If you read any running magazine or fitness magazine, you will no doubt read about the benefits of strength training.   Most people associate strength training with going to the gym and hitting the weight room.  I’d like to offer an alternative to you, my fellow blog readers.  Have you ever heard of a Boot Camp?

Since last January, I have driven to Lisa’s house at 5:35am every Wednesday and Friday morning.  From her house we drive to one of four locations in southern Marin to meet our captain Jennifer and our coach Kim  as well as about 20 other classmates for an intense 75-minute workout.  It’s usually dark when we start and we do it rain or shine.

In Boot Camp we start with a warm up run or jog, which normally includes a hill.  We stretch for a bit then head into the workout.  We’ll start with some basic calisthenics such as jumping jacks, burpees, mountain climbers.  Kim will toss in pushups, squats and squat jump things that burn the thighs, in a good way.   Sometimes we do walking lunges or step ups and the infamous Johnny Mosleys (stand near a curb and jump up onto the curb keeping both feet together, jump back down and repeat 50 times – then face the opposite way and do it again).

We might work with our rubber tubing straps to do an upper body circuit, but normally we’ll run somewhere to climb stairs (there are stairs or hills included in every workout – consider it a Marin county bonus).  Then if we haven’t done the upper body circuit, we’ll do that and maybe Kim will toss in some more push ups.  We finish with the plank or a variation of the plank, abs and then stretching.  75 minutes of sweat and hard work and we’re done before most people have had their first cup of coffee.

Boot Camp has helped my running immensely.  Training for New York, I noticed a huge improvement over previous trainings.  I wasn’t fading at the end of long runs and I was recovering faster.  My legs were strong up the hills and I felt much better conditioned.

This Boot Camp is run by Pac West Athletics, a group endurance training program created by Jay Ridgeway and Richard Martinez.   Their programs are based in San Francisco for people who are interested in competing in marathons, half-marathons and triathlons as well as those who are starting to run or want to become involved in a fitness-based social club.  They also offer trail running, mountain biking as well as Boot Camp – an 8 week intensive outdoor exercise program. Boot camp has various locations in the Bay Area, San Francisco, Marin, Oakland, the East Bay and Hawaii.

So if you want to try something different and a lot of fun, check out Boot Camp at http://www.pacwestathletics.com.  Winter class sign ups are going on now for the January session!  Hope to see you there.

Run strong and remember to have fun!

Keli