"Boston's Running Coach"

To all of my clients and readers,

I have some exciting news to share. There will be some re-structuring of the Flynn Running Company. First off, no current client will have any disruption with their training plan or coaching with me. But as of today, I will be coaching, exclusively, for the Boston Running Center in Brookline, MA. This will mean that any future customer can hire me as their coach through the BRC’s website.
However, Flynn Running will still exist as a non-profit running club for post-collegiate, competitive runners. The Flynn Running Club plans to put together teams of runners to compete at large XC races in New England as well compete in major road races like the Boston Marathon. My goal is to provide post-collegiate runners with a blueprint to continue to improve and compete on a team like in college.
This transition will be smooth and quick. Not much will change for most runners, but some things will improve. Clients of mine will now have access to a gym and studio where I can perform video-gait analysis and train more effectively. The studio is located on the Boston Marathon course in a great location in Washington Sq.
I hope all of you are as excited as I am to see where this new path takes Flynn Running. Please feel free to continue to email me at coach@flynnrunning.com.

Thank you,
Dan Flynn

On Sunday, November 18th, Flynn Running client, Fran Cusick, ran his first marathon.  He ran it in 2:37 in the Philadelphia Marathon coming in 112th out of 7058 runners.  The cancellation of the NYC Marathon created an even more competitive field this year than last.  It was a a beautiful day and cool enough to run really well.

As his running coach, I am very impressed with Fran’s performance.  Our approach was conservative.  Even though Fran ran really well, this marathon was a learning experience.  Fran is a talented runner who happens to have an unusual work ethic.  He ran to fill out his running resume and start to see where he belongs as a runner.  Prior to this race Fran has seen success in the half marathon.  He has run 1:18, 1:12, and 1:11 in his first three half’s.  His 1:11 was a month ago at the Bay State Half Marathon where he placed 2nd.

So what does this mean?  Not sure.  We will talk about his future as he recovers in the next few weeks.  If I were a betting man, I think Fran will run an indoor track season block this winter and have his eye on the 2014 Boston Marathon (which he qualified for today).

Obviously, his highlights of this fall is today’s performance and the Bay State performance, but I think his biggest accomplishment is running 100 miles-a-week for 5-6 weeks was most promising.  Running 100 in one week is a badge of honor.  In this world, miles per week (mpw) is the unit at which most elite runners measure themselves against others.  Fran has done it and did it many times over and never got hurt.  It leads me to believe that he can continue this progression if it can work with his lifestyle.

Today’s race allows us to move forward and go for bigger goals.  There is plenty out there to challenge Fran.  Can he run a faster 5k?  What can he do at Boston? Is it 13.1 or 26.2?  So many questions, but it is exciting for sure.

I met with a new client today and I am excited. She has all of the intangibles. She says all the right things to the point where i wondered if someone had paid an actress to meet with me and say these things. What is a perfect client?

1) She wrote down her goals prior to the meeting.
2) Her goals were reasonable and doable
3) She brought in her previous training plans and followed them perfectly.
4) She is 45 and takes to two days off, because it feels right to her.
5) She was motivated and I feel she will work very hard.
6) And lastly, she has tremendous upside given her inexperience with the sport.

A coaches dream. Motivated to run, ready to listen, and using common sense when it comes to listening to her body. Count me in!

As you read this list, where do you stand with some of these characteristics?

Are you willing to put your trust into a coach?
Are you willing to back off the pace of an easy run so you have the energy for your Sunday long run?
Do you have goals?
Have you written down your goals?

Consider the commitment of completing a marathon and be honest with yourself. Do you have what it takes to do something great?

My new client does.

As a running coach, I am teaching runners what I have learned and I continue to learn.  I will never stop learning, but I have gotten to an interesting point.  At the beginning of my journey, I was learning to develop my own coaching philosophy.  As I grow older, I am learning to tweak my philosophy, but in some instances my research affirms what I already know.

The great thing about running is when you think you have it down it will smack you in the head.  My only advice to those starting out is to never stop learning and never think you have it down.

At this point in my education, I am certain that running more miles will have a positive effect on a runners fitness.  There is much controversy with this.  One reason being that the increase in miles run will increase the risk of injury.

Because of this fact, i have turned most of my coaching attention towards injury prevention and strength development.  I believe runners should run more miles, but they need to be strong enough to handle the increase in mileage.

How do runners gain strength?  This is my new assignment.  I am on a journey to find the best fit for my collegiate program.  Is it the weight room?  Is it the hills? Is it sprinting? Well, its all of the above.  I have found different ways to add a load to an athlete and that load with give the resistance necessary to gain strength.  Adding this load has posed a problem.  The increased load can highlight muscle imbalances and cause injury.  More specifically, I have seen a commonality in my runners.  When adding weight to lift, they are all activating their lumbar spine instead of their hip, glute, pelvic floor…etc.  My runners are weak in some of the most important areas for running and when they get in trouble they activate a part of their body which, over time, will cause more harm than good.

