My run coaching program

Helping runners grow and thrive with a fun, adaptive, recovery based SMART approach.

Are You FRUSTRATED by poor race performance, lack of progress, lack of motivation, lack of confidence, aches and pains, stuck? Or are just in a rut and want some structure and more variety to move the needle. I’m here to help you with my SMART Approach!

S.M.A.R.T. – Structured Marathon Adaptive Recovery Training is a unique way to help you learn and grow with smarter training with a strong focus on recovery in your training. Most plans focus on the training plan. Many runners feel if you can just follow the plan all will be good. It’s not that simple. The beauty of the SMART Approach is that it not only gives results from cutting edge training techniques but it also allows you to have more fun and run injury free while building miles and chasing PRs. And having more fun as well as part of a team!

Value I offer as your coach

My mission, focus and approach is always to work on key components of run fitness development in the ratio customized for YOU and for your progress and health. In a short period of time I will know what you need the most work on. Endurance, stamina and/or aerobic power/speed. I will also make this run journey fun for you! If running is not enjoyable, it is hard to move the needle.

Customized Weekly RUN TRAINING Plans

I deliver a new training plan each week tailored to your goals, current fitness, recovery needs and life schedule–all through the FINAL SURGE training App. I monitor your results and adjust as needed weekly to keep you progressing and growing. I also am in contact with you daily if needed as you comment on your runs and have questions. I interact with you daily, weekly and also available as needed by text.

Personalized, Science-Based Yet COMMON-SENSE Training

My SMART Approach is built around my 6 pillars of running development:

• Endurance: Building your aerobic base with strategic volume and easy running
• Stamina: Improving your ability to handle discomfort and sustain pace with workouts like STEADY, Stamina, progressions, and threshold runs
• Aerobic Power/Speed: Enhancing your form, power, and running economy with short intervals, hills, and striders at the right effort
• Race Strategy: This is huge and often ignored because runners are so focused on the training plan. I help you determine what your capabilities are for race day and give you a game plan you are 100% confident in executing on the big day.
• Durability & Toughness: Often times we don’t maximize our fitness in training or on race day because we naturally tend to relent when things get harder. My approach is 100% structured to help you slowly build training and race toughness so you perform your best on race day.
• Having Fun: I blend science with common sense to make this a fun journey for you. Fun does not mean you still don’t work hard but your mindset and attitude is so key. I want you looking forward to training vs “the grind”.

You’ll train smart based on your current fitness, not arbitrary pace goals or an obsession with a goal time. I am a common sense, process based coach vs reaching for race times outcomes coach who may use cookie cutter calculators to come up with a time. My process, formula and strategies are proven and developed over 35 years working with athletes and runners.

Unlimited Communication

Text me. Email me. Message me through FINAL SURGE. I don’t charge extra for questions or support. I’m your coach, not a tiered package. 100% access whenever you need me. I am here as a friend and life coach as well if you need me in this light anytime.

Education + Community

You’ll get access to SMART Academy Zoom calls, training articles, fueling strategies, strength resources and our exclusive INNER CIRCLE Facebook group. We learn together. Over 35 years of knowledge and experience are in your hands. AND, every week I am reading and listening to podcasts continuing to learn and refine my approach. This is my full time gig with complete devotion to this craft and YOU!!!

Accountability + Relationship

I believe in coaching the person, not just the runner. Many of my athletes become friends and we share wins, setbacks and have a blast along the way. It’s personal, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I like to have fun and make the training plans and my approach fun and sustainable. Coaching is about connection and my athletes regularly share how well I connect with them and stay positive and make everyone smile. Anyone who says this should be a 24/7 grind and never fun?? Then run away!

Results with Recovery in Mind

My approach prioritizes recovery and consistency to help you stay healthy and improve steadily….not burn out. You’ll learn to train SMART, adapt on the fly and thrive in a custom running training plan built just for you and monitored daily by me.

Race Strategy Coaching

Race day is where it all comes together. I help you execute a smart strategy based on pacing, fueling, hydration and “feel” so you run to your potential and avoid the all-too-common crash from poor planning and pacing. You can have the most amazing training but if you don’t know how to race or have a game plan you are confident in, you simply will not race your best and you will not maximize your training. I want you to be rewarded for your work and no one emphasizes race strategy more than me. So crucial!

Experience You Can Trust

With over 35 years in running, fitness, health and the medical industry plus a degree in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition, I bring deep expertise to every athlete I coach. There isn’t much I can’t help with or provide a common-sense answer to. I have extensive knowledge in many fields and in life if you need this guidance.

Your transformation begins with this free, simple inquiry! I will evaluate your current training and fueling plan for FREE!

SMART APPROACH Key Components

Over time I will get a sense on what you need the most work on in the ratio of what I feel is best for your progress and health. Endurance, stamina and aerobic power/speed.

Endurance

ENDURANCE is 80-85% of this. These are the slower paced miles, long runs, long slower runs and pure volume of training. The goal here is to keep building your aerobic engine or base or “cake.”

This is the foundation to help you become a more efficient fat burning powerhouse with more thriving mitochondria. You can always build here for many years. I do feel most runners lack development here because of the all-too-common “too much too hard running” approach that teaches them to use carbs (quick energy) more and more efficiently – not ideal. It limits their growth potential because they are usually straining too much from the paces they run and cannot build up their miles. Progress grinds to a halt and aches pop up usually. These runners also do a lot of gray zone training where it’s too hard for easy and too easy for hard. It slows growth and may limit potential.

You hear a lot about zone training. I don’t coach with zones or heart rates but when you build your endurance it makes you better at all zones from 1-5 in a 5-zone system like Garmin has.

