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Why And How You Should Stretch Properly Before Running

What Is Happening When you stretch?

Running is exercising your body. Okay, that’s obvious. But the act of running is more complex than we realise. Here’s what’s happening under the surface when you run.

• You push your heart to pump blood faster round your entire body, causing your blood vessels to dilate, your lungs, capillaries and cells to cope and adapt to this sudden change of heart rate.
• In your first few minutes of a run, your body first uses the adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the lovely bunch of molecules that convert what you eat into glycogen so you have energy.
• After that, you start releasing lactic acid. That’s your body realising you are exercising and adapting its functions to make sure you have enough oxygen to finish your run, survive and feel good.
• The longer you run, the higher your core body temperature gets. That means your blood vessels work harder to bring blood near the skin. That’s why you’re so hot, puffy and flushed by the way. And when you sweat, don’t moan – that’s your body trying to cool you down so you don’t get heatstroke.
• The more you run and the longer you run, the more your body gets used to this cycle.

So you have a lot to thank your body for. It is keeping you alive whilst you run. And if you’re reading this, it’s been successful. But, if you excuse the pun, your body goes the extra mile for you, by triggering your endorphins into action too. They explain the ‘feel good’ factor.

So, don’t you think you kind of owe it yourself, to your body, to prepare it for that pressure? If that’s not enough, stretching will decrease the risks of you getting injuries like pulled muscles, Achilles Tendonitis and many, many more.

The ‘Moves’ You Should Be Making

First of all, the 2 minute activity I labelled stretching as is wrong. To properly stretch, you need to assign 10 minutes. Stretching isn’t just a few leg swings and arm over shoulder pushes. You need to relax and loosen up all of your muscles.

Not to scare you, but there’s even different types of stretching, including ‘Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation’ (PNF) and Static Stretching. I don’t think many runners have exactly memorised the biology behind, and full scientific name of, every single stretch. But the point remains. Above is why you should stretch. Let me focus on one of the most important parts of the body you need to stretch.

Leg stretches before your run

How to:

• Stand up straight, ideally in front of a wall to balance if you need to.
• Bend one of your legs (as you can see I’m doing in the Peak District) and use your secure in position.
• You should feel the stretch in your upper leg and groin area.
• Hold for 30 seconds.
• Repeat for your other leg.

Arm stretches before your run

“Katieeee, I need some motivation for a 10k I’ve just signed up for”

This is exactly why I run. Being the ‘runner’ friend gives you the greatest pleasure in the world. No matter how successful you see yourself as a runner, when a friend comes to you for running advice, it’s empowering. I won’t lie. So, without further introductions, here’s your motivation. I hope this helps.

It’s possible

No, really. It is. If you’re a totally new runner, ’10K’ might seem overwhelming. Don’t let it be. It’s 6.2 miles.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re a runner that’s easy for you” I know what you’re thinking. And yes, 6.2 miles isn’t too difficult of a challenge for me right now. But that’s because I’ve trained myself, I’ve finished two half marathons and I’m marathon training right now.

But for you, that’s irrelevant. Me telling you how many races I’ve done and I’ll be doing is besides the point and unhelpful. What’s important for you is getting yourself through the 6.2 miles and over the finish line, mentally and physically. Here’s how.

Training, obviously, but not religiously

If you ask any coach or race finisher how to cope with a newly signed up race, one of the first words they will voice is ‘train’. But please, please, please don’t roll your “that’s obvious, I’m not stupid” eyes at me yet. Training is hard, and yes, obvious. But there’s so much more to it than just running before to practice.

If you’ve never put a pair of trainers on and gone for a run, my advice is take it easy. Take it slower and easier than you think you should. Don’t jump the gun thinking it will be easy. I know it might sound strange for me to say don’t excitably throw yourself into the training, but listen. Running is hard, for any human at any level. So here’s my step by step advice if you’re serious about going from coach potato to 10K finisher:

1. Get a running buddy.
2. Buy yourself a (cheap) set of running clothes. For goodness sake, the stuff is expensive, save GymShark attire for your first marathon. Primark it.
3. Decide when you’re going to want to run.
4. Write that day down.
5. Before the day, get yourself a ‘Running’ playlist. Spotify it. Deezer it. iPod it if you must. I’ll be here soon enough to provide you with my top running songs. But now, here’s a fun fact… Good tunes boost your overall running performance by 15% (says Dr Costas Karageorghis  in his book entitled ‘Inside Sport Psychology’). It’s not just me, it’s fact.
6. When Wednesday evening finally creeps up on you, step outside.
7. Stretch, properly. (watch this space for guidance…)
8. Start by walking, seriously. Your body needs to warm up first. If you’ve never run before, you’re probably in enough shock as it is. Prepare your heart, your lungs and your legs.
9. Warmed up now? Jog. Whether it’s a few yards or a mile, well done you.
10. You’re a runner.

If you have delved into the complex love-hate imbalance of running, aka, you did a 10k a couple years ago, but you’ve sort of fizzled out and stopped… use the same advice. Build it up at your own pace. Use it how you wish.

Try to enjoy it

Running can be hard, especially if you’ve never done it before, but it is so rewarding. You might hate running, but that might be a love-hate relationship between you and running. You just might find something you love. You might find yourself. I’m serious!

