Running pitfalls exist everywhere in our everyday lives.
Many runners don’t do a good job of drawing the connections between things that we do in everyday life and how they can affect athletic performance and, in some cases, cause injuries.
If you spend 8-10 hours a day with your butt parked in an uncomfortable office desk chair, sooner or later you’re probably going to end up with some kind of hip/back/glute problem.
If you’re sleeping on a mattress that should have been retired a decade ago, you’re almost guaranteed to have hip and back problems.
If you wear uncomfortable dress shoes, don’t be surprised if you develop foot problems (bunions, plantar fasciitis, peroneal tendonitis, achilles tendonitis, neuromas, etc.) and lower leg problems. Don’t even get me started about flip flops.
If you eat a lot of junk food and your body is constantly swinging between the associated sugar highs and lows, not only will you typically feel like garbage when you run, your insulin related mood swings will cause most other human beings to want to stay as far away from you as possible.
Not drinking enough water during the day? You’re going to suffer the effects of dehydration when you run, and those dehydration related muscle cramps could put you on the disabled list for a week or two.
Not sleeping enough? Well then you’re dreaming if you think you’re going to be able to run fast.
My point is that running pitfalls exist everywhere in our everyday lives. If you expect to be as good an athlete as you are capable of becoming, you have to constantly be aware of how the mundane details of your non-running life will effect your athletic performance. Some very simple lifestyle adjustments can go a long way toward making you a faster runner.
George Buckheit is the leader and coach of Capital Area Runners. CAR is a DC metropolitan area club that was founded to provide group training opportunities for highly motivated and competitive minded runners of all ability levels.
