What happens when your legs are tired but your run isn’t over? When you are exhausted, close to the finish line, look up, and see a big hill you have to climb?
According to the Breakingmuscle.com article, “The Ups And Downs Of Running: How To Properly Run Hills And Stairs,” in order to run uphill most efficiently runners must:
Use your arms! Arms are [the] key to running and sprinting, and are especially useful for anything uphill or anything utilizing knee movements. I cannot emphasize the use of the arms enough. The action of the arms essentially move the legs, so remember this anytime you walk, run, sprint, bounce, lunge, jump, or hop. Arms should be kept tight, bent at ninety-degree angles and close to the sides. The arms correspond with the legs – opposite arm matches with opposite leg – so work on matching the timing between both upper and lower body.
Just like a car, we need to shorten our stride and use our arms to power us up hills. With our arms being so important in these situations, we must spend some time making them stronger!
Day 16 exercises: 3 sets of 10
****Click here for how to videos****
- Bicep Curls
- Shoulder Press
- Tricep Overhead Extension
- Plank – :60 (plank of your choice)
Bonus: Do the Challenge exercises! Even if you haven’t jumped on the “extra challenge” band wagon, today is the day to do a little more and work those arms! Push ups and burpees are great ways to build strength in our arms which will help us power up those hills and stairs when we’re tired. Beginner push ups are fine…and skip the push ups when you do the burpees. I know burpees are hard and scary, but you can do them and you will burn TONS of calories in the process!
Challenges:
- Burpees – 40
- Push Ups Beginner – 12
- Push Ups Advanced – 60
- Squats – 80
Speed Work: Climb ladders
Ladder workouts are speed sessions that vary the length of the work intervals in incremental steps and are a great way to get a mix of several high-intensity running paces in a single session. Go to the track or use your GPS watch to track your distance., warm up with 10 minutes of easy running, and try one of these ladders. Run each interval slightly faster than the preceding one, and jog, walk 400 meters (or just stand still and breath deeply) between each interval.
Starter ladder: 400M (1/4 mile), 800M (1/2 mile), 1600M (mile), 800M (1/2 mile), 400M (1/4 mile).
Advanced ladder: 200M (.1 mile), 400M, 800M, 1200M, 1600M, 1200M, 1000M, 800M, 400M, 200M
No matter what choices you made over the weekend…it’s time to shake it off and get back to work. Set the tone for the week and make good choices today!
Strong to the Core 