It’s Thursday and that means our long runs are right around the corner! Last weekend we had a few Crew members suffering through long runs because of super sore legs after Thursday’s leg workout…

Let’s keep that from happening again this weekend. Instead, you need to think ahead and do what is right for you.

Our 30 Day Challenge is about getting stronger to give you a leg up when it comes to your running. It’s about building strong bones to keep us pain free and running strong as we age. It’s about learning the positive side of adding strength to your routine to lose weight and increase your metabolism.  But it’s also about knowing your body and when to give it a rest or when to take it easy and be able to go the distance for races and long runs.

With that in mind, I want you to think ahead for the weekend. Do you have a tough long run or race coming up? If the answer is YES you should be taking it relatively easy today. Now, that doesn’t mean sit around and do nothing…but it does mean that if you do a hard leg workout, you’ll make it harder to reach your weekend goals, which makes you sad, and can cause you to go into next week with a negative attitude towards strength training.

The choice is yours, but I want you to be honest with yourself about your plans. Don’t skip the workout if you truly don’t have a tough workout ahead. If it’s an easy long run, a fall back week in your training, or a weekend where you don’t have a long run planned, push hard today. If you do have a tough workout ahead, do less sets (maybe 2 instead of 3, or 1 instead of 2), use less weight, or switch up your exercises and pick up an arm or core day that you missed this month.

It’s all about making it work for you and your goals. Thinking ahead will allow you to make the right decision for your body!

Want to go back and find a day that you missed? There’s a couple ways to do this. Here are some options…

1. Go to StrongtotheCore.wordpress.com and scroll down till you see the “search by keyword”box  in the left sidebar. You will find it just below our menu and just above the “Run Junkee Ambassador” logo. Type in “Day __” and you should easily be able to find the day you are looking for. If you are on a phone or tablet, this search box might not show up. so using this method you want to be on a PC so the whole blog is visible.
2. Go to StrongtotheCore.wordpress.com and scroll down till you see “Posts from
   the Past” in the left sidebar. Here you will find a list of posts from the past few weeks. You can click on the date you want to get that day’s “daily post”.
3. Go into our Strong to the Facebook group and and use the “search” box to find links to the daily post you are looking for. You will want to type “Amy Magdalein Day __” You may have to scroll past some of my other posts but you will see a list of all our daily posts and can find what you are looking for.
4. If you are on our blog, go ahead and take a minute to sign up to “follow this blog by email” which is on the left and right sidebar. This means you will get an email from me every time I publish a blog post. Make a “Strong to the Core” folder on your computer and save these emails and you will have them forever! While you’re there, take a look around. If you scroll down you will see our amazing #CoreCrew family pictures from the past year. 🙂

The point here is to listen to your body, take what you have learned from training runs in the past, and think ahead to what you have to do over the next few days. There are no “rules” in our Crew…no one will be upset with you for doing what is right for you, your training and your goals!

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Day 21!

With that out of the way, on to Day 21! Today is leg day and includes exercises that are basic and familiar to us all. They can be done in a short amount of time but are essential for runners. If you do a quick search of strength exercises for runners, these will come up every time. For our squats, I’d like you to switch it up and do a different type of squat today. Check out the link next to “squats” below for a great list of squat variations you can try.

Day 21 Plan:

• Quick Morning Workout & Quick Before Bed Workout
• Day 21 Leg exercises: 2-3 x 10
• Bonus: ROLL YOUR LEGS and STRETCH! This shouldn’t be a bonus but sometimes it helps to have it on the list so you will get it done! Click here for our 7 Key Stretches for Runners.
• Speed Work: Click for this week’s speed workout >>> The Even Steven (If you are going long on Saturday, DO NOT do speed work today. The opportunity has passed and you need fresh legs for your long run. Plan better next week to get it done earlier so you have time to rest and recover!

Quick Morning Workout and Quick Before Bed Workout:

 

Day 21 Exercises: 2-3 x 10 – Click here for “how to” videos for today’s exercises

• Squats – Your Choice – Click here for list of squat variations
• Side Lunges – Go deep on each side and feel the stretch in your glutes and inner thighs
• Clams (Resistance Band optional)
• Reverse Clams (Resistance band optional)
• Wall Sit – :60 or more!

Bonus: Roll your legs and stretch! Click here to find the live video I did a few weeks ago on rolling.

Thinking ahead about what we have going on over the weekend can make our break our long runs. A well laid out plan means making adjustments during the week that make sense for our personal needs.

So…what are your plans this weekend? Should you adjust today’s workout to ensure you’re not sore going into an important run? If so, how will you make today count while making sure you don’t sabotage those important long runs?