Hereโs your free but abridged version of this weekโs โRun Long, Run Healthyโ newsletter. Subscribe below to receive the complete, full-text edition with the newest and most authoritative scientific articles on training, nutrition, shoes, injury prevention, and motivation.
Hot Tip: How Micro-Periodization Leads To Max Performance

Everyone knows that you canโt train hard every day. As a result, we have developed many varieties of โperiodizationโ in training.
The simplest works like this: Alternate hard days and easy days. Some would say, โTake two easy days after every hard day.โ (Or three, or โฆ ???) Your age and fitness determine the number of recovery days you need.
Marathon coaches and runners often take entire โcutback weeksโ during their 12 to 16-week buildups. These weeks allow you to build your weekly mileage and long-run distance without hitting the wall pre-race. Iโve always supported this schema.
However, new technologies might provide a better way. Instead of using heavy-handed, non-physiological math to determine training patterns, take a cutback week once every month; you could monitor your stress fatigue more precisely.
Thatโs the argument made in a recent editorial on โthe new frontier of micro periodization for endurance.โ The authors, a team of endurance-training experts, believe that older periodization systems are wasteful and limiting.
Why? Because they ask athletes to take too many easy days that arenโt necessary according to daily biological data. Instead, if body measurements say, โIโm good to go,โ the athlete can train hard. Even if (s)he had trained hard the previous day.
In this system, you forget about the calendar. Instead, you use objective tools like heart rate variability, sleep, muscle damage enzymes, and hormone fluctuations. These can help you โeliminate unnecessary unloading weeks, which entail an unjustified reduction in training load.โ
The authors believe this system allows for โmaximizing the training load and achievable adaptationsโ while limiting injuries and overtraining.
Conclusion: โMicroperiodization emerges as a new frontier in the periodization of endurance disciplines.โ This is indeed an exciting new frontier.
At the same time, I still like cutback weeks. If youโre not aiming for Olympic gold or a Marathon Majors win, itโs better to be safe than sorry. More at The J of Sports Medicine & Physical Fitness. More details in this great podcast at KoopCast.โ
RELATED ARTICLE: Periodization: Our Expert Training Guide On How To Plan Your Training Seasonโers
Complete Guide To Headwinds & Tailwinds

We runners love tailwinds and hate headwinds. As performance PhD and blogger John Davis points out, there’s a good scientific explanation for this.
He writes: โA headwind will slow you down by two or three times as much as the equivalent tailwind will speed you up.โ So whenever you qualify for the Boston Marathon, youโd better hope you donโt get a headwind blowing against you from the East.
On the other hand, a circular urban marathon can give you some protection from the wind. Davis says: โIn a dense urban area, the actual wind speed you encounter might be less than half the nominal wind speed measured by a weather station.โ
His article on tailwinds and headwinds is longer, more technical, and more mathematical than most will care to read in full. But you can jump down to his โRecapโ for the summary. Then youโll want to head over to his amazing calculator.
First, set it to your expected running pace in minutes/mile (other units are available). The default wind is a headwind, which you can adjust with the < > buttons. To see the effect of a tailwind, grab the blue wind infographic (set at โNโ for north) with your cursor and rotate it to โS.โ Now, you can play with various tailwinds.
In either case, the calculator instantly adjusts your pace depending on your selected headwind or tailwind. Itโs a very clever tool.
You canโt do much to change the winds you encounter on race day. But this tool makes it easy to adjust race outcomes if you want. It also helps you understand why drafting makes a difference since it cuts down headwinds. More at Running Writings.โ
Face It: Strange Facial Expressions Can Boost Endurance

Top U.S. distance runner Colleen Quigley, a 2016 Olympian in the steeplechase, caused more than a few raised eyebrows with a recent post on Instagram. She shared a video of herself doing a tongue-pulling exercise to relieve pelvis tension. This, in turn, improves her running.
Quigley does this tongue-pulling before hard workouts and races. โ1000% the weirdest muscle release Iโve ever done, but I swear it works,โ she wrote.
Most respondents got a good laugh from the unusual reel, while a few said they had done the same thing in their operatic careers or when working with horses.
Hereโs an explanatory article on Quigleyโs tongue exercise with a link to the original Instagram post. I couldnโt find any evidence-based support for Quigleyโs practice, but that doesnโt mean none exists. Some in the strength-training world advocate that tongue placement in the mouth, towards the roof of the mouth vs, lower, affects muscle performance.
Quigley reminded me of faces Iโve seen among Maori rugby players. I think a bit of tongue-pulling and haka on road race starting lines could liven things up a bit.
In addition, weโve heard that a smile can help you run faster. Also, weโve all seen runners wearing nasal strips, while some research has supported jaw-repositioning mouthguards โfor performance enhancement in both aerobic and anaerobic performances.โ Maybe the face, tongue, and jaw deserve more attention.
RELATED ARTICLE: Colleen Quigleyโs Pre-Race Routine Includes This Exerciseโฆ With Her Tongueid Itโ
SHORT STUFF You Donโt Want To Miss
HEREโS WHAT ELSE YOU WOULD HAVE RECEIVED this week if you were a subscriber to the complete, full-text edition of โRun Long, Run Healthy.โ SUBSCRIBE HERE.
- The single best high-intensity workout for your lifetime of running
- Which is better–caffeine vs sodium bicarbonate?
- 5 evidence-based tips for successful run-walk training
- How to decrease triathlon-training injuries
- Donโt be carb-smart and carb-dumb at the same time
- Lacking runner confidence? Not any more
- How aerobic fitness makes your heart 20 years younger
- What Australian great Rob de Castella can tell you about marathon running
Thatโs all for now. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby