Running Form and Recovery

Running should come naturally to us, right? For most people, the progression is sit, crawl, stand, walk, run. For some who do not spend hours each week running, it is that simple, but for those of us who do spend that time, running is not always that simple. If we don’t have the proper balance and form when running, our body can break down more quickly and we can become more prone to fatigue and even worse, injuries. While sometimes overlooked, proper form is essential to improve longevity in the sport. 

Outside of actually running, another factor of sports performance that is critical for improving performance and longevity in running is nutrition. Supporting the body with the energy and building blocks that it needs is arguably more important than having the proper form for running. A car can drive many miles on a flat tire, but will not get anywhere if there is no gas. In this blog post, I will be discussing how to improve running form to make your runs more efficient, as well as proper nutrition strategies to help you get going and keep going faster, stronger, and longer. As an important disclaimer, I am not a running coach, but these are tips that have helped me in my running journey. If you would like more specific guidance tailored to your journey, work with a running coach or book a consultation with me for more nutrition advice.

How to Improve Running Form

The first thing to consider when thinking about running form is your posture. Posture is the way in which you hold your body, and while you may think it only applies to your head and shoulders, it translates into how the rest of your body moves. Think about keeping your ears in line with your shoulders and your chin parallel to the ground. Try to keep your body in a straight line by keeping your shoulders back instead of hunched and your hips in line instead of collapsing. You do not want to be straight up like a sky scraper, but you want a slight lean that stems from the ankles, almost like the leaning tower of Piza. By having a slight forward lean and open chest, you will let more air into your lungs and your lower back will be more protected.

Eliud Kipchoge demonstrating proper running posture 

Image by RunnersTribe

Now that you are standing tall with the correct posture, let’s move to how your feet hit the ground. You want to keep your feet underneath you rather than extending your stride so that your foot is out in front of you. Many people believe that a longer stride equates to a faster speed, but in actuality, if you overextend the leg, you rely on your hamstrings for balance instead of your quads, which are a bit more durable. Over-striding causes you to strike the ground with your heel instead of your mid-foot, which slows you down and makes you more susceptible to hip, knee, and hamstring injury. 

One way to improve your stride is to focus on increasing your cadence, or your steps per minute. By trying to get more steps in, you will naturally shorten your stride, which will help you get used to the feeling of how your foot is supposed to hit the ground. If you use a running watch, it will calculate your baseline cadence.  Once you have the baseline number, you can use the metronome app on your phone to time your steps to be faster than what you are currently running at. A general goal for most runners is 180 steps per minute, but this may vary based on height and other form factors. Other drills to improve cadence are butt kickers and high knees. When doing these drills, do not focus on stride length, but the speed at which you can move your legs. The goal is to hit a high cadence while exaggerating the movements so that when you are back to basic running, a higher cadence will feel more natural.

Example of a high knee drill 

Image by Sports Performance Bulletin

Of course, running isn’t just about your legs, you need to swing your arms for momentum and balance as well. Again, focus on keeping your shoulders back, relaxed, and down instead of hunched toward your ears. Imagine trying to pinch your shoulder blades together; this will help to keep your shoulders relaxed instead of holding tension in your traps, which wastes energy and makes your running form more jagged. Hold your arms at a 90 degree angle and swing them from your shoulders, not your elbows, again focusing on using those bigger muscle groups instead of those that tire quickly. Your arms can be a great tool to help you run faster, but be cautious about the direction your arms are going. You want them to move almost like a pendulum, one arm moves to the front as the opposite legs moves to the back. It may be helpful to imagine you have a line down the center of your body and think about not letting your arms cut through that line. If your arms are swinging across that line, running becomes inefficient If you keep your right arm on the right side, and left arm on the left side of the invisible line, your hips will slide like a pendulum to keep you moving forward. 

Of course, having the best running form will only get you so far if you do not have enough gas in the tank. If you want your running to look the best on the outside, you need to treat your body right on the inside, which brings me to our discussion about nutrition for performance and recovery. 

Nutrition for Recovery

When it comes to recovery, just like any other sport, you must meet your very basic energy needs to support basic life functions PLUS the energy demand of intense training, before we can even think about focusing on recovery. Just think, if you try to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom, it’s never going to fill up. It is the same idea with nutrition. 