This road is getting long but I think I have found a path that works for me.  Here is a list of my philosophy so far when dealing with a long distance runner:

1. Collect past running and medical history

2. Evaluate motivation for running.  Why are they doing this?

3. Evaluate functional movement.

4. Develop a plan to correct imbalances. (Seek out professional assistance).

5. Add strength plan once corrections have been made and develop running form.

6. Add Mileage.

7. Get fitness test by running a 5k, 10k, or a half marathon. (Depending on athlete).

8. I really feel that 30 miles a week is a great number.  If you are under this number, then I don’t think I will give too many other workouts beyond easy running.

9. Over 30 miles a week will be a good time to add specific work. Specific work, for me, always starts with short intervals, hills, and fartleks.

10. Continue to add new workouts, running routes, thoughts, and goals. Always change it up. Variety keeps the brain active and vibrant.

My findings may seem simple and that is on purpose.  “Keep it simple, stupid.”  I say that to myself all of the time.  The complexities are there and that’s where the art of coaching comes in, not to mention the amount of education necessary to evaluate, diagnose, and fix the problems. I am working on that as I go.

Make no mistake, I am no expert.  I am just a guy who is passionate and works very hard to coach runners every day and learn from my experiences.  I feel like this approach is working and every year I can point to a new challenge and a new success.  I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Ugh…are you injured again?  Just when you got over your shin splints; now your knee cant bend on an easy run.

We have all had that feeling. When we run a lot of miles and we combine that with the “sitting society” and we get injured.  (Sitting in chairs doesn’t help develop the muscles that will help you run).

I love how desperate when people get injured. They go out and buy those shoes with “the toes”. Haha.

What to do? How do we get back out there?

Here are a few tips on avoiding injuries.
#1- Progress your training slowly. I have a group of architects and all of them are different in their fitness history. But all of them are progressing slowly. We spend a number of weeks doing the same thing. some are doing 12 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking. They only progress to the next level after experiencing the run as “easy”.

#2- Go to the physical therapist before you get injured. Does anyone remember the Head & Shoulders commercial. “Why do you use Head & Shoulders, you don’t have dandruff?” “Exactly.”
Preventative work with stretching and strengthening muscles that are weak is important. A physical therapist can help identify muscle that need to be tightened or loosened.

#3- When you feel pain…STOP! Take a day of rest. Do something to repair your little pain before it becomes a big pain. There is nothing wrong with taking a week of rest when your goal is 4 months away.  As long as you get back out there.

I hope this quick advice will help you get less injured and get running!

Ok, let me preface this with some disclaimers. This may be controversial and you may disagree with me. But I am right, so until you dedicate your training to what I have learned you cannot disagree with me. Well, you can disagree but I won’t listen.
Marathon training comes down to four simple steps.
#1- Endurance. Almost everyone agrees that you need to run long to train for the marathon. Its tough to train with anything under 55 miles per week. Long runs need to be long. So if you do not have a good handle on endurance/long runs then you should not read any further. No need for speed if you can’t cover the distance.
#2- Runner efficiency. Now that you run long, I want you to run right. I feel like the only way to train running right is to do strides. This is the true speed work. Strides are an over exaggeration of your stride for 50m-200m. This effort is at 80%. So easy, short, overdone strides. I like to go from 5 of them to 10, to 15, up to 30. Doing strides will help anyone run more efficiently and encourage quicker feet, higher knee, and fast turnover. Do Strides!!!
#3 Long Intervals or tempo runs. If you can start to work with two paces: your marathon pace and your half marathon pace. I like to bounce from one to the other in workouts. I think anyone who is doing 10k pace or 5k pace for marathon workouts is wasting their time. A good 10 mile tempo run at half marathon pace will kick your butt and give you all the speed you need for your marathon.
#4 Strength work thru hills and body-weight exercises.  8 X 30s hills will help. Easy paced hill runs for 3 mins or rolling hills on an easy run will really help strength. If you have no hills, then do squats, lunges, and hip strengthening exercises to gain the strength you need. If you do a boot camp for marathon training: WASTE OF TIME.

Above is your speed work. Marathoners should be wary of training plans where you do 400′s hard or if you sprint at 100% effort. Some people may ask why I would even mention that. It’s because people are coming to me with these crazy workouts. I haven’t seen one of these magic workouts have any success.

Follow these 4 steps and you will run a faster marathon. I promise.

Here are some brief thoughts:

My clients are struggling right now because they are not doing the little things. It is naive to think that you can run 20 miles and not come into some trouble with your body. Lack of stretching can lead to some lingering pains that can lead to major injury. Tight hamstrings can lead lead to lower back issues. Please stretch. Take the time or do it while waiting in line at the customer service department of Kohl’s. That is what I did. It really passed the time and many people were freaked out by me.

I have had two clients fall on ice/mud pile in the last week. Falling is pretty common. Runners do not have good lateral support and tend to “zone out” when on long runs. Falls occur and when you are not alert, tired, and off balance. Keep yourself stimulated by hopping up onto sidewalks every once-in-a-while. I like bouncing around from different levels and terrain. It keeps me awake.

Good luck out there and email me with any questions. I have a couple of groups requesting to meet me. I am open to most groups as long as they are flexible and motivated. Happy New Year.