How do you want to start your week? Miserable or Strong?
Mondays are tough…we have to go back to work after a busy weekend where we probably didn’t catch up on our sleep or destress as much as we needed. We wake up with a full week ahead and we really just want to go back to bed!
Since Monday’s can be so rough, we have to make a conscious decision as soon as our feet hit the floor that this Monday is going to be the start of a week of confidence, inner strength, and smiles.
We start our Monday with confidence and smiles and that is going to make us strong because when we are confident about ourself, when we smile at whatever comes our way, our inner strength glows and the misery that can creep in is kicked to the curb.
You have the control. Choose strength over misery and confidence over self doubt.
When you get up smiling your day immediately becomes brighter! xoxoxo
Day 2 exercises:
- Advanced 7 Minute Strength Workout for Runners (see below)
- Wall Sit :60
- Plank :60
- Show us your smile! – I would love to see lots of smiling faces on this Monday! When you post today, show us how you start your week with confidence by smiling through whatever is on your plate. Who knows who your smile might encourage!
Bonus: Clam Workout (see below) – I love this short hips focused workout! It is 2.5 minutes per leg and the exercises are recommended by every PT and Ortho I have come across. 5 minutes Crew I know you can make the time!
Advanced 7 Minute Strength Workout for Runners – These exercises are for everyone, NOT JUST ADVANCED runners. This 7 minute targeted workout is quick but I love every single move. We have done every single move many many times and everyone of you can do these. You might need short breaks within the set but that is ok, take a break when you need to then jump right back in!
Bonus Clam Workout – Hips hips hips…I cannot say enough how important our hips and glutes are to our running AND to our overall health and fitness. Sitting all day makes our hips out of alignment and weak. This workout is super quick and gives you that good burn….but does not over stress our system. You can do this workout every day! Save it for future reference and throw it in whenever you can!
Speed Work – You probably already know what the speed work is this week…but I’m not giving it to you just yet. In fact, if you are racing this week for the 4th, you will NOT be doing speed work. If you aren’t racing on Wednesday, sorry…you should’ve found a race! 🙂
But for now, I want to talk a little bit about strides. We are not talking about your stride as in “you have a beautiful stride.”
These strides are:
Short bursts of quick running that are typically completed in the middle or at the end of a run, or as part of a warm-up before a speed workout, or an entire speed workout for a runner new to speed work” Strides are very short distances run at race pace or faster.
Strides can be done after an easy run, in the final minutes before a race, or as your speed work if you are new to running faster and have not transitioned into regular weekly speed work. There’s lots of info out there about strides but I wanted to make a quick video for you. Below is a video Chad helped me make for you yesterday. It is hard to see the difference as I speed up but I think you will get the overall premise. I would love to see a conversation started with questions and concerns about the best way to incorporate strides into your workout no matter what level you are at!
Day 2 recap:
- 7 Minute Strength Workout for Runners
- Plank & Wall Sit (:60 each)
- 5 minute clam workout
- Plan a stride workout after an easy run, as a precursor to your speed work (after your warm up) or before a race (also after an easy warm up). Tell us when you will put some strides into your schedule this week! Remember that you need full recovery between each stride so plan for about 10 minutes to complete 4 sets.
Total time for today’s workout = 15-20 minutes (including planning your stride workout!
Strong to the Core 