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrate needs vary widely depending on the duration and intensity: sprinting, jogging, marathon training, or ultra-running have different carb, and therefore energy goals. Breaking this down more specifically, if you are a more recreational runner who partakes in short (30-45 minutes) jogs, you likely only need 3-4 g/kg/day of carbohydrates to support your training. On the other end of the spectrum however, if you are a marathon or ultra-marathon runner, you may require up to 10-12 g/kg/day of carbohydrate. If you are a track runner competing in events from the 400-10,000 meters, your needs fall in the middle between 5 and 7 g/kg/day for carbohydrates. Of course, this will be different for every individual runner based on age, sex, muscle mass, and other factors.

You may be wondering why I tackled carbohydrate needs first. This is because in any aerobic sport, carbohydrates are the main and preferred source of energy. Carbohydrates are stored in the muscles as glycogen, which supports our muscles when energy (i.e. blood sugar) is low, thereby minimizing muscle protein breakdown. They also give our muscles the energy necessary to rebuild themselves after exercise. To support this repair, you should aim to eat 1-1.2 g/kg of carbohydrates after your run in addition to a source of protein (more on that later). 

At a minimum, runners should focus on including carbohydrates at all meals and snacks to ensure adequate energy stores. It is hard to generalize nutrition recommendations given the wide variety of nutrition needs for runners, but sources of carbohydrates to include at each eating occurrence could be bagels, bread, cereal, rice, pasta, fruit, dairy, beans, potatoes, juice, and even dessert foods or candy. 

Protein

Our runner up for importance in supporting recovery is protein. Many people are shocked when I tell them that carbs are more important than protein for recovery, and while, yes, it is true that muscles will not recover if they do not have protein, I will reiterate that adequate energy availability is of the utmost importance for recovery. Moreover, it is very difficult to achieve adequate energy availability through protein alone due it satiating quality as a food group. Adequate energy availability can be achieved through eating a combination of all 3 food groups, not just one. In general, most runners should aim to eat 1.2-1.7 g/kg/day of protein spread out throughout meals and snacks every day by consuming foods such as meat, fish, eggs, soy, nuts, and dairy. 

More specifically, when it comes to the post-workout period, runners should focus on getting at least 15-30 grams of protein 30-60 minutes after exercise, with more endurance-focused runners aiming for the lower end and sprinters aiming for the higher end of the range. Some runners may find that after a hard or long effort, their appetite is poor and eating a meal is challenging. If that is the case for you, you may benefit from a liquid nutrition option, such as a protein shake (I love Fairlife Core Power, Muscle Milk, or OWYN if you prefer plant-based) or even regular old chocolate milk. 

Fats

The icing on the cake for helping runners meet their energy needs is fat. Generally speaking, runners need 0.8-2 g/kg of fat spread throughout the day with endurance and ultra-endurance runners aiming for the higher end of the range because their energy needs are typically higher than those of sprinters. Adequate fat intake is vital to support energy needs, hormonal production, nervous system function, vitamin absorption, and satiety after meals and snacks. Fat also helps cut down on the volume of food needed to meet energy needs because it provides double the energy than that of carbs or protein, which is helpful if you struggle with early fullness. Adding butter to your toast, cooking foods in oil, incorporating 2% or full-fat sources of dairy, or adding dressing to your salad are just a few ways to incorporate fats into your diet.

Once again, when all of the food groups are combined, they support recovery as long as total energy needs are met. It goes without saying that these nutrients should be spread throughout the day to support energy availability and digestibility. In general, minimizing the amount of time between meals to no longer than 3-4 hours minimizes the potential catabolism and sets you up for proper recovery. 

Hydration

Hydration is the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to improving performance and recovery. Dehydration increases physiological stress, thereby making recovery more difficult. For this reason, runners must maintain proper fluid and electrolyte levels before, during, and after exercise. In general, without running, you need ~0.5 ounces of fluid per pound of body weight to be hydrated. However, when you add running into the equation, you need to add an additional 5-7 ml/kg four hours before your run so that your body has time to process the fluid and you will not need to pee during exercise. Additionally, you must also consider fluid intake during exercise, which will be somewhere between 16 and 24 ounces per hour depending on how heavy of a sweater you are and the weather conditions. To best understand fluid needs for after running, you can weigh yourself before and after to see how much sweat was lost. If you have a history or are currently suffering from disordered eating, weighing yourself is not recommended, and working with an RD will help narrow down fluid needs while protecting mental health in the process. In general, runners should drink 24 oz of fluid for each pound lost to achieve recovery from dehydration. 

