Adventures in Endurance: Week 35 - Burning River 100

An Awesome Morning Run in Ute Park

After I signed up for the Burning River I went and bought a gym membership. Why would I join a gym to run 100 miles? Well it is certainly not for the treadmill! I’ve never been much of a gym rat but since I’ve been working on an exercise science degree I’ve discovered the importance of core strength not just for running but for all sports, as well as everything we do to include aging. Balance, posture, stability, and back health are all related to core strength.

So what exactly is the core? For the longest time I thought a strong core meant having six pack abs and didn’t see how that had anything to do with running or cycling. In fact, the core is every muscle in our trunk; back, chest, oblique’s, glutes - pretty much everything but the limbs. All movement and power either originates or transfers through the core. How many runners have you seen all hunched over when they run? Or their back bent in a bow? This is all due to weak core muscles. During running, stability and posture problems put stress on joints at odd angles eventually causing injury to ligaments, tendons, or worse. Do this day in and day out and injury is imminent (approximately 60% of runners experience an injury per year). During a long run as the body gets tired the posture gets worse and the on the joints, tendons, and ligaments become more exaggerated causing even more potential for injury. Do this for 100 miles and any posture, stability, or compensation issues are exponentially magnified. I don’t have enough fingers to count the runners I’ve seen at 75+ miles in hundred mile races leaned over side-ways, or hunched over, or limping along because their core muscle gave out on them.

So what are good core exercises? My favorite and apparently one of the most effective is the good ol push-up. Sara Klein in the Huffington Post even goes so far as to say the push-up is the greatest exercise in the world! James Herrera the US National BMX National Team Coach and friend of mine recommended years ago to do 100 push-ups a day. When done right push-ups work the abs, shoulders, torso, chest, and lower & upper back. That’s a lot of territory for one exercise! So to do a 100 push-ups, I like to do 5 sets of 20 throughout the day at work. Just get up from my desk knock-out 20 push-ups and go back to work. When I go to the gym I do sets of 20 between other exercises.

The list of core exercises can go forever. Some of my favorites are below: