Kickin’ it with Krista

Every running coach will tell you "Good runners should practice good form," but what is good form? Glad you asked.

Good running form starts from head to toe. Good running form is important in conserving energy and covering more distance quicker. More than likely, your running form has room for improvement.

Even Olympians practice the perfect running form. Habits are hard to break, so don't be discouraged when your form doesn't improve overnight.

The point is to work on one thing per run to eventually get it all together. Just remember: practice makes perfect.

Head: This is short and simple. Keep your head as still as you can and face forward, keeping your gaze in front of you. This helps keep you in a straight line.

Shoulders: Your shoulders should be level and loose. Before a run, make sure you stretch your arms and shake your shoulders around so your upper body is relaxed and loose.

Ever seen Michael Phelps at the blocks before a race? If you have, you've seen him swing his arms violently in front of and behind him. This is to loosen up. You may model his pre-race strategies to get loose.

Arms: Your arms actually have a lot to do with the speed of your run. If you've ever been on the field at a track meet, you'll hear coaches telling their runners to "pump their arms" towards the end of the race.

When your legs are tired, you depend on your arms. Your legs follow your arms so if you pump your arms faster then your legs will rotate faster. In addition, your arms are like a guide for the rest of your body.

If your arms move forward and straight, so will your body. If your arms cross in front of your body, you are restricting your oxygen flow, which will lead to cramps.

Keep your arms low at a 90-degree angle and pump them in front of you. The best way to get your arms in this habit is to do lots and lots of push-ups.

Back and torso: Your mama used to tell you to stand straight and not slouch – I hope you paid attention. Likewise, your back and torso should be straight and tall during your run. This does not mean stiff. Be relaxed, but not crouched. If you are crouched, you increase your chances of cramps.

Hips: Your hips should follow your back and torso. Keep your posture upright and square.

Legs: You probably thought for long distances you need a long stride, right? Wrong. You actually want a slight knee lift, quick turnover and short stride. A long stride simply takes too long to turn over, wasting time in a race.

You want your foot to land directly underneath your body, rather than in front of you. To practice a slight knee lift, practice lunges. Whenever I go on eight-mile runs with my trainer, he will randomly make me stop running and switch to lunges.

He will then run ahead of me until he is about 400-600 meters in front of me and blow his whistle. I then have to sprint to catch up to him.

The goal is to train my legs to be up where I want them when I am running. You may prefer to do lunges on the track and go as far as you can. Be warned: if you do enough, you will be sore, but no pain, no gain.

Feet: When running, you want to push up off the ground with force. When each foot lands, it should lightly hit the ground before quickly springing forward. To develop this kind of spring, you can do jumps right before your run.

These jumps should be like skips, but bring each knee up higher while pushing up with the other foot. Move forward, alternating feet, for about 100 meters.

When you run, be aware of what you should be doing. Pay more attention to your running form and strive to perfect it according to these guidelines.

Until next week, run like the wind!