Do the Little Things

When I used to play basketball one of the things my coaches stressed was "do the little things". The little things are the things that are easily over looked in the big scheme of things. Things like chinning the ball, keeping your head on a swivel, ball fakes, crisp passes, going to the ball, boxing out, etc. If you don't know what those things are, that's part of the point. Everyone knows how exciting a dunk or steal can be, but for those things to happen consistently the little things need to be done first. Our team took great pride in doing those little things even though our fans didn't notice them and they didn't make the highlight reel. However, our fans did notice the results those little things produced, a state championship.

The last couple training cycles I went through, all there was to running was to run. That did work for me, I was able to bring my times down quite a bit. As I'm getting back into running again though I'm starting to realize that I need to do the little things for running too. Little things that will help me produce better results more consistently. Some of the little things I'm focusing on (or need to) are my core, total body strength and flexibility.

For my core I started doing the Ab Workout for Runners from About.com after my runs. It only takes a few extra minutes and if the amount of hurt is any indication, I'm sure I will feel and show results soon.
Here are a few ab workouts from Runner's World that I plan on stealing parts of to incorporate into my routine over time to mix things up and keep my workout fresh to avoid muscle memory.
Abs Plan
The Ultimate Ab Workout for Runners
Ab-solutely Necessary

While I'm still trying to develop a plan to follow this winter I know I'm going to be incorporating some strength training into it once or twice a week. Until I find something better I'm going to be following Skip's Dumbbell Training Workout. I like it because they are simple exercises and pretty much every muscle group gets hit at some point. My plan is to do two sets of 12-15 reps on my strength days.

I've talked about flexibility, or my lack of, before. I really think that being more flexible will help me as a runner. It will help prevent injuries and help me have better range of motion, which would make me faster. I don't have a plan for this one yet though, so if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. What I would like is a series of stretches (static or dynamic) to do after my core workout (or before my run) that would take a few more minutes. Then in addition, I'll do yoga once or twice a week.

I'm sure there are a ton of other little things to do too, like diet and sleep, that I either don't know I should focus on, or don't know enough about so I can focus them. So if you can think of any that I missed let me know.