Joe’s Top Running Tips!

Personal Trainer Joe Addison gives us his top tips for avoiding injury whilst Running.

Running
Statistically , around 75% of runners will be injured at least once a year.
Many people assume this is just part of being a runner, but it doesn’t have
to be the case. Learning to run with better form can help reduce the risk
of injury significantly.

Avoid TMTS!
Once of the most common types of running injury is simply overuse. Going
out and running 6 times a week is going to lead to all sorts of problems.
If you are just starting out as a runner, you need to avoid doing Too Much
Too Soon. Many injuries can be dodged by keeping the volume and
intensity low and build up gradually. 3 times a week is plenty.

Stay Off Your Heels
If you over stride, you are more likely to land heel first with your leg
straight, which sends a huge impact spike up through your ankles, knees and
hips. The only reason you don’t notice this is because you have a layer of
foam under your heel which masks (but doesn’t stop) the spike.
Keep your stride short, with your feet landing underneath rather than in
front of you. Try to keep your knees bent and land on the balls of your
feet. Studies have shown that this significantly reduces impact forces.

Mix It Up
Plodding along at the same pace every time you run will usually result in
either boredom or a plateau (or both).  If you want to improve as a runner
you need to vary your training a bit.
My favourite method is *Fartlek *(no laughing!). Fartlek is Swedish for
‘speed play’ and basically involves speeding up or slowing down whenever
you feel like it. You could say “I’m going to sprint to the next lamp post”
or “I’ll speed up until the end of this song, then walk for a bit”

Now I’m not saying that these things will magically result in you running
injury free for the rest of your life, but they will go a long way towards
helping you avoid the most common runners complaints.