So we talk about correct running form. That word can really be thrown around, I’m not sure there really is correct running form, but there is running form that could make your run a lot more comfortable. Starting from head to toe, when you’re running, you want to keep your chin down a little bit, you almost want to fell like you’re, there’s a thread at the top of your head, pulling you up. You don’t want your chin too down, because you’ll actually close off your airway a little bit. And you don’t want your chin too far up, because you’re not really sure where all that energy’s going, and you can feel that tension in your neck start to happen when you do raise your chin a little bit. So try to keep your head level a little bit. Notice where you’re holding tension.

Slowly, through a long run, you can start to feel your shoulders creep up a little bit, and you can feel that tension in your shoulders and your neck. So if you relax a little bit, it can also help you reduce the amount of energy that you’re using for your run. Now what you want to do with your arms, hold your elbows at about a ninety degree angle, and hold a very small fist, almost having your fingertips just touching the palm of your hand, and just relax your hands. And throughout your run, when you start to feel tension building up, just shake your arms out a little bit and relax your shoulder. Hold your torso up, straight. Engage your core so that you’re holding up a good posture when you’re moving forward. Don’t lean forward, at your waist, just kind of gradually from your ankles all the way up to your shoulders, lean forward a little bit. So with your feet, when you’re landing on the ground, you want to land on the ground right in the midfoot to the balls of your feet. Sometimes when you land on your heels, you’re actually landing too far ahead of your body, so what happens is when your bodyweight hits the ground, you’re creating this shock that’s going all the way up through your ankles, your knees, and your hips.

Again, over time that can cause a lot of discomfort and possibly an injury. So again, try to think about having your foot land right underneath your bodyweight, and with your hips, make sure your hips are forward, and make sure your hips are stable. One great thing about doing core exercises for running is that it keeps your entire core area stable while you’re running. Sometimes when you’re out running you might see people whose hips dip a little bit with each run. That can also cause injury down the road, so try to keep those stable, keep your hips stable, keep your hips pointed down, but you also don’t want them pointed up too much. Just go in the direction that you’re running. And when you’re running and swinging your arms, swinging your arms forward but being careful not to swing your arms across your midline. What that does is that it almost throws off your balance a little bit. Keep your arms moving forward and again, keep your arms relaxed, keep your hands relaxed, but again try not to go across your midline too much.

Just keep them back and forth. Let your arms do what they want to do, but keep them controlled just a little bit. Just try to stay in tune with your body, and just check in every once in a while and notice where you’re holding tension. Starting a running program can be hard enough as it is, but when you start to notice how much tension you’re holding it can take more energy away then you actually realize, and as you start to build up in your runs, maybe working towards that ten mile race, or working towards that half marathon, it can deplete a lot of energy that you’re working so hard to get through the race for. Just try to relax, try to relax and have fun.