Even the heartiest of runners look at Februarys grey, low-hanging rain clouds and consider waving the white flag. But winter doesnt have to win.
After months of running outdoors, your body will welcome a change and the benefits of diverse training will also make you a more well-rounded athlete.
For the novice jogger or veteran road racer, there are countless ways to sweat buckets and stay fit.
Im a fan of individual sports and recommend lifting weights at the gym as a great cardio-building and fat-burning workout.
A moderate weightlifting program will help runners, including long-distance marathoners, strengthen muscles that aren't used in running. If all you do is run, certain muscles (your hamstrings, for example) will become stronger, but the quadriceps will not. This imbalance can lead to injury.
When you are working out with weights, try to use the same or similar amounts of weight for opposing muscle groups, such as the biceps and triceps, or the quads and hamstrings. The weight you lift with your hamstrings may feel easy, but that's OK. Your hamstrings get plenty of exercise from running. If the amount of weight you need to challenge your hamstrings is hard to lift with your quads, its better to lift less weight with the hamstrings than to overtax your quads.
Once you build more strength, you will feel comfortable lifting the same amount of weight with both muscle groups.
In half an hour, you can fit in two to three sets of 10-15 repetitions for a few key muscle groups, including the hamstrings and quadriceps, adductor and abductor muscles of your inner and outer hip, and the bicep and triceps.
The weight should be heavy enough that your muscles start to feel tired during the second or third set.
Strength and conditioning coach Jim Talo with Vancouvers Human Motion gym recommends getting a Functional Movement Screen, a seven-test system that determines an individuals mobility, stability and movement patterns.
Before doing any type of cross training in the gym such as weights or circuit training, get a FMS, which takes 10 minutes to do and most physiotherapists can do the assessment, he said.
Talo believes most endurance athletes should be screened before introducing brand new features to their workout. Athletes are very good at compensating any of their weaknesses or injuries and with endurance sport, for the most part, the athletes are doing the same movement pattern over and over and if their movement pattern isnt efficient, it could be compensated elsewhere in the body.
He adds, Someone who has been at it for a while may not be mobile in the hips, and you dont want to add load to that because your body will compensate for the lack of mobility.
He said many physiotherapists and trainers are now adding FMS screening to their repertoires as the test becomes more mainstream and recognized as a straight-forward method to detect red flags in an athletes movement.
Blaise Dubois, a boundary-pushing Quebecois physical therapist who specializes in injury prevention, suggested the FMS and particularly recommended runners develop their core strength if theyre planning to add weight training to their workout.
What is important in any change in training is to be progressive and to listen to your body even if the exercises are very good, he said.
Other excellent options for cross training include swimming, which is a total body workout, and ping pong, which will leave you soaked in sweat if youre competitive and playing against a like-minded opponent.
Christine Blanchette is a competitive runner with a passion for fitness, health and putting one foot in front of the other. Contact her at [email protected]
