10 Running Hacks to Improve Performance
Okay, we may have told a little white lie when typing out that title because, well, there are no obvious shortcuts to becoming a better runner. There are no cheat codes you can enter or fast-track secrets that will get you to the finish line any quicker. Instead, running is one of those sports where putting in the effort, pushing past the pain point, following a plan and training properly are all you need to run further and faster. Look at Usain Bolt. He makes taking home the Olympic gold look effortlessly easy. But here’s the truth: if he’d relied on talent alone, he wouldn’t have even made the qualifiers. Instead, he put in the work.
That said, there are a few simple hacks, habits and steps you can take to boost your performance, run faster, set a new PB, smoke the competition and generally improve your running life – and this is them:
Good Form is Golden
Whether you’re looking to do a fast 5K or finish a far-flung marathon, the golden rule to running at any speed or distance is to nail your running technique. Translation: keep your upper body tall yet relaxed so that you can pound the ground with the middle of your foot as it lands under your hips. That’s the first step. The second piece of the good form puzzle is to swing your arms forward and backwards as close to 90 degrees as you can (and never swing your arms side-to-side across your body).
Be A Better Breather
You breathe however you breathe and you can’t change that, right? Wrong. Breathing properly while running at speed is a skill that will help you run faster for longer. That’s why it takes practice. It’s a matter of using your nose to inhale and your mouth to exhale; a technique that will help you get the absolute maximum out of the oxygen flooding your muscles.The other technique that is super-important is “belly breathing” where you focus on filling your diaphragm instead of your chest everytime you breathe in.
Take on The Trails
Getting down and dirty on those undulating hillside trails isn’t for everyone, but adding inclines to your training is one of the most effective ways to boost fitness. That’s because it adds a form of resistance training to your schedule, while also working out the muscles in your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves (aka your running muscles). Of course, you don’t have to head for the hills for this performance boost – you can simply add an incline to your treadmill sessions.
Try Interval Training
There’s a phrase that seems to have encapsulated modern life and it goes like this: work smarter, not harder. That’s what interval training focuses on. Whether you’re short of gym time or simply trying to add some variety to your running, interval training combines sections of high and low intensity as a way to improve speed and endurance. How does it do this? Simple. By improving your aerobic and anaerobic endurance, increasing your VO2 max and improving your running performance.
Build Your Strength
Strength training and running go together like peanut butter and jelly, Macaroni and cheese, and yeah, Ant and Dec. That’s because the stronger and leaner your muscles are, the faster you’ll be able to reach the finish line. Of course, that doesn’t mean stacking the weights on the end of a barbell and trying to recreate Arnie’s ‘Pumping Iron’. But two to three strength sessions a week will help you smash whatever PB you have one eye on.
Keep Your Head Held High
Remember when the P.E. teacher would tell you to, “Keep your eyes on the prize.” Well, what they meant was keep your head up and your eyes in front. No looking down at your feet (unless you’re on a tricky stretch of backcountry terrain), no looking around at your competition and no looking back to see where the rest of the pack are because all of this will waste precious time. Instead, keep your eyes looking ahead – around 15 metres or so – focused on what’s directly in front of you. Trust on that one.
Yoga Hits Different
There’s a reason we’ve started hosting twice-monthly Yoga sessions on our IG: it improves balance, increases flexibility and drastically enhances your recovery after each run-slash-race. In short: make sure you start adding a couple of weekly yoga-sessions to your running schedule to see some rapid-pace improvements to your overall running game. If you want to get involved, head to @runna_coach to sign up to these weekly sessions.
Stop Sitting So Much
The average person spends over half their day sitting down. From sitting at your desk during work hours, eating meals and chilling out in front of Netflix, you’re looking at around 14 hours of sedentary living. That’s a lot. More than a once-a-day run can compete with or fix. But this won’t just have an impact on your health, it will start to negatively affect your cardio. That’s why you need to get moving more often. Not just standing up (which will put a greater strain on your joints, cartilage, brain, spine and shoulders), but moving around enough to increase your heart rate, keep your heart healthy and stimulate your arteries thanks to a faster blood flow.
Fuel Yourself Properly
This might sound a little obvious but, for runners, food is so much more than simple nutrition. Food is fuel, and knowing what to eat and when is guaranteed to make you healthier, fitter and faster. As runners, we need to upgrade our fuel, focus on quality, eat more whole foods, reduce the amount of junk and understand that good running nutrition is all about eating correctly before, during and after your runs. It’s about hydrating the right amount as you pound the pavement, changing how you eat and what for different distances, and understanding how the right nutrition will replenish your energy levels, improve your speed and enhance your recovery.
Get A Personalised Plan
When it comes to following a plan, 99% of runners will only follow one if there’s a race at the end of it. That’s their motivation for getting everything right and following a personalised structure. But it’s worth remembering that running plans don’t require a race at the end to have a huge benefit. Adding accountability, giving you a sense of purpose, helping you reduce your chances of an injury, getting expert coaching advice, taking the hassle out of your schedule so you can simply focus on running – if you do one thing to improve your running, it’s this: follow a running plan. Period.
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