comfortable pace and try to breathe through your nose – that way, you won’t start off too fast. Of course, in an ideal (or more natural!) world, we wouldn’t need to warm up. We also probably wouldn’t be going out for many isolated runs, but rather be running and walking all day as part of daily activities. Unfortunately, the majority of people lead a less active life and their runs do become a separate entity which then does require some specific warming up procedures. Lastly, a little earlier on, we mentioned mind and breath. It’s important to be in the right place mentally at the start of a run. It’s extremely useful to take a few moments at the beginning of your session to focus your mind and take some deep breaths. Remember that your lungs and rib cage will be working quite hard during your run, so use your breath to loosen that area, just taking time to fully inhale and exhale for a few minutes. You can even do this as you walk a few paces before breaking into your running stride.
a train. It’s not a nice feeling to have your heart go from 60 or 70 beats per minute to 150 in the space of about half a minute! It’s also not very healthy as it will stress your body and release a rush of adrenaline.
So, build your movements gradually so that you feel a gradual raise in your heart rate. Once you’ve done your mobility exercises and a few drills, your heart rate will be above resting rate so just start your run at a
Take the time to understand what your body needs in terms of a warm up and pay attention to what kinds of preparation lead you towards your best runs. Enjoy!
Running fact 12.
Did you know
The Tailteann Games, an Irish sporting festival honouring the presumed goddess from Irish mythology, Tailtiu, which dates back to 1829 BCE, is considered to be one of the earliest records of competitive running
Running fact 13. According to a study presented in 2010, running a marathon can result in decreased function of more than half the segments in the heart’s main pumping chamber; fortunately other parts of the heart take over. Full recovery is reached within three months or less. The fitter the runner, the lesser the effect
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Autumn/Winter 2013
Barefoot Running Magazine