Running News Daily

Three easy ways to fix running form, body awareness is the first step to effortless, flowing running form

Running form can be simple to finesse, but first you need to know what needs fixing. Anyone who has seen the GOAT of marathoning, Eliud Kipchoge, run knows what beautiful running form looks like, but it can be challenging to figure out how to fix your own form. Here are three easy ways to gain a better understanding of how you are running and what you can do to run more efficiently.

Run fast at the track

In his book Run Fast, renowned marathoner and trainer Hal Higdon suggests finding a 400-metre track to try this running form awareness drill. Begin running at the 300-metre starting line (the start of the back straightaway) and pick up your pace through the straight until you are running near 5K race pace. Accelerate as you come into the home stretch so that you’re running full-out when you reach the finish line.

Notice what happens to your form as you accelerate, and see if you can pinpoint where you become more or less efficient as you pick up your pace. Pay attention to knee lift, stride length, posture, arm carry, and head angle.

Run barefoot in sand or grass

Head to the beach or a safe grassy area and find a smooth stretch to run on. Higdon suggests running at a comfortable pace for 100 metres, and paying particular attention to where your foot contacts the ground.

Notice where you naturally land to develop awareness, even if you don’t need to adjust anything. Running on slightly damp sand and then looking back at your footprints can also be helpful when trying to analyze how your feet are striking.

Run straight on the road

Pick a stretch of road or sidewalk where you can follow a straight line (taking care to choose somewhere safe). Look for a painted stripe on the road to follow, a crack in the pavement, or the separation between the pavement and the shoulder of the road.

“Focus your attention on that line and think of yourself as a machine moving along it, like a train on a rail,” says Higdon. “Can you run straight along the line without wavering back and forth? Is your head straight, are your eyes level?” Notice how your arms are moving, and see if your legs are moving straight forward and kicking straight back.

While running form is very individual, all runners follow the same basic principles. Body awareness is the first step to fixing your running form– and then working on any oddities or challenges you notice when practicing these drills.

(09/13/2022) Views: 814 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne

How Running Has Helped The Millionaires’ Magician Perfect His Act

Steve Cohen, a longtime magician for celebrities and world leaders, became hooked on marathoning since running his first one in 2018.

For most of his life, Steve Cohen has been known for his impressive sleight of hand as the host of Chamber Magic, a live weekly show at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel. In fact, during our video interview, the “Millionaires’ Magician” made my favorite card, the ace of hearts appear out of thin air twice. 

Now, those close to the performer have started complimenting him on his sleight of foot since he took up running in 2018. It's a newfound skill that Cohen says has improved his expertise as a magician and vice versa. 

Until recently, Cohen, 51, never considered himself an athlete. He joined the track team in high school, competing in the 100-meter dash but quit soon after to participate in the theater program, where he thrived as a performer. 

Since starting Chamber Magic in 2000, Cohen has used his shows as his form of exercise, frequently performing six times in a weekend. His audiences, which often include celebrities and royalty, get to enjoy conjuring, mind-reading, sleight of hand, and one of his most famous tricks called “think-a-drink,” in which an audience member requests a specific beverage that magically appears in Cohen's teapot. With the rapid fire energy, preparation, and effort that goes into each performance, Cohen didn't consider outside exercise for many years.

“Magicians are usually couch potatoes and it's rare to find a magician that's incredibly fit,” Cohen says. “That was kind of me.”

In 2015, Cohen's wife Yumi Morishige picked up running and encouraged him to join her. As Cohen recalls, he couldn't keep up with his wife for a full mile during their first run together. “I was huffing and puffing, and she was running loops around me to keep me going,” he says. “That demoralized me.”

After the first run, Cohen joined a gym but realized he needed more stimulation in his workouts. Instead of exercising in the gym, his wife encouraged him to focus on destination workouts, like running to Harry Houdini's house, which is about two miles away from their apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan. Over time, Cohen added more routes that excited him, including a run to Alexander Hamilton's house uptown.

