The mountain running season in Alaska may be coming to a close, but that doesn't mean your training needs to come to a full stop for the winter. It can be easy as the days start to get shorter and colder totell yourself that you’ll pick the whole running thing back up in the spring. The “fair weather runner” is a tale as old as time–you put all running (and most training in general) on hold for the winter, April sneaks up on you, you start running again, wind up with an injury, and suddenly have very little time to work toward your racing goals. That doesn’t mean you should force yourself to maintain the same running volume over the winter that you enjoy during the drier months, but finding ways to stay consistent and keep training fun over the winter will go a long way toward whatever your running goals are next season! 1. Take some time off! After a long summer of training and racing, your body (and mind!) needs time to rest and recover. Take a week or two off from running completely. Your fitness won’t disappear–take the time to truly rest or try a new activity! 2. Cross-train! The offseason is a great time to supplement some of your usually running mileage with cross training! Activities like biking, swimming, and Nordic skiing are great ways to maintain and improve aerobic fitness and become a stronger, more well rounded athlete. 3. Strength train! The offseason is a great time to get in the routine of a consistent strength program if it fell to the wayside over the busy summer. Exercises like squats, lunges, and deadlifts are all great foundational movements to build general strength. If you’re juststarting out, start with bodyweight and add some weight each week as you get stronger! 4. Find a process goal! It’s not a bad idea to start thinking about outcome goals for next season, but those can feel far away at this point in the year. Instead, find aprocess goal(or 2!) to commit to during the time away from racing. Here’s an example of a few process goals: -Every night, I’m going to pick out my workout clothes to make the mornings easier on me. -I’m going to make it to the gym for 2 strength classes or workouts per week. -Each week, I’ll do one running interval workout to build speed and endurance. 5. Connect with community! Surrounding yourself with other active individuals in your community is a great way to stay excited about running and hold yourself accountable in a group setting. Try a new weekly strength or yoga class at The Alaska Club or for weekly group running workouts in Anchorage, check out Skinny Raven’sRaven Run Clubor theAlaska Endurance Project.
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