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Experts share their best tips to help you stay calm, cool, and collected while you’re out on the run.

It’s possible to run fast without clenching every muscle in your body. Just look at some of the pros like Cole Hocker, Nikki Hiltz, or Sarah Vaughn who seem to clock seriously fast times while making it look like an easy walk (er, run) in the park.

These pros and many others have mastered running with slack shoulders, fluid arms, and a powerful stride, all while seeming light on their feet. It’s the art of running relaxed—and it can actually help your performance.

Experts encourage you to run relaxed on easy and long run days—those workouts where you’re meant to go at an easy effort. But running relaxed is a tool you can use to your benefit for any type of run.

“It is important to remain relaxed in terms of not recruiting muscles that don’t need to be recruited, because that can increase the energy that you’re using for the run,” Heather Milton, M.S., exercise physiologist at NYU Langone Health’s Sports Performance Center tells Runner’s World. This can cause you to fatigue and slow down more quickly, she explains.

For example, lifting your shoulders up toward your ears or tensing up your face while you run requires more energy than letting your upper body and jaw hang a little looser. This could also affect form: If you’re running tensely upright, without a forward lean, you’re less able to activate the glutes, and your knees take on more force, potentially leading to knee pain, Milton explains.

To help you perfect the art of running relaxed and get the most out of your workouts, we tapped experts for their best tips.

Quick Forms Tips to Help You Relax on the Run

When it comes to running relaxed, maintaining the proper running form is key and will help improve your efficiency. Although not everyone’s stride is the same, keep these cues in mind while you’re out clocking miles:

➥Keep Your Upper Half Loose

Run

➥Lean Forward

“What we want to see is that there is a slight angle of your running, so from your ankle through your hips, through your shoulders, you’re progressively closer to your target, looking forward,” Milton says. You can imagine your body in a slight diagonal line as you run forward. This will enable a greater amount of lower leg activation, better push off, and better hip extension. It can also reduce your risk for injury and improve your performance, she explains.

➥Make Your Center Stable

“The core should be a stable column on which we run and can have more effective push off,” says Milton. This is why it's important to build core strength, she adds.

➥Drive Forward With Your Feet

In terms of your feet, Milton recommends you focus on swiping the ground behind you while you run.

8 Tips to Help You Stay Relaxed on the Run

Beyond fixing your form, here are a few things you can try leading up to race day and during your run to help you maintain that relaxed run posture. Rather than implementing all of these tips at once, try out a few of them to see which ones work best for you so you stay calm, cool, and collected on the road.

1. Work on Your Mobility

Limited range of motion can hinder your ability to run more relaxed.

“It really takes access to every joint movement in the body,”John Goldthorp, a certified personal trainer and run coach tells Runner’s World. If you can’t freely move your joints, then you can’t make the necessary movements that you need to help you run really well, he explains.

This is why he recommends working through different planes of motion (front to back, side to side, and rotational) before you run and even on non-running days.

To do that, practice moves like standing cat cow, side bends, and rib cage and pelvic rotations, all of which work the spine and upper body through the different movement patterns. Also, work on pronation

Working with a physical therapist or functional mobility specialist can also help you address these areas so you can improve your range of motion and run more fluidly.

2. Address Any Pain Areas

As you can imagine, or might have even experienced, running with pain can hinder your ability to relax. This is why Milton recommends strength training as a way to address some of your pain points.

For example, address shin splints by strengthening your feet, ankles, calves, and hips. Target pain associated with runner’s knee by strengthening your hips and inner quads.

“Strength training is a great way to make sure that your body is ready for the run,” says Milton.

3. Add Strides to Your Calendar

The key is to practice running short bouts at different paces like your easy, marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K, and mile pace while relaxed, says Goldthorp. He recommends you start by introducing strides toward the middle or second half of an easy run.

“Like any new stimulus, you’ll want to introduce things gradually both in terms of how many repetitions you do and how fast you’re running them,” he explains. This may mean running four reps of 20-second strides with

Lastly, take a few minutes to gradually progress from a slow walk to a brisk walk and then to a light jog, says Goldthorp. “I always think to myself, I’m not really going to hit my ‘training pace’ for probably about 15 minutes,” so don’t rush it, he says.

