You may be tempted to head out the door, start your watch and just get going on your next run. But warming up is one of the most important, and the most often overlooked, aspects of running. A proper warmup will help activate key muscles and get your body primed for the demands of running. 

You’ve just finished a good, hard workout and all you want to do is grab a cold drink and sit down for a while. But before you relax, there is one last step to your training session you need to check off your list: stretching.

Cooling down is one of the most important parts of every (yes, every) workout and run. Some days this might also include light jogging or walking to prevent lactic acid build up, but post-run stretching should be a part of your daily cool-down routine.

Stretching is a great way to help your body recover after exercise because it can reduce the risk of injury and enhance athletic performance. To give you the ultimate guide to getting the most out of stretching, we sat down with strength coach and top-10 finisher in the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, Nell Rojas.

According to the Rojas coaching philosophy, the key components to any effective practice routine include a warm-up, drills, the workout itself and, you guessed it, stretching and a cool-down.

For most people, the winter season means bundling up, cranking up the heat and staying inside with a warm cup of coffee. For runners, winter means dark, frigid mornings spent watching our breath puff out in clouds of white while our feet pound the slick, wet or snowy pavement.

While winter running certainly poses its own challenges, having the proper gear makes it much more enjoyable. Here are five things you can do to winterize your running wardrobe this season.

Cold weather doesn't have to put an end to your outdoor running. But running safely in winter takes a little planning to make sure you're dressed right and have the right gear to run safely in the dark.

A good rule for cold-weather running is to dress for temperatures that are 10-20 degrees warmer than what the thermometer says. Generally, you'll warm up as you move. Finding yourself overdressed, hot and sweaty midway through a run is almost as bad as underdressing and feeling miserably cold.

You’re awoken by your early morning alarm and, after pressing snooze a couple of times, you look out the window to see what awaits you on your morning run. That’s when you see the thick, white flakes of snow falling from the sky and blanketing the ground. Is your first reaction to groan or grin? From preventing frostbite to staying upright, running in the snow poses a different set of challenges than running in dry weather. No matter how you feel about running in the snow, use these six tips to make the most of your next snowy run. 

The long run is an essential part of your weekly running routine. Physical benefits of long runs include increased cardiovascular and muscular endurance, increased form/gait efficiency, and increased muscular strength to help your body safely cover long distances.

What’s more, the long run serves as the ideal testing ground to fine-tune your gear selection and nutrition/hydration plan for this training cycle or race day. Use this opportunity to figure out what works for you and what needs to be adjusted. Don’t wait until race day to try out that new hydration belt!

Beginning to incorporate long runs into your routine can seem intimidating and daunting at first. Review this guide for tips to help you feel more prepared and confident as you increase your miles.

Did you know the human body can only store 1,600 to 2,000 calories of glycogen, the energy your muscles use to power you forward?

That’s why it’s important to replace the energy stores you exert while running - especially when your mileage and time-on-feet exceed 90 minutes - and throwing back an energy gel is the most convenient way to do so.

With so many options to choose from, it can seem overwhelming to find the right gels for running. Read on to find out how gels work, when you should use them and how to choose the right gels for running.

Finding out which foods to eat before running can be a challenge, especially if your distances and efforts vary (as they should) from day to day. Put simply, what you eat before an easy run will be different from what you eat before a long, hard workout.

But it’s not as complicated as it sounds.

Roxanne Vogel, a nutrition and performance research manager at GU Energy Labs, says it’s important to tailor your eating to the type of run so you’re primed for performance—but you also shouldn’t stress about the small details.

“Don’t overthink it,” Vogel says in an email to Fleet Feet. “Start with foods that sound good, are simple to prepare and eat, and go from there.”

Vogel breaks down what food to eat before a run into three groups: easy runs, fast runs and long runs.

Injuries are without a doubt the most frustrating part of running. Unfortunately, most runners will deal with an injury at some point during their career. While there are a number of culprits, an improper approach to rest and recovery is at the top of the list. This is largely because we as runners often fall into the trap of believing that rest is the absence of training, rather than an integral part of it. Indeed, more is not always better when it comes to running.

One of the best ways to combat the pull of overtraining is to leverage the power of mindfulness in your approach to recovery. Whether it’s taking a day off during a normal training cycle, coming back from an injury, tapering before competition, or resting after a big race, mindfulness in running and recovery is one of the best tools you can utilize.

While we hear a lot about the psychological benefits of meditation, research from the Frontiers Research Foundation also shows that mindfulness can help you hone physical awareness—so you can tune into what’s going on with your body at any given moment. This is important because we miss vital physical clues when we are constantly distracted, focused on goals far in the future or simply lost in thought.

Sleep is how you recover. You can do the best training in the world and yet if you’re not getting enough sleep, your body isn’t going to repair, and you’re not going to be able to get out the door day after day. More than that, you’ll be at an increased risk for a whole host of metabolic and psychological disturbances like diabetes, memory loss, heart disease, and depression to name just a few.