Running will take you places, not just those six long hard miles of your first proper ‘race’. There’s a whole community of happy, healthy, encouraging runners out there. We all know the world needs more of them because they ignite positivity. Are you the next long distance firework?

Now that my sparkling metaphors are finished, there you have it. Dearest friend and loyal reader, I hope I have aided you in some way. Stress-heads (like me), do ask if there’s something you still want me to address in my running handbook to you. Fellow runners, what are your thoughts? To you all, good luck and believe in you. And remember, rearrange the word impossible to find the truth… (hint: it says I’m Possible)

I’ve always blogged about how much I love running, which is exactly why I thought I would use this one to do the exact opposite. Instead of telling you how much I love the way my legs stride down the hills I have earned, seeing the shocked faces of drivers and passengers in their stationary cars as I sprint down the road, I choose to make myself vulnerable.

There has never been a time I have liked my running style. In fact, I would go as far to say that I hate it. Yep, I hate the way my legs move. Big deal. Why am I telling you this? I’m telling you this in case you’re a runner of any level. If you don’t like your running style, I’m here to tell you that I used to feel exactly the same, but you shouldn’t.

The first time I realised “I hate my running style” was in the gym. This was a few years ago now that I remember running on those plastic machines of hell I believe are known as ‘treadmills’.

Wonky Legs

After tapping the ‘increase speed’ button and forcing my legs to transition from walking to running, that was when I noticed it. A mirror filled the wall opposite me, where you could just make out my outward swinging legs from around the legs of the conveyor belt machine.

Naturally, the first thing I did was glance at my neighbour runners, whose legs were obviously in my eyes in perfect shape and swing. That was my last visit to that gym for a while.

Gym visits then involved failed attempts to alter the swinging of my legs so that they were straight and forward facing. This was soon followed by feeling totally disheartened which resulted in core and bike exercises only. Now, I realise, what a shame.

Gutted

Why was I disheartened I hear you ask? Because I was the black sheep of the treadmill line up. No other runner’s legs swung outwards, so why were mine skewed? I didn’t know, but I spent days, weeks, months even, beating myself up about it.

Metaphorically running myself into the ground about how “you’ll never be a proper runner now Kate” because, I told myself, “you’re running wrong”. If you’ve ever had this thought, that you’re running wrong, please keep reading.

I had stopped going to the gym, cancelled my membership, and started on-road running instead. I thought this would be easier. In a way it was, because I couldn’t be judged by other runners alongside me.

There wasn’t any so this was okay. It was just me, my running gear and the world and this was somehow a more empowering thought than being in a gym full of Nike obsessed runners. But the gym has people in it, that was your motivation half of the time whether you knew it or not.

Were things about to change?

Then one day, I got a boyfriend who liked running too. Perfect, I thought. We could run together and all can be right with my running relationship again. Surprise surprise, this was not the case.

He asked to go for a run together and my instinct gut feeling was to decline, which I did politely. Confused at the uncertainty in me, I just couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to run with my new partner. It should have been the perfect situation.

But, I realised that I was that embarrassed of my running style I didn’t want anyone to see it. I battled with the thought again and again after declining my partner a run two or three times, but I was fighting a losing battle.

Tackling my problem, best foot forward

Soon enough, the conversation surfaced. I explained how I hated my running style. I learnt one of the biggest lessons any runner can learn. Your running style isn’t a problem.

Do your shoulders tense up towards your neck? Do your feet stick overly outwards? Do your elbows leave a gap between your body or maybe they stick in more than usual touching your hip?

If you answered yes to any or all of those questions, I need to tell you that your running style is absolutely fine. Too many magazines, blogs and articles oh so righteously paint literal pictures that instruct us how to run, just like the ones below.

I said “no” to magazine pressure

But let me ask you this, magazine world. When you run, what happens is all about that middle word: You. It is YOUR body moving how it wants to move. Your legs moving the way they do, your elbows falling the way they do, your feet positioned how they are. If you change how you run, you’re not running like you.

No one else in the world runs like you and that is not something to be ashamed of. Be proud of it, no, really. It’s your very own personal stamp, reminding the world who you are and that you’re here, to be you, not any other mediocre ordinary runner.

The world needs your enthusiasm. It needs your running story, your running quirks, habits, motivation. So, kick that defeating voice out of your head and run like you were born to.

Tom still tells me that “you shouldn’t be ashamed of your running style. You enjoy running and shouldn’t be ashamed of how you run you could easily be sitting at home on the sofa eating junk food and watching TV but you’re focusing on your health and fitness”.

Enjoy the run and embrace your running style as it makes you you! I even remember the first few times we went running, together… I made him run in front of me because he couldn’t see my out of sync legs that way.

I’d get irritated and embarrassed every time he looked over his shoulder which made me try and temporarily ‘fix’ my style, even though he was looking back to tell me the next turn. I didn’t know where I was going and he was merely telling me. It was, literally and metaphorically, a step in the right direction.

Moral of the story

So, there you have it. It’s all rainbows, sunny days and easy breathing for you runners now, right? Wrong. There’s going to be days where you catch yourself in a shop window, like I do every time I do that 4 mile route.

But there’s going to be days where running brings out the best in you, and hey, who’s to say that’s the not same run? When you see those awkward elbows or angled legs, don’t see awkward elbows or angled legs. See you. Wonderful, motivated, healthy you.