Want to run the Olympic mass marathon like Gu Ailing? Learn about the scientific running method

At 3:00 am on August 11, Beijing time, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games mass marathon officially started. Huang Xuemei, the "mass marathon queen" from Xiamen International Bank, stepped onto the track and won the first place in women's competition. This is the first time in Olympic history that a mass marathon has been set up. The track is exactly the same as the main race. A total of 40,048 mass runners from around the world have won the lottery. It is worth mentioning that Gu Ailing also participated in this race. This is her first full marathon. The final finishing time is 3 hours, 24 minutes and 36 seconds.

Running is not only one of the most representative sports of the Olympic spirit, but also a popular sport. According to the data of the State Sports General Administration, more than 80% of adults in my country choose running or walking as their preferred exercise method. However, while running can challenge oneself and benefit physical and mental health, it can also burden the body. How can we effectively improve our running ability and add points to our health, instead of getting more injured the more we run? Today, let's talk about how to run scientifically.

Warming up before exercise is extremely important

Running is simple, convenient and easy to learn. Most people run 1km or 5km at a time. For some running enthusiasts, half marathon and full marathon are no problem. However, many people tend to ignore the warm-up before exercise. They may just jog as a warm-up after arriving at the stadium, or do some movements such as wrist and ankle rotations, side flexion, shoulder circles, etc., but these activities are relatively inefficient and it is difficult to achieve a good warm-up effect.

Warming up is extremely important for exercise. Just like a fuel car needs to preheat the engine before starting, the body also needs to gradually improve its condition through warm-up before exercise.

The body is like a precision-operated machine, and its various activities require the cooperation of the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, skeletal muscle system, nervous system, circulatory system, digestive system, etc. However, these systems have a certain degree of inertia. If you suddenly start exercising without warming up, it is often difficult to reach the optimal state required for exercise. For example, the heart cannot pump blood quickly to provide nutrients to the whole body, and the muscles are "viscous". In addition, if you are not focused on exercise, we will experience uncomfortable symptoms such as shortness of breath, muscle strain, and stitches.

Therefore, the warm-up process is to give the body some time to adapt. Through active and effective warm-up, the body's functions can be mobilized, and the various systems of the human body can be coordinated and prepared for exercise.

There are some tips for scientific warm-up

An effective warm-up includes stretching, muscle activation, and neural activation exercises.

Stretching can be divided into three types: ballistic stretching, static stretching and dynamic stretching. Ballistic stretching is to stretch to the maximum extent and then bounce repeatedly. Although this method is the least recommended, it is a stretching method commonly used by many people. Static stretching is to maintain the posture for 30-60 seconds after stretching to the maximum extent. It is suitable for relaxation after exercise. As for dynamic stretching, it combines muscle stretching, muscle strength, and movement coordination. It can not only improve body flexibility and activate corresponding muscles, but also enhance whole body coordination and balance. Commonly used methods include backward lunge turn, side lunge walking, hugging knees walking, quadriceps stretching while walking, etc., which are very suitable before running.

▲Side lunge walking

▲Muscle activation and nerve activation exercises should also be performed during the backward lunge and twist warm-up to wake up the brain and improve nerve control over muscles, thus laying the foundation for high-intensity exercise. If the neuromuscular system is not activated, it may lead to abnormal joint pressure, poor movement patterns, and increase the risk of sports injuries.

During the warm-up, pay special attention to activating your gluteal and core muscles.

If the hip muscles are in a "dormant state" during running, it will increase energy consumption, reduce athletic performance, and increase pressure on the lower limbs, knees and ankles, leading to sports injuries. Squats, hip bridges, elastic band shell exercises, elastic band side steps and other exercises can effectively activate the hip muscles.

▲ Elastic band side step

▲Elastic band shell exercises Activating the core muscles is also very important for improving running efficiency and preventing injuries. The role of the core muscles is to reduce the shaking of the body during running, reduce the energy consumption of useless movements, improve body stability, and thus improve the efficiency of limb movement and reduce the risk of lower limb injuries. Abdominal breathing, abdominal bridge, four-point support, dead bug pose and other exercises can effectively activate the core muscles and are recommended to be used before running.

▲Four-point support

▲ Clean-up after dead bug exercise is essential

Active finishing activities can help to quickly excrete harmful substances produced by exercise, improve blood circulation, relieve muscle soreness caused by exercise, etc.

Fans who often watch sports games may have noticed that athletes of any sport will not rest immediately after the game, but will jog, walk, stretch, etc. This shows that the first step to effective finishing activities is to do low-intensity aerobic exercise.

We can continue to run or walk at a slower speed after running to slowly reduce the heart rate to the level of rest. At the same time, after aerobic exercise, it is necessary to stretch the muscles statically to prevent the muscles from being in a state of tension for a long time and prevent chronic sports injuries.

▲Gluteal muscle foam roller relaxation

▲Iliotibial band foam roller relaxation

▲Calf relaxation

Don’t forget basic physical training

Regardless of what sport you are playing, whether you are an athlete or an amateur, you cannot ignore physical training and simply do various technical exercises and competitions. Physical training is like depositing money into the body bank, and each technical exercise, such as running, playing tennis, playing basketball, etc., is like withdrawing money from the bank. Only by maintaining a balance between deposits and withdrawals can we ensure that sports bring positive and healthy benefits.

If you lack physical training, you may lack energy and increase the risk of sports injuries. So what is basic physical training? Here I would like to introduce a concept - the sports ability pyramid. Only when the base of the pyramid is more solid, the height of the pyramid will be higher, that is, the level of special sports ability we can achieve will be stronger.

From the bottom of the athletic ability pyramid, one should first improve joint flexibility, stability, and core stability, and then ensure the correctness of movement patterns such as squats, lunges, rotations, etc., and further develop muscle strength, explosive power, agility, coordination, balance, and various abilities.

On this basis, we can improve the overall athletic ability and reduce the risk of sports injuries through energy metabolism system and continuous specialized technical training, such as optimizing the starting posture and technical movements when running. This pyramid model is an important basic theory in physical training plan. Both high-level athletes and ordinary sports enthusiasts should follow this concept. Source: "Beijing Association for Science and Technology" WeChat Official Account Except for the mark, the pictures are provided by the author. Written by: Feng Qiang, Associate Researcher, Institute of Sports Science, General Administration of Sport of China

Graphics and text coordination: David Duan

Editor: Zhao Ling