Improve Your Running from the Comfort of Home

No, we aren't selling you a treadmill. We're selling you an ✨idea✨. 

The idea that your weekly mileage is probably less important than you think. 

Believe me, I love a high mileage week, but winter has arrived in North America, and unless you’re one of the lucky few training in San Diego, you might be dealing with some less than ideal conditions for running. I live in Oregon, so I get you. On morning runs, the roads are sometimes slick with ice, and by the time I get home from work it’s dark and raining outside. There’s really no winning. 

Well, actually there are a few winning options here. Under the guidance of Matt Pendola and Bobby McGee, I have a training program that ensures I’m making progress on my goals with as few miles as possible. My winter training is focused around one thing, and that is moving better. Essentially, what we’re all looking for as runners is improvements in our running economy. There are a few different ways to tackle this objective. One approach (the less creative one, if you ask me) is to just tack on a bunch of miles. If you love ending your runs with wet feet and hands frozen solid, then feel free to trudge through the winter with your hundred mile weeks. That’s not me. The other approach to a better running economy is the elusive running form.

Running with good form is all about being able to express your strength with as little energy as possible. It comes in three steps. These are the three steps that my winter training is focused on, and they have a pleasant side effect of being mostly indoor activities. The three steps to better strength expression in your run are: 

Mobility

If your joints can’t move comfortably through the ranges of motion that running requires, then you can’t expect them to suddenly work when you go for a run. You can sign up for the Pendola Project Movement Improvement Assessment to find out where you might be lacking mobility specific to running. After the assessment, you'll get a library of daily mobility sequences you can do to actually change the way you move for the better. 

Stability

Once you have new found mobility in your joints, the muscles around them are going to be responsible for stabilizing your joints in new ways. Mobility and Stability go hand in hand to make sure your running is sound. That's why stability plays a huge role in Pendola Project'sMovement Improvement Assessment. I use the daily Personal Protocol that you can get to make sure I'm constantly addressing my Mobility and Stability 

Strength 

You might notice right away that with new mobility and stability you feel stronger, but actually you’re probably just learning to recruit the right muscles. Now, you have the right base to build some strength and actually use it! I use Relative Run Readiness (R3), which is a strength progression designed for runners. It focuses on better posture and rotational strength and has tons of movements and workouts that are specific to running. 

The winter is the perfect time to focus on these foundational aspects of your running, so that when better weather comes around you aren’t bogged down by injury. A lot of people understand that this stuff is helpful for injury prevention, but very few actually grasp that working on Mobility, Stability, and some basic Strength is a quick and easy way to actually get faster, even when you can’t get out for a run. So, stop pounding the miles in these winter months, light the fireplace and put “resistance bands” on your holiday wishlist. We promise those PBs will come faster than you imagine.