5 Tips for Running Efficient
Often times when I see people running out in the streets or at my local running spot, I see a lot of minor tweaks that people can do to run more efficient and ultimately, move faster. Here are five quick tips to help make your running more effortless and more enjoyable for you.
Use your hammies – Too many times, runners are predominantly using their quads and not driving up the back of their legs as they run. As such, you’re cutting the horsepower by like half. As you’re running, you want to feel like your feet are kicking up behind you. Some watching you run away should be able to see the soles of your shoes with each step. By engaging your hamstrings, you’ll be using the full power of your legs to get more power and cover more distance quickly. Having good flexibility in your hip flexors and quads is clutch in getting your hamstrings to fire up behind you. A good way to practice using your hamstrings when you run is to do butt kicker drills before your run. Likewise, you also want to be using your glutes when you run by pushing away from the ground. It’s the biggest muscle in your body. So if you’re not using them, you’re missing out on lots of power and energy during your run.
Lean forward – As you’re running, you want to make sure you’re pushing yourself ahead and not pulling yourself down the path. As I mentioned above, you want to be pushing forward and away from the ground beneath you. A lot of people know to lean forward, but unfortunately, too often they’re leaning from the hips and not from their ankles. If you’re leaning from your hips, you’re not able to engage your glutes and hamstrings, which leads you to being quad dominant (see above). Think of yourself leaning forward like Michael Jackson in the iconic Smooth Criminal video. You don’t want to have that drastic of a lean, but it’s a great visual for you to think of when you’re running. By leaning forward from your ankles, you’ll have a better opportunity in keeping your feet landing underneath your torso and won’t over stride, which can lead to knee injuries over time.
Arms front to back – Another tip to becoming more efficient is by keeping your arms at your side as you run. If your arms are running across your body, your body isn’t just focusing on running forward, it’s also having to adjust with your core corkscrewing left and right with each step. You want your body expending the least amount of energy as possible outside of your legs moving you. So if your core is rotating side to side, mad energy is being spent doing that along with your legs moving. Good core strength is required to hold you in place and prevent you r arms from crossing your ribcage. Simple core exercises can help improve your core strength. Also, your arms should be bent at the elbows at around 90 degrees and your hands should be relaxed and not balled up in a fist.
Relaxed breathing – Following up with minimizing extra energy expenditure, you want to be breathing with a relaxed cadence. Most runners exhale every four steps, which is easy to remember and fairly natural to do. Of course if you’re running at a really fast tempo, that breathing rate will quicken to every two steps and if at a full blown sprint, every step. But for those distance runners, every four is about right. Likewise your pacing during your run should be able to support that rhythm. If you feel like you’re struggling with a four count over a solid distance or amount of time, you may be running faster than your body is trained for at that moment. Finally, you should be breathing from your diaphragm and not the top of your chest. Your belly should be inflating as you inhale and flattening as you exhale. Your chest should not be rising as you’re running for distance.
Comfortable gear – Keep yourself running smoothly by wearing gear that goes with your running activity. You don’t want be tangled up in loose shirts and tops and having shorts or pants that are twisting up on you for miles. Cotton is rotten. You want to wear clothes that are made of technical, moisture wicking fabrics that will draw the sweat off your body and let your skin breathe. Same goes with your socks. Put down the Costco pack of Puma & Kirkland socks and invest in quality socks that will help prevent chafing and blisters during your runs. Ladies, invest in a quality, supportive sports bra to keep the girls down. Finally, you want to invest in quality running shoes situated for YOU. Find a good running specialty store that will help determine what kind of shoes will work best with your body’s mechanics, amount of running your doing and what kind of terrain you’re running on. Running in your old pair of promo t-shirts and worn out Air Force 1s or your old college t-shirts and ratty pair of Skechers is not the bizness.
Try implementing these tips as you get in your weekly runs. Focus on each of these specific elements one at a time for a section of your run, listen to your body and see how it feels. It may feel odd with some of these at first, especially if you’re undoing your current running mechanics. But with practice and time, it should feel easier and smoother and start to yield results a la your times. If you’re looking for more in-depth coaching on your running and creating a training plan to tackle your next virtual or in-person race, shoot me an email and let’s chat!
