The most common mistake runners make when climbing hills is to look down, taking the hefty weight of the head (the average weighing approximately 7-10 lbs) forward and throwing the spine out of alignment. Leaning forward also reduces the involvement of the hamstrings, giving you less propulsion.
Instead, look ahead, shorten your stride a little and use your arms to help propel you upwards. Don’t try to maintain the same pace you had on flat ground, the golden rule is ‘even effort, not even pace’.
Running downhill might sound a lot easier than running uphill, but the knees and quads can take a real pounding, not just because of the increased impact but because the thigh muscles are contracting eccentrically (to decelerate you), which causes more microscopic damage in the muscle.
To descend less painfully, relax, particularly in the thighs and at the front of the ankles, and don’t ‘brake’ or lean backwards. Take your arms wider for balance, but ensure you don’t inadvertently take legs wider, too.
Don’t look down – it’s tempting to do so if you are running on rough trail but try to pick your route a few metres ahead and then keep your eyes focused on the next bit of trail instead of on your feet. If the path is wide enough, try zigzagging down the slope, rather than running straight down – this enables you to maintain more control.
Breathe easy
There are lots of ‘theories’ on the best way to breathe during running. I believe the best way to breathe when you’re running is the way that comes most naturally. I am not a proponent of all these ‘breathe in for two strides, out for two strides’ patterns, or of advising runners to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth (although you won’t swallow quite so many flies).
In fact, a study from Liverpool John Moores University, England showed that once exercise is just moderately hard, the most efficient way of breathing in and out is through the mouth, not the nose.
Upping the pace
Surprisingly, one of the best ways of improving your running technique is to practice running faster. Just occasionally. When you speed up, your arm and leg movements are bigger, improving your range of motion. But don’t try to get faster simply by taking bigger strides. Research shows that getting a runner to increase or decrease their instinctive stride length forces them to work harder and use more oxygen.
Rather than striving for giant steps, focus on keeping your feet ‘fast and light’. You will find that speeding up your arm movement will help quicken the legs. It’s also a great idea to practice some ‘strides’ or ‘pickups’. Strides are a slightly slower version of a sprint, and will help improve your running form. The greater ‘drive’ required by the supporting leg as it pushes off also puts more emphasis on the hamstrings, while the forefoot landing strengthens the calves eccentrically (while lengthening). From a standing start, start to run and gradually speed up to a pace just below your sprint speed. Go for 5x20 metres.
I admit that I have been really lazy but my days have been really packed lately…somehow I just don’t have the motivation to blog anymore. But realizing the need to note down somewhere what I have been doing, for the benefit and reliving the wonderful memories later, I shall start blogging after each vacation trip or any life’s lesson that I experience for the rest of my 5 months in the US. So for this weekend, I went to Poconos with my batch and the junior batch. It is especially meaningful, as it was after a week of relentless and hectic days at work. It’ time to let down our hair and have fun!
I had a mad rush on Friday, when we were supposed to meet at the Towne building of Upenn at 630pm. I was still at the Coach store at Center city (10mins away from where I live by subway) at 6pm, exchanging some items for ZJ. After it was all settled, I was practically flying to the subway. Luckily I caught the train just as I reached the platform. I rushed home to stuff all the stuff into my bagpack then frantically tried to close the window which was stuck for two min before realizing that it’s impossible. I was in such a haste that I forgot my sweater. Imagine how profusely I was perspiring by the time I arrived at the meeting point.
But everything went smoothly and we finally reached the Split Rock resort after a two hour and a half journey. As most of us were already starving when we reached there, we’re expecting a full course buffet as we were provided with the previous time when we came here to ski. But the unexpected happened when we realized all we had for the night was pizzas and cookies! We then had an hour long session introducing ourselves and listening to Joe Sun before making our way back to the resort rooms, where our beds beckoned us. Everything was wonderful, the bathrooms were clean and welcoming while the beds were washed and comfortable. Ah, this is life. I had a good uninterrupted sleep till morning.
