09/10/2026
THE RECREATIONAL RUNNER: YOU PROBABLY DON’T NEED MORE TRAINING—YOU NEED A BETTER 10 MINUTES
We’ve spent a lot of time in the Natural Supershoe series talking about competitive runners, Masters athletes and comeback runners.🏃♀️🏃
But what about the person who simply loves to run?❤️
Maybe you run three or four days a week.
Maybe you enter a few 5Ks or 10Ks.
Maybe you occasionally race a half marathon.
Maybe you don’t race at all.
You just want to keep running.
And hopefully keep running for a very long time.
Here’s the good news:
YOU PROBABLY DON’T NEED ANOTHER HUGE WORKOUT.
You may just need to use 10–15 minutes of the training time you already have a little differently.
That’s what I call the smallest effective dose.
For the recreational runner, the Natural Supershoe doesn’t require turning your life upside down.
You don’t need to suddenly become a competitive weightlifter.🏋️
You don’t need an elaborate plyometric program.
And you don’t need another 60-minute workout squeezed into an already busy life.
Instead, strategically attach small amounts of supplemental work to the running you’re already doing.
Because we’re still trying to develop:
CAPACITY → STRENGTH → FORCE → PERFORMANCE👍
The dose simply changes.
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BUT LET ME ADD SOMETHING I’VE LEARNED AT 59
After a lifetime of running and coaching, I’ve become convinced that the recreational runner needs more than strong feet and a good aerobic system.
WE NEED FUNCTIONAL, WHOLE-BODY STRENGTH.
I’ve learned this one personally.
At 59, I’ve realized how important it is for me to maintain both a mobility routine and a functional strength routine.
Running by itself wasn’t taking care of everything.
In fact, you can run a lot and still gradually lose strength, mobility and balance in other areas.
I experienced it.
Over the years, I became extremely quad dominant and increasingly inflexible. Eventually, I developed significant knee problems.
Running had made me incredibly fit for one activity:
Running.
But that didn’t automatically mean my entire body was strong, balanced and mobile.
That’s an important distinction for the lifelong recreational runner.
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WHY I STARTED LEARNING KETTLEBELLS
Several years ago, I started spending time with a really good kettlebell coach.
I paid him for his expertise—but I also picked his brain every chance I got.
And over a couple of years, I learned volumes about strength training.
It changed the way I thought about supplemental training for runners.
One of the things I love about kettlebells is efficiency.
A properly designed 3–4 movement kettlebell complex can train a tremendous amount of the body in a very short period of time.
Hinge.
Squat.
Push.
Pull.
Carry.
Stabilize.
Rotate—or resist rotation.
You can build strength, coordination, postural control and work capacity without living in the weight room.
And yes…
Done consistently, it might also give you a ripped frame that’s the envy of middle age.
Nothing wrong with a little bonus!
But there’s an important qualification:
KETTLEBELLS HAVE A LEARNING CURVE.
Technique matters.
Loading matters.
Progression matters.
Consistency matters.
Get some good instruction.
Learn the movements correctly.
Start lighter than your ego thinks you should.
Then progressively build.
The objective isn’t to become a kettlebell athlete.
The objective is to use the kettlebell to become a stronger runner—and a more capable 50-, 60- or 70-year-old human being.
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RUNNING DOESN’T AUTOMATICALLY CREATE A BALANCED BODY
This may be particularly important for someone who has been a recreational runner for decades.
Running is repetitive.
That’s part of its beauty.
But thousands upon thousands of repetitions of the same general movement pattern don’t automatically provide everything your body needs.
Over many years, a runner can become incredibly aerobically fit while developing weaknesses, mobility restrictions or strength imbalances elsewhere.
Eventually those limitations may not affect only your running.
They can start affecting daily life.
Getting off the floor.
Carrying something heavy.
Moving furniture.
Climbing stairs.
Playing with your kids or grandkids.
Maintaining balance.
Moving quickly when you need to.
Simply feeling athletic.
That’s why I no longer think of strength training as something recreational runners do only to become faster.
STRENGTH TRAINING IS PART OF THE LONGEVITY PLAN.
Research strongly supports resistance training as we age. A large 2024 analysis of 151 randomized trials involving more than 6,000 adults age 60 and older found that even relatively low-volume resistance training can meaningfully improve physical function, lean body mass and muscle size.
That’s important.
You don’t necessarily need an enormous dose.
You need a dose you can perform correctly—and continue performing.
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START AT THE GROUND
Now let’s come back to the Natural Supershoe.
Your feet are your connection to the ground.
Every stride requires the foot and ankle system to accept force, stabilize and help redirect force into the next stride.
And my feet have some mileage on them.
Years of running.
Years of racing.
And plenty of punishment from my steeplechasing days.
At 59, I finally gave them some very deliberate attention.
I spent roughly a month consistently working on foot rigidity and strength, plantar-flexion work and progressive force production.
The difference I personally felt was remarkable.
IT FELT LIKE SOMEBODY GAVE THIS 59-YEAR-OLD RUNNING VETERAN A NEW SET OF FEET.
