After I ran a marathon last fall, my symptoms of burnout spiraled and nothing about running felt appealing to me. Frustrated, I turned to a run coach for guidance and in an attempt to reignite my running spark.
I worked with Holly Dickinson, UESCA-certified run coach, NSCA-certified strength and conditioning coach, and owner of StrideHer, after previously interviewing her for stories on functional core swaps for runners and how power cleans lead to better run performance. I’ve always loved strength training and running together, so it felt like a natural fit.
Normally, when I train on my own, my brain tends to go all-in, never skipping a day, and I aim to check off every workout on the plan. Teaming up with a run coach for the first time challenged this thinking pattern, though, and helped me sharpen my running skills and make smarter training choices.
Here are three things that stuck with me the most so you can take them into your next training cycle, too.
Give Yourself Permission to Take a Break and Manage Stress
During the first week or two of training, I dealt with a lot of stress from work and personal life, so I didn’t get any of the strength or mobility workouts done and only completed two runs. I sat down with Dickinson for a one-on-one call while this happened.
I expected her to help me find ways to make up for the workouts or carry something over into the week, but instead, I was surprised when she told me to relax, take the rest of the week off, and only focus on mobility exercises. She said it was important to take days off because if my mental stress levels were already high, my body wouldn’t have a chance to recuperate from the physical stress caused by more intense exercise and therefore, I would struggle to adapt to the training.
Our schedule through Final Surge also allowed me to add in personal notes and events, so when I took up pottery classes to help deal with stress, Dickinson told me I could add those to the schedule for a full picture of how my life was working with my training.
Chatting with Dickinson about my stress was a huge weight off my shoulders, validated my struggles, and gave me the push I needed to actually put training on hold.
This helped me realize that running should fit into my life, not the other way around.
Learn About Muscle Imbalances to Strengthen Form
Before I started training, Dickinson conducted a digital movement assessment to examine my muscular imbalances. We found I had strength limitations on my left side when I couldn’t balance on my left foot for as long as my right, as well as some limited mobility in my thoracic (upper) spine.
Because of this, Dickinson had me start with my left leg during any single-leg exercises to address that imbalance; I’d use more mental and physical energy on that side before fatigue set in, she explained.
Two moves in particular, lateral lunges with a single-arm row and a single-leg Romanian deadlift with single-arm row, helped challenge my balance and strength. I found the exercises awkward and pretty challenging at first, because I had never done them and also struggled historically with Romanian deadlifts. But after the first two sessions, I felt like I was homing in on my form, engaging the right muscles, and could balance better. I also felt sore in muscles that I know I didn’t work enough before, like my gluteus medius, which is crucial for hip stability on the run, as well as the single-leg landing.
Dickinson also prescribed me about three to four mobility sessions a week, something I hadn’t included in my schedule before. I figured my strength workouts were enough, but Dickinson noted that practicing solid form through different movement patterns would help make sure that I could handle more load down the line and adapt more smoothly to training.
I was already familiar with some of the mobility moves Dickinson prescribed for me, like hip CARs, thread the needle, and active pigeon (where you’re in a traditional pigeon pose but gently lift your front leg slightly off the ground, then slowly lower it back down for reps). But a couple moves challenged me: hip extension and airplane rotations and banded abductor hydrants with a reverse fly.
Hip Extension and Airplane Rotations
Why it works: This move works the glute medius and maximus muscles, as well as the hamstrings, and it builds core and ankle stability. It helps you practice movement control and balance, through a steady range of motion.
I noticed that working these muscle groups together helped me think about mimicking run form, and how to move multiple parts of my body at once, on one leg, more efficiently.
How to do it:
Start standing on left leg with a soft bend in the knee.Begin to hinge forward at the hips, letting back right leg extend long behind you as torso comes parallel with the ground. Stretch out arms to the sides for balance.Slowly rotate hips to the left side, lifting left hip toward the ceiling and slowly lowering right hip toward floor. Stay steady through the torso and avoid rushing the motion, as the movement comes from hip, not lower back. Rotate hips to neutral, then rotate to the right side, lifting right hip toward ceiling.Rotate hips back to neutral. Drive through left leg to stand back up, lifting right knee up toward hip at the top of the movement. That’s 1 rep.Repeat for 3 sets of 10 reps on each side.
Banded Abductor Hydrants + Reverse Fly
Why it works: The abductor hydrants with the reverse fly reminded me of functional core swaps I made previously in running journey because instead of feeling a “burning” sensation in my ab muscles, this movement challenged me to stabilize my core and strengthen my posture.
More specifically, Dickinson notes this move focuses on the posterior oblique sling, which is essentially made up of muscles that connect diagonally from your upper back to your opposite glute. This shows up in your running form because you press the ground with one leg, extending it behind you, and simultaneously propel the opposite arm forward.
How to do it:
Start in all-fours, shoulders over wrists and knees under hips, holding light dumbbells in hands. (If it’s too challenging, stick to bodyweight.)Raise one leg with the knee still bent directly out to the side in a slow and controlled motion. Resist bringing the knee forward and instead keep hips level and knee in line with hip.As you raise the leg, lift opposite arm straight out to the side to shoulder height. Avoid going any higher.Slowly lower both back down.Repeat for 3 sets of 10 reps on each side.Lean Into Effort-Based Training to Reconnect With Intensity
Because I hadn’t raced in a while and wasn’t sure of my current fitness, and because I wanted to reignite my love of running without being so rigid in my training, the workouts Dickinson prescribed early on focused on rate of perceived exertion (RPE) rather than trying to reach a certain pace. This means I rated the effort level on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being easy and 10 being an all-out, challenging effort.
For example, we did a track pyramid workout where each interval was about sustaining a certain effort. This helped me get back in touch with an intuitive sense of pacing and the assigned RPEs offered a sort of guideline when I wasn’t sure what paces I could currently maintain. It allowed me to let go of an external metric and focus on how the run felt internally.
Pyramid Workout
Warm up with 400 meters of easy jogging (RPE 2-3).800 meters, RPE 6.60-second rest.800 meters with RPE 7.60-second rest.400 meters with RPE 8.60-second rest.800 meters with RPE 7.60-second rest.800 meters with RPE 6.Cool down with 400 meters of easy jogging (RPE 2-3).
This workout contained subtle pace differences, so in order to distinguish the rates of perceived exertion, I focused on my breathing and my cadence. For me, a 6 out of 10 pace felt like marathon pace, while a 7 felt like I was going for a more upbeat tempo workout. An 8 out of 10 felt a bit more challenging, where my leg muscles worked harder and my breathing picked up, allowing me to only say a few words.
Overall, focusing on effort helped me reconnect with my body as an athlete and know what it’s like to purposefully turn the intensity up or down. I didn’t constantly worry about my times; instead, I could just cruise and notice changes in my form as my effort increased, like standing a little taller, or driving my knees just a touch harder. I’ll carry that with me in every training cycle to come as I tap into effort to guide my workouts.
Kristine Kearns, a writer and avid runner, joined Runner’s World and Bicycling in July 2024. She previously coached high school girls cross country and currently competes in seasonal races, with more than six years of distance training and an affinity for weightlifting. You can find her wearing purple, baking cupcakes, and visiting her local farmers market.