Below is what I go over with our athletes on the first day of summer practice. I keep it simple and stress five things that they need to focus on in order to have a successful season.
- RUN: In order to experience success in running you must run. Focus on being consistent from week to week. For returning runners a great way to set personal bests is by running longer or faster than last year.
- REST: After a hard workout or any workout for that matter it is important to rest. Rest allows your body time to recover and come back stronger…this is also known as ADAPTATION. I encourage all of our athletes to try their best to get 8 hours of sleep a night. If this is impossible for you then please take a nap during the day.
- STRENGTH TRAINING: A house is only as strong as its foundation. Will your house stand or will it crumble because you neglect strength training? Besides keeping you healthy, strength training will also help you become a more efficient runner (require less oxygen to run at the same pace).
- NUTRITION: What you eat is fuel for your run. Eat healthy=Run Faster and Eat Poorly=Run Slower. I’m not saying that you can’t eat cookies (my favorite!) or ice cream, but make sure overall you have a healthy diet. Try your best to include vegetables and fruit with all of your meals.
- FLEXIBILITY: Athletes should always do dynamic stretches before running and static or dynamic stretches after running. Athletes who have poor flexibility are more likely to become injured. Don’t be lazy and take that extra time to stretch!
I encourage everyone to look at the 5 keys to success and focus on improving one of them this week.
Texas Running Coach 