This will not only help you ease into the run better, but it can help you find your rhythm more easily and allows you to remain relaxed as you adjust from not running to running slowly to running at a quick clip. Just remember to keep that loose feeling through each progression.

5. Complete a Quick Self Scan

Before you head out for a run, Goldthorp recommends you take note of where you typically hold tension in your body. For example, do you clench your jaw or shrug your shoulders?

“Scan your body. If you notice tension, see if you can let it go, see if you can soften that area,” he says. You can also visualize that area of your body flowing like water.

Then, on the run, check for specific body cues, says Milton. For example, make sure you’re bringing your arms back directly behind you and then letting

If you’re running with a watch on race day “check in and check your splits and make sure that you’re not running too fast, which can create a lot of undue tension,” Milton adds. If you are going too fast, she recommends coming back to your breathing and making sure it feels appropriate for your target pace.

8. Don’t Be Afraid to Give It Your All

There might be times, especially at the end of a workout or race, where we’re willing to get ugly and push past our comfort zone to hit your goal time or beat an opponent, says Accetta. In these moments, it’s acceptable to push yourself even if that means tensing up a bit.

The key is recognizing when to kick it into high gear, like when you’re sprinting to the finish. You don’t want to waste all your energy too soon, Accetta explains. Even when you do pick it up, remember some of those form tips of keeping your upper body loose and your jaw slack so your legs have the energy they need to turnover fast.

The prospect of seeing one of athletics' biggest stars back on the track is growing stronger, with Jakob Ingebrigtsen reportedly targeting a return to competition later this summer following his recovery from Achilles tendon surgery.

According to comments made by his agent, Daniel Wessfeldt, in an interview with Norwegian media, the double Olympic champion could make his long-awaited comeback at one of three major European meetings in July. The leading options under consideration are the Monaco Diamond League on July 10, the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix on July 14, and the London Diamond League on July 18.

For athletics fans, the possibility of Ingebrigtsen lining up in London would add another layer of excitement to an already highly anticipated Diamond League meeting. The Norwegian middle-distance sensation has become one of the sport's most dominant figures in recent years, collecting Olympic, world and European titles while consistently rewriting record books.

His 2026 campaign was put on hold after he underwent surgery on his Achilles tendon earlier this year, forcing him to focus on rehabilitation rather than competition. Since then, questions have surrounded when the 24-year-old would be ready to return to racing.

The latest update suggests that decision will largely depend on how his training progresses over the coming weeks. If recovery continues according to plan, July could mark the beginning of his return to elite competition ahead of the latter stages of the season.

A comeback at either Monaco, Budapest or London would immediately place Ingebrigtsen back among the sport's biggest storylines. Each meeting is renowned for producing world-class performances, and any appearance by the Norwegian would attract significant attention from fans eager to see how quickly he can regain top form after his injury setback.

While no final decision has been confirmed, the signs are increasingly positive. After months away from competition, Jakob Ingebrigtsen appears to be edging closer to a return, with London's Diamond League meeting emerging as one of the most intriguing possibilities on his road back to the track.

Should his recovery continue smoothly, athletics could soon welcome back one of its brightest and most influential stars.

What should have been the defining moment of Emad Bashir-Mohammed's young running career instead turned into one of the most talked-about controversies in American road racing this year.

The 23-year-old crossed the finish line first in the men's citizen's race at the prestigious Bolder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day in Colorado, stopping the clock at an impressive 29:50. His performance was not only a commanding victory but also one of the fastest winning times ever recorded in the event's long and celebrated history. Bashir-Mohammed finished eight seconds clear of his nearest challenger and appeared to have secured a breakthrough triumph.

For nearly two hours, he was the undisputed winner.

Then everything changed.

Race officials announced that Bashir-Mohammed had been disqualified after determining that he had started in the wrong wave. According to Bolder Boulder regulations, he had been assigned to the AA wave but lined up with the faster A wave, which began earlier. Event rules allow runners to move backward into a slower wave, but prohibit athletes from advancing into a faster one.

As a result, Bashir-Mohammed's victory was erased from the record books.

The citizen's title was subsequently awarded to Nickolas Scudder, who crossed the line second in 29:58. The promotion handed Scudder back-to-back citizen's race victories, while Bashir-Mohammed was left to grapple with the disappointment of losing a win he believed he had earned on the road.

The disqualification has since ignited widespread debate across the running community.

