Some Fresh Insight

Sunday, March 12, 2017 · Mike Davis

Good morning,

This morning's coffee and chat will come from Amy Spencer, NFLR New Hampshire's team lead. Amy has quickly taken to coaching and is has quickly become an awesome personal coach. Her knowledge along with her interpersonal skills help her to relate to runners as well as guide them through their challenges. I am sure you will enjoy Amy's insight today...

Strength Training – friend or foe? I never believed it before, but the answer is FRIEND!

As a coach, I tout how strength workouts make a huge difference in a runner’s training, and I would certainly add it to any client’s individualized plan; however, as a runner myself I have often used the excuse that I “don’t see an improvement” or “don’t have time” and skip the planks and squats.

Now bear with me for a moment, I promise to get to the point…but first I need to rewind a few months and level set. It’s cold outside in New Hampshire, I’m running twice a week at best due to lack of daylight and road conditions (treadmill running is great for the winter months, but I’m not personally a fan) and my mileage has decreased significantly after finishing the Seacoast Half Marathon in mid-November. Thanksgiving comes, shortly after which I have to say goodbye to a beloved pet, and then WHAM its Christmas. To sum it up… food, drinks, missing my dog, more food, more drinks, more couch, and about 5 extra pounds… Hello, 2017!

Starting to add strength training wasn’t about bettering my running. Nor was it about making a New Year’s resolution, as resolutions aren’t really my style. I was sitting on the couch one night, feeling disgusting and, in all honesty, kind of disliking life at the moment when I recognized that I needed to make a change if I was going to fix the slump I was in. It was too late and too dark to go for a run, and there was not a chance I was going to head to the local gym, so I started doing squats. At first it was a few squats here and there, as many as I could muster, coupled with some short walks with my other dog on days I wasn’t running. It started to get my heart pumping a bit. Then I progressively added lunges, jumping squats, crunches, leg lifts, planks, and a number of other strength exercises to my non-running days until doing these workouts became part of my normal routine. My dog and I were walking more, and even running a little, and when March arrived I was feeling less grumpy and lazy.

The weather has actually been mild for a winter in Dover, NH. We’re getting snow and bitter cold, like every winter, but we’ve also had quite a few spring-like days mixed in. I’m not getting outside to run any more than I was in late November, and my average mileage per week certainly hasn’t changed, but my running has improved and I can only attribute it to my strength training workouts. My average pace during solo runs lately has been under 9:30/mile, compared to the 10:15+/mile I was doing when 2017 arrived. My routes the past ~2 weeks have included far more hills than I’m used to, and I’m hustling up them with my pace decreasing only slightly during the elevation increase. And, darn it, I’ve just felt good during every run!

The morale of my story is this—get on the strength training bandwagon!

• Strength Training is something you can do while watching TV (or Super Bowl LI repeats - can’t stop watching my New England Patriots, Edelman’s catch & our MVP TB12 get his 5th ring)
• Strength training WILL get your heart beating
• Strength training WILL help your runs
• And, more likely than not, strength training WILL improve your state of mind

Thank you Amy and I am sure it was a nice break from the old coach!

God Bless and have a great week!

Mike