Awesome Global Running Day Crew! Loved seeing all the “It’s Ok, I ran today!” posts!

Day 7 is all about arms and this 20 minute Fitness Blender Lean Arms Workout is going to make them lean and strong!

Day 7 exercises:

• Fitness Blender Lean Arms Workout
• Plank :60
• Wall Sit :60

That’s all for today Crew. Happy Friday Eve!

Today is the day…to run! It’s Global Running Day and we’re runners so of course we are running today!

What is Global Running Day?

Global Running Day is a worldwide celebration of running that encourages everyone to get moving. It doesn’t matter how fast you run or how far you go—what’s important is that you take part, and how you do it is up to you. Run a lap around your block, take your dog for a long walk, or call your friends for a pick-up game in the park. The important thing is that you have fun being active—and you inspire others to join you.

You can pledge to be a part of the Global Running Day by clicking here!

When you’re making your pledge, think about your inspiration. What drives you to run? What do you love about it? Why do you run? I can think of so many reasons…

• For fitness
• For fun
• For health
• To clear our head
• To eat ALL THE FOOD!
• To get that runner’s high!
• To socialize with friends
• To stay sane!

Why do you run? Does someone else inspire you? Tell us about them and why they push you to to be a better version of yourself.

Global Running Day just happens to land on our rest/mental health day YAY!! So today, all we do is run. Well..and a plank and wall sit but that’s a given. 😉

Day 6 exercises:

• RUN! Speed work, easy run, fun run with friends. Just run!
• Plank :60
• Wall Sit :60
• Roll & Stretch  🙂

Looking for this week’s speed work? Click here and scroll down for the workout! Today is  a great day to feel the need for speed!

When it’s all done, post your Day 6 accomplishments with “It’s OK, I ran today!” AND a picture of you running. Can be a solo run or a run with friends. I want to make a collage of all our #CoreCrew running accomplishments so don’t be shy! Let’s see how many miles we can rack up while we’re running virtually together all around the world!

Who doesn’t love Tabata? Well..me for one. I’ve never been a big fan of timed exercise, not sure why… This routine looks great though and I am excited to try it. And since I’m working with the optimism theory this week, I am going to expect the best! Who knows…maybe this will even be fun! The exercises look great and since they rotate throughout the workout at least we won’t get bored!

Today’s workout is lower body and core work and takes about 30 minutes including a great cool down stretch.

Don’t forget your plank and wall sit before you call it a day!

Day 5 exercises:

• Fitness Blender Low Impact Lower Body and Core Workout – Tabata Style!
• Plank – :60
• Wall Sit – :60
• Bonus – Plan and prepare for speed work!

Tabata Workout – Low impact, lower body and core. This is a great workout for after your run. Normally, I would suggest you do your strength first so you are able to maintain good form when you’re tired from a run but this low impact workout is a great way to increase strength while also stretching out our limbs.

Speed Work: Today’s bonus is to plan and prepare for this week’s speed work which simply means, tell us when you will do it, where you will do it and what your goal pace is for the 800 meter repeats. I want to you to think ahead and mentally prepare to work hard. When we prepare, we are more likely to succeed.

Part of preparation is planning for success. This is about getting yourself into a state of belief. Belief in yourself, that you can accomplish the task before you. I want you to take this a step further, beyond just believing in yourself. I want you to believe you will be excellent. We see what we tell ourselves is real.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” ~ Napoleon Hill

When we believe we will achieve! So cliche…I know…but also so true. Check out this week’s speed workout here (scroll down on Monday’s post to the speed work section) and don’t forget to plan ahead and put it in writing so it makes it more real to you and we can help keep you accountable.

That’s all for now Crew. Time for bed!

We can look at Monday with a scowl, or we can see a bright new day with endless possibilities and tons opportunities to do great things!

When we project negativity, negative things happen…because we’re expecting it, waiting for it, even looking for it. But when we wake up believing the possibilities are endless, our positive attitude is reflected in everything we do. Expect the best and good things will come!

We know that each day’s workout is a surprise…and to get our workouts done, we have to be optimistic about finding the time to get it done, optimistic about being able to complete the workout, and optimistic about how it will make us feel…because we know it getting it done feels amazing!

Word of the Day – Optimism: How can you incorporate optimism into more than your workout routine today? If you start optimistic about this one thing, can you extend that into the rest of your day? Do you think it will make a difference in the outcome? In how you will feel when you lay down tonight? Share your thoughts and maybe you will inspire someone else to expect the best too!

