5 Ways to Improve your Running Speed

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Running may be the most fun way to stay fit and healthy. Running is a great form of cardiovascular exercises that keeps your heart healthy and increases your pulse rate. Running and burning calories are interlinked and offer you multiple health benefits related to your overall physical fitness. It is also one of the most convenient workouts as there’s no requirement of gym, exercise equipments or instructors. Just you need some time, a passion to stay fit, a safe terrain to move on and a decent pair of shoes.

Running is wildly popular in all age groups as per their fitness level. A regular running routine can slow down the aging effects. You can easily find runners of all shapes and sizes around if you hit any park or jogging trail anytime of the day mostly at dawn and dusk. The most valid reason and charm of being so popular is that anyone can do it. However, learning proper technique is essential to limit the injury risks and discomforts and improve the running capability. There are several safe ways to enhance your running fitness and challenge yourself with higher running goals. Here are some of the running techniques that allow you to increase your speed and ability to run more:

1. You can run faster if you run but you have to keep calm as it is not possible and advised to try to have the faster pace at once.  Not paying attention on safety grounds may harm you a lot. Do not brutally force yourself to reach maximum goals in minimal time. It is of no good to make the fun workout a punishment for your body. Quality should be the priority. One should be patient and persistent if want to run faster and safer.
2. To increase your speed you should revise your training and form. You have to focus on minimizing the unnecessary moves during running. Learn proper techniques to ease the joint stress and moving forward tranquilly. Concentrate on moving quietly while running as it emphasizes on soft landing that is best for your joints. Hard steps show that you are exerting more energy.
3. Include various workouts and terrains in your regular routine to increase strength and speed. Try a variety of situations that let you enhance your performance. Running on hills is a fantastic way to stabilize your ability, build your strengthen and increase the running speed. However, you should be careful as it can hurt. Running up the steep is always hard but results are also great.
4. Focus on strengthening your core muscles. They are important in driving and balancing the body. It is important to keep core fit to speed you up. Running is not ideal for building muscles but you have to work out in strengthening core abdominal muscles to increase your running ability. Having stability in core muscles assists in developing better running technique and leads you to be faster.
5. Buying the best running shoes is one of the best investments that you can do to your fitness. It helps you in increasing your speed and form. It makes the running time a fun time for you that provide you mental pleasure and peace along with the physical fitness. It is recommendable to thoroughly check your running shoes for fit and comfort.

Importance of Proper Breathing for Running

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If you want to lose weight and get rid of extra pounds then aerobic exercises can do a lot for you. Aerobics are one of the best ways to burn calories and stay fit and healthy. Running is one of the best aerobics that is easy to perform without using any equipment or training. The only thing is to keep an eye on some proper running techniques that allow you to get maximum benefits in minimal time. There are several particular running tips to prevent you from any discomfort or injury risks. Proper breathing is also one of the most essential element to focus on before begin your running workout. Breathing is a critical part of healthy living. People are aware that breathing is important to life but many of them don’t know how to breathe properly.

Body needs immense amount of oxygen during physical activities. It is important to develop proper breathing habits according to the activity you are engaged in. Proper breathing maximizes oxygen intake which is essential to stimulate proper blood flow and to make body function well. Breathing develops lung capacity for physical activities. Inadequate breathing harms performance whether it is physical or mental. For an activity like running it is the most important part to breathe properly to avoid early fatigue. Getting adequate oxygen must be your prime aim for running.

Bad posture during running cause having less amount of air going into your lungs. It can impede your performance and leads you to fatigue and discomfort. Make it easy for your lungs to expand properly via proper posture with a neutral spine and upright position. Upright and straight posture assists get more oxygen into your lungs.

There is a debate that which is better to breathe through nose or mouth.  All have their own ideas about but generally for running it is better to breathe via both the mouth and the nose to get the maximum amount of oxygen. Having immense amount of oxygen into your system really helps your muscles during running. It is also important to deep breath before begin running to warm up your body.

Defining ‘Technique Threshold’ and Unlocking Its Potential in Running

So far, very few trainers and running blogs have emphasized the importance of technique threshold! It is known to unlock the running potential of the running participant.

What is ‘technique threshold’?

When you achieve a speed at which the good running technique begins to falter, then the technique threshold is reached. The idea can be understood by considering a simple test. Find a flat and peaceful 100m stretch and start by jogging at a brisk pace for 10 meters and increase speed after every 10 meters. Starting off slow will help you increase the speed gradually.

• Sprinting out since the beginning will make you lose stamina after going 30 meters. Now that good technique for running that took you to 30 meters will falter and you will feel these changes:
• An effortless exercise will get tensed and the muscles will feel strained.
• As a result of tension and stress, the ideal posture for running gets affected. Some people start twisting during the running or hold their chest out.
• Since the runner is applying more effort, the arms start pumping rather than staying relaxed for distance running.
• With more distance, the stride gets less coordinated and is certainly not fluid anymore.
• If you attempt this test both as a sprinter and then with technique threshold, you will be able to notice the difference.

This simple test will let you find your technique threshold. Runners with high technique threshold can run long distances faster while still remaining relaxed. As for those with lower threshold, there is a likelihood of technique wobble at a low speed.Read interesting distance running tips.

Correct Running Posture Makes All The Difference!

Running is the simplest form of exercise that apparently requires minimal training. But believe me , there is lot to it than meets the eye. I personally improved my stamina and run-times after training. There was also a subsequent decline in injuries. While training, I was familiarized with several running tips but there was one thing that worked wonders. It’s the running posture which is highly important for a distance runner. When you are vulnerable to repetitive impact injuries while running, your correct posture will prevent any major damage.

Running Posture Comparison

Running is the simplest form of exercise that apparently requires minimal training. But believe me , there is lot to it than meets the eye. I personally improved my stamina and run-times after training. There was also a subsequent decline in injuries. While training, I was familiarized with several running tips but there was one thing that worked wonders. It’s the running posture which is highly important for a distance runner. When you are vulnerable to repetitive impact injuries while running, your correct posture will prevent any major damage.

Follow a running posture from head to toe

One of the simplest running techniques can be developed by “puppet posture” visualization. Picture a string keeping you upright. You are hanging from that string and your feet barely reach the ground. With this technique, you will get a feeling of floating through the air. This will make running exercise seem more natural than it already is.

Keep your head pointed up straight

While running keep your head up. Some runners are in a practice of looking at their feet. This can compromise the posture of the runner and sometimes makes them lose balance.

Eyes should remain alert

A runner’s eyes should remain focused on the target with occasional darting around to watch out for obstacles or nearby pedestrians who conjure up on the sidewalk.

Ears are better left vacant

When you are running outside on sidewalks, your ears must be ready to listen to horns and sirens. If you are using headphones, keep the music at a low volume so that you can hear other sounds.

Shoulders should be relaxed

It’s natural to clench shoulder blades when you are tense but the perfect position is to keep them relaxed. Shoulders clenched to the neck will compromise the position of hands.

Legs taking shorter strides

When your legs take longer strides, it’s difficult to maintain posture. On the contrary, longer strides will cause strain or muscle pull and the runner loses more energy. You certainly don’t want to burn out before the finish line. Adopt the correct posture and you will be able to maintain a balance between long and short strides.