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During winter, for those in the northern hemisphere, when many of us travel to visit family and friends for festive gatherings it can be tough to fit in regular exercise between all the socialising. Here at LRC we too have found it tough over the years but have developed a simple three step plan to ensure we stay active: BFF!
Step 1: Be an Early Bird
Yes, it is definitely tough on dark mornings to get out of a warm and cosy bed, but we can guarantee you’ll feel better for the rest of the day after an early workout. Additionally, the house and streets are usually quieter, you may catch an amazing frosty sunrise, and the pool might also be less hectic. Extra steps to help motivate and make it easier: lay your clothes and shoes out the night before, have a drink ready to go or pre-set the coffee machine, and also – see step 2!
Step 2: Friends & Family
Phone a friend and recruit a training buddy. Or, ask a relative. What better way to catch up with an aunt or cousin than by asking them to join you for a walk or run? Or recruit the whole gang for a Christmas Eve outing to see the local Christmas lights and decorations. You could also set up a Jingle Run in Christmas sweaters or meet up with an old high school buddy for a 5k run or a spin around the neighbourhood. Invite a family member or friend to attend a local yoga or fitness class with you as a break from the festivities. But most of all we recommend step 3!
Step 3: Fun & Flexible
‘Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.’ Maybe the most important aspect of the winter holiday season is to remember that it is a wonderful time to see family and friends, and those moments are worth savouring. Staying flexible, moving a few workouts around and maybe scheduling a few rest days will ensure that you don’t burn out by trying to do everything! Or – try adapting workouts into fun, short but sweet and still quality training. For example, here are three great winter running workouts worth trying (you can run these outside or on a treadmill) – complete each workout after a good dynamic warm up and an easy jog, essential during winter months and also, don’t forget to add in a cool down jog and stretch!
- Fartlek: run by effort-level rather than a set pace, use landmarks for start/stop rather than a track or an exactly measured distance. Specifics: 5-8x fast/ slow intervals of varying distance and effort. E.g. Run fast to the tree, jog slowly to the street corner to recover, run fast to the traffic lights, jog slowly to the roundabout to recover etc. If you’re running with a training partner take it in turns to lead each fartlek.
- Hills: choose a gradually inclining hill (the most suitable hill in your area) and run a set of 3-6x 100m hill repeats, starting off steadily in the first repeat then gradually increase the pace of each repeat up to a fast sprint (90-95% of max effort). Jog back down the hill as recovery in between. On a treadmill choose a hill programme or manually use the incline/ decline buttons to determine your hill and effort level.
- Endurance builder: 2 x 10mins running at a medium-hard effort with 5minutes easy jog recovery in between. This is a simple and straight forward workout that builds mental and physical strength. Ideally, run in one direction for five minutes, then turn around and see if you can make it back to where you started. Take the rest, then repeat. Pacing is key to this workout – it’s a good challenge to try and run consistently and make it back to your start/ finish point each time! On a treadmill, aim to run a consistent pace throughout each ten minutes.
Overall, we hope you embrace all the festive cheer of the winter holiday season! Sleigh every chance you have to work out and have fun trying one, two or all three of our suggestions for simple but effective running workouts 😉
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Here’s to the long run!
Susie & Georgie
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