The Run Experience 2 Week Quick Start

Marathon Program

Welcome to the 2 Week Quick Start for Strong, Fast, Injury-Free Running!

Get 2 weeks of quick start workouts that will change your running, your strength, and how you feel in your body…almost immediately.

Build your body and improve your running with our simple strength workouts you can do right at home.

Learn our methods for efficient, fast, pain free running with these run workouts

Finally, follow these powerful (and at times painful!) mobility exercises to completely change your relationship to your body…how you recover from workouts, how efficiently you run and move, and how fast you can run without breaking down.

Week 1:

Run Workout:

Good running can quickly turn to great running when you inject our approach towards warming up, practice these simple techniques, and focus on these running ideas.

Warm Up: Leg swings + hip circles. Arm circles + arm swings

Slow jogging is not a warmup for slightly faster jogging 🙂 This simple series of movement designed to wake you and improve range in your hips, ankles, and shoulders will pay dividends in the form of silky smooth running afterwards.

Mainset: The nose breathing mile!

Your ability to fully breathe into your diaphragm is crucial for your ability to run tall with good posture and stabilize your hips to prevent collapse in your lower legs and the injuries that come with it. Nose breathing is an effective way to force this all important conversation with belly breathing. For 1 mile you are only allowed to breathe thru your nose (so clear out those nostrils before hand). If you need to slow down or walk that’s ok! Conversely, if you’ve done this before

Cooldown: the Squat Test

Sit in a good squat for 2-3 minutes. Can you go even longer?

Strength Workout

These movements seem simple at first but there in fact is a lot going on underneath the surface. In fact, these movements will tell you a lot about your body’s ability to run well without getting injured.

Unless you got hit by a taxi cab, most running injuries don’t come out of “no where”. They’re simply an accumulation of crappy mechanics and poor movement patterns that wears your body down.

For the majority of runners, alternating running with riding the office chair, car seat, or couch while way better than nothing, doesn’t give you the strength, coordination, and range of motion to run really well, for long distances, at faster speeds, without getting injured.

Mainset: Hollow Body Hold

Try 2-3 rounds of max time hold body holds (can you hold 60 seconds+ each time?). 30 seconds of rest in between. We all have a point of failure. What’s yours?

Squat & Pushup: 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7….X-X.

In 5 minutes: ascend a ladder of repetitions for each movement. Start at 1 of each, then 2 of each, working up as far as you can in a 5 minute period. Focus on good depth in each movement and quality and consistent reps!

Modifications:

Just like running, we want you to push yourself, but we also want you to use every training as an opportunity to improve how you move and even as you fatigue! So both movements can be modified to your fitness level and body’s range of motion.

You do this short strength workout 1-2 times this week. You can add it into your existing routine, and of course you can add other movements in.

Week 2

Run Workout:

Warm Up: 10 lateral lunges + 10 elbow touches. 10 mountain climbers + 10 downward dog pushups

After ~5 minutes of tall focused running stop and work on the above. This warmup specifically targets your groin, your hamstrings, and your hips. Further, the downward dog pushups will get your core online, your upper body and shoulders primed, and your calves and ankles even more open.

Mainset: Pulling Drills + Form Sprints

5 x 30”/30” of focusing on high pulls + form sprints. These pulls split the difference between a high knee and a butt kick. First 30” you will run slow but exaggerate these pulls. This will force you to run tall, to stabilize your hips, engage your core, and run light on your feet. Follow through with 30” of fast running, i.e. a form sprint. Run quickly but don’t overly strain* yourself or lose technique! Want an additional challenge? Run faster! Want additional feel and develop even stronger feet? Do this drill barefoot (on a soft grassy surface of course).

After these drills continue your intended run for as long as you like focusing on light quick feet!

*If you’re new to this start slow and ease into this type of running!

Cooldown: the Couch Stretch

2-3 minutes per leg.

Strength Workout

Hollow Rock: 4-8 rounds of 20” hollow rocks. 10” rest.

After learning the static hold, now you add movement and learn how to stay connected in the spine (the #1 challenge for core strength and stability is connection here). How many rounds can you do of good quality…without it falling apart?

Lunge & Burpee: As Many Rounds As Possible for 5 Minutes

The highest number you reached in last week’s squat/pushup ladder will be the number of repetitions you get to do in each round for this week’s lunge burpee workout.

For example, last week you reach round 6 of pushups and squats. That means this will you will perform 6 lunges (total so 3 per leg) and 6 burpees. If you reached round 9 of pushups and squats, that means you’ll perform 9 lunges (total) and 9 burpees.

You will execute as many rounds of lunges and burpees as possible in 5 minutes!

Mobility (Injury Prevention Exercises)

Try each mobility exercise after each of your workouts this week. Then the second mobility exercise during the second week.

Week 1: Squat Challenge

How long can you sit in the bottom of a squat pain free? 1 minute, 3 minutes…10 minutes? Use this as as assessment later on! Further, what’s holding you back…is it your tight stiff ankles that refuse to bend, forcing you onto the balls of your feet? Or your feet turn out and ankles collapse? Perhaps it’s stiffness in the knees and hips that prevent your from squatting deep without feeling pain or without the back grounding.

Week 2: Couch Stretch

Change your hips, knees, and your “running life” with this all important every day must mobility move. Your ability to open and extend your hips freely, easily, and unimpeded is huge for your running! Tight hips are forced upon us by 21st century living… and are the equivalent of driving with the parking brake still on. You can do it…it’s just not very efficient!

PUSHUPS