Beginner Running Tips - Running Technique

Ron Bowman: Hi! I am Ron Bowman and today we are talking about beginning running tips. Next we are going to be talking about running technique. A good program or have you starting out with something like a five minute warm up, walking is fine for that. A two minute run, then a two minute walk and then repeating that two or three times ending with an easy cool down with maybe five minutes or so of walking. And then what you will do is gradually progress from there as you go through your program. This will give you a gradual progression in your training. But depending on your fitness level you may still have some soreness and some fatigue when you finish. The main thing to remember while running is relax.

Run easy enough to carry on a conversation. You don't have to talk but just be able to. At first don't worry too much about technique. You can get overwhelmed trying to perfect technique too quickly. At first your body will find a natural gait that fits you. Some aspects of proper technique are the mid-foot strike, mean that you want to land about the mid-foot on the outside of the arch not on the toes and not on the heels. You want to have your arms held out above 80 degrees to the rest of your body and move in a forward and backward motion, not swinging to the outside, not hanging down at your side. You have to hold your fist in a closed motion not wide open, not with your fingers wide apart, but like you are holding an egg in your hand and just trying not to break it. You want to keep your head upright. I mean at 16 pounds you don't want to keep it too far forward. You want to keep your head up so you can see what's going around you, not to put too much stress on your neck muscles. And having a good coach will observe and notice any anomalies that you might have like a leg lift on one side or heel drag on another side, something like that, and that's where you can find tune and you perfect your technique and it will also help prevent injuries. In summary running technique is very important. Coaches and lead athletes spend hours and hours on perfecting technique. But for the beginning runner the most important thing is just to be aware of what proper technique is. Don't spend too much time concentrating on it. The rule is know what the proper technique is and maybe take one thing during that run and think about it for one minute. Like proper foot strike.

Don't get yourself confused or frustrated by trying to run perfect technique. Your body will find a natural gait for you that you are comfortable with and stay with it until you are at a point where you can start working on your technique. And that's some pointers on running technique. There is a lot more to it, but now we are going to talk about some of the mental aspect of running.