We went down promptly at 830 am, not hoping for much after last night’s nightmare but we were pleasantly surprised by the sumptuous spread, consisting of bacon, sausage, potatoes, house fries, fruits like strawberries, cereal, buns etc! It is to no doubt that our favorite dishes were the made to order omelette and waffle =)
After a hearty breakfast, we were ushered into the Harmony room where we had a 2h long session on Business ettique. I was pretty sleepy then because of the plates of stuff that I gorged on but on the whole it was really benefial as we had found the answers to some of the common questions we face when it comes to networking sessions and interacting with our American counterparts in the workplace.
We adjorned for lunch at 12noon but I found no appetite except for the desserts. The buffet was great but the highlight of the day was the paint ball game! Excitedly, we marched to the Galleria where we boarded the classic yellow school bus towards Skirmish where the paint ball center is located. However, I was greeted with an unpleasant sight, we have to wear the army uniform as part of the protection gear for the game! It just set forth a rush of memories from my army times. But it didn’t bother me much when the game started as we began to realize how fun it was to strategize. The scariest thing I found about the game was that we had to start shooting our friends.and it is not our concern now if the bullet we fire would hurt them. To each of us, our friends have merely become target boards and I found myself happily firing at their exposed heads when they hid behind those fences. That is creepy. No wonder in war, it is so easy to just send a spray of bullets, even at helpful victims, as now it is about self survival. There was this particular instance when I sneaked up on my friend and I was pretty close. I simply shot at him even though it was so close before he discovered and shot at me. Luckily I still had the rationality of shooting at his butt and not anywhere else that could have resulted in major injury. There were in fact two cases of injury in our group as one got a gash from the close rang shot in the neck and the other had a huge blue black on her thigh. I shuddered at how cruel one can become even in a game like this.
After the 4hours of firing and being shot, we went back, starving this time. We had a beachside bbq buffet, where we had sweet bbq ribs and chicken. It was just awesome. Crispina and I went to the pool after our hasty dinner, as I was feeling so guilty from the stuffing sessions I had over the past two days. In the end, we didn’t swim much too as we’re smply too full, just soaked in the Jacuzzi and chatted in the sauna room. Now that’s life!
At 9pm we had the usual NCBV drinking session at one of the guys room. This time I was fortunately not the target and poor lionel was taking shots after shots till he vomited in the toilet. The guys refused to let him off even after that and forced him to keep drinking till he was totally wasted. Poor Lionel! The rest of us continued playing and it was evident that everyone was getting quite high after just half an hour. I cooked up an excuse to go back and remove my contacts so as to avoid the drinking incident that I still regretted till today.
I had again a deep restful sleep till 830am in the morning. Showered then headed for breakfast. But it was a rushed one for me as I had to settle the UO order before I proceeded to the dining room. My sister was mad at me for not ordering the items earlier as her item had gone out of stock. Sighz.. it is hard to please people sometimes.
After lunch, the feelings of remorse and unhappiness started to engulf me as I realized that I had lost the hotel room key. It’s $100 for this mistake! But thinking back I really shouldn’t have let it got to me too much as it sort of ruined my bowling session and the rest of my day. I played really badly at bowling, scoring only 28 for the entire game! At least there was horse riding to distract me. It’s the first time that I’m trying it! Like a fairy tale come true =) but still everything was just less fun than it should be and all I wanted is to bury my head till the housekeeping tells me that the key is found. Fortunately, I managed to push those thoughts aside and enjoy the rest of my time after horseriding. Crispina and I went to the beachside to find the other people and then walked around the resort area to take photos and stuff. It was very therapeutic in a way.
Dinner was good enough to make up for the lunch that we missed in the afternoon after our bowling game. I finally had salmon, after what seemed like ages. I had not one but two servings of it as it was just so delicious =) after dinner, my room mate Fiona told me that the receptionist would most likely waived the charges and I felt like a fool, to have worried so much in the day. Anyway, it was a good getaway trip on the whole and I’m absolutely looking forward to the Chicago trip next weekend!
