Increase Over Time

One of the largest contributors to injuries is from runners trying to do too much, too soon, too fast. It is much better to slowly build up the amount of training that you are doing and to increase the intensity in small increments. Running, or any other form of exercise puts a significant amount of stain on our joints and muscles. Our bodies are designed to be resilient and to adapt but asking too much of them to quickly is a sure-fire way to have something go wrong.

Warm up / Cool Down

Something that all runners should incorporate into their routine is a warm up and cool down.

 Start your run off with a few minutes of stretching and then a few minutes of walking or a light jog to allow your muscles to loosen up and prepare for a work out. Likewise, a good after run routine will help to reduce injuries and improve recovery time.

Include Strength Training

Running is a full body experience, yes, it is your legs and feet that are involved in most of the action, but everything is playing a part. Focusing just on running and ignoring the training of your muscles can leave you at greater risk of injury. Strength training is not a favorite with most runners, but it significantly helps make your experience better.

 Increasing the strength in your upper body, and especially your core will help increase stability, and improve your form. It will also help reduce how quickly your body becomes fatigued. Strength training in your lower body can utilize muscle groups in different ways making them more efficient and more resilient and can help protect your joints. Remember the goal is not to win a body building contest to grow strong lean muscle that can improve your endurance and reduce the stresses of running.

Improve Flexibility

While before and after run stretching is important it is not the only time it is useful. Adding a few small stretching sessions to your week will help to increase your flexibility which has a wide range of benefits to your running. More flexible muscles have greater endurance and a wider range of motion. This transfers into less stress on the muscle and a reduced risk of injury. Stretching a few times throughout the week is also a great way to stay in touch with your body and to notice any possible warning signals it is giving you.

Improve Your Form

Improving your form can help reduce the stress on joints and muscles and increase the efficiency of your movements. By adjusting your posture, gait, and foot position you can significantly improve your running form. To help you do this you can have your running form evaluated by an expert or have a formal gait analysis preformed. This can help detect errors that you are making and give you suggestions on how to improve them. Another method of learning about your running form and how you can make improvements you can use AISportage smart running shoes, which have a tracking placed under the insole of the shoe, to give detailed data on your running form and metrics, and indicators of what you need to improve. In addition to reducing the risk of injury this can also increase both your speed and endurance. Just be sure to pay attention to our first point and increase a little bit at a time.

Eat Well, Hydrate, Sleep

If you want to keep your body in top condition and free of stress and injury the best thing you can do is to look after it. Make sure that you are drinking enough water, especially before and after a run. Eat foods that are high in nutrients and protean to let your body recover and rebuild itself after hard workouts. And make sure that you are getting a full sleep each night, this is your body’s time to recover and repair itself.