WINTER TRAINING CHANGE-UPS

Running 101 with Earned Runs bibs. Taken by PKSenagore January 6, 2017. All rights reserved.

SLOWED DOWN BY WINTER BLAHS? Has your enthusiasm level taken a dive in parallel with the outdoor temperatures?  The slideshow article “8 Ways to Make the Most of Winter Training” by Stephanie Smith for Active.com provides a variety of suggestions for revving up your winter-time activities.  As expected some involve moving your workouts indoors (swimming pool, skating rink, gym treadmill, yoga studio*). Others recommend increasing your enjoyment of the outdoors with winter sports, like cross country skiing, (snow shoe hiking also fits into this category), outdoor skating, as well as running in snow.
 
Particularly helpful were suggestions that did not require a change in venue or sport but a mental re-set: 1) focusing on setting a personal record rather than accomplishing a body transformation (like a “beach body”), and 2) competing with a single or few friends rather than the hundreds or thousands of runners in a big race.
 
TERRIFIC! Earned Runs is all about PERSONAL COMPETITION and setting PERSONAL RECORDS. Use our bibs as tangible props for your mental adjustments. Keep track of the progress made toward accomplishing a PR on a bib. Present your rival-friend with a bib to officially recognize the competition. Record the beginning and finishing statistics that will decide the winner on the bibs. Be creative. Be inspired.
 
RUN HAPPY!
 
http://www.active.com/fitness/articles/8-ways-to-make-the-most-of-winter-training
 
*NOTE: RunnersWorld.com weighs in on the “10 Best Fitness Classes for Runners” by K Aleisha Fetters that might work as indoor studio alternatives to outdoor running. Some may appeal to runners able to handle higher impact and activity levels without the risk of injury.  If running is your main activity, beware of classes that REQUIRE greater strength and balance than you have developed. Better to enroll in one that safely BUILDS these physical attributes in advance of the spring racing season.  Being sidelined would be a high price to pay for a participating in a too-tough fitness class.
 
http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/10-best-fitness-classes-for-runners