Runners are disciplined when it comes to running but most runners suck at doing the little things that will keep you healthy.
Go listen to the Letsrun interview of Sean Brosnan, Nico Young's coach. Seriously, it is worth your time:
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Coach Brosnan has built a powerhouse program from nothing in just four years. The secret to his runners' success is not high mileage. The top boys are only running about 60 miles per week. No, his secret is keeping his runners healthy. They stretch before every workout and they do some kind of strength work. He specifically mentions that they work on their glutes. Not sure if they do barbell strength training or mainly bodyweight stuff.
Now go watch Katelyn Touchy's strength training video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTDeCFvG-bc
And Mo Farah's weight training routine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91TZh72MnZI
Konstanze Klosterhalfen:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-VtDJZn_7m/
Jordan Hasay:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1xZD6llRg8/
Nick Symmonds:
https://youtu.be/yJPeYggMLSE?t=220
What do these runners have in common? They all are doing squats or deadlifts, thus strengthening muscles that tend to be extremely weak in runners. This keeps them healthy so that they can train consistently. A lot of them also do upper body strength work, which is great, but I believe the key to good running health is the posterior chain.
Here are exercises that I think all runners should be doing twice a week to build their posterior chains:
Deadlifts
Squats (important to go below parallel to engage your glutes and hamstrings)
Lunges
Barbell hip thrusts (for glutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDmFkJxPzeM
Side planks (for glute meds)
Side leg lifts (for glute meds)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgh6sGwtTwk
The other one I would add is an exercise to strengthen the muscles around your ankles. Something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgnMoSHF0qE
In the podcast interview, Coach Brosnan specifically mentioned ankle strength and mobility.
Strengthening your ankles will reduce the risk of ankle sprains. Especially important for cross country runners, due to the uneven terrain. If you reduce the probability of an ankle sprain ruining your season from 20% to 10%, it's worth it!
If you do this routine twice a week with proper form, you will have much better overall balance and you will be less likely to get injured. It will be tough at first and may adversely affect your running for a few weeks, but over time your body will adapt and you will actually be able to handle more mileage than would otherwise be the case. You may find that your uphill running and top-end speed improve due to increased muscular strength.
You can do the workout on your easy running days or you can do them on your hard days. I don't care, as long as you do them. You can do 4 sets of 12 of each exercise or 3 sets of 5 or anything in between. I don't care as long as it's challenging and your form is good on every repetition. If the form is bad, you will increase your risk of injury. So be careful.
It can take a while to get the form right. For deadlifts you can use a trap bar if a barbell feels too awkward. It might take 6 months or even a year to master the squat and deadlift. Put the time in. It's so worth it. Start with light weights and build your way up.
If you don't have time for the whole routine, just do deadlifts and squats. Those are the Big 2 exercises that will do the most for your posterior chain.
Now, just do it!