Workout of the Day:
Skill Work – Take 10 minutes to mess around with coach’s choice Kettlebell drills,
and then,
Five rounds for time of:
Wall-to-Wall Suicides
15 Kettlebell Swings (32/24 kg)
25 Standing Resisted Ab Pull-Downs

Invictus Running and Endurance Clinic
Written by Marc Homan

Depending on which health or fitness organization you choose to believe, between 50 & 85% of Americans who consider themselves runners report some type of injury each year – regardless of how much money they spend on their shoes or the crazy gimmicks they try. If you are reading this blog chances are you ran for time in the last week, or you will run for time in the next week, and chances are good running technique will make you faster no matter how fast you are currently. And how many of you out there hate when “Helen,” or anything else involving running, hits the WOD? I certainly did.

My name is Marc Homan and I am a Running and Endurance Coach with CrossFit Endurance and new to CrossFit Invictus. I came to CrossFit as a competitive cyclist, which means I naturally gravitated to the Endurance side of the house. That led to a CrossFit Running and Endurance Cert with Brian MacKenzie and Carl Borg, and sparked an interest in the way humans move, especially how we run. After a stint as an intern, I have been coaching with CrossFit Endurance since March 2009. Over this time I have slowly improved from running like a wounded Water Buffalo to having people comment to me that I “look like a runner” (which mystifies me every time I hear it!). The reason is I now treat running as a skill to be learned – or relearned, because we all instinctually know, we have just lost our way.

The technique CrossFit Endurance teaches is based on using your body to run as it was designed. We start with getting posture right and letting gravity propel us, striking with the mid-foot while gently kissing the heel, and using the hamstring and the glutes to pull the foot straight up from the ground. We mimic bare-foot running and recognize the transition from running like the old-Marc to a new, more efficient athlete takes time, coaching, and practice. We advocate using flat soled shoes such as racing flats, DC Skate Shoes, or Converse Chuck Taylor’s.

Our programming is very simple: CrossFit 4-6 times per week plus 2-3 CrossFit Endurance WODs per week if you are a single sport athlete (4-6 Endurance WODs if you are a triathlete). This comes out to 6-10 training hours per week, much less than your standard Long Slow Distance advocated by conventional endurance coaches. We have had great success with our training protocol in all distances of running and triathlon, easily achieving PR’s through efficient training and treating the sport as a skill. Best of all, we are getting folks back in the gym literally days after runs between 26.2 and 100 miles.

I am proud to be joining CrossFit Invictus to offer a 3 day running clinic for 10 CrossFit Invictus members. The dates are October 24th & 31st, and November 7th, all Saturdays. The clinic will take place at the gym, and will run from 11:15 am to 2:15 pm. You need to be there all 3 days. The cost for this 3 day clinic is $99. You can register by emailing info@crossfitinvictus.com.

Each session will involve running about 1.5 miles total; the goal is to teach you the skill, not pack in a bunch of miles. Syllabus will include before & after video review, short lectures on Running Technique, Injury Prevention, and Endurance Programming/Nutrition, and drills.  Each session will conclude with a CrossFit Endurance WOD.

Attendees should:

- Not work out on Saturday before the clinic so you will be fresh for the class

- Not rush out and by the most expensive running shoes they can find (talk to Marc before spending any more money on those damn things!)

- Get a 5k time (or something close to that distance you can repeat later to check improvement)

If you have any questions please contact me at mdhoman@gmail.com

(Editor’s Note – This is a GREAT opportunity for our athletes. Marc is a top-notch coach that comes highly recommended from Brian MacKenzie. $99 for 9 hours of coaching is silly inexpensive, but Marc wants this to be accessible to you all so that our entire gym can be more efficient and effective in running WODs and endurance endeavors. I hope you seriously consider signing up quickly for this if you want to reserve a spot.)