As we can’t yet make it to the track to train together, I thought I would put together some of the top areas we focus on in the weekly track sessions. I am sure many of you are missing me shouting ‘knees up, extend the arms’… but hopefully, we will be back to it soon.
With more people working from home and therefore sitting all day, the below tips will be especially important now to help avoid injury.
Drills
Make sure to include drills in your warm-up and short fast strides with recovery. The strides will help increase the pace and prepare or fire the muscles for the session ahead. If you need any guidance on this, just get in touch and I can send you a video of the drills to include.
During the strides focus on knee lift, stay tall, work the arms, and include a good powerful drive.
Add in some light plyo exercises such as squat jumps, to strengthen tendons and give more elasticity or bounce in your run.
Strength Training
It will be important to include strength in your overall training program. A big issue for runners is a weakness in their glutes, lower back, and core areas.
Staying tall will give you more of a bounce and light feeling on the feet. Once the head drops your center of gravity shifts. This may be caused by lower back weakness.
Your glutes are the muscles that power you forward and hold a good posture, and your body upright. The glute muscle is the biggest muscle in the body. It is probably the least used muscle for most people, especially when sitting on them all day!
Ensure to add in exercises to strengthen these muscles. I offer weekly online strength and mobility classes, so if you would like to join, just get in touch.
Focus
While running short reps, the focus needs to be on good run form and technique over all-out pace. If pushing the pace is the priority, the technique will suffer and you will lose control of your run.
When running reps you need to concentrate on your body position, be aware of your breathing, and lastly your knee lift and knee drive.
Arms
The arms will do a lot for your running. You don’t want the arms crossing over the body. With longer arm movement you will get a longer stride.
It is very easy to work on a rhythm with your arms… you will get into a flow by timing your breathing, arm movement, and stride together.
Consistency
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again… consistency is key. Be consistent in your strength training and running drills.
Working on the above will improve your running technique, which in turn will help prevent injury, and naturally progress your running pace. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
