Training Beyond Yourself
Michael Harlow
Founder and Head Coach
Endorphin Fitness

What is the essence of endurance sports? Endurance sports are about taking yourself to a level you did not know you had. Leaving your comfort zone and realizing that the impossible is possible. This is what releases the endorphins, brings us back time and time again, and hooks us for life. This is what makes this sport so special.

Understanding this is the first step to training (and coaching). As athletes, we need to find workouts that take ourselves to a new level – that find an ability that we did not know we had. The majority of athletes that come to Endorphin Fitness for the first time are training at one pace, their current race pace or slower. If you want to get faster, you cannot train at your current race pace. To get faster, you must train above race pace using purposeful intervals that force your body to adapt.

When choosing the correct interval, choose whatever duration your body and mind will allow you to do faster than race pace. On the simplest of levels, as coaches, we find the interval duration that each individual will mentally and physically allow themselves to push beyond and repeat it until we feel that person can handle a longer duration at near the same pace. Before long, the person’s race pace is much faster than before, and we spend the last phase of training getting them comfortable at this new race pace. All this is assuming that the person is ready for intensity and has a solid base of technique and endurance before moving to this phase.

This process is unique for every individual as their starting point (interval duration) is different. The concept is the same though for all - choose workouts that we know will force our athletes to perform beyond their current level. The process is also unique to various points in training, because as the person develops, they will need to tolerate more intense workouts to continue to perform beyond.

This concept is much like anything in life – if we are not challenged, we do not improve. Through obstacles in our lives, we are forced to rise to the challenge and become greater. We do this in training, and we do this in life.

If you want to get everything out of this sport, challenge yourself. Don’t be satisfied with staying the same. Challenge yourself to go faster, go further, and go more efficiently. Find workouts that require you to rise above. At Endorphin Fitness, we charge our athletes to “Live Red” which means train to the full extent of your capabilities constantly challenging yourself to be better; and then, allowing this to permeate into all facets of your life. My hope is that you will “Live Red” today.


Michael Harlow is the founder and head coach of Endorphin Fitness (www.endorphinfitness.com) where expert coaches get some to their first finish line and others to their finish line first. You can contact him at michael@endorphinfitness.com.