Stamina

STAMINA is yucky stuff management or dealing with the discomfort/pain of faster paces also called acidosis. Endurance is about running far. Stamina is about running kinda far but faster. These types of workouts are what I call Critical Velocity work, Todd Tempo, Euphoric Tempos, Lactate Threshold Velocity, Progression Runs, OUT and BACKS, Cruise Intervals etc.

Simply, you teach the body to get better at getting rid of gook more efficiently and develop the Fast Twitch IIA muscle fibers, so they take on more aerobic qualities. It matters. This is huge.

Many coaches don’t recognize the importance of dialing into certain paces and “feel”, and their athletes miss out on the right paces to get optimal development.

You can call it tempo or CV but if not run at the right paces or effort you don’t get the ideal benefits. I ensure that you do. The end result is that your cruising speed or cruising pace and ideally half marathon and marathon speed or pace will be faster and feel easier on race day because you want to be “cruising” vs straining throughout.

It will it feel when you are halfway through a half or full marathon and wondering if you are running hard enough. This is when you are fit and racing properly.

Aerobic Power / Speed

AEROBIC POWER or SPEED is another component and is faster running. Many runners and some coaches over emphasize this especially in average runners like most of us. If elites are running 100 miles a week… absolutely they can handle much more speed work.

If running 20-50 miles per week, my experience is that athletes respond quite well to a smaller volume of this fast work. AND true speed work is paces at 5k race pace or faster.

In your weekly plan from me you will see striders, hills, and intervals of 30-120 seconds where you are moving pretty quickly. These drills stress you plenty without breaking you down too much. The goal is to increase your stride length, leg speed, leg power and improve your form or running economy and running skill.

If you run better, you perform better. More is not better though for speed work which is a big problem in the running community because runners feel that more is better and hammer intervals faster than they are supposed to.

​Race Strategy

RACE STRATEGY is also so key if this is a goal down the road. I really emphasize this with my athletes to the highest priority so you go into a race prepared, confident and having a plan of attack based on your potential that day vs what you want, think or hope you should run.

This race strategy includes pacing, fueling and hydration and “feel”. This is a big deal. It can be very frustrating to put in many weeks or months of training but totally blow race day strategy and not run to your potential. It bums you out big time and you almost feel like the training was wasted. I am a fanatic on race strategy and feel it is not emphasized enough in coaching based on the feedback I get from athletes who have worked on their own or with other coaches.

I will set training paces based off of time trials or recent race which I convert into my formulas. We will use this or convert into a 5K race pace. I will use this pace or my estimates until you show me otherwise through your performance. You will always work at paces based on your current fitness vs goal fitness. For example, let’s say you or anyone wants to run a 10 min/mi pace HALF race. We don’t hammer on 10 min pace just because it’s your goal. It is what many runners do, and I truly believe it is counterproductive. We focus on paces and training to make you better overall. You can and will get more fit and faster at all race distances with my SMART Approach strategies.

Running Workout Types

I have many unique workouts I prescribe and variations of the workouts or what I call BIG DAYs. Critical Velocity, Todd Tempo, Threshold, Euphoric Tempos, Progression Runs, NO LOOKYs, Hill Repeats, Striders, TASSOs, Speedies, Meat and Potatoes, OUT and BACK, Landmark Fartleks, EASY etc. Endless variety in plan to stimulate your system for growth.

The one key point to understand is that running easy is good for you. Running easier paces does not lead to less benefits. It helps with mitochondrial development, helping you become more efficient at burning fat as an energy source (good for marathoners) and also helps with recovery and making your harder or bigger days more productive AND improves your base and cake size or bank account to benefit you later. If the goal on an easy day is easy, then running it faster does not provide physiological benefits and may be counterproductive needing more recovery time or adding to the stress from a previous harder day. AND there is no such thing as too easy if this is what the day calls for.

Recovery

My approach is recovery based. I have a 30 + year history of working with injuries and recovery in the medical industry. Most coaches focus more on the plan… not Coach T! The plan is so important for sure, but recovery is every bit as important. You only get better if you recover better and smarter.

SMART stands for Structured Marathon Adaptive Recovery Training. Of course, there is no requirement to do a marathon as mentioned, it just means the plan has to be adaptable. If you have a big run tomorrow with speed but aren’t feeling good or are sore. You/we adapt and change it. You always have the flexibility to change it yourself as well in the moment of the run or before it if not feeling it. I also build in down weeks if needed. Sticking to a plan 100% is not worth the risk if something is off physically or any other negative factor.

SMART Approach Training is online. Follow Coach Todd’s advice from anywhere in the world in the comfort of your home to train smarter and recover faster and achieve your running goals and racing goals without neglecting your work or family obligations.

Don’t waste time experimenting or following the cookie-cutter plans. Coach Todd will be available to guide you and answer your questions and provide you with the support and expertise you need throughout the whole process of your SMART Approach training.

I want to help you achieve your goals and possibly more than you ever imagined!

• Increased healing and recovery with SMART Approach recovery system!
• Become excited about your training within 24 hours with a one-on-one personalized protocol chosen just for you!
• SMART Approach is the only system focusing on both and eliminating obstacles in way of healing and recovery leading to a more optimal training result!​
• SMART focuses on the 4 key elements of training, ENDURANCE, STAMINA, SPEED, and RECOVERY.
• Time-efficient with maximal results in a timeframe comfortable for you.
• Teaches you how to recover much faster from your daily runs so you can train smarter to PR your future runs and races.
• Teaches you how to train off your current fitness level instead of your goal fitness level. It matters!​
• LONG Range Progress Is A Key Part Of the SMART Approach. PR in 3 months and in 3 years!
• BONUS: Coach Todd’s SMART system for recovery. Structured Muscle Activation Recovery Technique.

​