3 Tips to Improve Your Running Performance
When you first get into running, it fast becomes addictive. You get over the initial hurdle, fight through the discomfort, and in no time at all you are seeing your speed increase and your 5k times plummet. You improve noticeably with every single run and actually start to enjoy it. The feeling of the wind in your air and the world rushing by as you speed forward without a care in the world.
But for every runner, there comes a point when you hit a performance plateau. You’re no longer able to improve your pace or increase your mileage. You feel like you’ve hit a wall and you can’t breakthrough. Some runners are perfectly happy to remain on this plateau, relishing in the fact that they can run comfortably without injury. Others, however, lose motivation as their performance stops increasing and end up packing it all in.
But there’s a third category of runner that is much rarer. A runner who sees this plateau not as an obstacle, but as an opportunity. A chance to radically transform their running and improve in ways they never thought possible. Anyone can break through this wall and boost their running performance, no matter what level of runner you are.
Whether you’re new to running or you’re a seasoned veteran looking to better yourself, here are three tips to improve your running performance.
Change your form
The majority of runners learn to run just by getting out there and moving. They are effectively self-taught, and as a result, have never learned proper form. Watch any jogger in the street and if you know what to look for you’ll generally spot a medley of mistakes. Heel-striking, hunched shoulders, and dragging feet are all common errors. By familiarizing yourself with the optimum running form, you will be able to increase the efficiency of your movement and see your results dramatically improve without any additional energy expenditure. It will take a lot of practice to correct bad posture and remember to land with the midfoot rather than the heel, but with enough time you can learn anything.
Mix up your training
If you do all your runs at a similar pace on similar terrain, your performance will suffer. The optimum training schedule involves a wide variety of different exercises. You should be incorporating speed work at least once a week to raise your default pace, as well as longer runs at a comfortable effort. Add in strength exercises to improve your core, as well as hill repeats and intervals.
Prioritize recovery
The one area that most runners neglect is actually the most important: recovery. You might think recovery is nothing more than a quick stretch at the end of a long run, but it’s so much more than that. If your body doesn't get a chance to rest and repair itself, your performance on subsequent runs will suffer. You need to make sure you are getting plenty of sleep and eating the right foods to replenish the calories and electrolytes lost.