Cross Training Introduction

Over the next couple of months, my blogs will begin to be a little less about running, and a little more about what you can do to stay fit and active during the winter that will act as a supplement to running. I personally enjoy cross training and feel that it has had benefits on not only my training and speed, but also on my overall heath.

For the past two years during the winter off season, several of my teammates and I have done Cross Fit 2.2., which is essentially a program that works more on weightlifting and agility than running. Cross Fit can be a good way to tone your muscles and gives you an opportunity to stay fit in the warm indoors. This year though, my teammates and I were considering just getting a gym membership and meeting up after school. This gives us a little more flexibility over not only when we decide to make a trip to the gym, but also over what we do once we are there. CrossFit was a highly structured program that was great for building muscles evenly throughout the body, but did not seem to be targeted toward runners, so I will be interested in the opportunities that gyms have in regard to experimenting with new machines and workout routines that you can decide for yourself. As a side note, the gym also has an indoor track that we can run on when the weather outside is just a little too impenetrable, allowing us to continue building our endurance and preventing us skipping out on running altogether.

             I will try to blog about my experiences weightlifting and eventually the effects it had on my track season in the spring. But for now, the next few weeks will be mostly about some tips I have acquired at the gym, information on different types of weightlifting, and how to keep motivated to train during the winter. So stay tuned if you are interested in different types of cross training and how it can sometimes build muscle and endurance in ways that cannot be attained solely by running.