Running Drills

As a session in their own right or as a warm up to any of the above sessions, running drills are a good idea to introduce into any running training programme all year round, as they improve running efficiency and form, training the brain to adapt to good running technique so that this becomes automatic and you can get the most speed out of the minimum effort. If you look up running drills you will find lots of different ones to try and learn. The ideal is to pick ones that can be progressive and I personally prefer ones that mimic the running action as closely as possible. My own preferred set of drills is as follows:

• Balance - balancing on one leg for 30 seconds. Progress to doing this in the running position (running arms and legs), then to turning your head from side to side, then to reciting days of the week/timetables at the same time.
• Foot rolls - whilst walking across an area anywhere from 3m to 10m take small steps focusing on landing mid foot and rolling through to push off with your toes, avoid heal striking. Progress to doing this fast and faster.
  
• Marching men/Stick Men - this is the perfect running action in slow motion, raising each knee to 90 degrees as you step forward slowly and carefully - focus on good angles for your feel and bent leg (90 degrees), straight back, neutral head position, looking forward with running arms.
  
• Marching men/Stick Men + Heal raise - as above but after raising the knee, lift your heal off the floor as if you were about to push off with your toes; focus on engaging your glutes as you raise your heals. You can progress this to a skip once you have perfected the technique.
  
• Jumps - feet hip width apart jump on the spot focusing on landing mid foot, dropping the heal (but not heal striking) to stretch the calves and rolling through the feet to push off with your toes for each jump.
  
• Hops - as above, but try on one leg.