Endurance athletes aren’t built for the indoors. Heading out, exploring new trails, hills, and rides, while pushing our limits, is what makes us tick. Training indoors does, however, allow us to work on some of the finer points of our game, things we can’t address out on rides, runs or in the pool.
This time of pandemic, when we are being asked to stay at home, gives us an opportunity to tune up our bodies in ways we usually don’t make time for in ordinary times. If we train smart at home, then when the restrictions life we will be 100% ready to dive into our outdoor training.
To give all you distance runners and triathletes confined indoors at the moment some inspiration, we talked to ultra runner Lucy Bartholomew, and triathletes Cody Beals and Mel Hauschildt about what they’re working on at home. They all had one thing in common: CORE WORK!
Face your core
There are no more excuses. “The time to lay that foundation and build a strong trunk has been forced on you!” Lucy says. “I love to do 15 to 30 minutes of core exercises, yoga and stretching and just more mat work and functional stuff. It doesn’t give you the sweat of a good run, but will certainly make that next run feel even more amazing.” Press play on the video above and join Lucy in one of her favorite core workouts!
Hit spin mode
If you have a training bike at home, put it on easy spin and pedal an hour or two away while watching your favourite Netflix series. “One of the sessions I do most often at home is an easy spin on the trainer while getting other work done,” Cody says. “I have my laptop in front of me and pass the time reading, researching, writing and emailing. I get some of my most focused work and creative thinking done on the trainer and the time flies!”
TRX and flex
Mel Hauschildt has a dedicated training room because working out there helps her to avoid distractions. She has a newborn baby, Dakota, who lies beside her while she, Mel, trains on her Kickr. “TRX cords are also very useful in working on endurance while stuck indoors,” Mel says. For inspiration, watch the video above, which shows how runners can use a TRX band.
Build power
Being confined indoors is no reason to stop training endurance fitness. Even if you don’t have a training bike or treadmill, there’s plenty you can do to build explosive power and maintain cardiovascular fitness. “You can do things like skipping outside, driveway sprints, jumping up stairs or DIY box jumps,” Lucy says. “Endurance is built for maintaining something for a longer duration of time so anything you do like star jumps, squats, burpees all build your cardio!” Need a challenge? Then press play above and join this skip rope endurance workout!
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