By Elizabeth Towe
It’s the middle of a hot training summer! Some of you may be putting in a lot of miles to get to a big fall event for which you’ve registered. One quality we can lose with high running mileage is the “spring” in your ankle, knee, and hip joints. If you are training for an off-road event, you need that spring to get over obstacles. If you are running on the road, you need that tendon recoil in the spring to get up and down hills and for overall acceleration.
Exercise:
- Ideally you would have a plyometric box about 8”-12” tall with a rubber top to prevent slipping. You can also use steps or stairs as long as the landing is large enough to accommodate your foot.
- Start about a foot behind the box, standing on one leg.
- Hop from one leg onto the box, landing lightly and quietly on the other leg with a slight bend in the knee, hip and ankle. Try and land through the midfoot, avoid landing on the toes or on your heels.
- Step off the bench and repeat this movement on the same side 10-12 times, switch sides. Perform 2-3 sets on each leg.
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Elizabeth Towe is a runner and a cyclist and the owner of Balanced Movement Studio in Carrboro. She graduated from East Carolina with a degree in exercise and sports science and has been personal training for over 20 years. Her ultimate goal for all of her clients is to help them realize and achieve the optimal quality in their life – and to remember to have fun doing it.