“Lack of sleep can also make you feel emotions more intensely, so you’re more likely to lash out at that jerk who cut you off in traffic,” says Ellen Wermter, NP, a provider at Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine. “Another consequence of poor sleep is that your self-regulatory behaviors are impaired." Put another way: you lack willpower.

With too little sleep you may end up eating a few extra slices of pizza or saying something you wish you hadn't.

Plus, according to Tressa Breindel, L.Ac MSOM of Integrated Health Richmond in Richmond, VA: “Even one extra hour of sleep per night can improve your athletic ability. Sleep is a major performance enhancer, and we just don’t get enough of it.”

The other day I overheard a conversation between two runners discussing training plans and weekly mileage as it related to their performance in an upcoming race. I’m not one to eavesdrop, but the conversation was eerily similar to a discussion I had recently with one of the athletes I coach. Both conversations circled around cutting-edge run workouts alongside becoming leaner to reach optimal race weight.

Where do I start debunking? I’ll begin with the foundation.

There is no magic approach, training plan hack, sprinkle of fairy dust, cushy running shoe or recovery cocktail that will be the differentiator in your performance and physical ability. This is where we want to complicate the situation because there must be a secret that we aren’t privy to. I’ll let you in on the mystery; the answer is not sexy or shiny, and you won’t pay tons of money for it. More importantly, it’s crucial for longevity in the sport while balancing life and improving and maintaining health.

The secret is nailing the basics.

Master the foundational habits of your life and training with consistent quality, not quantity, and you are well on your way to shattering the glass ceiling. This is not a charge to be obsessive in your habits or routine, but instead to anchor them in a solid foundation. Here are the building blocks to support both life and sports performance.

Many runners believe that every workout should leave you in a puddle of sweat or completely exhausted, or else you’re “losing” at fitness.

“Most runners don’t like hearing the word rest,” says Formula Running Center coach and physical therapist assistant, Alison Staples. “But post-run recovery is imperative to gaining fitness and includes everything from sleep and mobility work to what we eat and drink after runs.”

Recovery is non-negotiable in order to be successful in your training and it plays a big role in your results. If you don’t take a break, your body will end up doing it for you through injury or burnout.

It’s impossible to maximize the benefits of your training and racing without adequate recovery, but there’s a lot of information to sort through. With all the information floating around in cyberspace, how can you determine what the best recovery method?

Let’s start with the basics: sleep and nutrition. After a workout or training session, it is imperative that the body has what it needs in the form of macro and micronutrients, as well as adequate time to repair itself so you can come back faster and stronger.

Post-run foods, like chocolate milk, nut butters and Greek yogurt, can all help replenish the nutrients you lose during a workout.

The National Sleep Foundation says, “Along with dietary protein to aid in muscle repair and new muscle growth, your body produces its own muscle-building hormones while you sleep, including human growth hormone (HGH) … in fact, many of the critical restorative functions in the body—like tissue repair and muscle growth—occur mostly or only during sleep. A consistent sleep schedule of seven to nine hours a night (possibly more if you are a competitive athlete) will help the muscle-healing process.”

If you are an athlete who knows the basics of proper nutrition and adequate sleep, there are other things you can do to supplement your recovery and boost your performance. Massage, compression and temperature therapy come in all shapes and sizes.

Here’s what you need to know about massage, compression and temperature therapy:

No matter your personality, human beings tend to be control freaks. Runners in particular can get caught in a cycle of thinking if they follow training to the letter, get enough sleep, eat right, and buy the right gear, their goals are all but assured.

It is human tendency to choose action over inaction—something behavior scientists call “commission bias.” People feel the need to do something to push progress forward, which leads them to force results through sheer will power, even when the situation might call for patience and perseverance.

When you’re overly attached to a goal, say running a PR in a race or finishing a certain distance, you have decided that you won’t be happy unless you achieve it. This tight grip on certain goals can lead to injuries, overtraining and burnout. We continue to train when we are sick, on the verge of injury or are in need of a mental break from running.

So how do you overcome this human tendency to control and cling to your goals? A mindful practice known as non-attachment is a good place for runners to start.

The mind is powerful. It can visualize a path of success or failure, and manifest the feelings, positive or negative, that accompany each path.

Just as a training session for a 5K or marathon can result in a peak race performance, a visualization routine is a form of mind training that can become more impactful over time.

Aligning your mind and body is key to being the best runner you can be, whether it is on race day, a long run, or your favorite trail.

Sitting behind a desk all day can be detrimental to your health—and your running.

Many modern work schedules force runners into a seated position for hours on end. The result of all that sitting is often stiff muscles, tight hips and an achy back. None of that is helpful if you try to grind out a few miles after work.

The best prevention, though, is staying loose throughout the day.

Women make up half of the population, and 26% of the global population is of menstruation age at any given time. It’s a totally normal, biological function. Despite this, an enduring lack of education and open communication has contributed to persistent stigma about menstruation—AKA: periods. 

Let’s take steps to normalize a topic that can feel taboo: menstruation & exercising.