Run Tall

Run Tall - possibly my two favourite words when I am out coaching runners in the Surrey Hills. Why my 2 favourite? Because they generally bring about the most improvement and biggest smile to any runner. 
Whether you run many times a week, have been running for years or are an absolute beginner - it’s the one thing that can improve many a running woe and put a spring back in your step. 
Run Tall. An interesting notion from someone who is 5’2’, I know. But trust me it works. Imagine you have a big bright crinkly helium ballon attached to your head and its pulling you up, lengthening you all the way from your feet, up through your hips, up your back and up to your shoulders and head. It's not that you run rigid, more that you run upright. 
 
In running tall..

• our glutes, quads and hamstrings do what they are meant to do - act as the power house for running. That all important push off from the ground is more effective
• we are more likely to land on the front of our feet and not on the heel
• our pelvis tips forward which helps create more backward thrust and longer stride length
• our abdominal muscles are activated (they hold themselves in! -we don’t have to think about it) and this also improves our stride length
• our dorsal (back) muscles are active. Lean far forward and they start taking the load and often grumble about it
• we start unravelling the changes made from years of sitting at desks and in cars

In a nutshell, Run Tall and you run more efficiently.
Oh and research tells us that if we assume the position of being confident and positive we will feel more confident and positive. So on those days when motivation is at a low, Run Tall and the chances are your mood will change.

Get someone to watch you, even better video you, right it on your hand. When you are nearer the final leg of your run, you are tired, you wish you were somewhere else - remember Run Tall. 

Not bad for 2 little words…

---