James Kuegler Coaching - Articles

Spirited Women: Safety In The Bush

12/13/2018

If previous Spirited Women - All Women's Adventure Races are anything to go by, it is quite possible that on more than one occasion between now and the event, you, and your team mates will find yourself mis-placed in the bush, for a brief moment in time. It is surprisingly easy to get lost or worse in the bush. Here's how to make sure that becoming mis-placed becomes a great story over a glass of wine, rather than your slow agonising demise. At the very least, it will prevent the embarrassment of being rescued while scaring your loved ones.

Spirited Women

5 Last Minute Trail Tips

10/12/2018

With the Abel Tasman Coastal Classic, Taupo Ultra-Marathon, Crater Rim Ultra and various other events happening this weekend, here are my last minute tips for those taking on trail events.

Trail Running Coach

Training Principles

10/4/2018

Papakura Running Coach

I have seven training principles which underpin how I work with athletes. Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the manner in which I engage with people I train will know this. I think it is important however to continue to discuss these principles as I believe that applying them to a training programme will maximise the chance of an athlete meeting, or indeed exceeding, their goals.
The principles are; Train short, train long, train easy, train hard, train specific, cross train, train fatigued and train the mind.

Riding The Nutritional Swing

9/27/2018

Article by Dr. Tim Leeming. Exercise Nutritionist, Chiropractor.

We’ve all sat on the nutritional rollercoaster at some stage. Some of us are constantly stuck on it, riding front row, craving the next popular trend in food and health! Pun intended…

Not many would argue that the path to understanding how to eat for optimal health is like that of a swing or a pendulum. Cycling back and forth between extremes, from one thing to the other. Low fat to high fat. Carb loading to low carb. Macro counting to forgetting macros altogether. These are just some of the more popular examples from the past few decades or less.

Leah Anstis: Pity Party

9/23/2018

Article by Leah Anstis

Welcome to my pity party, I hope you got the memo about this being BYO mini violins!

This week, after months of reasonably solid and committed training, I pulled the pin on the target. Historically, this would be a devastating move. Something I’d spent months building up to, talking about , thinking about and worst of all … telling you all about… I’m not going to do it now!

Lets wind back about 4 weeks, when I believe the slow chain of events lead to this decision began.

Auckland Running Coach

Splatter Tee Photos

9/13/2018

Toot Kit

Three New Zealand Road Race Champions

9/3/2018

Sophie Robb, Siobhan Balle & Luke Clements win New Zealand Road Race titles.

I celebrate all my athletes and their successes, however it is no secret that the most personal fulfilment I get is from seeing the crop of juniors that I coach achieving things that they had perhaps thought out of their grasp.

Yesterday was a prime example of this. Six athlete coached by James Kuegler Coaching ran at the New Zealand Road Race Championships at St Peter’s School in Cambridge. Three of those athletes won national titles. Sophie Robb (Auckland City Athletics) won the U13 Girls title, Siobhan Balle (Papakura Athletics & Harrier Club) took out the U15 Girls title, and Luke Clements (Papakura Athletics & Harrier Club) was victorious, taking the U15 Boys title.

As a coach it is a pretty special thing when an athlete wins a New Zealand title. I’m hopeful that For Siobhan, Sophie and Luke this is their first of many, but for right now, it is nice to be in a place where we can enjoy and reflect on this success.

Siobhan Balle Bronwyn Mitchell

Siobhan Balle, James Kuegler & Bronwyn Mitchell

Badge of (Dis)Honour

8/5/2018

Why is it that we labour under the delusion that having black, dead, or missing toenails is a badge of honour in running? If this was our teeth would we feel the same? I doubt it. I would suggest that kicking a tree root or rock with significant force should be the only reason to lose toenails. In more than a decade, the only toenail I have ever come close to loosing was after attempting to uproot Tane Mahuta (the god of the forest) with my toe. Want to avoid turning your feet into nail graveyards?

Along The Track

8/3/2018

Waerenga School Newsletter
by Biahn Pallister

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved running. I like to run with my family and love Cross Country. In May this year I joined Papakura Harriers. The club has a coach called James. He is the best coach ever. Because he is a shamazing runner. I think he likes chocolate too! He gives me lots of information about running, like the the pace I should run in my races. At my first race in May, it was really nerve racking. But I felt like I could win it. It was really tricky because you had to jump off stuff and go up a really big steep hill. I tried my best , and ran my fastest and ended up winning my race! After that I went to Long Bay, where I had to race against girls and boys! I tried my best again and won the race. In the first weekend of the holidays we went all the way to Taupo where I ran in the “North Island Champs” I had to compete in the under 11’s age group. I came fifth. Last weekend I ran in the Auckland Championship. i tried my best again and now I am the under 9’s Auckland Champion, even if I don’t win all of my races, I’m still proud and happy to run.

Intensity and Trail Running

7/22/2018

Kiwi Trail Runner Article

The two most important metrics in regard to racing or training are A) Time, and B) Intensity. If you were to ask a runner this question you would usually get the answer time and distance but this is trail running, right? If we were to focus on time and distance in a week a 100 kilometres on trails around the Riverhead Forest in the mud is going to be very different from 100 kilometres around the mountains of the Southern Lakes of Wanaka and Queenstown, which again would be different from 100 kilometres on flat, manicured well drained soil. If we bear this in mind, time and distance tells us very little. We actually need to know about time and intensity and the same is true of racing.