Running Tips!
***Disclaimer: In no way am I a coach/certified in running, this is just what I’ve learned over the years!***
Form:
A. Heel Strike:
a. Problem: If your shins hurt after running, it may be caused by “heel-striking”,
where you are landing on your heels every step. This causes stress on your calves
and shins because that part of your leg is taking more impact.
b. Solution: Think of landing on the ball of your foot with every step, either midfoot
or forefoot, as seen below:
c. I tend to stick to midfoot because it works for me! Forefoot is the “optimal”
position, but I find that I think too hard about it to properly forefoot strike,
limiting me from focusing on other aspects of running. Do what is comfortable
FOR YOU.
B. Staying Relaxed：
a. Problems: Clenching and hip placement.
b. To keep your upper body relaxed, avoid clenching your hands when you run. On
the other hand, avoid being too “loose” with your upper body when running.
c. Solution 1: Imagine you have fat drumsticks in each hand; therefore, your hands
will be closed but not all the way, and when you pump your arms, imagine hitting
a drum in front of you with those drumsticks. This will keep your arms relaxed.
d. Hunching over/letting your hips lead you will make not only your back hurt, but
you will tire out faster.
e. Solution 2: Imagine that your hips are a bowl. In that bowl is water filled to the
brim. To make sure the water doesn’t spill, your hips must be activated, which for
me takes activating my glutes and bringing my shoulders up, back, and down.
This allows me to stand up tall and my body is in a relaxed position.
C. Breathing
a. Breathing, to me, is one of the hardest parts about running because it is SO EASY
to forget to do it properly.
b. I have no idea how to explain this like a PT would, so here is my understanding of
how breathing works in running:
Controlled Breat h ing=slower heart rate=greater endurance
And
Sparatic Breathing=higher heart rate=lesser endurance
c. I hope that makes sense!
d. When I run, I try to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. To
remind myself that it needs to be controlled, I inhale every 3rd or 4th step and do
the same with the exhale! Do the number of steps that work with you!
D. Cadence:
a. Cadence is usually defined by how many steps you take per minute (SPM).
b. This is incredibly hard to do without REALLY focusing on it, so I sometimes will
do runs with the emphasis of focusing on my SPM.
c. Solution: Either count, which would be INSANE if you could do that consistently,
or take the easy way out and least to music with the same beats per minute (BPM)
as your goal!
i. The typical range of good SPM is 160-180 SPM, so it depends on what
you’re comfortable with!
ii. Going under 150/160 SPM usually happens when you overstride which is
really hard on your hips and your legs!
E. Training
a. While I am NO expert in how to train AT ALL, what worked for me at first is
doing a running/walk combo. For example:
i. Run 2 minutes, walk 5 minutes, and then decrease the amount of you walk
each week and increase the running time!
b. I would recommend finding a plan that works for you online depending on your
comfort level! There are a lot of great FREE running plans out there!
F. Stretching
a. I feel like you already know this one WAYYYYY better than me and I already
feel like I’m mansplaining so I’m going to wrap this one up haha.
G. BIGGEST LESSON:
a. The only way to get better at running is to RUN, it takes time but once you learn
to love it, it is SO freeing!
i. Also, a great time to pray once you get in the groove :)