Day 4 exercises:

• Surprise Workout (follow along with video below) – Butt & Thigh Workout
• Plank :60
• Wall Sit :60
• Bonus – Hip & Glutes

Bonus – Modern Moms Hip Strength: Even with some awesome workouts in May, I realized that we neglected our hips and I am feeling it a bit in my knee so this month we are NOT skipping our hip & glute work. MAKE the extra 8 minutes you need to get this bonus workout in today!

Day 4 Workout – 10 Minute Butt & Thigh Workout: Starting Monday a tad easier with a shorter workout that will get us done and on with our day. And it will also give you time to get that hip and glute bonus in!

Plank: For our newbies, planks are awesome but you can do them incorrectly and get nothing out of them. Watch the video below and start with the easiest version and work your way up. Start with a lower time as well, maybe you do two :30 planks and slowly add time as you get stronger.

Wall Sit: Wall sit are awesome and we do them every single day (planks too!) but same as the planks, we must do them correctly to get the most out of this exercise. Check out the video below to see how it’s done. Try to get your legs as close to parallel to the ground as possible.

Speed Work: If you’ve been with us for a while, you know about IIP. IIP (Introduce, Improve and Perfect) is a training philosophy I learned during my RRCA Certification course. There are lots of theories out there about how we should train to get the best results but this one is good and I believe it is effective because it allows us three chances to get our workout right.

1. Introduce the workout – The first tie is always the hardest. We make mistakes, we start too fast, we don’t get in a good enough warm up, we don’t get well or get enough sleep the night before, or maybe we even did too many miles leading up to our speed work and we’re trying to run fast on tired, heavy legs. I’d rather you make sure you have enough recovery time between long runs and speed work but I know some of you just can’t wait to go fast! 😉 So whatever happens, you have another chance. This first time is just the introduction.
2. Improve the workout – The 2nd time you should be a little better because now you know what’s coming. Hopefully you’ve rested well, ate a good dinner the night before, hydrated properly so you’re not fading, and this time around…you should be slowing down during those first repeats because you realized you must have enough juice left to get through those last repeats. This is when you improve upon the previous week.
3. Perfect the workout – Now it’s time to put your best foot forward and give it all you’ve got. You know what it takes to finish the workout so be smart and run fast!

Introduce — Improve — Perfect! Sounds like a good plan right?

Have an idea what this week’s speed work is? If you guessed 800s, you are right! This will be the third week we’ve done this same workout and if you’ve been putting in the work each week, now is the time to shine! Plan ahead so you can make time to get in the full workout, so you are rested hydrated, and well fed, and so you have a route planned and your workout programmed into your Garmin and ready to go!

The Workout: 1-2 mile warm up + 4-10 x 800 meters + 1-2 mile cool down (total of 4 – 9 miles)

The distance you do in this workout depends on your fitness level and your training goals. If you are new to speed work start low and slow with 4 800 meter (1/2 mile) repeats. If you are not new and training for a 5K, I want to see more than 2 miles of speed work because a 5K is MORE than 2 miles! If you are training for a half or full marathon, don’t skimp on the miles. Go longer with 4-5 miles of 1/2 mile repeats.

I know this can be confusing so if you have questions, please ask! I am here to help you and I do not mind private messages or just being tagged in a post. But you have to ask or I won’t know what you don’t know! 😉

No matter what you do…know that you might struggle and that’s ok.

JUST DON’T QUIT!  

Thank you to Jennifer Stoner for providing today’s ending quote!

Some of us are running long and some of us are racing! Tell us what you’re doing so we can cheer you on and support you this weekend!

Going long isn’t about getting there fast, it’s about enjoying the process. Let’s talk about how to gear up for longer runs without burning out too early.

Many runners hit a plateau fairly early on in training. Maybe you get stuck around the four- or five-mile mark for longer runs and just never seem to be able to get past that point. Sure, you can finish a 10K (if you have to) but our normal weekday runs seem to fall in that 30 to 40 minute range.

Think about how fun it would be to hit the trails for an hour or two. Just you, your thoughts, your heartbeat and nature. Maybe you dream of running a half or a full marathon. If you have a goal in mind, you should look into a training plan that will get you there safely and in time for your race. If you’re just looking to add a few more miles to your weekly total for fitness or fun, or just to see how far you can go, there are a few tricks to going long that you should keep in mind. Let’s talk about some of them.

