Running

CrossFit’s Aerobic Capacity Course expert explains how interval training can help you do more work faster.

Long-time CrossFit athlete Tawny Sanabria used to dread box jumps and wall balls.

“I could never get into a good rhythm, and they would make me so tired. They were so exhausting,” she said.

All that changed for Sanabria when she made one major alteration to her training: doing interval running at the track.

Specifically, Sanabria has been diligently following endurance… Continue Reading

Chris Hinshaw is a professional triathlete, renowned endurance coach and instructor for the CrossFit Aerobic Capacity Course. At Tennessee Tech, Hinshaw leads a group of elite CrossFit Games competitors through a series of warm-up drills.

The drills—24 in all—begin with prep work for the hips and lower body. The first five are called high-knee karaoke, over the hurdle, knee to chest, figure four and lunge.

“So what we do… Continue Reading

T.J. Murphy explains how he ditched his traditional running diet, lost weight, didn’t bonk and felt better.

On Aug. 9 The New York Times published “Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away from Bad Diets.” The report focused on Coca-Cola’s financial support of a group of scientists pledging to fight the obesity crisis by calling for more exercise rather than intake of fewer calories.

The article created a backlash that set… Continue Reading

Mud runs, obstacle-course races and novelty endurance events are growing in popularity, and some CrossFit gyms now cater to participants.

Obstacle-course racing gets under your skin. And in your mouth.

This year, hundreds of thousands of racers will shiver and shamble their way through icy mud, receive mild electric shocks and perhaps even risk infections borne by feces. Some will be swathed in capes, and others will wear Viking… Continue Reading

The human body is no different than a wheel and must function by the same laws of physics, says Brian MacKenzie of CrossFit Endurance.

To get the body trained in this manner, MacKenzie runs a group of athletes through a series of drills at CrossFit HQ in Scotts Valley, Calif. The first uses sets of hops and then “leaning hops” to help the athletes understand gravity’s role in running. Another drill involves leaning… Continue Reading

At the CrossFit Endurance Trainer Course, Doug Katona talks about coaching tools for running. In this video, he highlights drills for falling.

The first is a partner-lean drill where one person quite literally falls into the hands of another and then runs in place.

“As the coach, I’m gonna go, ‘Is he pulling underneath? Are his heels kissing? Is his head up? Shoulders up?’ And as soon as he did… Continue Reading

At the CrossFit Endurance Trainer Course, Doug Katona talks about coaching tools for running. In this video, he highlights drills for pulling.

He starts by reviewing what it means to pull the foot beneath the hip low, medium or high.

“The lower you pull, the slower you go,” Katona explains. “The higher you pull, the faster you go.”

The first drill is a single-leg low pull.

“You’re gonna come out of that lean and then pull.”

Here, Katona emphasizes the… Continue Reading

To keep it simple, Doug Katona starts this CrossFit Endurance Trainer Course with the three running fundamentals: Pose/position, fall, pull. Katona emphasizes it’s not posture but position at CrossFit Walnut in California.

“So when you run, if you’re not afraid to fall, you’ll be OK,” Katona says.

Fast runners, he adds, have less fear of falling.

The ultimate goal, Katona explains, is to reclaim the correct position as fast as… Continue Reading