It took me years to realise that to be a better runner I needed to do more than run. My gait was shocking and to anyone watching me run I must have looked like I was carrying an injury. If you’ve read either of my books you’ll know I picked up the nickname, ‘The Wounded Bear’. I had been told several times that I needed to stretch, but I figured that I only had a limited amount of time to train and I wasn’t going to waste it. I thought stretching was boring, it definitely wasn’t sexy and it didn’t give me any sense afterwards that I had done ‘work’, surely running was more useful? Also, stretching hurt. So I was out!

So, ‘what changed?’, I hear you wondering. Well in April 2015 I was running the Düsseldorf marathon and chasing a sub four-hour finish. I had done it once before in Tralee a year earlier. This time, I missed it by seven seconds. I woke up that night shouting ‘seven seconds’. The ‘seven second demon’ sent me in search of something new to add to my training and it led me to my brother, a body alignment specialist. He took me through mobility drills for runners and I added them to my weekly training. A few weeks later I got my sub four-hour finish in the Cork City Marathon.

Muscles don’t work in isolation. We need to prepare the right muscles to fire together at the right time and allow the opposing muscle to dial down so we aren't fighting movements with excessive co-contraction. When you run, your abdominal muscles should fire on one side, as your opposite leg lands. Your glutes fire when your foot hits the ground. It’s all connected and interdependent. One weak muscle unattended can lead to severe discomfort and injury.

So where does stretching come in? Happily I now know the answer to that question, and it’s very simple. Regular stretching improves the efficiency of your mechanics. The more economically a runner moves, the less oxygen they use at a given speed. A number of variables affect running economy, but mainly fitness and biomechanics. For biomechanics to work efficiently your muscles need to be firing. 

There are a number of types of stretches for runners, but for now we want to think of these three times a runner should stretch:

1. Stretches before running (dynamic stretches) - these movements prepare your body for the run and might include walking lunges, leg swings, jogging forward with high knees and jogging forward kicking your heels to your bum.

2. Stretches after running (static stretches) - this is when you hold a stretch on a particular muscle for 30 seconds like a quad stretch, calf stretch or hamstring stretch.

3. Stretching session - a stretching routine that you complete two or three times a week. You should always warm up before completing this session.

Tips for runners: 

• Never stretch when cold.

• Set aside a specific area in your house for stretching, with a mat already in place. If you have to start rearranging furniture you are giving yourself too many opportunities to do something else.

• Stretching is the easiest way to enhance your running performance. Stretch regularly, at least two to three times a week.

• Don't aim for pain. Expect to feel tension while you're stretching, not pain. If it hurts, you've pushed too far. Back off to the point where you don't feel any pain, then hold the stretch.

• Focus on major muscle groups. Concentrate your stretches on major muscle groups such as your calves, thighs, hips, lower back, neck and shoulders. Make sure that you stretch both sides.

• Stretching out an aching muscle can help. The difficulty is, not all muscles that need stretching, ache!

My upcoming online digital course, The Resilient Runner, will support runners like you improve mobility, correct imbalance and increase stability to improve pace and help you to run injury free. If you’re interested in finding out more, drop your name below and we’ll let you know once it opens for enrollment.