How to Run Faster and Farther Than Before

Here are 6 Tips that May Give You That Extra Edge When Running

If you find yourself in a rut as far as pushing your running times down, or stretching out that distance and running farther, there may be a few things that you can do to help.  When I was in high school, my cross-country coach taught me a few things that I have never forgotten.  And some apply to more than just running.

How you plant your feet while you run

You see people running by you on the street or you hear them coming from behind you while you are running...  the tell tale slap... slap... slap... of the feet on pavement.  This is the sign of a poor running style. If you can hear your own feet slapping the ground, it's time to change.

When your foot hits the ground and your heel slams the ground, this doing only one thing...  damage.  The impact of your heel sends shock waves up your shin and throughout your leg and then up your spine.  This can cause shin splints, knee problems, back problems, etc.  It can also slow you down.

When planting your feel while running, try landing flat putting more weight on the ball (or toe end) of your foot.  You can see here that the toes are slightly pointing downward as the foot makes contact with the ground.

When you apply weight to the ball of your foot, you can then let the foot rock backward, absorbing the impact making the foot act like a spring.  Then immediately push off with the front end of your foot.

 
When you plant your foot during a stride while running, try flattening your foot or even pointing it downward so that the ball (the part where your toes connect) take the brunt of the impact.  Then as your weight transfers to that foot, absorb the impact by slowly letting your foot roll backwards slightly.  Don't run on your toes, but just shift the weight onto the front of your foot when your foot makes contact with the ground.  It should feel like you are prancing along.  Your heel may actually make contact first, but point your toes down and take the weight of your step on the ball of the foot. Doing this also does something else, it is kind of like running on springs.  So if you only let your heel touch the ground slightly and focus more on pushing off with your toes, it can propel you forward.  This may mean shortening your stride a little, but that is OK.  You will do your legs a favor.  You can stretch out your stride a little as needed, such as climbing a hill or passing some one when in a race.

Using this style of running will feel awkward and probably hurt like crazy when you first do it.  Your calves will feel like they have been put through a grinder.  However, once you get used to it and your calve and ankle muscles have strengthened, you can start to extend your speed and distance.

How you carry yourself while you run

Most people who run have a tenancy to hold their hands in front of them and up high while they run.  Try lowering them to your sides and swing them forward and back instead of side to side.  It should feel like you are reaching straight forward and grabbing a pole and pulling yourself along, your arms swinging straight forward and straight backward to your side.  This will help with your momentum and lower your center of gravity, making you a more efficient running machine.

While carrying your body on a run, hold your hands low and to the sides as pictured.  Also, when the foot plants, you can see here the foot starting to flatten out and become parallel to the ground.  Preparing the foot to absorb the shock on the ball of the foot vs the heel.

If you have a tenancy to grip your hand or squeeze it tight, loosen your grip and open your hands.  If you must close your hand, try just lightly holding two fingers together sort of like you are gingerly holding a potato chip.  This lessens tension in your upper body and also frees up the energy you are spending contracting your arm muscles so you can use it in your legs.

This video shows all of the techniques described here shown.  You can see the arms held low and to the sides, and the feet landing more flat instead of on the heel. As the runner goes by, the sound of the footsteps are relatively light vs a loud slapping sound.

Breathing while running, how you do it means everything

Running is one of the most intense exercises you can do, depending on how much you exert yourself.  It burns more calories than most other activities.  The average person burns 100 calories per mile.  When your body is working that hard, it needs oxygen and fuel, just like a car engine. 

We have a tenancy to huff and puff and breathe fast when we exert ourselves running.  The harder we work, such as running up a hill, the faster we tend to breathe. If are not careful, you can hyperventilate.  If you feel light headed, or feel numbness in your hands or feet, stop and take deep breaths.  Try to avoid this from happening by breathing deeper instead of faster as you are running. 
During your run, try to concentrate and take a deep breath through your nose for two strides, then exhale for two strides through your mouth.  Why the nose?  Because it helps filter out allergens and other things and in the cooler weather, it warms the air a little before it gets to your lungs.

