05 Jan A New Year’s Running Resolution
The holiday season has come to an end, it is back to work, back to school, and back to the gym for a lot of us! With the new-year underway the health and fitness resolutions and goals have been set. Running is often at the top of the list with many choosing to ‘get back into it’ or begin running as a new go-to for physical activity. While it is a great way to de-stress and keep fit, hitting the treadmill or road can lead to injury if not implemented correctly and within a reasonable time. Whatever your intention is behind running, be it to complete your first marathon, lose a bit of weight, or purely for the social aspect, read on to learn some tips and tricks to ensure your 2024 running journey is a smooth, sustainable and a successful one.
During aerobic activity, the feel-good endorphin hormones are released. Along with this comes the satisfaction of completing a run, interacting socially within a group, and bettering oneself. These benefits become addictive, which results in a higher frequency and intensity of the run. A major problem with this, is the sudden increase in activity can lead to injury due to insufficient recovery times and low levels of conditioning. Boullosa and colleagues (2020) found that a critical factor affecting injury incidence is weekly mileage. Therefore, a primary prevention strategy is to gradually increase running frequency and distance per week. Furthermore, this is particularly important for novice runners to adhere to as they are more prone to suffer injuries.
How to become a better, durable, and more efficient runner? There are multiple factors that play a role in running performance, let’s dive into an underrated and sometimes misunderstood contributor, strength training. It is recommended that running athletes, be it recreational or at a higher level, should participate in regular strength training (1-2 sessions per week). The benefits of resistance training include increased muscular strength and injury prevention as muscles, tendons and joints become more resilient and capable of handling higher loads. However, for those keen on improving performance and efficiency, a key factor to this is running economy (RE). RE is the measure of oxygen required in the blood at a given running pace. Where VO2 max is the maximum oxygen your body can take up and use, running economy begs the question how efficiently are you using this oxygen while running? Resistance training can improve running economy and it is recommended to also include plyometric training (explosive and powerful exercises) to your program. An optimal way to introduce resistance training is by performing free-weight multi-joint exercises to improve running performance.
Running is an excellent form of exercise that induces tremendous benefits to both physical and mental well-being! Whether you are starting out afresh or are a seasoned veteran, consider increasing your mileage gradually and incorporating strength training to your weekly schedule to bring out the best performance in you, and enjoy running for years to come.
Written by: Briarley Klassen