Ways to improve at running

So spring has finally sprung officially in the UK, still in lockdown in England but you can still exercise, and one of the main ones for me at the moment is running.

I'm still learning as I go but I feel I'm gradually getting better, here are some tips that are helping me:

Doing a warm up
I confess, for years I would be haphazard with stretching before I started running and that probably hampered my progress in retrospect, because my muscles wouldn't be warmed up and prepped to go - and muscle memory not geared up for taking larger strides while I ran. This YouTube video from Ben Parkes explains it well.

Taking larger strides
When I look back to the way I used to run in the early days, it feels like I was probably doing the equivalent of shuffles. I definitely feel a bit more free when I run/jog, taking larger strides helps the run go quicker and produces an easier run.

Being light on your feet
Just as taking larger strides has helped so has being lighter on my feet, landing lighter, and not putting so much pressure and impact as I land.

Monitoring excessive upper body movement and general gait
Excessive movement around your upper body means wasting energy so look to keep it sharp. The video above explains it well.

Going just a little quicker each run
Before starting to move out of my proverbial comfort zone, I would deliberately hold back speed because I didn't want to get too tired for the last stretch. I think this is a life lesson too: Stop holding back, when you give an activity an energy you may get tired in the short run, but you're telling your body to shape up for more in the future, so keep at it!

What tips would you advise for running?

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