Here’s a quick summary of what’s to come: Start small, think big. Running with proper form is more important than how much you run. Make sure to stretch too. In the beginning, just run with short light steps – landing on your midfoot. Good forms of cross-training are yoga, strength, mobility, and running hard. Breathe through your nose and out your mouth. Make the time because running is an investment.
We’re going to cover:
- When just starting out
- Running form
- Stretching
- Heel striking
- What part of your foot to land on
- Cross training
- Running hard
- Breathing
- Finding the time
- Ever hear of barefoot running?
Let’s get into it!
When just starting out
Running efficiently demands good technique and running efficiently for ultras demands great technique.
The funny thing is, getting started with running requires no technique. All you have to do is tie your shoes, leave your front door, and go out for a run.
If you’re just getting started, go for 100 feet if that’s all you can do. Tomorrow, for your next run, try and go further. You’ll begin to rekindle that instinctual pleasure of movement, and pretty soon it will become a beast of its own.
Who cares about speed or how far you can go? Over time add distance, which brings along with it a bunch of benefits like strengthening our heart and lungs, circulation, and how efficiently our muscles operate.
Believe it or not, most of the time it’s better to go slower than you think you should – 50% of your maximum effort. Think of it more of a jog vs a run. You actually should be able to have a conversation with someone and not feel that out of breath. If you do get out of breath, slow down to a walk and retry the jog again. Finding the sweet spot of this “conversation pace” takes some practice, expect to do a combo of walking, jogging, and running.
It’s harder to run uphill, and way easier to run downhill so hike the hills and bomb the downhills.
Don’t be afraid to push it a little some days too(:
Running form
To run efficiently and effectively, we need to have our form dialed in.
- Shoulders back
- arms bent at 45 degrees at the elbow
- allow your arms to swing naturally and freely, but don’t let them cross the center of your body because that restricts our breathing.
- Lean forward, but not at the hips. Lean forward like you’re about to fall, almost looking like the Michael Jackson anti-gravity lean. This is how we use gravity to the best of our advantage, by doing a controlled fall and “catching” ourselves with every step.
- Keep on stepping!
Stretching
Stretching is going to save you from injuries, relieve your sore muscles, and keep you running for the long haul. Stretching is so important that if you don’t have the time, run a mile less and use that time to stretch instead.
Here are the main six areas to stretch (You can do these stretches in 6 minutes):
- Hamstrings
- Hip Flexors
- Quads
- Calves
- IT band
- Groins
(These muscle groups get tight even if you aren’t a runner)
There are so many different stretches to try for each area. Find some stretches that work for you. The most important thing about stretching is to do it early and often. Make sure you are doing them correctly too.
Some of my favorites:
- Downward dog
- Diagonal stretch
- Forward fold
- Pigeon fold
- Frog pose
Heel Striking
The fact is, we can learn to run better.
Count the time your right foot strikes the ground in 20 seconds.
Multiply that by 3
This is your stride rate per minute. (one stride is two steps, steps per minute is twice our stride rate)
Most runners are at 60 strides per minute…
This is a common mistake because that means that you are overstriding: taking big and slow steps, reaching far forward, and landing on your heel. “Heel striking” which creates a shit load of impact on our joints.
You want to be at 90 strides per minute…
Your right foot should hit the ground 45 times in one minute
Short, light, and quick steps. This is how the most efficient runners run.
What part of your foot to land on?
The best spot to land is on the forefoot or midfoot because it uses the elasticity of the Achilles tendon and the arch of the foot to propel us forward.
Landing on the forefoot prevents heel striking which leads to so. many. injuries.
And if we’re not used to landing on our mid or forefoot, this could lead to injuries too so if you’re gutsy enough to change your strides up, take it easy. It’s a short-term sacrifice for long-term gains. My calves used to kill me when I first started to run on my forefoot.
Besides, what’s really most important is where our foot strikes the ground. Our feet should land right underneath our bodies. This will help us not slam onto the ground with each step, even if we connect with the heel first, which btw is more difficult to do if our foot lands right under us.
Cross-train
Our legs make us go, but our back and core give us a lot of that power, our chest and shoulders keep us upright too.
A mixture of calisthenics and weights make for a good combo
Here are some of my favorite exercises I use to supplement running:
- Deadlifts
- Rows
- Pull-ups / chin-ups
- Push-ups/ dips
- Bench press
- Overhead press
- Squats
For abs:
- Flutter kick
- Bicycles
- Planks
- L sits
Don’t shy away from yoga or pilates either.
Run harder
Regular running is satisfying within itself, there’s even greater satisfaction in challenging yourself – running faster or longer.
Seeing a goal through, creating a plan, building yourself up brick by brick, and crossing the finish line, there are few things like it.
One of the best ways to improve our running is supplemental training: flexibility, strengthening, mobility, technique, etc.
Another way? Running faster and harder.
Here’s how: after you’ve been running for about an hour or so a few days a week you’re ready to think about starting to run at 80% of your max effort.
At first, you might only be able to get to 10 seconds, that’s okay.
After 10 seconds, take a one-minute easy jog and then repeat. Build this 10-second burst up to 5 minutes.
Eventually, you’ll surpass that 5 minutes. Keep this 5:1 ratio of running hard & jogging. (10:2, 15:3) , pretty soon you’ll be running your hour run as fast as you can with no problem.
This is a version of speed work, check out 4 other types of speed work
Breathing
Breathing is the key to a healthy life.
One of the best ways to breathe for runners is to breathe abdominally.
- Lay on your back
- Place a book on your stomach
- Make the book rise and fall with each breath.
This is how you breathe from your diaphragm vs your chest, allowing you to breathe more deeply.
The goal is to breathe through the nose the entire run, if you’re grinding, inhale through your nose and forcefully blow out through the mouth.
After all, we have our noses to breathe and smell and our mouths to eat and taste.
Finding the time
You’re going to need to find time, even if it’s just 20 minutes.
And you know you can’t get any more time than you already have, we all get 24 hours per day, so where can you cut?
How much time do you spend on TV? Or surfing social media? Shopping?
Running is making an investment in your mental and physical well-being.
Find ways to do “2 for 1’s” like running to work, the store, your appointment
Check out 20 time management tips for runners
Ever hear of barefoot running?
Minimal footwear or even barefoot running allows us to work on our body’s ability to sense our position within space.
We’re getting immediate sensory feedback every time we touch the ground.
This encourages us to stay light on our feet and run with proper form which is really the ultimate goal with running, barefoot or not. (we don’t have to run barefoot all the time to get the benefits either)
If you want to try this, don’t just throw your shoes in the trash.
Instead, do 5-minute runs on soft surfaces once per week. Start small.
Each week, bump up the time by a few minutes and eventually you’ll get to an hour of this stuff.
I appreciate your attention!
LMK ANYTHING!
Go get your miles, peace!!!
Joe DiAndrea 