Strength For Endurance Podcast

The most important thing when following an ultra endurance program is making sure that you have energy available to meet the demands and expectations of your training.  Many people can find themselves in a big deficit, with serious injuries and often disordered eating patterns because they innocently but significantly adjusted their nutrition. From diet fads, to going vegan, to infuencer led advic...

A large proportion of the clients who work with us are pushing hard in multiple areas of their lives.  They are immersed in busy, and sometimes stressful corporate careers, have family responsibilities at home and are also trying to achieve feats within endurance sport. Physically capable of alot, but juggling training, careers, family and health can be tough and often results in injury or burnout...

Whether it's your first attempt or your 20th, training for an ultra marathon event is no mean feat. Unfortunatley the volume and intensity of the training often leads to injury, especially if the right approach isn't taken. Today Kriss looks into how we can avoid injuries when training for an ultra marathon. - What do we need to establish before training begins? - What happens when volume and dist...

In todays episode Kriss shares with you the story of a female client who was struggling to get back to running post children (her youngest now 2.5 yrs old). This client had trained and competed at an elite level up until her mid 20's during which she struggled with RED-S.  She came to us at SFE because even though she felt she was doing everything she needed to, niggles keep cropping up everytime...

For SFE client Ange, Ultra Trail Australia was a bucketlist race, that she once thought was out of reach. In todays episode, we share a few snippets from our post race debrief. Ange and I discussed the unique feature of the event that included over 8000 steps, getting her nutrition on point, how she navigated sickness in race week and how she walked away without very little muscle soreness.  (00:0...

Knee pain in runners is a common issue, however it can be both prevented and solved with the right approach. Today Kriss talks through 6 key components that we incorporate when working through knee pain with our clients. Over the past 15+ years SFE has helped an extensive number of runners overcome injury, resume consistent training and regain confidence in their bodies to take on whatever goals t...

Today Kriss is joined by SFE client Oliver, who recently completed the Coast to Coast path which runs from the west coast of England at St. Bee's to the east coast at Robins Hood's Bay. Usually walkers break the 192 mile (310km) route into stages over around 14 days, however Oliver decided he'd like to run it in 7 days. 192 miles, 9000m of elevation and on average covering a marathon a day. Oliver...

As much as we try to prevent injuries from occurring, we're never going to eradicate injuries completely. The levels that we push our bodies to harbour too many variables and are often acute events that are out of our control.  But the advantage attained by those of us who understand and invest in our S&C is the ability to act logically and appropriately so that 1. no further damage is done and 2....

Today Kriss had the great pleasure of being joined by one of our current SFE athletes Jess, who was kind enough to share her journey. As a triathlete Jess came to us after not being able to run for around a year due to injury. We talked about her journey back to being able to run again and recently compete in two major long distance events.  She has done this whilst also having to navigate a major...

Chasing our athletic goals (whether competitive or not) will require you to push your body, potentially harder than you ever have. You will be tired, have great sessions and bad sessions, niggles will crop up - it won't always be a linear trajectory. But there are things you can do to ensure you've got the best chance possible to get to your goals without detrimentally affecting your health. Today...

Race season has well and truly arrived. Amongst the medals, finish line photos and race reflections, will be a few sore bodies. But do we have the ability to reduce the level of muscle soreness we experience after an event? Can we do things that'll allow us to recover quicker and get back into training sooner? In todays episode Kriss discuss's factors detemining how you recover from a race or even...

Over the last few years we have seen the introduction of another high intensity functional fitness based sport Hyrox.  Unlike it's predecesor Crossfit, Hyrox offers a lower barrier of entry and running based/aerobic background, naturally appealing to many endurance athletes. But can you train for an event like Hyrox at the same time as your endurance goals, and what does training look like? In tod...

Following on from last weeks episode on how to progress you strength training alongside your running, this week we go a bit more granular in terms of what this looks like.  Knowing how to increase and adjust the weights you are lifting, and what number of  reps and sets you're doing, requires some consideration and forward planning.  Listen in as Kriss shares how to work this out depending on your...

Progressing your strength training is essential if you want to keep meeting the demands of your running goals.  As you increase duration, intensity and distance in your running, if you don't have the necessary strength and conditioning in your body, it simply won't be able to stand up to the ever increasing demands, and thus dysfunction and injury will start to creep in. But how should you progres...

Gone are the days where strength training was kept just for the off season, we all know the importance of having a year round approach. However this shouldn't be the same approach all year round. Your strength training will ebb and flow depending on your goals, your overall training load and your need for recovery. Listen in to todays episode as Kriss delves further into how your strength training...

We all know that freak accidents and injuries can happen as a result of a slip, trip or fall. But the majority of injuries sustained by endurance athletes are chronic, overuse injuries that can often be prevented. In todays episode Kriss discusses running injuries in a bit more detail.  From how our past and current lifestyle habits can predispose us to certain injuries, to what mental checklist w...

Something that many of us will have experienced in the past is having an injury in the lead up to a race or goal event. Training is going well and then within weeks of the finish line, you're struck down with an injury and your world falls apart. The answer everyone wants in that moment is "Will I be ok in time for my race?" Now, it's common for us to immediately panic and catastrophise - we've al...

It was a great priviledge to sit down with todays guest on the podcast, Matt Dixon from Purple Patch Fitness.  Matt has been at the forefront of triathlon coaching for many years. Based in San Francisco, his coaching expertise has seen him guide a wealth of athletes,many of who have gone on to become World Champions.  His logical and holistic approach to training and performance resonates a great...

In todays episode Kriss sits down with Sport and Exercise Psychologist, Stu Holliday. With 15 years experience of training and professional practice Stu has worked with a wide range of sporting individuals helping them improve their mindset and thinking, in a way that benefits their performance  Currently he is working with the GB Olympic Swimming Squad, his private practise see's him supporting a...

When it comes to strength training, some of the best benefits aren't talked about enough. In fact, there are some you might not have even considered! Listen in as Kriss shares 5 benefits that you can expect to see when intergrating a consistent and individualised strength training plan. (00:00) Introduction and Listener Engagement (00:34) Welcome Back and Episode Overview (00:35) The Importance of...

This week Kriss sat down with Lawrence Van Lingen, a Movement Specialist who helps individuals in high performance environments to move better and understand their injuries. He has worked with some of the best endurance athletes such as Jan Frodeno, Holly Lawrence, Taylor Knibb, to name just a few. We've been aware of Lawrence's work for over a decade now, having worked with some of the same athle...

The goal with periodisation is to maximise your results, whilst reducing the risk of injury and staleness of your program over the longterm. But what does this really look like? Is it something you conciously do already or something you'd like to understand better. In todays podcast Kriss discusses the importance of periodising your endurance program, what the potential issues are if you don't and...

What does it take to be great at Ultra distance running? For those who have tackled that sort of distance, there are highs and lows and many surprises, no matter how prepared you feel going into the event. This week we caught up with SFE athlete George Lucas, who put in an incredible performance at The Spine Challenger North earlier this month, to finish in the top 10. Kriss and George talked abou...

How do you establish your training parameters? Heart rate, power zones, rate of percieved exertion?  How do you then use these to set your programming? For many that's where a coach comes in.  But whether it's you or your coach doing the calculations, these shouldn't be the things we use to establish our capacity for work, there are some less obvious markers that also need to be considered. Listen...

It's official Tickets are now on sale for our inaugural Endurance Speak Series! We're so excited to bring you not one, but six amazing opportunities to learn, understand and apply topics that are going to truly transform the way you train, the way you coach and the way you perform moving forward. Much more than the standard lectures you might have attended before, The Endurance Speaker Series puts...