You don't need six-pack abs to cross the finish line, but it could help. Strength training for runners builds stamina and lean muscle, improving times and aerobic capacity. "Runner's World Magazine" points out that muscle imbalances, like strong quads and weak hamstrings, cause injuries that can interrupt training for a race or suspend your daily fitness run. Cross-conditioning lowers the risk of injury and speeds recovery if you do get hurt. Strong legs and core muscles power you for faster sprints and keep you on the track longer for more intense training. Body-weight exercises like plank, bridge and crunches are easy to add to a strength-training program, as are workouts using a stability ball or resistance bands.
Functional fitness is what mile repeats are all about, and the conditioning benefits new runners as well as veterans. Divide your runs into 1-mile segments with a fast recovery break between each mile. Go long for endurance, running a single mile at a comfortably hard pace with a 60-second recovery before the next mile. The pace builds stamina, and the short break keeps you in the target heart rate zone while delaying fatigue. The result -- you train longer before you experience exhaustion and slower speeds. Pick up the pace with mile intervals at your 5K race tempo, separated by 2- to 3-minute recovery periods, to improve cardiovascular fitness and increase running speed. Mile repeats are adaptable to your training goals -- whether you are tackling a 100-mile ultramarathon or entering your first 5K fun run.
The repetitive movement of running leads to tight and imbalanced muscles that slow you down and can even stop you in your tracks. The solution is intelligent stretching, not once but twice during a run. Begin with a warm-up to boost circulation to stiff muscles -- 5 minutes of jumping jacks or jogging in place will do it. Ease into the run with dynamic stretching; jogging the first lap slowly uses the activity itself to enhance flexibility. Dynamic stretching avoids tiring muscles before a run, improves range of motion, protects joints and increases the supply of fresh, oxygenated blood to muscles. After the run is the time for static stretching, the stretches you hold for 15 to 30 seconds to lengthen muscles, loosen tight hip flexors, balance hamstrings and quads, and align the muscles of your spine.
Run like your ancestors did for better body awareness, strength and speed. Barefoot conditioning is a gradual progression from walking around barefoot in your house or on grass or sand to setting out for your daily run sans sneakers. The Idea Health & Fitness Association says that barefoot running is less tiring than running in shoes, results in fewer lower leg injuries -- including those to ankles, shins and knees -- strengthens bones and muscles in feet and ankles, and increases running economy, among other benefits. Work up to running barefoot on hard surfaces or choose a treadmill, elliptical trainer or a sand or grass track as a less challenging alternative. If shoe-free isn't practical, special running shoes mimic the experience of running bare. It's important to choose a track free from glass, sharp stones or potholes to avoid injury.
