One of the fundamental reasons for the exploration of these principles was in consequence of my high school running experience. I was always perplexed how I could train hard and compete well all year and never a finish a season strong. I would watch runners I had beat all year pass me when the races really mattered. I wanted to train the absolute best way possible and I felt there were places for improvement.
When I was signing up for some classes as a student at Mesa Community College, I remembered that coach Condon often spoke very highly of a certain instructor by name of Jeff Messer. I decided to sign up Introduction to Exercise Science with Dr. Messer. I have never met a human being so passionate about his calling as an instructor. Since that class (Intro to Exercise Science), I have taken 2 more classes namely EXS275, Methods of “Optimizing” Physical performance and EXS230 Intro to Research Methods. In addition to being a wonderful teacher Jeff coaches many runners who perform at very high levels.
Each semester as part of his classes that I have been a part of, Jeff has asked me and each of his students to present a formal presentation regarding scientific based principles for him and other classmates. Generally the topics are broad and creativity was invited. This book is literally a culmination of the ideas and personal learning I started by taking Jeff’s EXS classes.
After receiving my associates degree from Mesa Community College, I left to pursue further education and athletics in Laie, Hawaii. There I attended Brigham Young University Hawaii meeting other great professors who only strengthened my knowledge and desire to more fully optimize my own endurance performance. I was able to perform very well for the Seasiders and was honored to be a team captain my senior year. I was able to enter the 25 club, which was a goal of mine over 6 years, running a PR 25:36 in the 8k on a hilly cross country course (6th fastest in the school’s history). Lastly, I was able to peak very well with a 32:47 10k cross country time to close out the season (4th fastest in school’s history)
While here in Hawaii, I was able to meet my wife Kelsey who was signed the previous year for BYUH for her running ability. Through this new change in my life, opportunities have been presented. I have been able to coach Del Sur Middle’s distance Currently I am currently continuing to learn more about exercise science especially in the realm of physical therapy. I am busy these days studying school and performing an internship for North Shore Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine in Kahuku, Hawaii, which will help me in my efforts to eventually get my own D.P.T. certificate
This book was originally designed solely as a collection of data-based objective oriented research studies to not only teach myself correct principles, but to remove as much bias as possible. After collecting over 450 resources composing the third edition of this book, I was inspired to continue to build on this compilation with personal experience-based findings. This latest edition will include my personal experiences which I hope will further illustrate the principles discussed. Some of the questions that I learned over the past years or so which I feel have greatly enhanced my knowledge of distance running include the following:
What is Vo2 Max?
What is Running Economy?
What is a Lactate Threshold?
Are recovery days important?
What is Periodization?
Why is nutrition important for runners?
What nutrition is good/bad?
What is the idea of diminishing returns?
Are there in-race strategies?
What type of stretches should I do?
What is Glycogen?
What are energy phases?
What is Lactic Acid?
Why would anyone consider a vegetarian diet?
How can someone reduce the risks of heart disease?
Why do I occasionally have GI distress?
How can peak when races matter most?
How are elite level runners training?
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