Running exclusively with no cross-training or strength training can easily lead to injury. When I first became serious about running, I was fortunate enough to pick up a book called The Cool Impossible by Eric Orton. If you've ever read the book, Born to Run, Eric was the guy who coached the author, Chris McDougall so that he could run with the Tarahumara runners. Eric talks about building a foundation from your feet up. Before I started running seriously, I strengthened my feet, ankles and calves, doing exercises as Eric describes in his book. I also did some core strengthening using a balance ball. I really think that these exercises prevented me from getting injured. I could go out on the trail and roll an ankle, but my ankles were strong from the slant board training, so I never got injured. I also ended up doing his entire program from the book, with a lot of training in zone 2 heart rate to build up my aerobic engine.
I think I gained a lot from the program, but I quickly realized that only running was not going to make me stronger. For trails with any significant amount of elevation gain, I would need to build up my quads and glutes.
As time went on and my longer runs got longer, I noticed that the first thing that would start to break down was my core. My legs felt fine and ok to keep going, but my core would weaken and my posture would go and then my form. I still have a hard time building in a core workout consistently.
Here's a circuit that I like to do. It's not quick, but it covers all of the muscle groups needed for running and you don't need a lot of equipment. https://www.outsideonline.com/2402061/cross-training-runners
When I want to work on running hills, I'll pick a hill in town and do hill repeats. I'll run up the hill at medium effort and walk or jog down the hill. I also like to go to the Princeton University football stadium and do a stairs workout.
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