That’s my personal experience—not a guarantee that everyone will respond the same way.
But interestingly, the research gives us a reason to take foot strength seriously.
In one randomized trial involving 118 recreational runners, the runners who did a specific foot-core strengthening program experienced substantially fewer running-related injuries over the following year. The control group experienced running-related injuries at 2.42 times the rate of the foot-strengthening group.
That’s a pretty interesting finding for the recreational runner.
So give the feet some attention:
Plantar-flexion isometrics
Calf work
Foot/toe strength
Balance
Single-leg stability
A few minutes can go a long way.
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DON’T FORGET THE CORE
The same smallest-effective-dose idea applies to core training.
Five or ten minutes.
Planks.
Knee-to-elbows.
Flutter kicks.
Single-leg V-ups.
For runners, I’m especially interested in core endurance—the ability to maintain posture and stability as fatigue develops.
You don’t necessarily need another workout.
Attach it to the workout you’re already doing.
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REMIND YOUR BODY HOW TO MOVE FAST
This may be one of the most overlooked areas for recreational runners.
Many recreational runners spend almost all of their running time at approximately the same speed.
Easy running is incredibly important.
But occasionally remind your nervous and musculoskeletal systems what faster, coordinated movement feels like.
It doesn’t require a brutal interval workout.
After an easy run:
4–6 × 10–15 second relaxed strides
Full recovery.
Or occasionally run a few short uphill accelerations.
You’re not trying to exhaust yourself.
You’re practicing moving well while you’re NOT exhausted.
That’s an important distinction.
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EVENTUALLY, ADD A LITTLE FORCE
Once you’ve established basic foot, ankle and lower-leg capacity, mobility and whole-body strength, progressively introduce a little more force-production work.
Low pogo hops.
Small hops.
Grass strides.
Short hills.
Eventually perhaps bounding or more advanced exercises.
Again:
SMALLEST EFFECTIVE DOSE.
We’re not trying to turn supplemental training into another sport.
We’re trying to give your running something that mileage alone may not provide.
And we have evidence here, too.
A 2024 randomized study of middle-aged recreational runners compared resistance training and plyometric training performed twice weekly for 10 weeks.
Both groups improved their running economy—reducing oxygen cost by approximately 2%—and the researchers found an association between improvements in calf-raise strength and improvements in oxygen cost.
That doesn’t mean they automatically raced 2% faster.
But it provides another interesting piece of evidence that developing strength and force-producing qualities can matter even for the recreational runner.
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THINK LONGEVITY
This may be the most important message in this entire Recreational Runner series.
You may not be trying to win a national championship.
You may not care about qualifying for Boston.
You may simply want to do something that, in my opinion, is every bit as meaningful:
STILL BE RUNNING 10, 20 OR 30 YEARS FROM NOW.
But I would add something to that now.
I don’t just want to be able to run when I’m 70.
I want to be able to move.
I want strength.
I want mobility.
I want balance.
I want to be able to pick something heavy up off the ground.
I want to be able to get down on the floor and get back up.
I want to still feel like an athlete.
That’s where functional whole-body strength belongs in the Natural Supershoe conversation.
Foot and ankle capacity matters.
Core endurance matters.
Mobility matters.
Whole-body strength matters.
Maintaining some ability to move quickly matters.
And consistency matters enormously.
You don’t have to train like an elite athlete.
BUT NEVER STOP TRAINING LIKE AN ATHLETE.
There’s a difference.
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WHAT COULD THIS ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE?
Don’t completely rewrite your recreational running week.
Keep your easy runs.
Keep your long run.
Keep the running you enjoy.
Then strategically attach small pieces.
A few minutes of mobility before you run.
Foot and ankle work.
A short core circuit.
A 3–4 movement whole-body strength or kettlebell complex a couple of times each week.
A few strides after an easy run.
Eventually some hops, hills or other force-production work.
Ten minutes here.
Five minutes there.
Maybe fifteen.
It won’t look impressive on Instagram after one week.
But multiply it across:
52 weeks.
Then five years.
Then ten.
Now we’re talking about something very different.
We’re talking about building a body for a lifetime.
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BUILD YOUR NATURAL SUPERSHOE
The shoe on your foot matters.
But so does the athlete inside it.
Your feet.
Your ankles.
Your calves.
Your Achilles.
Your legs.
Your hips.
Your posterior chain.
Your core.
Your upper body.
Your mobility.
Your balance.
Your ability to accept force.
Your ability to stabilize it.
Your ability to produce and redirect it.
The entire athlete matters.
That’s the Natural Supershoe.
For the recreational runner, you don’t have to spend hours developing it.
FIND THE SMALLEST EFFECTIVE DOSE.
Attach it to the running you’re already doing.
Learn to do it correctly.
Be consistent.
Progress gradually.
And don’t just train for your next race.
TRAIN FOR THE RUNNER—AND THE HUMAN BEING—YOU WANT TO BE 20 YEARS FROM NOW.
