Running Economy – Get Into Your Stride

Why being economical in training is actually making your more efficient as well.

- Chng Chye Tuan

We are now a quarter of our way through 2019! Mileage clocked and shoes broken in, this is a good time to pause and contemplate: How am I doing against the running goals that I set at the beginning of the year?

Understanding the science behind the run gives us the ability to help monitor and optimize our running performance, allowing us to hit better run times with much less fatigue. One aspect to focus on is running economy.

Running economy is the amount of oxygen your body consumes at a given submaximal running speed. With a better running economy, you use less oxygen when running at a certain speed, which allows you to run harder for longer – a good indicator of strong endurance.

You can improve your running economy by minimizing energy loss. For this, you need to unleash stored potential energy to help propel the body forward.

There are three key areas where potential energy is stored in the body, which you may not be put to full use. By assessing if you are tapping into these energy stores, you can make adjustments that will lead to better muscular function, injury prevention, and reduced pain.

Push off with the Achilles tendon