Running in Circles
A coach's blog
With the 2022 Mossville track and field season underway, we are excited to be working with the athletes. It is going to be fun watching them push it to the limit, whether it be on the track and or the field. During the first couple weeks of practice, you can expect the athletes to come home tired and a bit sore. Soreness does not necessarily mean injury. See the below post. Hopefully, the athletes have remained active over the winter season. With an increase in physical activity, athletes will require more calories for their bodies to refuel and rebuild. Please make sure your child is getting plenty of rest, water, and fuel each day. See the nutritional guidelines and advice on this website. As always, if you have any questions please let us know. See you on the track!
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With the track season now in full swing, athletes have been putting much stress on their bodies. If the athlete wasn't training before the season started, chances are some soreness or injury may be present. Soreness is normal and usually goes away in a day or so. Injuries are those that cause severe discomfort or pain to the athlete and will not go away in a short amount of time. It is important for each runner to advocate for his or herself when feeling as if he or she has an injury.
Stating the obvious, feeling tired when you are running can significantly affect your performance. Thinking about how tired you are as you are running makes it so much worse! Try the "run-from-something" strategy to distract you from your fatigue. This strategy involves visualizing something scary chasing you around the track. This might be a crazy cat, or an extremely angry land shark. For some of you, it may be a head of broccoli! Whatever you choose to picture chasing you, make sure you believe it actually is! That should help. =)
One way to ensure that you are running efficiently is to eliminate over striding. Overstriding takes place when the runner's lead foot is impacting the ground too far in front of the runner's core. When this happens, runners will often experience heel-striking which leads to slower running, wasted energy, and sometimes injury. To eliminate over striding, think of the phrase "nose over toes". When running, your toes should be striking the ground just below your nose. I have included a picture of a runner who is overstriding. Notice that the heel is going to contact the ground first, slowing him down as if stepping on a brake. *image from Training Youth Distance Runners
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AuthorCoach McDowell Archives
March 2022
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