Half Marathon Running Techniques : The Stride

When you run a half marathon you want your effort to be efficient.  So when you are training you have to learn how to resist fatigue. One of the best ways to make your run more efficient is my concentrating on your stride.

Here are a few things you can do…

1. When you stand and you begin to lean forward you will find that gravity will start to pull you down. So lean forward you begin to fall then put your left or right foot out to prevent you from falling. You should try maintain this lean, do not attempt to take giant strides when you are running your half marathon. Short baby steps like a little piston is the best way to run.

2. Head position - As you achieve the position mentioned above you should maintain your head in the middle and lean it slightly forward too. Keep your eye focus ahead of you and carry your arms comfortably. Most runner tend to swing their arms across when they run. That is not efficient because it pulls you from one side to the other. You want to get to the point where you drive your right arm forward and your left leg at the same time.

3. Hand Position - You can learn how to position your hands by wearing gloves. As you run you want to be able to see each gloved hand with each arm movement. This will help you master the technique of using your arms to drive forward as you run.

In all this do not forget to breath. This is one of the most important things you should do when you are running.  The form described above is the relaxed natural form for running. Do not try to struggle and get to the end to the finish line. Relax your stride and enjoy the moment.

**See the right side bar for the #1 half marathon training plan, the one I use!
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Half Marathon Training Schedule : Long Runs Vs Short Runs

There are two important runs that should be included in your marathon training. The first one of these is what is called the long run, and this should be done at least once every week to ten days, this all depends on your marathon training schedule. You should run up to 20 miles gradually from about 6 miles in a period of 2 months.

You should always rememmber that it takes about three or four weeks for your body to adopt to stress. So you may want to increase the number of miles you do every 3 weeks and increase by maybe two miles. When you run your long run, you are not required to time it, just go out there and run the full goal distance. The very next day after your long run, it is important that you do some really light jogging to help you recover.

The second type of run that is very important is your marathon pace type of run. This run is when you run a maximum of 8 miles but in marathon pace. Even with this you want to gradually work your way to the ideal length. So you could start at 2 miles and increase that every three weeks overtime. Make sure that you are relaxed while doing this marathon pace run, and also drink water as you run. This is done to emulate the actual marathon running that you will be doing.

Those are the two most important runs that you should incoorporate into your training, all the other runs you do are just easy runs meant for your recovery you should not really be concerned with the number of miles that you run for these recovery runs. You can effectively run three to four miles on each of those recovery days. If you have any other questions you can get more marathon training tips at my website.

Half Marathon Training Tips : Hill Runs

When practicing running hills for your marathons you have to start with hilly runs and then you move on to hill repeats. The early hill runs are meant to help you get your body used to running the hills. They help you make you stronger by building your legs and lungs. Ultimately, you will start to find the runs on flat surfaces extremly easy.

The 'Hill Repeats' can be compared to doing speed workouts on a hill. You will be running from the bottom or the top of the hill. Or even just a section of the hill. You do the up run at a fast pace, then you jog back down to the bottom and repeat this again. This should really help you with your hill runs. It is important to concencentrate on your running form being very good.

Other important things to remember include always running with your nose over your toes. This will help maintain your body weight over your body all the time as you run up and down the hills. You should avoid leaning too far forward or too far back. You will have the correct positioning if you keep your body at right angles to the surface of the hill. It is no secret that running downhill is hard on your back, however you as a marathon runner have to get used to this.

Some of the marathon courses you will run will have downhill stages, so it is important that you practice these too but not as often as you do the uphill runs. That is all you need to know when it comes to running hills.

Beginner Half Marathon Tips : How To Breath

In this article we will be looking at the correct breathing techniques for when you are running your marathon. This is one of the hard things to do, as it has often caused cramps or stitches in runners when done incorrectly. At the same time, breathing is vital in order to suck in the oxygen that your body muscles need to continue running.

So you can breathe through your nose or through your mouth. The mouth allows you to get a lot more oxygen with each breath. The nose may have barriers sometimes such as times when you have a cold or some allergies. You can often breathe through your nose and your mouth at the same time, by simply inhaling and exhaling. You want deep inhales and long exhales and make sure to keep them controlled.

The breathing rythme should also increase as you start to pick up the pace and your body requires more energy. You should always maintain deep breaths to avoid hyperventilating that is caused by quick shallow breaths. You should also try to time your breathing with some other running activity, it is easier to do with your foot steps.  For example you can breath in and out every two steps that you make. If you are training with an ipod, you can use the beat of the song you are listening to, to time your breathing too.

Timing your breaths, will ultimately help you keep your breathing as you run the marathon consistent and controlled. You can then be sure that your body has all the oxygen it needs to enable you to continue running and prevent things like cramps and stitches that will require that you stop running and force you to quit the marathon.