Bashir-Mohammed maintains that he did not intentionally violate the rules. He claims that after collecting his AA bib, he spoke with race personnel and was permitted to start with the A wave after presenting evidence of his recent performances. In a statement shared after the race, he expressed frustration over the decision, arguing that his goal was simply to compete against the strongest field available and produce the fastest time possible.

Race organizers, however, stood firmly behind their ruling. Officials stated that wave-assignment regulations are clearly communicated in pre-race information and reiterated during packet collection. They also noted that hundreds of participants are disqualified each year for moving into faster start groups, emphasizing that consistent enforcement is necessary to maintain fairness for all competitors.

The incident has divided opinion among runners and fans alike. Some believe the rules must be applied equally regardless of an athlete's finishing position, arguing that wave assignments are a fundamental part of race organization. Others feel the punishment is harsh, particularly if Bashir-Mohammed genuinely received approval to move up before the start.

What remains undisputed is the quality of his performance. On the roads of Boulder, Bashir-Mohammed demonstrated the fitness and speed required to outrun the field by a significant margin. Yet in road racing, crossing the finish line first is only part of the equation. Compliance with race regulations carries equal weight.

For Bashir-Mohammed, the day will be remembered as a painful lesson in the fine margins that can define elite competition. A remarkable run delivered a memorable victory, but a dispute over wave placement ultimately overshadowed the achievement, leaving behind a controversy that continues to fuel discussion throughout the running world.

A fast race, a costly administrative error, and a debate that may linger long after the finish-line tape has been packed away.

The men's 100 metres at the 2026 Rome Diamond League is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated sprint races of the season, with an exceptional field featuring some of the fastest men in the world.

Scheduled for Thursday, June 4, at the iconic Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the race will bring together reigning stars, established champions and emerging talents in a contest that promises fireworks from the moment the gun goes off.

Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala headlines a world-class lineup that includes American sprint sensation Noah Lyles, Botswana's Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo, Jamaica's explosive Ackeem Blake, South Africa's ever-consistent Akani Simbine and Italy's hometown hero Lamont Marcell Jacobs. With personal bests ranging from 9.77 to 9.97 seconds, the field is packed with athletes capable of producing something special on the Diamond League stage.

Omanyala, the African record holder with a blistering personal best of 9.77 seconds, arrives in Rome eager to continue his strong early-season form and prove he can challenge the very best on the global circuit. The Kenyan star has built a reputation as one of the fastest starters in world sprinting and will be looking to make a statement against an elite field.

Standing in his way is world champion Noah Lyles, whose personal best of 9.79 seconds places him among the fastest athletes in history. The American remains one of the sport's biggest attractions and will be determined to add another Diamond League victory to his impressive résumé.

The race also marks a major test for Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo. The Botswanan star has rapidly become one of athletics' most exciting talents, while Ackeem Blake continues to establish himself as a serious contender on the international sprint scene.

Adding further intrigue is the presence of Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs. Competing on home soil, the Tokyo Olympic champion will enjoy passionate local support as he seeks to deliver a memorable performance in front of the Roman crowd.

South Africa's Akani Simbine, Cameroon's Emmanuel Eseme, Great Britain's Jeremiah Azu and rising American talent Jordan Anthony complete a field that boasts remarkable depth and quality.

Men's 100m Entry List – Rome Diamond League 2026

Ferdinand Omanyala (Kenya) – PB: 9.77

Noah Lyles (USA) – PB: 9.79

Lamont Marcell Jacobs (Italy) – PB: 9.80

Akani Simbine (South Africa) – PB: 9.82

Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) – PB: 9.86

Ackeem Blake (Jamaica) – PB: 9.88

Jordan Anthony (USA) – PB: 9.91

Emmanuel Eseme (Cameroon) – PB: 9.96

Jeremiah Azu (Great Britain) – PB: 9.97

With multiple national record holders, global champions and Olympic medal contenders sharing the same start line, the Rome Diamond League men's 100m could deliver one of the fastest races of the year. For sprint fans around the world, all eyes will be on Rome as a stellar cast battles for supremacy over athletics' blue-riband distance.

Audrey Werro announced her arrival as one of the early stars of the 2026 outdoor season with a commanding victory in the women’s 800 metres at the Rabat Diamond League, producing a performance that exceeded even her own expectations.

