How To Be A Better Runner

How do you become a better runner?

Stay injury-free and improve on your weaknesses, is the simplified answer.

How do you stay injury-free?

By training within your limits (we have more physical limitations as compared to our mental ones), you can keep serious injuries at bay. Mild injuries may be unavoidable when you step up on intensity, prior to a race. Thus, my promotion of 'Run Less, Run Faster' is pertinent, if you are already plagued by persistent niggles and soreness. 

Your build-up to the race needs to be sensible and realistic. Give yourself SMART Goals, and be mindful of how well you can prepare. Thus, in your off-season you would do better to focus on lower-intensity, fat-utilising, pace. I recommend lower-heartrate running, swimming and cycling to enhance your 'aerobic engine'. Drink Bullet Coffee (or coconut-oil infused beverages before training on an empty-stomach) to engage your body's ability to tap into your endurance system.

Get quality sleep to recover fully and reduce stress. Eat 'clean' to assist your body to assimilate new body tissues. Eat all major food groups, and eliminate food that cause you allergies. Consume more antioxidants, protect and nurture your gut flora (bacteria), and be well-hydrated. Go 80:20 with your nutrition/meals, and treat yourself,occasionally, to some 'comfort food'. I am a fan of craft-beers after hard training, and appreciate indulging in my sweet tooth. Your fitness will assist you in your day-to-day activities; not just for racing and earning PBs. Focus on building an organic machinery that enhances your life, and promotes your sporting lifestyle.

Training-wise, be smart and enlist assistance in ensuring you optimise your efforts and structural abilities: running-gait, footwear, core-strength, muscular-strength, balance and proprioception, joint-health, and muscular weakness (critical point of incidence). Diagnose your abilities and do a SWOT analysis, and tap on your collective potential and work on reducing your weaknesses. Race occasionally, so as to familiarise with your race-pace (5km, 10km, 21km and marathon).

More of these will be covered in my new Ebook.

Staying Hard Core

‘Hard-core’ is that term that outsiders call serious enthusiasts and hobbyists. When you spend lots of time on a pastime or pursuit, you are considered hardcore because what you do may be perceived as extreme, unusual or tough. Endurance athletes can be christened as hardcore because of the unusually long and demanding hours required for training. Add the three disciplines in triathlon, and hardcore takes on a multiplier effect: times three, yet not necessarily in equal amounts.

Instead of considering hardcore as extreme, indulgent and insane can it be seen positively? When somebody spends as inordinate amount of time at work, he/she is labeled a workaholic. When an artisan or artist spends hours developing their art and craft, they are pursuing excellence as a master. When amateur athletes do well at sports, they belong in the sphere of elite age-grouper.

When you strengthen your core muscles that is developing a hard core. Core muscles hold our posture together and they comprise more than the admirable ‘six-pack’ abdominals that A&F male models flaunt as part of their launch. It involves the lower-back, and internal girdle or corset that protects our abdomen and vital organs. It keeps our torso from collapsing as we complete a triathlon or marathon without leaning ungainly forward.

Hardcore need not be a derogatory term or debilitating condition. If professionals, occasionally, take a hardcore approach to their performance they may excel in their endeavours. You don’t often hear of hardcore parents, however you do hear of doting parents. Love knows no boundaries or labels. You can be hard outside, but still soft to your core.

Develop Your Core

My client was at the gym weight training his major muscles groups – useful for maintaining bone density and ensuring his lean tissue development. Ironman finisher and television’s ‘The Bachelor’ Dr Andy Baldwin wrote me that weight training, vitamin D and calcium were necessary for those athletes over-40 years if age. He followed this up with about 20 minutes treadmill running, and a core stability session. In the latter, he performed the Plank, Side Plank and static Lower Back Raise (akin to the Cobra Pose in yoga). I understand that he does his core stability work everyday, mainly using the Plank and one session of yoga every week; he has never receive rehabilitative prescription nor incurred a serious sports injury before. He learnt about core stability from his colleague.

My assessment is that his core strength is superb. His form is impeccable and he appreciates functional strength and stability. His lower flexibility is healthy and to be envied at his age. His disciplined approach to developing his core and translated gracefully into better mobility and a freer posture. In other words, he is likely to perform better physically in sports with less risk of injury. He still swims regularly and he is very confident about his competency in the water.

