Tips to help you run faster and better

Running faster means working harder, and improvements obviously don't happen overnight. But if you're shooting for a PR, you could shave some seconds or maybe even minutes off your finishing time with smart strategies that have little to do with your fitness level. Whether you're doing a 5 km or a marathon, here are some tips to try during your next race:

Run the tangents. Even though race courses are measured accurately, many racers run a longer distance (and therefore a slower finish time) by following every curve in the road. A tangent is a straight line that just touches a curve, so the concept of "running the tangents" is to run the shortest distance possible by running straight from one curve to the next.

Check your form. Every Kilometre or so, check your running form from head to toe, so you can prevent wasting energy as a result of bad form. Look ahead (not down), keep your shoulders relaxed, arms swinging back and forth (not side to side), and your hands gently clenched. Keep your hips under your shoulders and make sure your stride is short, with your feet close to the ground. Don't lose time at the start or water stops. Make sure you line up properly at the start, so you don't spend time and energy weaving around slower runners or walkers. At the water stops, don't stop at the first table -- it's always the most crowded. Go to a table towards the end and on the left-hand side, if there are tables on both sides of the street. (Most people are right-handed and naturally go to the tables on the right side.) Most runners have hit a rough patch at some point during a race. When you find yourself struggling during a race, try some of these mental tricks to get you to the finish:

Give yourself mini-goals. If you're really struggling, don't focus on how much farther you have to go. Just worry about getting to the next mile marker, the next water stop, or another landmark. Keep giving yourself small goals, so you don't feel overwhelmed by thinking about how far it is to the finish line.

Go fishing. Focus on someone in front of you who you think you can catch. Imagine you're casting out a fishing line and hooking that person. Then imagine yourself reeling that person in, as you keep getting closer and closer to him.

Find a mantra. Picking a short phase, such as "One step at a time," that you play over and over in your head while running can help you stay focused and cantered. It can be your inner motivation when you need it most. You may already have a favourite phrase to use as a mantra,Talk to yourself. Who cares if the person running next to you thinks you're crazy? Sometimes giving yourself a little pep talk and saying things such, "I can do this!" or "I'm staying strong" can help you through a rough patch.

Distract yourself. Try to take attention away from how you're feeling by focusing on everything outside your body. I always like to look at the spectators' faces and see them smiling and cheering. It helps me take my mind away from any discomfort I'm experiencing.

NB: Its not what’s in front of you, Its how you see what’s in front of you...

And don’t forget to “Grace the race...

To your Running Successes
Tshepo khoza

"Fitness Tips for Travel"

One of the most common questions that practitioners in the fitness field are asked is what people should do when they are away from the gym or are unable to get to a gym while traveling. Summer is approaching quickly, and with it, many of us will be taking advantage of the warmer weather and time off to get away from the area. Whether we travel abroad for weeks at a time, or have weekend homes out East, upstate, or down at the shore, keeping fit can be a challenge. This is particularly true for our clientele here at Art Of Running; it can be difficult to replicate the intensity of the training sessions here. However, by adjusting one’s expectations, you can aim to maintain your fitness level, and at the very least keep in the habit of exercising. Do not limit yourself to a particular exercise or piece of equipment. Instead, broaden your outlook by thinking in terms of movements rather than specific exercises.

To achieve this, think in terms of muscles and joints. Do not reduce yourself to body parts such as chest, back, arms, legs, abdominals, and lower back. Do you know which muscles are located in each region of the body? Do you know which joints are surrounded by these muscles? Such as wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle. Gaining this type of knowledge will increase the benefits of exercise dramatically.
You can think of exercise in terms of movement. Remember that all the exercises you do are simply motions that the body does naturally on its own; no equipment, no dumbbells, no bands. What fitness equipment does is simply add resistance and increase the intensity to the body’s normal movements. This increased intensity gets us into better shape.

