and teaches your body to run more efficiently. Playtime: 100-strides fartlek. Warm up with a 10-minute jog. Pick up the pace for 10 strides (counted on one leg), then run slowly for 10 strides. Run hard for 20 strides, then recover with 20 strides. Work your
to over-stride. It encourages short, quick strides and a mdfoot strike. Hitting a cadence of 180 steps per minute (spm) means you run lighter, with more efficient form that helps to prevent injury.Good form:Aim for 180spmCount your footfalls for 60 seconds
of Balk’s Art of Running workshops 12 years ago. I remember him asking me, ‘What part of your body is leading your stride?’ and me replying, ‘My feet,’ in a tone that implied he was being a bit dumb. But let your feet lead your stride, and you
do a series of strides and drills that take my muscles through a greater range of motion and activate them in preparation for the session. Running fast straight after static stretches is bad for performance and could lead to injury.After running, I
, speed decreases, stride length shortens, recovery takes longer and injuries increase. For my first 30 years of marathoning, I stayed fairly healthy despite sometimes doing crazy things like running a pair of sub-3:00 marathons in a week, twice
to take this kind of thing in your stride – although we did stand back a bit when the driver started gazing into the van’s steamy mechanical innards, lit cigarette in hand.) Minor hiccups aside, though, I didn’t hear anyone regret their decision to do
to get vaguely back to where I was before. I would suggest sticking to just one marathon a year in future and have a break from the mileage and focus on getting your speed back with increased shorter pace work and put some strides into some longer runs
