Team PURSUIT triathlete Megan Pennington, on her way to the OVERALL WIN at the Litchfield Hills Triathlon!

Today we dig into some great questions sent in to us from listeners.  The first has to do with becoming a BETTER runner, something nearly every triathlete and pure runner has thought about at one time or another (or a few thousand times!)

Whether it's right here in our Pursuit Athletic Performance lab during a gait analysis, or out on the trail or road OR over a beer at the local pub, we always relish the opportunity to talk to anyone about running.  (Anyone who knows Coach, KNOWS how much he can talk, talk, and talk some more about this topic!). No apologies necessary though - running has been a passion of Coach Al's since first running "Boston" in 1983.

Every so often though, a conversation with a frustrated triathlete turns to a sort of self depricating exchange where they end up telling us (trying to convince us, or themselves, perhaps?) why they CAN'T be as good a runner as they really would "like" to be.  Whether this self-doubt stems from a long period of training struggle or chronic running-related injury, the bottom line is that most triathletes have much more running ability inside of them waiting to get out than they realize! They just don't know how to GET it out!  In the podcast, we offer some real and practical suggestions to take your running to a new level.

In case you're one of those who is impatient and curious and can't wait to listen, here are some hints:

1. 
   
2. No! It isn't necessarily about planking, more of it, or doing it differently.
   
3. No, it won't necessarily be "easy."  While we offer some practical suggestions that you CAN implement tomorrow in your training, the truth is that it generally takes a long time to "get good" as a runner, all things being equal.
   

Also, we jump in on some questions about all things swim training for the triathlete.

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• Is it REALLY worthwhile to spend time doing kicking sets if I am racing in a wetsuit and generally never kick in a race?
  
• Why is the coach writing "hypoxic" sets for us anyway? Is it really valuable, and if so, why?
  
• And more!
  

Thanks for joining us! Make it a great day!

~Coach Al and Dr. Strecker

The post 048: Listener Questions: Becoming a Better Runner, Swim Training and More! [Podcast] appeared first on Pursuit Athletic Performance.