Grace D. Plunk: Pile on the Miles 2017

Day 17 of Pile on the Miles!! Keep going!!

November 17th is National Homemade Bread Day. I made homemade bread one time and it’s one of my favorite kitchen moments!

Running Motivation for the Day

“Run hard when it’s hard to run.” – Paavo Nurmi

Running Form from Head to Toe

This week we’re talking about proper running form from head to toe. So far we’ve already covered…

Head / Neck / Shoulders – Running Form

Arms and Hands – Running Form

Core and Upper Body

Today it’s Legs and Stride – this is from Runner’s World this article on Proper Running Form

“While sprinters need to lift their knees high to achieve maximum leg power, distance runners don’t need such an exaggerated knee lift–it’s simply too hard to sustain for any length of time. Instead, efficient endurance running requires just a slight knee lift, a quick leg turnover, and a short stride. Together, these will facilitate fluid forward movement instead of diverting (and wasting) energy.

When running with the proper stride length, your feet should land directly underneath your body. As your foot strikes the ground, your knee should be slightly flexed so that it can bend naturally on impact. If your lower leg (below the knee) extends out in front of your body, your stride is too long.”

Reader Running Tips

Today’s running tips come from Marie – she is @thelazyw on Instagram.

You can give another runner ONE tip. What is it?

Find dynamic warm up & cool down stretch routines you like & do them faithfully! This helped me heal my PF plus it feels great & is a nice way to get your mind squared up before running then give thanks for the miles afterwards.

What do you do when you feel like quitting? Have a mantra? Trick? Other??

“’Run while you can’ is my reminder, because so often you get sidelined unexpectedly….by injury, weather, life surprises. Also, I’ve learned to set short term mileage goals even when I’m not focused on an event. On days I feel like cutting it short I just ask myself how bummed would I be the next day, try to register how far I’ve come already, and tell myself to just finish it lady! LOL It (almost) always works.”

What’s your secret to staying motivated?

“Progress is addictive. And the way running improves my mood, outlook, & non-fitness productivity are all reasons to lace up.”