Everyday Running Tips: From Amateur to Experienced
What I love the most about running is that it’s forever teaching you something. You can learn how to navigate emotions, resilience and mindfulness. My name’s Ben Clement. I’m a photographer and filmmaker, and I run with the AM:PM running crew here in Melbourne. Today, I’m gonna go for a run with Madhu from Broadsheet and learn a few new things along the way. My name is Madhuryavalli Karunakaran. I am a casual runner. I just want to figure out how to fix my relationship with running and maybe start enjoying it a bit more. Hi! Hey, I’m Ben. – I’m Madhu. Nice to meet you.
– Nice to meet you. Ready to run today? Absolutely. I really like to start with opening up the hips, getting a lot of movement through that area, and then moving into lower leg, calves, quads, hamstrings. To get it nice and warm means there’s a lot of fluid, a lot of blood moving around. It’s kind of your Grand Central Station of your body. Often one of the hardest things about running is getting out the front door, and we build it up a lot in our heads.
How’s this pace feeling? I think it’s too fast. I can't keep conversation. Let’s pull it back a bit, and we’ll keep it real chill. Often people think they just have to leave the house and run as hard as they can for 30 minutes. But learning to slow down can be really helpful. How’s that now? Much better. Nice, hey. Yeah, I can talk to you! Yeah! One of the best things is finishing a run and feeling like you could do it again the next day.
That’s a really good gauge on your pacing. An anchoring exercise can be really helpful when you’re feeling scattered on a run. You may feel your heart rate is going too high or your breathing is a bit out of sync. So we’ll listen to the sound of our feet, our breath, we might listen to the birds, and we’ll just kind of bring
ourselves into the moment. I always find, like, the sound of the feet is the best one.
Yeah. I kind of got lost for a bit. Do you want to learn a bit of a running technique? Yeah, sure. Most people would run like they walk, which is reaching out in front of them – bit of a long, straight
leg, bit of a massive break. But it’s more akin to riding a bike. You bring your foot up, it comes down underneath, landing underneath your hip.
I often plan my runs to finish at a café. It helps me stay motivated, pick new routes and explore the city in different ways. So, finally got some coffee. I know, well deserved. How do you feel after our session? I actually feel rejuvenated after this
run, which I usually don’t feel. So I guess you must have done something right..
