3 minute read –
1. Positive self talk
Your mind can be your friend or worst enemy.
Studies show repeating positive phases to yourself in any task will increase your wiliness and decreased effort levels.
As you’re running next time repeat positive phases like “I can” or “I am feeling good today”, this will make the things feel easier and you will stay positive when the pain inevitable kicks in.
2. Drinking more water (before running)
Minor dehydration destroys your muscle function.
This includes reduction in blood volume, decreased skin blood flow and an increased rate of muscle glycogen use.
Keep a water bottle near you so you don’t forget to drink enough.
3. Do a warm up
Sounds simple but how often do you run without one?
Just a few simple dynamic exercises inside can do the job including; calf raises, hamstring sweeps, lunges and hip bridges.
For extra help run if you have time do 5-10 mins slow before starting your main run.
4. Sleep
Sleep is the forgotten secret to success.
Everybody thinks more is better, more training, more miles. You may be eager to get your run done early before work at, but don’t do this if your scarifying sleep.
Studies show that perceived effort of running is higher in those are sleep deprived, essentially lack of sleep makes everything seem harder.
Try aim for a minimum of 6-8 hours, ideally closer to 8 hours.
5. Chunking
The absolute simplest way to run your faster ever times.
chunk your runs into sections to make is phycological easier. For example a 10k run is 5 2k runs. This is a lot easier to digest in your head and you will find the miles go a lot quicker.
To make it even easier set yourself targets for each distance so you have a constant goal throughout your run.
6.Cadence (steps per minute)
Your run cadence is critical to your ability to run fast, efficient, and pain free.
You want your cadence to be within 170-180 range ideally when running, it sould feel like you a gliding forward, not moving up and down
higher cadence will mean you have less bounce and up and down movement, more opportunities to create force and your feet will land closer to under your hips. Its not easy to increase your cadence so practice is needed.
Top tip: pretend your are running on ice when running or hot lava, this will promote a faster cadence when running.
7. The 10% rule
This rule is key to prevent injury.
This rule is vital if you are a beginner, have just got back into running or are building up to race an event.
Whatever your mileage is one week, add 10% the next week. This rule will ensure you don’t over train and will keep progressively overloading.