What's the number one mistake you see runners make?
The number one mistake I see runners make is not understanding the importance of symmetry and proper technique. For sprinters, the biggest mistake is lack of focus on consistency. Transcript: "What's the number one mistake I see runners make? So assuming we're talking about not sprinters necessarily but sort of recreational runners. And it's just crazy, as I'm kind of out for a hike or driving down the road and I see people running, not understanding the importance of symmetry and proper clean technique. When you see someone and they've got their rhythm going but their rhythm is based on the one arm doing one thing and the other one doing something completely different, that is a recipe for injury, and it certainly isn't efficient. And these are people who in many cases are trying to increase their mileage and they're just making it much harder on themselves. So symmetry is extremely important. And wasted motion if you-- the more you can minimize the wasted motion, the more efficient you're going to run, the further you're going to be able to run, and the faster you're going to be able to cover that mileage. For sprinters, the number one mistake I see is not necessarily in terms of technique and that sort of thing but lack of a focus on consistency. So many sprinters and coaches as well are focused on trying to run faster when they haven't been able to get consistent at one level yet. So consistency is the biggest advantage any sprinter can have. You can run consistently at whatever speed you're able to run and whatever you've accomplished so far, get consistent with that, and then start to focus on trying to push the envelope and run faster times. But you want to try to get consistent at whatever level you're at first. That is a huge advantage, those athletes who can establish consistency are the ones that usually are able to carve out a very good consistent living for themselves in the sport, but also able to produce their best performances when it counts at championships."
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Michael Johnson
๐บ๐ธ Sprinter: 4x Olympic ๐ฅ 8x World Champion
What's the number one mistake I see runners make? So assuming we're talking about not sprinters necessarily but sort of recreational runners. And it's just crazy, as I'm kind of out for a hike or driving down the road and I see people running, not understanding the importance of symmetry and proper clean technique. When you see someone and they've got their rhythm going but their rhythm is based on the one arm doing one thing and the other one doing something completely different, that is a recipe for injury, and it certainly isn't efficient. And these are people who in many cases are trying to increase their mileage and they're just making it much harder on themselves. So symmetry is extremely important. And wasted motion if you-- the more you can minimize the wasted motion, the more efficient you're going to run, the further you're going to be able to run, and the faster you're going to be able to cover that mileage. For sprinters, the number one mistake I see is not necessarily in terms of technique and that sort of thing but lack of a focus on consistency. So many sprinters and coaches as well are focused on trying to run faster when they haven't been able to get consistent at one level yet. So consistency is the biggest advantage any sprinter can have. You can run consistently at whatever speed you're able to run and whatever you've accomplished so far, get consistent with that, and then start to focus on trying to push the envelope and run faster times. But you want to try to get consistent at whatever level you're at first. That is a huge advantage, those athletes who can establish consistency are the ones that usually are able to carve out a very good consistent living for themselves in the sport, but also able to produce their best performances when it counts at championships.
Brad Hudson
World Class Running Coach, Author
The best running tip I ever received-- and I still think it's a great tip for right now, especially with all the social media going-- it was from Bill Rogers. I was about twelve years old. And I was at a running store. And he was going out for a run with Tom Fleming. And so I was putting on shoes, so I jumped in and ran 12 miles with them. But the best tip was something he said and something I observed by watching them and hearing them. They started their runs very, very slow. So my tip is that you need to start your easy runs slow, warm up into them, see how you're going to feel. Nothing wrong with running moderate, but you want to warm up into your run and let your body naturally get to its quicker pace. The biggest mistake I see is people that are concerned about what their overall average of the run is, and they're starting too quickly. The easiest way to get injured is, in the beginning of a run-- is starting too quickly. If you need to start your run faster, go for a little jog before. Warm up before you start your initial run. So start your runs easy was the best tip I ever received, from Bill Rogers.
Petr Vabrousek
๐จ๐ฟ Long - Ultra Runner, Triathlete & Coach
Number one mistake generally, for not only Runners. I would say, for cyclists and triathletes, and even swimmers, which are swimming on their own, not in the team's wears a different story. So, foremost, I would say endurance athletes training, for the events on their own without coach or some Club. To be part of the biggest mistake, is turning their sessions all around, doing the same sessions. The envelope, all the time, trying to beat it by one second from last week, maybe two seconds from last month because it's kind of very easy to know that every Tuesday. I'll be running my 10K, 10K Loop every first day. I'll be running my 20K, long run and every Sunday, I would be running. My hundred meter repeats with 200 meter joke in between, It works, it always works. When you start to have routine like that, and for several weeks up to several months, you will be improving. But once this initial phase is over, your body will get used to this schedule, will get used to these sessions and your improvements will be in seconds as I mentioned, or will stop altogether. So the biggest mistake is not to revive your schedule. Bringing new sessions, bring some heels, but Bring some trail running longer shorter, intervals, change it every few weeks to keep your body surprised by by something new, which only makes it to to adapt and improve. So, and part of it is also recovery, every heart tissue needs. It's time for your body to recover and improve. So, the biggest mistake is doing the The same training all the time. And the second biggest mistake. I would say is not allowing your body to recover because only during the recovery, your body is actually improving.
Deena Kastor
๐บ๐ธ Marathon: Olympic Champion ๐ฅ๐ฅ
The number one mistake that Runners make is that they don't rest. It's so important to just get into bed and catch your z's. That's where all of the recovery and rest or additive process, the adaptation gets underway with the release of human growth hormone and stopping the release of cortisol. That only happens during hardcore sleep. So get into bed and catch some extras. He's also running hard every day continues to break your body down. Honor that. Bye. By getting in some recovery days in between hard efforts, but most importantly, sleep it is.
Dave McGovern
Run & Walk Coach, 9x Olympic Trials Finalist
The number one mistake. I see a lot of Runners make is just not enough Variety in their training just kind of either just slogging through easy miles every day or maybe pushing a little bit of too hard every day. If you push too hard every day, you're not really able to recover enough to really push hard on the harder days so you need those easy days as well. But I think a lot of people just kind of go out and they kind of slog through easy miles every day. I think some days ought to be real high-end speed and a lot of Runners miss out on that. You know, works at neuromuscular aspect where it really improves your Technique. But also, just the ability to determine over quicker that carries on down to all your other workouts. You do those shorter faster intervals. It makes the show the longer intervals easier, it makes, you know, your Tempo workouts easier. So just variety, you know, just mixing it up doing, not just the same workouts every day.
Jess Racz
WNBA Performance Coach
The number one mistake that I see Runners make and just athletes in general, is they do too much too soon. And so they go above what their work capacity is because they don't give their their body time to adapt and time to adjust. And they just go full in all out, you know, waking up super sore, the next day and they think, okay. That's how I should feel. But I think the best thing that you can do is if you're new to it, slowly ramp. Or if you're coming off of an injury slowly, get back into it and Build Your Capacity over time. And then another mistake is that they do the same thing over and over and over again, and I think it's always good, not only for mentally, but also, physically physiologically to change your running stimulus. So, whether that's doing interval work or whether that's going for a conversational Pace long. Run, or whether that's doing sprints, and varying up that training.