The keyword to keep in mind? Slowly.

1. Build Slowly – If five miles is the longest you’ve ever run, you’re not going to be running 10 the first time you set out. To avoid injury, slowly increase your volume. Add only a mile or two per week to your long. That sounds like a small addition, but it’ll add up quickly enough.
2. Be the Tortoise, Not the Hare – You know when people tell you that life is a marathon, not a 5K? Turns out they’re on to something! When you’re adding mileage, you have to drop your pace. If you’re used to heading out and pounding the pavement for 30 minutes every morning at a pace that’s comfortable for the entire time, you’ll quickly find that the same pace won’t be quite as comfortable as you extend to an hour, 90 minutes and longer. When you first start adding distance or time, think about leaving your watch at home or just turning it around on your wrist so you can’t see it all the time if you still want the data. Run at a pace that feels comfortable for you. Most long distance running should be at a pace where you could have a conversation with someone next to your without struggling to breathe or talk.
3. Keep your Heart Rate Aerobic – If you’re not sure about what heart rate you should be aiming for as you add volume, Phil Maffetone’s formula is a great place to start. Your heath rate should 180 beats per minute minus your age, then, add five if you’re a well-trained and fit, or subtract five if you haven’t been training regularly. Since most of us are fairly regular exercisers, we can stick with the 180-minus-age formula. This puts us in our aerobic zone, where we’ll want to be for most of our long runs.
4. Still concerned or want to add more slowly? Walk! – A great to add miles to in a way that almost guarantees you won’t increase your risk of getting injured is to start by adding walking ahead of and after your runs. Start with a half mile to a mile walk for a warmup, and end with a half a mile to a mile cooldown. Not only will your muscles thank you, but you’ll get used to the added time on your feet in a more gentle way. Gradually, run a bit more, maybe just a couple of extra blocks, before you start your cool down. Add more running time as slowly as you need to!
5. Don’t Neglect Post-Run Care – It’s easy to forget that a cool down is important when your pace is lower than you’re used to, but we still need to take a few minutes at the end of our run to slow way down, even walking to end our workout. Even more important, we must make time for rolling, stretching throwing our legs up a wall to help with inflamation, delayed onset muscle soreness, and be able to run and even walk well in the next couple days.As you start growing your volume, keep track of how you’re feeling at all times. If you’re super sore, consider replacing your active recovery run with a hike, bike ride or a swim instead.

    

   Remember…going long isn’t about getting there fast, it’s about enjoying the process.

Think about these tips as you gear up for your long run this weekend. Long runs are meant to be slow and easy paced, with a distance that’s just a mile or two (at the most) longer than you did the weekend before, or than your regular weekday short runs.

One more thing to mention and consider…it’s hot y’all. It’s even hot up north where our Maine ladies are. So don’t skimp on the hydration. Plan ahead to carry water or electrolytes or have places to stop along your route to get fluids.

Most important of all…have fun and see if you can find those feelings associated with the end of a long run. That empty feeling. Clean, work out and sweat purged. Fall in love with the good ache of muscles that have done you proud! ♥♥

Day 2 exercises:

• Warm up drills: Leg Swings, Hip Hurdles and Lunge Matrix
• Long run
• Plank & Wall Sit – :60 each
• Legs up the Wall – 5-15 minutes
• Roll & Stretch! You can go through our 7 Key Stretches for Runners or you can follow along with this post run stretching routine.

Day 3 exercises: Active Recovery & Yoga for Runners – Choose one of the yoga options below or follow along with the Yoga for Runners video below.

Yoga options:

1. Yoga for Runners – “Unknot Yourself”
2. Yoga for Runners – “Tight Hips & Legs”
3. Yoga Poses for Runners

May Challenge Winner Nominations: I wanted to do a little something different for our May Challenge Winner. Don’t worry, I have April coming…but for May, I’d like to hear who you think should win our Challenge winner’s medal. Did your buddy kill it in May? Did you see someone who just stayed on top of everything and amazed you with their determination and commitment? Was there someone who motivated you to get it done when you didn’t want to? Send me a personal message (do not post in the comments) and give me your nomination for our May Challenge Winner. The winner will be the one with the most nominations or if there is a tie, I will go into our group stats and see which one really did more “work”, posted that they got it done, and was supportive to the rest of the #CoreCrew family. You have till the end of the weekend (Sunday night) to get in your nominations. Send me a PM here.