I’ve typically always taken the winter months off from structured training and racing, dropping my volume, running just for fun but without following much of a training program. This year I decided to try something a little different.

Heading into my ‘off-season’ last fall after running the Grand to Grand Ultra, I decided to return to my road running roots and target the half-marathon distance instead.

What I learned was that running too fast can indeed make you slower, but that sometimes it’s necessary to take a step back before you can take two steps forward again.

Race season is once again upon us! It’s time to finalize a racing schedule and put together a training plan, but don’t forget to set aside a day or two to give back a little to the community.

The relatively small fields that trail running races tend to allow for, given permitting restrictions in parks throughout North America, mean that race directors have to rely quite heavily on what can often be a small army of volunteers in order to keep the costs down for a race. It’s not uncommon for races to need over 200 volunteers!

Volunteering is a fun way to support and cheer for your friends who might be racing, and I’ve found it an especially great way to stay involved when I’m recovering from an injury or another race. Some race directors even provide discounts on future race entry fees in exchange for your service, or other great perks like swag and appreciation parties.

So if you’ve never volunteered then go ahead and email a race organizer about how you can help out this season with one of the positions below.

This article was originally written for a post on The Manual, ‘The Essential Guide for Men’ which appeared on Feb. 3rd. See that original post here.

For some runners, the arrival of snow will signal a transition to training on skis or perhaps running indoors on a treadmill. For others like myself, it’s simply a chance to play in the mountains in a less structured way.

Trail running in the winter can certainly bring with it its own challenges, but it can be a lot of fun provided you are adequately prepared with the right equipment and follow a couple of simple pieces of advice. Here are 5 tips for having fun while winter trail running this season.

Heart rate training can be very useful for runners hoping to train more effectively by helping us to avoid those dreaded junk miles. Heart rate monitors can be purchased as chest straps and some GPS watches now even have built-in optical sensors on the wrist.

Since I’ve been training with heart-rate for quite a few years myself, and as an ambassador for Suunto, I often get asked about training with heart-rate. I’ve also realized in talking with people that there’s quite a bit of confusion on how heart rate can and can’t be used.

Here are 5 common mistakes that runners make when training with heart rate.

2015 was my third full season on the trails and was by far my biggest. After running my first 100 miler in 2014, I wanted to raise the bar again by going a little faster and a little further, while taking care of some unfinished business and revisiting one of my first races, and testing my limits at a new style of racing.

This season wasn’t all about racing though, as I had an amazing summer of training that included a week in Colorado to pace a friend at the Hardrock 100. I also led my first two trail running clinics with North Shore Athletics, and got to be a part of Gary Robbins’ FKT of the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier while helping on a film project with the Ginger Runner.

As I set my goals for 2016, it’s time for me to now take a look back at my 5 biggest accomplishments in my 2015 racing season.