Improve your flexibility to help your running
When you set yourself a running goal, be it couch to 5k, 10k, half or full marathon, a natural first step is to make a plan; follow a training schedule; or better still, get some personalised training and coaching from a PT. Training should combine multiple factors, with most runners looking to improve strength, speed and endurance. Unfortunately, flexibility is often at best marginalised or at worst forgotten all together; but a flexible body is going to help you in several ways:
Improve your range of motion
Help recover more quickly from your training
Reduce the chances of picking up an injury
Enhance gains in your strength and endurance
Stretching and lengthening your muscles feels great and helps you realign postural imbalances, as well as bringing fresh blood and oxygen, aiding recovery after a hard run by reducing lactic acid that will have built up. Yoga is a calming and relaxing way to incorporate stretching and flexibility work into your running week. It’s worth asking for recommendations in your local area for a good teacher, who can help you with the right form to ensure you get the most from each pose.
To get you started, try these yoga poses to stretch and lengthen some of the major running muscles. Make sure your muscles are warmed up before stretching, after a run is ideal. If you are new to this style of stretching, are injured or have a very limited range of motion, remember to just take the pose to where you feel comfortable and if you feel pain then ease off or stop. You should try and hold the pose for 30 seconds or five deep breaths to begin with, increasing the time/number of breaths with experience. With regular yoga practise you will improve with time.
Hamstrings - Forward Fold:
Start with a 90 degree forward bend. Stand with your feet hip-distance apart, inhale and as you exhale slide your hands down your thighs until they are just above your knees. Tilt your pelvis forwards slightly to reduce the pressure on your lower back. Look down at the floor.
To stretch deeper, repeat the above but slide your hands down further, until your fingertips touch the floor either side of your feet. Bend your knees if you find this difficult, or rest your hands on a block or box).
You can do similar stretches while seated, too. This way you can stretch one leg at a time, too.