Furthermore, we cannot discuss fluid needs without stating the importance of electrolytes, especially sodium. Again, it is difficult to generalize sodium needs for all runners because it is entirely dependent on sweat rate and weather conditions, but most sources recommend that 460-1150 mg/L of fluid consumed during exercise is sufficient to prevent low sodium levels. Adding sodium to your fluids consumed after exercise is not always necessary because our foods usually provide us with sufficient sodium. Clearly, this is an extremely nuanced topic, so work with an RD if you would like more specific guidance! 

Micronutrients, Big Impact

Vitamins and minerals also play key roles in muscle recovery and injury prevention. Having a micronutrient deficiency puts both your health and performance at risk. In general, if you eat a well-balanced diet with color and variety, you should not be at too much of a risk for deficiencies, however there are a few nutrients in particular that runners should play close attention to when thinking about performance and recovery.

When it comes to running performance and muscle recovery, iron is arguably the mineral with the largest impact because it directly affects energy levels. When iron is low, there is less oxygen being transported to the entire body, resulting in fatigue, muscle soreness, increased risk for injury, decreased performance, and longer time to recover. Runners in particular are at increased risk for iron deficiency anemia due to foot strike hemolysis (the death of red blood cells caused by the impact of repetitive foot strikes), however runners with a menstrual cycle, runners who follow plant-based diets, pregnant runners, or runners with chronic diseases are at greatest risk for iron deficiency anemia. Runners should have a full iron panel checked at least annually, but more frequently if you are in those higher risk groups. If your ferritin level is <40 ng/L, you could benefit from increasing iron-containing foods such as red meat, pork, chicken, lentils, beans, spinach, or enriched foods. If that still is not enough, work with your RD to find an intake and supplement routine to optimize your iron levels and improve performance and recovery. 

Vitamin D is another vital micronutrient for recovery due to its role in reducing exercise induced inflammation through its antioxidant properties Probably more importantly, it plays a critical role in bone building, so low levels are associated with bone stress injuries in runners. That being said, more is not always better, as research shows there are no extra recovery benefits gained from supplementation if the athlete already has adequate vitamin D stores. You should have your vitamin D levels checked at least annually, and if they are less than 30 ng/L, you will certainly benefit from increasing your vitamin D intake through sunlight and foods like fortified dairy and oily fish. Consult your RD and/or medical team before considering supplementation.

Finally, when it comes to other antioxidant vitamins such as vitamins C and E, there is no research to support that higher intakes of these vitamins improve recovery or athletic performance. In fact, too much of these vitamins is associated with an actual blunting of the physiological benefits of strenuous exercise because there is a certain amount of stress that is required to be put on the muscle in order to see adaptation and improvement. That said, supplementing these vitamins may not be beneficial and should be considered with caution in mind. Including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and oils will help you achieve appropriate intakes of these vitamins without impairing performance.

Here at SkimWellness, we want to help runners of all shapes, sizes, speeds, and distances succeed at running stronger, longer, faster, and healthier. If you are interested in doing the same, our dietitians and personal trainers would love to work with you! Book with us through Fay or at SkimWellness.com. 

Sources

1. Pearson, E. (2017). Nutrition for Endurance and Ultra-Endurance sports. In Sports Nutrition: A Handbook for Professionals (6th ed., pp. 493–495). essay, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 

2. Thomas, D.T., Erdman, K.A. & Burke, L.M. (2016). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the ACSM: Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 116(3), 501-528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2015.12.006

3. Sawka, M.N., Burke, L.M., Eichner, E.e., Maughan, R.J., Mountain, S.J., & Stachenfeld, N.S. (2007). American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand: Exercise and Fluid Replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 39(2), 377-390.

4. Maughan RJ, Burke LM, Dvorak J, et al. IOC consensus statement: dietary supplements and the high-performance athlete. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2018;52:439-455.