely different beast than 10k cross country. Both challenging, both aerobic, but 10k training is much different than 6k training, the same way 5k training is different than 10k training.

If you have 15-20 minutes check out these two workouts (from 2006 and 2009 respectively) and you’ll see what I mean.

University of Colorado

University of Washington

I love both workouts. Gold Hill is a wonderful place to get a great aerobic stimulus. Conversely, I love Coach Metcalf’s replication of the race – get out hard, maintain, finish strong. And to be sure, Colorado does workouts similar to the Washington workout and Washington no doubt does long runs. But the point I’m trying to make is that it’s interesting that women only run 6k at the NCAA level while men run 67% longer…which is a big difference, a difference that would likely force female athletes at their coaches to re-evaluate their training. And in a day and age of blogging and tweeting I’m surprised more adult female runners don’t ask the same question that was posed to Daniel – “Why do the women run so much shorter than the men at the NCAA Championships?”

Just a question and you may or may not be interested in discussing it. If you are, comment below and I’ll add my thoughts. Again, congratulations to the CU men – a well deserved trophy to a group of men that having been training extremely hard.

To following along, simply watch the videos below and then click here for the description of sets and reps you do during each phase of the eight week progression.

I feel fortunate the Nike has asked me to coach four athletes for the 2011 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Coaching long distance has it’s drawbacks, but it’s fun to see the improvement from afar, even if it is in a Google document vs. being there at the track or alongside them on the bike.

He got in 18 miles this past Labor Day weekend and will soon tackle his first 20 miler.

Kate has her first 20 mile run tomorrow, so wish her well. She’s run a 7 minute PR in the half marathon during our time together (1:34:25) while working a full time job that is sometimes stressful. She’s got great energy and she’s really worked to reign in her enthusiasm early in workouts, making sure to run negative splits.

As an undergraduate history major at CU, these words gave me solace in
helping justify my chosen major. Along with my studies I was also a miler for the CU
track team, and while not a champion miler, I was a miler, and considered myself
fortunate to be so, in the way a Roman citizen considered it fortune enough to be a
citizen of the Empire. It was fortune enough to toe the line of the perfect distance,
than to be a champion at any other distance.

I’m excited to have a guest contribute to the blog. Zach Hancock is a friend, former University of Colorado miler and one of the truly unique minds I’ve meet in my life. You may or may not agree with his stance in this blog, but I hope you’ll appreciate the

In the eighties I was educated on the virtues of the mile by watching Coe and
Ovett compete for middle-distance world records and championships across Europe
and at the ’84 LA Games. I was educated in the sport by watching this rivalry, but
even more so my imagination for track and field was captured.
Coe and Ovett were a contrast in men who came from the same noble British
running tradition that had equipped Bannister to eclipse the four-minute mile at
hallowed Iffley field.

The point in this blog post is not whether the mile is the greatest distance,
nor whether Coe or Ovett was the bigger talent, better coached, or more likable
person, but that they were each made extraordinary having been informed by the
disciplined tradition of brilliant British milers, academic coaches, and running clubs.
Inspired to achieve greatness by those that went before them. Stepping onto the
track wearing the white singlet with blue and red stripe was indeed a noble act for
the British runners able to earn their spot.

In my own modest achievements as a miler, I was motivated to do so in large
part because I had found and hooked into the proud tradition of British milers in
sufficient measure to train, compete, and aspire to greatness. For me, Seb was the
pinnacle, the picture of perfection in the perfect race, long enough for foreplay and
tactics but not too long as to bore. Short enough for an intense unleash of speed. As
a ten year old in 1984, I watched Coe run to victory unaware of the British press, not
particularly informed of Ovett’s bronchial troubles, but at an elemental level I could
see the clean form and unmatched sheer speed contained within Seb’s light frame.
Beautiful running. And this is why I loved Seb best of all, spurring my imagination
through glorious victory, and so helping to motivate me to train and step onto the
track and race. Life is about significant inputs at just the right moment.

A vital ingredient in any training recipe should include an education of the
great traditions and individuals that have gone before. Without this knowledge we
risk remaining always children, if not in performance than certainly in appreciation
for the sport and therefore in ability to pass on to other generations inspiration and
aspiration for greatness. American track and field has not produced the middle-
distance champions we might have, not because of a dearth of talent, but because
we have not cultivated a tradition to draw upon, live within, and in so doing provide

an inspired culture of coaching and training. At the collegiate level there are a
handful of schools that head in this direction, notably the University of Oregon and
the city of Eugene, although this is special case that is at times overdone and a
curious phenomena of identity. On a smaller scale there are many high school
programs that cultivate what I might call, informed inspiration. At the national level
we still lag behind. Cicero would say, remove our ignorance and in so doing grow up.

1984 Olympic Men’s 1,500m final

BBC “Clash of the Titans