Advise for Runners

1. Warm Up and Stretch after- Always warm up and cool down. Start out walking or very slow running, give your core a chance to warm up. This will help prevent injuries. After the run remember to cool down this will also help to prevent numerous injuries.
2. Extreme Pain No Gain - Never try to run through intense pain. If you body is giving you signal to stop because of an injury listen to it.
3. Train as You Race - Your training should mimic your race. You can only expect to do as well on race as you did during your training. The closer the training conditions are compared to the race course the better off you will be.
4. Do not make any last minute Dietary Changes – On race day never, I mean never eat or drink anything new. Its best to avoid muscle cramps, nausea and a host of other complaints if you can. Not to mention that race you have been training for could be sabotaged just by the wrong drink.
5. Increase your weekly mileage by no more than 5-10 percent per week. Any more than this and you are setting yourself up for injuries.
6. Repair and Recovery takes time– For ever mile you race, allow yourself one to two day post race before returning to hard training. But, do not stop all activity think of it as Active Rest. Just do not over do it.
7. Restore Your Fuel – Take a combination of protein, carbohydrates and electrolytes within 30 – 60 minutes after your runs, you will see a big difference in your recover time.
8. Cross train – Cross training will prevent injuries, increase performance and give your muscle a rest while still keeping active.
9. Old Running Shoes Are Dead Shoes – Running shoes have a life of about 400-500 miles after that you are setting yourself up for injuries.
10. Rest– you need one day off for every day of hard training this prevents injuries and burn out.
11. Efficiency Counts – The more effective your running biomechanics are the less energy you will expend. Concentrate on your running form: Stay upright with your head, shoulders and hips are lined up over the feet. Your chest should be forward and up. Try not to land too heavy on the heels or too far on the toes. Your arm action will vary from athlete to athlete, but they should swing naturally from the shoulders, relax. Do not allow your arms to cross the midline of your body. In stead of lengthening your stride develop a faster turnover, stride length will come.
12. Develop a Strong Core - The core of your body is where you derive your power; it provides the foundation for all arm and leg movements. Your core must be strong, flexible, and unimpeded in its movements to achieve maximum performance. Having a strong core will greatly improve your running. Training long hours does not guarantee that you have core stability. In fact, spending too much time working within one plane of motion often creates core imbalances. Add these imbalances to stresses caused by poor posture during running, and you have an equation for the development of a weak core. Try Core Ball exercises combined with a free weight program.
13. Remember to stretch - The importance of stretching within a workout routine cannot be over-emphasized. Stretching brings our body back into balance, prevents injuries, enhances performance, changes our posture, and even changes how we age, and the way people perceive us. Yet stretching is often neglected because the average person (and many runners) do not understand why it is so important to not only be strong, but also flexible. Consider the basic biomechanics of how our body performs. Our bodies are designed to work in balance - every time a group of muscles contracts to perform an action, an opposing group of muscles (antagonist) must relax and lengthen. These muscles can only contract as forcefully as their antagonist can relax. For example, the quadriceps muscle can contract more quickly if the hamstring muscle group is able to easily lengthen and relax. Without the lengthening of the antagonist, we lose our power, balance, and endurance, we become susceptible to injury, and waste our energy.