Here is a quick, helpful lesson in kinesiology. A joint is the meeting of two or more bones. There are a few different types of joints in the body that are categorized by the degree to which they can move. Your ankle is a joint, not a bone. Therefore, you cannot fracture or break it. You can fracture or break any of the bones that connect at the ankle; you can dislocate the ankle. You would much rather break a bone than dislocate a joint, if you had a choice. The job of your muscles is to move the joints. A muscle can only shorten, or contract, towards its own middle- a concentric contraction. A muscle can never be actively lengthened by you. It can be lengthened by an external resistance sufficient to overcome the force it exerts. However, this is what happens as you lower the resistance in a typical weight training session. The muscle is trying to shorten but you are not applying enough resistance to prevent the weight from being lowered. It is this eccentric contraction that results in the severe muscle soreness you feel after free weight training. At Art Of Running we work the concentric phase with the, limiting your soreness. So, be prepared to be a bit sore when training away from here.
Why the lesson? Think about which muscle, or preferably, multiple muscles, you would like to work. What joint does it move? If you can apply this lesson, you lift the restrictions on your ability to train.

Let us take a look at the worst case scenario while you are traveling and develop a plan for exercise- no gym, no equipment. First, a little planning and a slight expenditure on your part can alleviate this. Surely, one can pay a guest fee at a hotel gym. Think simpler and cost effective, as well as less space consuming- both in your luggage, your car, and your home/hotel room when traveling. With just a few light dumbbells, medicine balls, or even better for hotel stays, resistance bands, can do the trick. An even more readily accessible source of resistance is? your body and its weight.

Here is the minimalist approach to Art Of running style resistance training. You will perform eight to ten exercises. Half will be primarily upper body, half will be primarily lower body. You will perform each exercise for between 20 and 40 seconds (sorry, one more expense- a stopwatch or a watch with a second hand). Your rest will be from 20 to 40 seconds. Move as quickly as you can; this will ensure the cardiovascular component of the session, i.e. getting your heart rate up. You may shorten the activity to 10-15 seconds, but only if you add activity to the rest period. Of course, at Art Of Running, rest only means doing something different from resistance exercise. You all know some basic drills- varying jumping jacks, jumping rope (okay, another expense), and running in place, various types of hopping, squat thrusts, and mountain climber. Do each circuit two or three times, with 3-5 minutes rest in between them. Same Art Of Running rest principle applies now, with some form of consistent movement- think obstacle courses, running around things, jumping over objects, throwing objects, wrestle with your significant other(Keep it clean although there could be an argument for increased motivation and core work). Finish up with some core work and stretching.

A sample routine:
DAY ONE
Resistance Training
DAY THREE
Resistance Training
DAY FIVE
Resistance Training
RESISTANCE TRAINING

Warm-up: 3-5 minutes of moderate intensity activity (jogging in place, jumping jacks)
Stretch: Dynamic Stretches (you better know these by now, or else)
Resistance Training: alternate between each column

UPPER BODY
Push-ups
Body Rows
Dips
Upper Body Combo

REST
Jumping Jacks
Mountain Climber
Sprint/Jog in Place
Squat Thrusts

Lower Body
Wall Squats or Body Weight Squats
Hip/Thigh Extension
Jump Squats
Lunges

BETWEEN CIRCUITS:

1. High-knee running (20 seconds), high-heel running (20 seconds), side shuffling (20 seconds). Repeat 3X

2. Lateral leaps (20 seconds), forward/backward leap (20 seconds), knee-tuck jump towards chest (20 seconds). Repeat 3X.

3. Side shuffle (20 seconds), crossover shuffle (20 seconds), carioca shuffle (20 seconds)
CORE (30 seconds each): crunches, bridges, adduction (towel between knees), clamshells, reverse crunches, Supermans, Russian/Torso Twists, alternate arm/leg raises, planks.

Here we go no more excuses for not workingout when are travelling.

For more Tips contact Art Of Running.

Yours in fitness and healthy lifestyle
Tshepo Khoza
Athletics Performance Specialist
Tshepokhoza@artofrunning.co.za
www.artofrunning.co.za