On this episode, we explore a topic often underestimated but vital for endurance sports – sleep.  In a world where nutrition and exercise usually claim the spotlight, we're here to shed light on the underrated role that sleep plays in optimizing health and fitness.  But why focus on sleep?  Have you ever considered that sleep might be more influential than both food and exercise combined? The renowned Shawn Stevenson, a nutritionist and former collegiate track athlete, suggests just that.  To help explain how sleep impacts your endurance journey.  we brought together ..read more

As an endurance athlete nutrition is a crucial aspect of our preparation as it provides the energy we need for running, triathlons, and other endurance sports. In this episode, we'll be focusing on nutrition for long-distance running, but fear not, the insights we share can be applied to various endurance sports like triathlon, swimming, and cycling. We are delighted to have an exceptional group of experts joining us for this conversation. From Align Modern Health, we welcome Dr. Lexi Mikrut and Dr. Blake Butler and representing Chicago Endurance Sports, we have the pleasure of having Coach Ry ..read more

Summer Marathon/ Half Marathon is our biggest and longest train program of the year, and with it come some of the biggest excitement and anticipation. To get thing off to an energetic start we have assembled this episode to introduce you to this season lead coaches as well as go over some of the basics that we believe will be useful as we kick-off the 2023 summer running season. If you are new to Chicago Endurance Sports, we highly recommend you check out our New Member Orientation episode, where we go into detail about how CES training is structured ..read more

Coach Violet is here to pump you up for marathon day with her valuable insights, experience, and positive spirit in this bonus mini-episode ..read more

Marathon Race Week can be full of excitement and anticipation, but also can involved worry and stress. On this episode of the Chicago Endurance Sports Podcast Coach Cynthia, Coach Lori and Coach Michael do their best to help navigate you safely through your final week to your race. Their conversation covers the dos and don’ts of your activity and nutrition on the days leading up to race day, setting race goals, your visit to the race expo, race morning, and much much more. And of course, they have fun too. This episode  references  a few previous episode you can listen to in the arch ..read more

While we tend to accept that being able to perfect most athletic skills requires investing time into practicing and performing drills, most of us give little thought into how we run. This might be due to the fact that running is a skill we don’t even remember learning, and is an activity we can do passively. The purpose of talking about Good Form Running ( GFR) is to make you conscious of how you run instead of just going through the motion.  For this episode we repurposed the contentment from Coach Randy's fantastic video series on Good Form Running as a way to provide another avenue fo ..read more

Attempting anything for the first time can elicit many emotions ranging from apprehension to  giddy excitement to cold-sweat terror. On this episode we are talking about the journey to your first marathon. No matter your background or experience, taking on the challenge of running a marathon is a daunting undertaking, especially for first-timers. We thought it would be beneficial to have a conversation at the start of the training season to help you avoid common mistakes, dispel pre-conceptions, and hopefully alleviate some of those first-time jitters. We hope this conversation aids in se ..read more

So you registered to train with Chicago Endurance Sports, and now you are thinking “What have I gotten myself into”.  It is understandable to feel a little anxious when taking on a new challenge, but relax we have got you covered. On this episode of the Chicago Endurance Sports podcast we will try to answer many of the questions you may have as you begin your CES journey. We’ll discuss how CES does things and what to expect  from your CES training program so you feel comfortable as you get started training with us. We’ll go over how CES intends to support you through communications a ..read more

On this episode Coach Emily, Coach Michael, and Coach Ryan discuss the role of Spring Training and how you might leverage it to assist you in your short and long term running goals. Whether you have been training through the winter or taking some time off of running, Spring  Training offer many unique opportunities runners of all levels. What makes Spring Training unique? What special opportunities does Spring present for the  novice and experienced runner?  Whether you have already committed to Spring Training or are still on the fence, this episode should supply a lot for you ..read more

Whether it is during training or in races, as endurance athletes we are always challenging ourselves to achieve more. But what happens when we fail to meet our expectations? It’s been said that you can’t be brave without being vulnerable. You can’t achieve great things without failing. On this episode Coach Michael and Coach Kristina, address the topic of Failure and Success. Coach Kristina, a licensed clinical psychologist, helps us to better understand failure and success, and how this understanding can positively influence our running pursuits, as well as how we can prevent it from hamperin ..read more