Calfs tight, legs stiff, achilles playing up, knees wobbling, something else needs to get done...
There is always an excuse to put off getting out of the door for that cold winter run. It always used to be the hardest part of my day as it was the only discipline that is load bearing and therefore you actually have to carry your tired, fatigued body over the unforgiving asphalt.
I have three easy ways you can make getting out the door as easy as possible;
1.Further Chunking
The first and most important one is to chunk your run with your swim or bike to make it into a 'soft brick' session. I prefer doing it with the swim as it's usually first thing in the morning, not leg based, and usually less volume than running off of the bike.
Running straight after the swim does a couple of things. It means that when you get dressed after the swim, you're getting straight into your run kit... you don't have to get dressed again! Secondly, it makes a 2 / 3 session day into a 1 / 2 session day... as a brick feels more like 1 session than 2. Not only that, you're getting a different stimulus from running after the swim, running under a bit of fatigue and therefore usually having an elevated HR, meaning you can run slighlty slower whilst getting the same aerobic gains. Therefore less muscular damage. Win!
Same can be said for running off of the bike, but as previously mentioned, causes a bit more leg fatigue.
2. Run to Heart rate
By running to your specific heart rate zone it takes away the 'dread' of having to try and hit a specific pace. So set up your watch with a HR screen instead of pace and then run to time rather than distance.
3. Mix it up
Run on different terrain and with others - Running to heart rate leads nicely onto running on softer surfaces than asphalt and running with others... Both of these knock pace off of your run but makes it far more interesting, easier on the legs, and ensures you're not over running, as you should be able to easily hold a conversation without getting out of breath on those easy aerobic runs.
These pieces of advice are all well and good, but my main piece of advice remains similar. Make all of these part of your routine. If you stick to the same thing day in day out, week after week, then you get into the habit of doing them. Build these habits in, and they just become automatic, easy, efficient and simple to execute.
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