With more miles under his belt, Cohen and his wife made a bet. If he entered the lottery for the New York City Marathon and gained entry, he would run the race. Cohen lost in 2016 and 2017 but the following year, he received surprising news. While sitting in the theater of the Magic Castle, a private magician's club in Los Angeles, Cohen received an email from the New York Road Runners letting him know that his application to run the marathon was finally accepted. “The first thing that came to my mind was oh shit,” Cohen says. 

After spending a few minutes processing the news, Cohen realized he couldn't break the promise to his wife and came around to the idea of becoming a marathoner. “Being a magician is all about making the impossible possible,” Cohen says. “I thought, I'm going to be a magician to myself and I'll make this impossible thing that I thought I could never do, possible.”

In March 2018, Cohen started building up mileage using Hal Higdon's marathon training plan. Because his shows are on the weekends, Cohen has to fit all of his weekly mileage into five days, which means he does his long run on Wednesday. 

Prior to the marathon in November 2018, the longest race Cohen had ever run was 100 meters on the track as a high school student. But he embraced the experience as an opportunity to try something different and bring his magic community along for the ride. 

Before the race, he sent an email to his fanbase encouraging them to cheer him on during the New York City Marathon. He wore a t-shirt with the king of hearts printed on the front, which helped people recognize him among the thousands of competitors. Throughout the race, fans cheered for Cohen and on several occasions, he even stopped to perform magic tricks, including one in which he penetrates an earphone cord through someone's finger. “There were enough people that it kind of slowed my time down a lot,” Cohen says. “But I don't really care because I wasn't in it to win some PR.”

In his first 26.2, Cohen finished in five hours and 37 minutes and was immediately hooked. After his debut, Cohen joined his wife as a member of the New York Flyers run club. 

During the height of the pandemic, the magician didn't perform for 16 months amid COVID lockdowns. In addition to writing two books, running helped Cohen cope with the cancellations. “I didn't have the physical exertion that I normally get while performing,” he says. “You need an outlet for all that stress, so running really did save me.” 

In the fall of 2020, he completed the New York City Marathon virtually. For his 50th birthday on February 21, 2021, Cohen ran from his home to the hospital where he was born in Yonkers, New York and back for just over 50K. 

In November 2021, Cohen returned to the New York City Marathon in person and took 32 minutes off his previous personal best. This fall, he hopes to break five hours for the first time on the NYC course. 

Now four years into his development as a runner, Cohen says the sport has helped elevate his skills as a magician. His posture has improved while on stage, and similar to managing paces in a 26.2-mile race, he's become more efficient in pacing his energy with back-to-back performances. Before he became a runner, Cohen would end the weekend exhausted with pain in his back. Now, he says the endurance gained from running makes him feel like he can add another show to the line-up. Perhaps more importantly, running has given Cohen a newfound sense of accomplishment when he takes the stage in front of world leaders and billionaires.

“The one thing that they can't buy is something you need to accomplish on your own, and if I've accomplished that by having run a marathon, it gives me a great amount of personal strength and it makes me feel they're equal when I'm standing in front of someone who is a very powerful person,” Cohen says. “I feel a lot more self-empowered, and I think that's thanks to running.”

(08/14/2022) Views: 903 ⚡AMP
by Runner’s World

The benefits of running after 60

Running after 60 can be as beneficial to your health as it was in your 20s.

There’s no doubt that if you run for fitness your speed will slow down as you age. 

From your 30s onwards, a number of physical changes take place in the average person’s body. Aerobic capacity decreases, muscle mass reduces, muscle elasticity reduces, lung elasticity declines, bone density reduces, your metabolism slows, body fat increases, and your immune system becomes weaker, Owen Barder writes in the book “Running for Fitness.” 

All these changes have an adverse effect on running performance. Yet, older runners can continue to achieve amazing athletic feats. 

Benefits of running after 60

Canadian athlete Ed Whitlock ran a marathon in 2:54:48 at the age of 73. Carlos Lopes set the world marathon record at the age of 38. Hal Higdon, marathon runner and writer, at the age of 52 ran a 10km in 31:08 and a marathon in 2:29:27.

