One of the things Stacey Richardson told me to do was to build up my core and glute muscles to help support my running form. Here are the hard core things she told me to do.
The Plank: This does not look hard, but I can only do it for like 20 seconds. Holy Crap!
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHQmRINu4jU]
Lunge with Twist: Stacey showed me this with arms straight up in the air, as in a yoga warrior pose. I couldn’t find a video showing it that way, but this one is very close:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gYjzJ2fjE]
Stacey also told me to do some drills before running. I’ve been doing these during my 5 minute walk warmups, while walking up the street. My neighbors probably think I am a crazy woman. They would probably be right!
High Knees Drill:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wURvJbKJLoc]
High Skipping Drill:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HMEYyflHn0]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HMEYyflHn0
Butt Kick Drill:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfyQ8B7-Ru4]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfyQ8B7-Ru4
When I first started doing the plank it was so hard! But if you keep at you will see lots of progress. In pilates today I held it for 100 seconds which is a record for me, but I will also admit that being in a class prevents you from quitting when it starts to hurt 🙂
I hear you on the ‘extra’ stuff … I really need to add flexibility training to my tri training !