Luke Humphrey Running

As a coach or an athlete, we look for guides as to how much work is an appropriate amount for a given athlete. I have… Source

In the third part of this series, I want to discuss the race itself. In particular, the challenge of the potential weather. This comes in… Source

In part one, we talked a little bit about timing, but more specifically how training starts at maybe the worst timing of the year- the… Source

I read an interesting article from Steve Magness the other day, “How the need to prove yourself in practice can ruin your race day.” In… Source

We have talked a lot about adjusting workouts due to heat and humidity for quite some length, but what about strategies to cool ourselves before… Source

Alright, as summer gets ready to peak, some of you are questioning why you decided to train for a September or October marathon! Many of… Source

You might find yourself in a situation where you plug in a goal marathon time and the training paces for speed, which represent 5k to… Source

As I write this, we are in the build up for the fall marathon season. For the early October races, we are into about 6… Source

It seems like all easy running is the same, and I was in the camp of indifference for a long time, I grew to realize… Source

Every coach I had, from high school to professional was a stickler for pace. That's not to say that we weren't monitoring other variables, but… Source

When we talk about long runs, the long run for the marathon is always the primary debate. For shorter races, even up to the half…

In my Boston Marathon training plans, I have a lot of specific hill-based workouts. Some straight uphill repeats, some workouts I call “Tired Hills”, some…

So I got done a bit of a rabbit hole the other day. I follow the accounts of My Sport Science and the feed is…

From my experience, you have a deep division in the running world when you mention the word “treadmill.” For some, it's a necessary part of…

Recently, I had a new athlete sign up for coaching and we have them complete a training profile. One of the questions is “what are…

I remember in high school everyone had had these team shirts with “motivational” quotes. My favorite was “Runners have no offseason!” Soooo tough! Looking at…

So, I am cruising the social media and lately, I've been seeing a lot about the 80/20 rule in running. As I write this, fall…

I have made the summer of 2022 the summer of reinforcing heat and humidity adjustments with my athletes. It has had some pretty solid success…

If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I am a big proponent of even to negative splits. When we…

If you have followed my writing for any length, you will know that you won't find me prescribing workouts by heart rate any time soon.…

Consistency is king/queen when it comes to development. What do you think is more important. A) doing two really good workouts over a 30 day…

There's the old adage, “easy days easy, hard days hard” and we see that is the case with the majority of the elite to competitive…

A few weeks ago, someone in our Facebook group brought up the idea of using an infrared sauna for recovery. I hadn't thought much about…

One of the biggest complaints I get from athletes following the book (link), is that there is no taper. They say that because they are…

I recently made a comment on my Strava log that I was making a conscious effort to make my easy days a little bit faster. This prompted a question from one of my followers who essentially asked what the benefits of running faster on their easy days would be. So… it depends, right? That’s the […]

It was 2008 and I was on the starting line of the New York City Marathon. I had just completed the best training segment of my entire life. Yet, here I was petrified, staring at the world’s best runners (Olympic medalists, world record holders, and past champions). Needless to say, I underperformed and left incredibly […]

During this time of uncertainty, it can be tough to have a plan. Many of us have been training a little aimlessly, myself included. It’s been hard to have a plan when there isn’t a definite end point to that plan. So, today, I want to give you the 30,000 foot view of training and […]

How many of you have run a marathon only to find yourself with a head cold or sick within the few days following the race? Yeah, me too! The truth is, we know that hard training and racing makes us more vulnerable to sickness. Right now, training hard with a suppressed immune system could spell […]

It is interesting how our experiences shape our philosophy over time. My earliest example was when I started running cross country in high school. I ran track in junior high but wasn’t bothered with cross country. My coach, Mike Noll, was very pace-oriented with an emphasis on negative splits and since it was really my […]

The definition of commitment is “the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.” Whether it is running your first marathon with the goal of just making it to the finish line or a world-class racer in the Olympic Games, having a commitment level that matches required. Taking on something that’s outside […]

Last week we discussed recovery repeats for speed workouts. If you missed that post, you can see HERE. This week I want to discuss the next group of repeats in the marathon training- the strength repeats. Traditionally, these are done at 10 seconds faster marathon pace per mile. You will see this written as MP-10. […]

Last week I wrote about big data and what it told us about training for the mid-packer. I also chimed in about how I felt the HMM style of marathon training fit in. The reality is the vast majority of people under train for the marathon. When I say under train, I am referring to […]

Ok, so I have to admit that I was awfully intrigued with Amby Burfoot’s new article for Podium Runner. I was very curious to see what insights there’d be into the world of marathon training for recreational runners, or as they were called mid packers. And then someone asked if I’d share my thoughts on […]