So you can’t run as fast as you did in your 20s and 30s. It’s all relative. The fact is you can continue to run into your 90s. 

The health benefits of running for seniors are generally the same as for everybody else. They include reductions in the risks of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer; reduced depression and anxiety; weight control; improved bones, muscles, and joints; improved mobility and coordination, and a psychological sense of well-being.

The risk for developing debilitating conditions increases as you grow older, so the benefits of running are increased. 

Keep in mind that even moderate running is good for your health. At the conference of the European Society of Cardiology, Danish researchers presented data on a subset of 2000 joggers. They found that jogging at a moderate pace for a total of one to two-and-a-half hours per week over two or three sessions reduced the risk of death more than 44 percent over non-runners. 

“Surprisingly, when individuals ran faster, longer or more frequently than this, the protective benefits of running disappeared,” writes Rashelle Brown. “Individuals who ran more often and more vigorously had about the same mortality rate as those who were sedentary.” 

Another study looked at others health benefits of running for seniors: the effects of running versus walking on functional movement of 30 adults with an average age of 69. The study found that those who ran several days per week walked with the same muscular economy of average 20-year-olds. 

If you want to start running for the first time or take up running after a long lull, it’s important to start out slowly. 

First, you should let your doctor know of your plans and take heed of any concerns she might have. 

Starting out with a walk or run program is a great strategy to build your muscles and endurance without risking injury that will set you back. Keep in mind walking can be just as health as running, except you have to walk longer to get the same health benefits as running.

Recovery after running

You also have to prioritize recovery more than when you were younger and build this into your running schedule. Also, use your experience to make more informed choices about your running. 

Muscle mass declines with age, so you need some strength training to counter that. Just don’t overdo it. Stressing core exercises or using light dumbbells would do the trick. 

Be diligent about stretching, both before and after exercise. As you age your flexibility decreases, and stretching compensates for that. 

Other advice includes booking a regular massage to loosen the muscles that tighten from running, eating well (meaning a diet high in protein, carbs, fruits and vegetables), going soft by running on surfaces with some give like trails or even grass, and staying motivated. 

“Keep entering races so you always have goals,” Jo Pavey writes in Runner’s World. “If you feel your fastest times are behind you, think about setting yourself a new set of (personal bests) for your new age group.”

(02/09/2021) Views: 1,058 ⚡AMP
by Janet ODell

Parents should do everything possible to Inspire their kids to take up running or other form of exercise

A WORD FROM HAL HIGDON: Should children run road races, given the danger of injuries later in life? Have no fear. The positive aspects of running so outweigh the negative risks that running parents should do everything possible to inspire their children to take up running and other forms of exercise. 86-year-old Hal Higdon says, "Among my most enjoyable activities is helping runners train. I estimate that I have assisted nearly a million runners reach the finish line of races from 5K to the marathon." (04/20/2018) Views: 1,659 ⚡AMP
by Hal Higdon

Getting Back To The Real World After A Marathon

WISDOM FROM HIGDON: In the aftermath of a marathon, there usually is a period of well-deserved euphoria following a peak performance. Then…reality sets back in, and we need to get back to the Real World... Training for the marathon, or any other running race, is not easy. It's hard work. It takes discipline. But it's also a lot of fun. It takes training to reach a peak performance. from Hal Higdon (Lifetime runner, coach and writer) (01/24/2018) Views: 1,678 ⚡AMP

Sometimes Treadmill Running is the Best Choice

A WORD OF ADVICE: Treadmills generally provide a more cushioned running surface than the roads outside and many runners continue on them even through summer. Treadmill running can help prevent impact injuries, and can be useful when bad weather or darkness prevents comfortable running outdoors. from Hal Higdon (Hal has contributed to Runner's World for longer than any other writer, an article by him having appeared in that publication's second issue in 1966.) (01/24/2018) Views: 1,854 ⚡AMP