Important Summer Training Tips
Your runs don’t have to be fast to be helpful.
Stringing together a bunch of medium-paced average runs is more effective than going all out a few times a week (only to be too tired/sore to run that pace again), especially when you’re focusing on increasing your mileage.
If you’re able to choose between sleep and running, do your run later and get more sleep. It’s not hardcore to skip sleep, it’s unproductive. Your body needs it to absorb the training.
Don’t do AB workouts, do CORE workouts. Ab = abdominals only. Core = abdominals, obliques, glutes, pelvis, lower back. Purpose of working out just your abs = vanity. Purpose of working out your entire core = getting functionally strong to run faster.
Do runs on grass and trails for the soft surfaces (and because in the winter you’ll miss the color green, believe me), but don’t worry about your pace. The terrain will naturally slow you down, but it will also force you to work different muscles which will strengthen your core WHILE YOU RUN (why core? see above).
Don’t just hydrate with water. Replace the electrolytes you lose when you sweat with gatorade or powerade, or if that’s too sweet for you, dilute it with water or invest in Nuun or Skratch or a similar product.
Most most most importantly…ENJOY YOURSELF. Setting only outcome-based goals (”win state”; “break 19″; “take a minute off my PR”) drains the joy out of the sport that you love very quickly. Remember that. Set another, more important goal: to enjoy the process. To love the sport more in July than you did in June, and to love it still more in August. Actively cultivate your passion, and let the rest take care of itself.
Bringing this back because it’s time.
Because there is good stuff here