How many times have you set your time goal, thought it looked kinda scary, but still doable? Yeah, me too. Now, how about when you started the training plan and that first workout at your new race pace was staring back at you? Knees shake, sweat build, and a “Oh crap, that’s fast” blurts out. […]

Is having a coach worth it? The answer is, drumroll please, it depends! Believe it or not, ability is not a prerequisite for myself, or any of my other coaches to work with you. In fact, I’d say ability isn’t ever something I particularly look at when taking an athlete on. When I do, it’s […]

More specifically, the question was, “Once well into the plan do your easy runs truly feel easy?” This was asked by one of our Facebook group members and I believe that he was hinting that his workouts were ok, but the easy runs were now an issue of being stiff, sore, and sluggish. As others […]

A little while ago, I posted a quick podcast on the role of carbohydrate and overtraining. When training hard by volume, intensity, or both, the lack of carbohydrates has a direct relationship with performance (and mood). The reason I discussed that idea was to try to show people how the idea of overtraining is confused […]

Today I discuss an article from mysportscience.com and how even two weeks of hard training with low carbohydrate intake can be detrimental to performance and feelings of well being. A common scenario that I see as a coach is that people train hard for a couple of weeks and since it’s harder than they have […]

I recently finished reading the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. It’s not a running book, it’s actually a book on business. However, as I read the chapters, it became clear that the ideas embodied some great principles that should be applied in many areas of life. The very basic premise of the book […]

Being in the right plan can make all the difference in the world. If you are familiar with the plans in the books, then you know that there can be a big difference between what others use as a beginner plan and what the HMM beginner plan looks like. These differences has led to the […]

Today’s question comes from Phil, from our LHR Community on Facebook. Right now, he’s not really following a plan and is curious to how fast he should be running since he doesn’t have the structure guiding him right now. Here are my thoughts regarding that and a couple of options for you.   If interested […]

Yes, it is an age-old argument and the two sides will debate until they are hoarse. This argument is of course, do runners need supplements? If they don’t, how come? If so, why and which ones? It’s certainly a rabbit hole to go down and I have been on both sides of the argument. I […]

The topic of detraining has come up a lot, lately. At the time of writing this, we are under a stay at home shelter and our spring marathons have been cut short. A lot of folks feel like their hard fought gainZ are lost forever. However, I feel like there is a fair amount of […]

It’s no doubt that being “mentally tough” is something that can improve your performance, but the way I hear runners discuss, it feels like it is something that you either have or you don’t. Personally, I found it a fluid ingredient to my personal performance. I was mentally tough in my outstanding performances, but was […]

With all the questions regarding maintenance plans to reduce the impact of having races cancelled and then filling the void until you need to start training for your fall races, although Boston technically will still be summer. How weird was that to write? Let’s lay out some timelines and the courses of action possible. However, […]

October 7-13 Another solid week. Took a few days extra, but mileage was still high. Thursday was a big long run with the guys, where we got rolling. Hit a lot of 5:20-5:30 pace during the last 10 miles. Watch died, but 20.4 miles in 2:00:21- 5:54 pace. Sunday was a nice 4×2 miles October […]

This past weekend’s marathon mayhem (The first sub 2 hour marathoner and a new world record in the women’s marathon) provided a perfect opportunity to answer a question some posed to me some time ago- “How to avoid the late marathon fade?” Now many of you are saying “Nutrition!” While that might be part of […]

Monday 9/16 and 9/17 Two days of 12 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. Did get strides in on Monday! Wednesday 9/18 Long 24 miles in 2:22:40 (5:57/mile) Now, before people go, “but, but, but!” I am running well over 100 miles per week, and I’m running for under 2.5 hours, so that’s […]

9/2/2019 AM: 10 miles easy. Last run from the cottage. See ya next summer, Hubbard Lake! (Hopefully, for most of the summer) No afternoon run. After cleaning the cottage and driving home, I’m whooped! 9/3/19 Strength Day! Upped it up to an 8x1mile @ MP-10 with 2:30 jog today. All under 5:10 and usually was […]

8/19/19 through 8/25/19 Monday 8/19/19 Today was the day following a pretty solid 22 miler I put in. One of the biggest lessons I have learned recently is that if I want to continue training really hard on my workouts then my easy days really have to be a recovery day. 7-8 years ago, I […]

It always surprises me when people are interested in my training as I feel like it is pretty mundane. Even more so, I am now a middle aged man with a business to run, people to coach, a husband and a father. So, maybe that’s it? Maybe there is a twinkle of inspiration in there? […]