12th Questions and answers for your runner's life
1. I want to start exercising: what is the best way to start?
Not with running! If you have never done sport or have not done sport for many years, you should be particularly wise with your training method. Running is nothing but thousands in a row To complete jumps. No matter how good or bad the running technique is, running always puts a lot of strain on the bandage and support apparatus. In order to prepare it for such a load, it first needs work on the orthopedic basis: mobility and stability of the whole body!
It is therefore advisable to concentrate primarily on yoga, Pilates and / or strength training in the first few months. Then a gentle endurance sport can be added: cycling, mountain hiking, swimming, cross-country skiing or inline skating are all available here. At the same time, it is advisable to take part in a running technique seminar and to do running technique exercises until you - ideally - after approx year integrated jogging into training. Now the body is ready for the stress of running and can do it right from the start, ie with healthy, efficient running technique.
2. Why is mobility so important for runners?
Mobility is important for beginners to prepare the body for the orthopedic stress of running.
If you want to run fast, you can't avoid working a lot on your mobility. Mobility is the essential prerequisite for being able to run fast at all. Ie everyone who, for example, clearly under 40min. wants to be able to run over 10km has to do yoga several times a week. Why?
1. The more you run, the more prone to injury you become, because the greater the strain. Mobility prevents injuries.
2. To run fast, you have to be able to run efficiently. If you have no mobility in the body (especially the hips), you will never be able to run efficiently.
3. To run fast, you have to run a certain stride length. If you are stiff, you can't take a long stride: If you can't take a long stride, you will never run fast because the step frequency will eventually reach its limits, with which you can compensate for a lack of mobility up to a certain point.
4. If you want to run fast, you have to have an explosive footprint. Anyone who is immobile has no power in the imprint. Who is immobile has shortened muscles and tendons. Shortened muscles and tendons shorten the leverage of the muscles. The shorter the muscles and tendons can pull together, the less force can be developed.
5. In order to run efficiently, the positioning of the body's center of gravity is essential. With a stiff hip, the body's center of gravity cannot be brought into the position that gravity can give the runner free speed through gravity. If you want to find out more about this topic, you should take part in the Lauf-Bahn 1.0 running technique seminar. Everything is explained in detail there and implemented directly in practice.
Mobility in connection with running technique - theory as well as practice - is the main topic of the Lauf-Bahn 3.0 seminars of FLIGHT PHASE.
3. Why is stability / athleticism so important for runners?
With every step we have to support 3 to 5 times our body weight in the flat. This puts a huge strain on the bracing and supporting apparatus. Anyone who does not have good whole body stability will end up in misalignments and thus the likelihood of injuries and long-term damage / wear and tear on the bandage u. Significantly enlarge the supporting apparatus.
Full-body athletics is also extremely important for running (faster). The faster someone runs, the greater the forces acting on the body and the more difficult it is to stabilize at high speeds. For example, if you have too few core muscles, you will always collapse into the knee bend in the event of an impact. Squats are exhausting, very exhausting ....
4. How do I train for a 10km competition?
Interval training - ie a series of short, fast units with easy trot breaks in between - belongs in every training plan, provided that basic fitness is given. Anyone who only started exercising a few months, a year or 2 years ago should first concentrate on building mobility, stability and general endurance training at low intensities in order to prepare the body for later more intense loads.
For normal hobby runners, one interval unit per week is sufficient. If you have more ambitious goals (e.g. well under 40 minutes on 10 km), are well trained and are less likely to be injured, you can add a medium-length run on the anaerobic threshold as a second intensive weekly unit.
Running technique training should never be missing. Strength and mobility training certainly not. Sprint units that train maximum speed (also sprints slightly downhill) are always recommended. Sprint training also improves your endurance!
5. How do I train for a half marathon or a marathon?
Half marathon is a nice distance. It is quite long, but is still healthy and manageable. Now and then (1-2 times a month) a longer endurance run (15-18km) is useful. However, runners should try to keep the number of their long endurance runs as low as possible. Running is and remains a huge strain on the bandage and support apparatus and therefore extremely prone to injury. Hobby runners in particular - especially those who only started exercising in their midlife crisis and therefore lacked the athletic basis for decades - should always keep their running kilometers as short as possible.
Most of the basic endurance training should be built up in alternative sports such as swimming, cycling, mountain hiking, cross-country skiing or the like. In In these sports you can safely train very long fat burning units at very low intensities without doing orthopedic damage. This also and especially applies to marathon runners!
Living evidence of how much, and how much, specialized running training is prone to injury The comparison of the injury rate among professional runners vs. professional triathletes provides us with a more gentle way of training. Professional runners are constantly injured. The greatest challenge for an athlete is to be injury-free; not getting fit. Professional triathletes rarely fail because of injury.
I am basically a fan of a 3-day training block:
Day 1 - Yoga / fascia training
Day 2 - strength training
Day 3 - endurance training
If you have more ambitious running goals, you should include a second endurance training unit:
Day 1 - Yoga / fascia training
Day 2 - strength training
Day 3 - intensive endurance training
Day 4 - Easy endurance training
Interval training and longer runs on the anaerobic threshold should also not be missing in marathon and half-marathon training. Least of all running technique training. The longer and the faster you want to run, the more important your running technique becomes.
Training plans designed according to this training philosophy can be purchased in the online shop .
6th I always go out in the back in competition. What can I do against it?