When climbing a hill, instead of just breathing faster, concentrate on breathing deeper, when you get to the top you may experience a feeling of elation or sudden energy.  You've saturated your blood with oxygen, making you feel better.  Imagine if you did this the whole time you ran.  When I run extremely long distances and my mind wanders, I tend to forget about my breathing.  Then suddenly, I feel like I'm running out of gas.  I remember my breathing and then after concentrating on breathing deeply for a few minutes, I feel rejuvenated again.  Give it a try!  This can be applied to other aerobic activities as well such as cycling.  I even use these deep breathing techniques while I am doing strength training.  In short, oxygen matters!

Food, how it can help you run longer

When running, you burn tons of calories. It is one of the top ways to burn calories. As mentioned above, the average person burns about 100 calories per mile!  So if you are running 10 miles...  that's 1000 calories!  If you run longer, you are no doubt going to run out of steam.

If you want to go the distance, carb up an hour or two before you run.  No sooner than that though, you could cramp up. Just like you shouldn't eat an hour before you swim, don't eat an hour before you run. If you understand how your body processes food, you'll understand that your body actually gets energy from what is in your stomach first.  I like to eat a combination of oatmeal and protein powder to carb up before a workout.

When running extreme distances, eating carbs before hand may not be enough depending on what you eat.  You can carry some sort of energy drink with you, but that would add weight and be cumbersome.  Try using some sort of energy chew that you can carry in a pocket.  Gatorade makes one that is a tiny chewable gummy square about a half inch square, yet it packs 100 calories.  Almost the calories of an entire bottle of Gatorade!  They help when going for those extreme distances.

A protein shake after you run can also help your muscles recover from a long run and strengthen them in the process.  Your muscles need that valuable protein to repair themselves.

Overall, a daily regimen of vitamins is essential if you are running. They can help you recover faster after a run or workout.  If your daily multivitamin does not have lots of B12, take a Super B Complex along with it.  Only if you are working out that is!  Too much vitamins can be a bad thing. Ask your doctor if you are unsure. Vitamin B12 is valuable for workouts because it helps your body convert food into energy.

Food Types and Their Purpose. How to Utilize Them for Proper Health.

Various types of foods have their specific purpose.  They each serve a certain function in the body and in many cases team together to serve certain functions.  There can be consequences when too much or too little of these food types are consumed.  These quantities vary depending on age, sex, and daily activity.  The different types of foods are carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and I have thrown into the mix, vitamins and minerals which are largely overlooked on the daily diet.

The "ideal" food pyramid with regular exercise

Carboydrates

Carbs are not really essential for your body to function, however it is your body's preferred source of fuel since it metabolizes as sugar.  Your body looks to gain energy from carbohydrates first because they digest much easier and faster than other foods.  This why most people eat carbs  before they do a work out.  When your body is in need of energy, it breaks down the carbohydrates in your intestines and metabolizes them as sugar which it immediately uses as energy. When there are no more carbs in your intestines, the body turns to its fat stores for energy.   If your body does not need energy and there are a lot of carbohydrates in your intestines, they immediately get stored as fat.


A couple of servings of carbs such as breads a day is an ideal ration plus two to three servings of fruit given that you are doing plenty of activity to consume those carbohydrates. Very active adults who exercise morning and night can get away with eating a serving of carbohydrates with every meal.  Some argue that it is necessary to do this.  However, logic would tell you if you eat a higher portion of carbs and do not burn many calories during the day, especially eating at night when your body burns very few calories, you will store those carbs as fat.  If you want to go into a fat burning phase, eat one portion of carbs a day plus a fruit, but it is not a good idea to do this for an extended period.



Alcoholic beverages may not seem like they should be considered  a carbohydrate, however, alcohol when consumed is metabolized as sugar.  Therefore, it will be treated as a carbohydrate.  Since most people consume alcohol in the evening, those sugars are then stored as fat since there is little or no exercise taking place afterwards to burn up those sugars.  So alcoholic beverages should be consumed in moderation if you want to maintain a healthy weight.

Examples of foods high in carbohydrates are breads, beans, fruit, candy, crackers, cookies, alcoholic drinks, etc.  