Likewise, you should consider developing your core competencies further. Competencies can lose their resilience through time unless we continue to beef up our skills. Instead of isolated skills, focus on integrated skill-sets. Like exercise, each set comprises several repetitions. Repetition is the way to learn, ensuring muscle memory and permanence, provide you practice the correct technique. Perfect practice makes perfect. Practise your skills occasionally to keep current and confident.

Repositioning Yourself For Optimum Impact

What do road-bicycles, clothes, and shoes have in common? Clue: The F- word.

Fit! How equipment or attire feels next to your skin and sinews are important. Given time, improperly fitted gear will provide physical feedback. Abrasions, calluses, cuts, cramps, numbness and muscular fatigue can hold you back from your full ability to perform physically. Comfort reigns; carelessness pains.

My conversations with runners and triathletes recently yielded interest in reducing fatigue, and warding off debilitating conditions like muscle cramps. I postulated that how you ride could seriously impact on how you would run afterwards. My friend Barney Tee strongly states: ‘The ride determines the run!’

Muscles used for cycling & running are similar, however the exact focus is different. There are strong reasons why you should not pre-exhaust them with bad techniques. Power your way through the ride, yet save your calves and hamstrings for the run.

I have adjusted my cleat position on my riding shoes and I have kept my calves released (not so tensed) during my run. Now, I ride more neutral with my feet parallel to the ground when I pedal. Find your best feet forward. Re-position your cleats onto your soles of your bike-shoes at the joint of your forefoot. You can mark it out with a silver-coloured permanent marker. Better style, get a bike fit done by a certified professional.

In sports, I strongly believe that rehabilitation is the foundation of performance. You cannot train hard if you are injured. Heal before you reveal. Reposition you body by seeking experts like physiotherapist, chiropractors, and body coaches. Yoga, Pilates and core stability work help to align our spine, enhance joint integrity and usher in muscular strength and power. Move about when you can and stop playing prisoner to your chair!

Leadership Lessons: Deliver to your audience’s needs. Tailor your material exactly. Express, then impress. Dress for the part – impressions matter. Speak with authority, commitment and conviction. How do you position your leadership style for greater influence? How do you spread your personal values around your team, department and organisation?

Motivational Tactics Before A Race

"Decision Must Be Instant...Commitment Must Be Total." - Blazeman


For close shave finishes, I enjoyed the 2006 Ironman World Championships when Norman Stadler won his second world title by a narrow margin of about 71 seconds before Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack. The 2007 DVD showed new winners through Chrissy Wellington and Macca. The 2009 DVD with Craig and Chrissy repeat is definitely worth watching for their repeat wins (second for Crowie; third for Wellington). I am most inspired by the late-finishers, where their struggles (towards the midnight cutoff) make it painful yet exciting to watch. I am still inspired by the late-Jon Blais ‘Blazeman’ and saddened by our loss.

‘Every man’s death saddens me for it diminishes mankind.’

For non-Ironman DVDs, I’d watch Hollywood films like Breaking Away, The Rookie, The Flying Scotsman, American Flyers, Tin Cup, Bagger Vance, Miracle, Rocky (1,2,3, 4 & 6), and Invincible. I adore and support the Underdog, rising from the ashes of despair into a reborn, fiery phoenix. 

*****

This evening, still nursing a tender right wrist (Day 9 of sprain), I rode for two hours followed by about an hour of running in the pool. I was reassured that my wrist felt comfortable on my aero-bars. I must say that Elite Bicycles did a thorough job of fitting my bike to my severely imbalanced body. The directors of Elite continue to remind me to do my core exercises – a bonus for clients they provide customised fitting.

I have found that by running in chest-high water, I can train my cadence for running. By lifting my knees higher and maintaining the lean, I can run on forefoot whilst still in place – it works your core muscles as you have to stay balanced on the slippery tiled floor. The water helps cool your body when you do hard intervals – I warm up with one minute moderate to hard pace, followed by two-minute and three-minute intervals. You can raise your heart-rate while reducing impact on your barefoot. It is like running unshod, without the Vibram Five Fingers. By focusing on the moving water in front of me, I can visualize myself running on the marathon course.

I look forward to my wetsuit swim at the lagoon tomorrow morning. I may integrate a fast 10K run before that. Time to rest my weary bones.