As a runner himself, Jason Koop has two top-10 finishes at the Leadville Trail 100 and has finished some of ultrarunning's most challenging races like the Badwater 135, Wasatch 100, and the Hardrock 100.
He's the Director of Coaching at Carmichael Training Systems where he's been for over a decade working with runners, cyclists, and triathletes.
Today, coach Jason Koop focuses more on trail ultramarathoners, guiding some of the best ultra runners in the country:
This wide-ranging conversation covers a lot:
Our conversation is a must-listen for aspiring coaches, ultrarunners, and running geeks who want to dive a little deeper into training theory.
Running injuries are formally called repetitive stress injuries. Do the wrong thing (over a prolonged period of time) and you can rest assured that you’re probably going to get hurt.
Here’s a great example from outside the running world. Recently I interviewed Staci Ardison in our monthly interview series for Team Strength Running about weight lifting. She’s become a very competitive powerlifter over the last few years and asked about injuries in the weight room. What causes them? How do you stay healthy while lifting?
Her answer was surprising. It wasn’t a neat new trick or fancy wrist strap for dead lifts.
It had nothing to do with what shoes you’re wearing (in fact, she frequently lifts barefoot or whether or not you were wearing compression socks.
Her answer was this:
Not doing things correctly. Don’t ego lift.
How simple. And also, how accurate.
In the sport of weightlifting (just like in running), injuries are caused by doing things you’re not prepared to do.
I want to provide a bit more detail on and examples of these training errors so let’s dive into the top 5 mistakes we make as runners.
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