Samples of foods high in carbohydrates

Fats

Fats stored in the body are like maintenance men, they are used to maintain the body's cells.  When your blood sugar gets low because there are no more carbohydrates in the intestines to digest, it turns to the body's fat stores.  Therefore, if you eat a low amount of carbs, you will be forcing your body to burn fat.  Care must be taken careful however, because you cannot cut fat out of your body all together.  Just eat very small portions of the right kinds of fat in particular foods that contain unsaturated fats such as omega-3.  Another good type of fat in the proper quantities is omega-6.  When you eat more omega-6 fats than omega-3s however, this can cause problems such as blood clotting.  Omega-3 helps negate these effects.  Experts believe that a 4 to 1 ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats are healthy.  Another benefit of eating these fats are to help with joint pain.  It also plays a vital role in holding the cell walls together.  One serving of healthy fat with very little saturated fat per day is the ideal amount to consume.

Examples of foods containing healthy fats are different types of cold water fish: salmon, tuna, anchovies, mackerel, and herring.  Other sources include walnuts and flax seed.  However, fish is the doctor recommended source of fat which would include two servings per week.  Another benefit of eating fish is that it is very high in protein.

Samples of foods high in fats

Proteins

The body utilizes protein to build and repair cells. It is basically made of of amino acids which are essential. The body uses an enzyme in protein called ATP synthase to produce ATP in the body which is essential for life.  It would cease to function without it.  The immune system, liver, and other bodily functions begin to break down.  People on a low protein diet or vegetarians, can be more susceptible to illness, allergies, etc.

People engaging in working out during strength training typically consume protein either shortly before a strength training workout or within an hour afterwards.  This is so that the body is provided with large quantities of protein to repair and rebuild new muscle cells that are destroyed in the strain of exercise.  When you "feel the burn" of your muscles and the soreness the following days, it is because you have destroyed the muscle tissue through strenuous exercise.  The body then takes protein and rebuilds the muscle cells adding onto them making the muscle bigger and stronger than before.  This is the basic science behind building muscle.  Two to three servings of protein per day is the ideal amount to consume.

Protein is also used by the body as a energy source when both carbohydrates and fats are depleted.  This only occurs in severe circumstances such as starvation.

Foods that are high in protein include but are not limited to: fish, beef, chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, soy, broccoli, whey, beans, protein powders, milk and other dairy products.

Samples of foods high in protein

Vitamins and Minerals

These are not normally considered a food type or group because they are contained in most types of foods, however many vitamins and minerals are essential for vital body function.  Without them or having a low amount of them, the body can suffer from all kinds of maladies such as poor digestion, lack of sleep, cramping of the muscles, immune deficiencies, etc.

Most of the time it is not possible to get all of the required vitamins and minerals for proper bodily function from a normal daily diet. This is especially true if you work out or engage in strenuous exercise every day. In order to do so, you would have to over eat.  This is why it is a good idea to take a multi-vitamin of some sort every day.  If you are working out doing extreme exercises daily, that may not be enough.  The body is really stressed to the limit in strenuous exercise and the vitamin and mineral requirements to help repair the body are higher.  Taking a pack of vitamins designed for the type of exercise one is engaged in is a good idea. Most of these vitamin packs also contain a large amount of B12 which helps convert your food into energy.  These vitamin packs can be expensive.  At the very least one should take a multi-vitamin that you can purchase at the local store.  In addition to a multi-vitamin, some type of B complex may help your body recover more quickly.

When taking vitamins be careful however, that too much of one vitamin is not consumed.  For example, if you do not work out for two or three days, don't take extra vitamins or packs designed for exercise or stress.  Bad things can happen if you overdose.  Taking a multi-vitamin plus a B complex may be a safer route than taking vitamin packs which usually contain larger doses of various vitamins like B12.  When in doubt, ask your doctor!


    Daily Activity                                            Potential Vitamin Level Requirement
    --------------                                              ------------------------------------
    Normal  or no exercise                               Multi-vitamin
    Moderate exercise (walking, fast walking)    Multi-vitamin
    High level exercise (jogging, aerobics)          Multi-vitamin + B-complex 
                                                                      OR vitamin packs (for lean muscle)
    Heavy exercise    (weight lifting, running)     Multi-vitamin + B-complex 
                                                                      OR vitamin packs (for muscle mass)
                           

Foods that contain vitamins and minerals are all kinds including: vegetables, fruits, meats, multi-vitamins, etc.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or a medical professional.  The information in this article was learned from other reputable resources.  If you are in doubt, investigate on your own or consult a medical professional!

Resources:  WebMD, Beachbody.com, eHow Health