Springtime is the right time to gain strength

In my neighborhood there are dozens more people running each evening than there were just two weeks ago. No doubt the daylight savings and warm weather have something to do with it, but I also think it's that many people have a race planed in May or June and they're gearing up. That's great, but the problem is that many of these runners aren't familiar with a simple fact about running fitness. To use an automobile analogy, your engine gains fitness faster than your chassis can handle, meaning your aerobic metabolism improves quicker than your bones, ligaments and tendons can handle the improvement. This is why you can feel good on a run after only a couple weeks of training. Unfortunately this is also why many people experience their first injury four to six weeks into a training program (or at the point when intensity increases). So what should a runner do? General strength and mobility are, in my humble opinion, the most important aspect of non-running training that a runner can engage in. Check out our video section for ideas. You can start by doing the lunge warm-up before your run and the Myrtl routine after your run. Then after a few weeks you can add more work after your workouts and long runs, doing simple routines like the back routine or something more challenging like the medicine ball routine or the Swiss ball routine.  

Jay