Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2024 i Runner's World

IN THE EARLY MORNING hours of Marathon Sunday, the nerves hit me even before I donned the shirt I made for the race, with “ALY” across my chest in hot-pink glittery letters. I’ve toed the lines at over 100 races, but nothing makes me as nervous as the New York City Marathon. It’s not a race for the faint of heart. The first mile-plus of the course is an uphill on the Verrazzano Bridge, spanning from Staten Island to Brooklyn. The entry points into Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan? Those are bridges, too. This course doesn’t let up until you cross the finish line in Central Park. Every marathon is hard in its own way, of course, but even while NYC can be at its most brutal, there is an…

IN THE PILOT episode of the 2016 reality docuseries Team Ingebrigtsen—Norway’s answer to Keeping Up With the Kardashians, except, of course, that no one can keep up with the family of runners—Gjert Ingebrigtsen has his teenage sons perform a set of 1,000-meter repeats in the dark of night. They pause after each to prick their fingers for blood samples. Since the series aired, Jakob, now 23, has shot to stardom, becoming a two-time world champion, winning Olympic gold in the 1500 at the Tokyo games, and breaking the 2-mile world record in June of 2023. His older brothers, Henrik and Filip, both had successful track careers, too. The credit isn’t purely genetic—it’s also the result of an unconventional training regimen implemented by their father. (As of 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen no…

A LONG TIME AGO—BEFORE HE’D FREEBASED OPIOIDS or robbed his best friend or checked himself into rehab for the sixth time—Mitch Ammons had dreams of a future involving running. Ammons can only shrug when asked to pinpoint the lowest point in a life filled with them. He spent a decade careening along the rock bottom, mired in what he now calls “the worst possible self-hate.” Mitch Ammons knows his story could have ended like the stories of so many buddies from his darkest years—with an obituary. Instead, the longtime addict changed course in a manner that is, without hyperbole, beyond belief. It’s tough to fully grasp the scale of this turnaround until you see Ammons run—to see him metronomically cruise 4:50 miles for more than an hour or to watch…

with Omer Abdulrahman, a.k.a. “Peace Man,” who is a 25-time marathoner and a fixture on the Raleigh, North Carolina, running scene. THIS ←OR→ THAT LET ME EXPLAIN (1) Summer is my favorite season, even though it’s hot. I grew up in Sudan, where it’s often 110 degrees and there are only two seasons: the rainy season and summer. (2) I only wear flats. Spikes hurt my lower back for some reason, so I never race in them. (3) Only when it’s raining. (4) I prefer to run outside. I once did four hours (30 miles) on the treadmill for charity. I lived in Connecticut and all winter long I ran inside, so that got me to not like the treadmill very much. (5) The half marathon is my favorite distance,…

I’VE ALWAYS FELT validation when reading a story about writers and their love of procrastination. I thought it was just me who gets more work done around the house with a deadline looming and who finds every excuse not to write until the time feels exactly right—or the time has run out. Well, a while ago I realized how I do this with running, too, especially long runs on the weekends. I stare at my closet trying to determine the perfect outfit for the weather. I go back and forth on what to eat and how much coffee to drink. Should I have half a cup? Down a full one (or two) then wait until after I go to the bathroom to head out? I stop for a quick foam-rolling…

I WENT TO my first high-school cross-country practice freshman year in jean shorts, mostly walking as I heaved and huffed. I wasn’t good at running. During races, I fantasized about running into a tree, tumbling down a hill into a creek, getting attacked by a bear—any misfortune that would stop me from racing. Every XC meet played out like a scary movie in my head. Almost every year, our team traveled from Long Island, New York, to Providence, Rhode Island, to participate in the Brown Invitational 5K. I carted a camcorder with me on the bus ride and ferry our first year with one intention: to film a horror movie. The plot was simple: XC teammates fall prey to a mysterious killer at a hotel the night before their big…

To finish strong, you need to train strong. Get the must-have program from the experts at Runner’s World that takes you all the way. See your free preview here! Your Coach Knox Robinson is a runner, writer, and coach. He is the cofounder and captain of the Black Roses NYC run crew, and an ardent purveyor of running culture. In the RW+ video How to Master the Half Marathon, he’ll help you get through the long runs, feel healthy, and finish strong on race day. Our Experts Gear Jeff Dengate Runner-in-Chief, Runner’s World Strength Mallory Creveling Deputy Health & Fitness Editor, ACE-Certified Personal Trainer, RRCA-Certified Run Coach Recovery Roberto Mandje Olympian, Run Coach Sleep Beret Loncar Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Yoga Therapist, RRCA-Certified Run Coach Nutrition Amy Stephens Registered Dietitian,…

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I’VE RUN MORE than 30 marathons over the past 20 years, but I recently found one hack that has made my last two training cycles the most fun I’ve ever had logging a ton of miles: audiobooks. Let me jump back a few decades, though. I got my start in running, like many of you, on the grade-school track and cross-country teams. Back then, the iconic yellow Sony Walkman Sport was the coolest tech you could tote around. I never ran with one, partly because it was an anchor but also because the flopping wire was terribly annoying. (Yes, I know in the past I’ve instructed readers to run the wire up inside their shirt. Still annoying.) Later came the Sony Discman, but nobody ran with it because your music…

Banned shoes emerged courtside long before they found their way onto a marathon course. Legend has it that nearly 40 years ago, Michael Jordan laced up a pair of redand-black high-tops in violation of the NBA’s approved uniform colors. In 2010, the league cracked down again—this time, for reasons besides aesthetics—on a pair of basketball shoes that were shown to increase a player’s vertical-jump height. Today, Nike’s Air Jordan brand is a household name and multibillion-dollar business, and shoemaker Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL) has since released additional banned styles (Superfuture and Concept X) of its performance-boosting kicks. Though some speculate these bans were mostly crafty marketing, the same can’t be said about the wave of “illegal” shoes that is flooding the roadways on the feet of runners. Super shoes have…