Endurance Club Trial "Run"
What up fam!
As you know, we recently fired up the IBCF Endurance Club with a five-week trial run (no pun intended). This trial run included two programmed workouts per week with the first being a track workout on Sunday afternoons and the second being a road workout to be completed any time during the week. This programming is framed in a way that will develop your "engine" which will directly carry over to metcons, road races, tough mudders, etc. Now I know the general perception is that running will hinder your barbell performance, but that is simply nonsense. Don't forget what this whole CrossFit thing is all about: constantly varied high intensity functional movement. You'd be hard pressed to name a movement more functional and essential to human existence than running. Endurance coach and long time professional triathlete Chris Hinshaw says it best:
“It could be argued that running is the most functional training we do. It is merely moving your own body from point A to point B as quickly as possible. It is natural, essential, compound, universal, moves large distance quickly, and has an unrivaled effect on building an engine.”
Building this "engine" essentially means training the lungs to be able to keep up with the body. We've all found ourselves staring at the barbell in the middle of a metcon, just waiting for our lungs to catch up so we can get back to it. Endurance Club specifically aims to improve this threshold through programming and by increasing running efficiency. Even though running may seem mindless, huge gains in efficiency can be made by changing the way we run. Endurance Club will enable you to make these gains through running drills, tips, and by simply adding some mindfulness back to the act of running. Increased running efficiency means building a better engine. Building a better engine means increasing work capacity. Increasing work capacity means more quality time with your thumbs hook gripped around the barbell.
Over the short five week trial, John, Meg, and Chris improved their 5 minute run for distance by 150 meters, 200 meters, and 250 meters respectfully! Those are giant improvements over a very short amount of time. You may have noticed seeing all of them with barbell PRs this past test out week as well. Coincidence? I don't think so. Those three work their butts off and were able to make gains on the track and with the barbell concurrently.
Endurance Club is not geared towards any particular type of athlete. Whether you are training for a half marathon or looking to improve your "Fran" time, you will benefit from this program!