The Swiss middle-distance talent surged to victory in a brilliant 1:56.56, breaking the meeting record and delivering one of the fastest times recorded worldwide this season. In a race packed with quality, Werro displayed exceptional composure, confidence, and finishing strength to separate herself from the field and stamp her authority on the event.

What made the performance even more remarkable was the athlete's surprise at the level she had already reached so early in the campaign.

"I was not expecting such a strong start to the season," Werro admitted after the race.

The race unfolded at a relentless pace, but Werro remained perfectly positioned throughout. As the athletes approached the bell lap, she glanced at the clock and immediately sensed something special was within reach.

"When I saw the time at the bell, I felt really confident," she said. "I'm really happy with the Meeting Record and looking forward to the rest of the season."

Her confidence proved justified. Maintaining her rhythm over the final 400 metres, Werro powered down the home straight to secure the victory and rewrite the Rabat meeting record books in the process.

The performance sends an early warning to her rivals ahead of a season that promises major championships and high-profile Diamond League battles. Beyond the record-breaking time, Werro's display highlighted her growing maturity as a racer, combining tactical awareness with impressive speed and endurance.

With the outdoor season only beginning, the 1:56.56 clocking suggests that even faster times could be on the horizon. If Rabat is any indication, Audrey Werro may be poised for the biggest season of her career.

Her emphatic victory in Morocco was more than just another Diamond League win—it was a statement of intent from an athlete determined to challenge the world's best throughout 2026.

The city of Boston is set to welcome back one of its most celebrated champions as Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi headlines a world-class field for the 2026 B.A.A. 10K presented by Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute on June 21.

Fresh from another remarkable victory at the Boston Marathon in April, Lokedi returns to the streets of Boston and Cambridge carrying both momentum and confidence as she aims to defend the title she captured in dominant fashion last year.

The two-time Boston Marathon champion has developed a special connection with the historic race city. In 2025, she produced a course-record performance of 2:17:22 to win the Boston Marathon before returning this year to claim another victory in 2:18:51, the second-fastest winning time in the event’s storied history. Her success has cemented her status as one of the premier road runners in the world.

Lokedi will be making her first competitive appearance since her marathon triumph and arrives as the reigning B.A.A. 10K champion after clocking 31:39 over the challenging 6.2-mile course in 2025.

“Boston has become a very special place for me,” Lokedi said ahead of the race. “The atmosphere created by the fans and the community is unlike anywhere else. I’m excited to return and give everything I have to defend my title.”

The women’s race promises to be highly competitive. American Olympian Rachel Smith, who finished second at the Boston 5K in April, leads the domestic challenge. Kenya’s strong contingent includes African 10,000m champion Gladys Kwamboka, former B.A.A. 10K runner-up Stacy Ndiwa, and experienced road racer Viola Cheptoo. British Olympian Jessica Warner-Judd adds further international depth to a field packed with proven performers.

The men’s race is equally impressive, featuring elite athletes from 13 nations.

Ethiopia’s Dawit Seare enters as one of the leading contenders after capturing the 2025 Boston 5K title and bringing the fastest 10K personal best in the field at 27:21. Kenya will be represented by an accomplished group led by Alexander Mutiso, winner of the 2024 London Marathon and runner-up at last year’s New York City Marathon.

Patrick Kiprop also arrives in outstanding form after securing victory at the prestigious BolderBoulder 10K on Memorial Day, while Alex Masai returns looking to continue his strong record in Boston. Masai recently finished ninth at the Boston Marathon and has earned three top-ten finishes at the B.A.A. 10K.

Among the international stars making their mark is South Africa’s Adriaan Wildschutt, who makes his race debut after an impressive season highlighted by victory at the NYC Half Marathon in 59:30. Ethiopia’s Olympic bronze medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet adds further quality to the field, bringing a wealth of championship experience and previous success in Boston.

Canadian national 10K champion Andrew Alexander, two-time U.S. Olympian Hillary Bor, marathon standout Ryan Ford, and reigning USA 25K champion Andrew Colley complete a field stacked with talent and depth.

With defending champions, Olympic finalists, national champions and rising stars all converging on Boston, the 2026 B.A.A. 10K is shaping up to be one of the most competitive editions in recent memory. For Sharon Lokedi, however, the mission is simple: return to the city where she has repeatedly excelled and add another memorable chapter to her growing Boston legacy.