Almost all sports scientists will tell you that your basic endurance is not good enough and advise you to scrub kilometers: long and loooong! It may well be that your basic endurance can be optimized. The causes for entering are often diverse:
1. Especially male hobby athletes tend to divide the race incorrectly and to overestimate themselves at the beginning: they come too quickly and come in later. The beginning of every competition should feel playful. The race schedule should be adhered to exactly in the first half. In the second half you still have enough time to exceed your expectations.
2. Diet plays an extremely important role, especially in long competitions. No matter how great you have trained and are in top shape at the start line: if you don't eat properly in a competition, you will always die. You should never wait until you are thirsty or hungry. Nutrition is a science in itself. For example, if you want to do an Ironman or an ultra marathon, you should definitely consult a nutritionist.
3. In shorter competitions (10km and shorter), insufficiently trained anaerobic endurance is definitely the problem. Many amateur runners in particular slow down immediately when the going gets tough. They are not used to keeping the pace in spite of excess acidity. Only interval training can help here.
4. A very common cause of getting into the back is a lack of full-body athletics: the running technique cannot be kept "clean" under fatigue. The more tired the runner gets, the worse the running technique gets. Running training is of little use here. Yoga, Pilates, strength training and neural training can help Control: the concentration on one's own biomechanics.
5. When you are tired, you should not concentrate on the end result (speeds), but on the way to get there, the efficient running technique : without efficient running technique, you will always go down because you need more energy for the same speed. Energy that you no longer have at the end of the competition.
7. Running technique? What for? Everybody can to run!
Thought wrong. The reality is different: Almost no one can walk, ie efficiently with little energy expenditure and gentle on the joints. Read the running technique page for more Info.
8. Is run ABC Running technique training?
No. Run ABC is coordination training = brain training. For this purpose, if performed correctly, a reactive footprint is trained. All of this is good, but not running technique training. The ABC running exercises, which are widespread among athletes, are far from the actual efficient running style. There is also one or the other running ABC exercise, even the wrong one = exhausting Movement sequences trained. For most amateur athletes, Run ABC is so demanding in terms of coordination that it is difficult for them to do it correctly.
In In all FLUGPHASE seminars we do simple running technique exercises in order to get the to implement the desired sequence of movements directly.
9. What do I have to consider as an older runner?
The older we get, the more prone to injury we become because the body becomes stiff, dehydrated and the muscles weaken. Mobility training (fascia training, yoga) and strength training become even more important in old age. In strength training, not only should body weight be used, but also weights and equipment should be used; best supervised by someone familiar with biomechanics and strength training techniques.
When it comes to endurance training, it should The focus is more on sports that are less orthopedic than running: swimming, cross-country skiing, cycling, walking, etc .. there is plenty of choice.
Running technique becomes even more important with age.
I would rather refrain from sprint and jump training in flat terrain, because the risk of injury is simply too great. Light uphill jump training is good for anyone who has no acute injuries.
10. What makes a good running shoe?
1. It's flat
He has a maximum of 6mm drop.
2. it is less subdued .
You should choose the attenuation according to the motto "as little as possible, as much as necessary". The shorter the running distance, the harder the shoe should be. Who trained foot and If you have calf muscles and good running technique, you can run a hard shoe even over long distances.
3. He is neutral .
It has not built in any large stabilizing elements so that the body has to work by itself to stabilize and thus strengthen itself.
If the running shoes in your shoe cabinet do not meet the criteria mentioned, do NOT throw them all away and buy 5 pairs of natural running shoes. How come? Read # 12 on this list.
11. How important is cushioning in running shoes?
Cushioning in running shoes is even shameful. For the last 10 years there have been countless studies that have proven that cushioning is bad for the joints. The more cushioning in the shoe, the more stress is placed on the joints. In addition, cushioning promotes malpositions. Why?
1. The runner does not feel the ground because there is too much material between the nerve endings in the forefoot and the ground. As a result, the brain realizes too late that the body has landed. The brain does not trigger a stabilization reflex at the time of impact. Result: we get misaligned, squat on impact and do not cushion us through active muscle use.
2. Cushioning is a mattress. The runner and the foot sleep on a mattress. A sleeping foot is not trained, it is weak. Muscles recede. The weaker the foot muscles, the more misalignments.
12. Can I just switch to natural running shoes?
No. Just as you should be careful with changing your running technique, you shouldn't throw away your high-heeled mattress running shoes overnight and only run in shoes from Newton, Inov8, Salming, Topo, or Merrell. Overload injuries to the muscles or tendons can quickly occur if you run 10 km and more with the natural running shoes. In the beginning you should only choose 1 technique or speed-oriented training session per week in which you wear the new shoes. Long endurance runs should be run with the old mattresses for months. Depending on how the sore muscles turn out, the workload in the natural running shoes should be increased slowly. Later you can run all units with it, but you should always run different brands of running shoes.
There is a running shoe brand on the market that was developed exclusively to make the natural, efficient running technique as easy as possible: Newton Running . Newtons force a more efficient sequence of movements. In addition, they are demonstrably faster (according to the GPS data of many FLUPHASE customers) and their dynamism makes them a lot of fun. FLUGPHASE has been cooperating with Newton since the beginning. The shoes can be tested at every seminar. Anyone who is interested in the seminars and would like advice on the different models can do so by email to do.
Bonus: another 25 running tips
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