All of your runs should start with a warmup and end with a cooldown. These two bookends to your run will help you prepare your muscles to perform optimally, and will also help you recover at the end of your workout.
How to Do a Running Warmup
Take these steps for your warmup:
Do about five to 10 minutes of light aerobic exercise to loosen up your muscles and warm up for your run. Some good…
Fartlek is a Swedish term that means “speed play.” Fartlek training is a form of interval or speed training that can be effective in improving your running speed and endurance. Fartlek running involves varying your pace throughout your run, alternating between…
For runners, diet and nutrition are crucial not only for maintaining good health but also to promote peak performance. Proper nutrition and hydration can make or break a workout or race and affect how you feel, work, and think.
One of the most common questions new runners…
Are you hoping to improve your mile time? Whether you’re a high school track athlete, a beginning-level runner, or a masters runner, making minor changes to your training routine can improve your pace.
If you don’t know your current mile time (or it’s been a while since you clocked your mile), start by doing a timed trial on a track to set a baseline to measure your…
Whether you’re out running or doing any exercise, an all-too-familiar sharp pain in your side can stop you in your tracks. You know just how distracting and uncomfortable it can be if you’ve ever experienced a side stitch—also known as a muscle stitch or…
Many runners want to know what is considered a good time for running a mile (or kilometer) or what is the fastest mile time. But this is a tricky question to answer because it’s highly subjective. Depending on the runner’s age, sex, and fitness level, a “fast” time…
We all know that exercise is good for us, but did you know that it can help your body function as if it were 10 years younger? Even more interesting, researchers are beginning to understand exactly how exercise actually keeps you young.
The first problem, of course, is figuring out how to define “staying young”. One way is to measure aging through your DNA…literally. At the…
Congratulations on your retirement. You now have free time previously spent on the job. A wise use of it is to get the recommended amount of physical activity to reduce your health risks and maintain fitness. You want to keep your body in good working order to enjoy your…
You know you have that friend—the one who starts his day with an outdoor boot camp, spends lunch at a group cycling studio, then gets loose at night with hot yoga. This friend is also the one who spends her weekends testing the latest fitness classes, trying everything…
If you’ve been running at a steady pace for a while, it can be all too common to hit a plateau. But there are many ways to build endurance and learn how to run faster without getting tired.
As you start to push yourself a little harder, setting new performance goals for your runs can help you stay motivated by discovering how far (and how fast) you can go. Use these tips to increase your…