<p><strong><br /></strong>Valarie Allman hurled the discus out to a world-leading US record of 70.15m in August, becoming the 25th member of the event&rsquo;s still-exclusive 70-metre club. We chat to the 25-year-old Texas-based athlete about how her background in dance has enabled her to excel in the discus circle.&nbsp;</p>
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<p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CDXeMUgn-fQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">⭐️7️⃣0️⃣.1️⃣5️⃣⭐️ ‼️AMERICAN RECORD‼️ &bull; @vallman123 &bull; #ThrowsBySion #Discus #DiscusThrow #USATF #Athletics #TrackAndField #Strength #Fitness #AmericanRecord</a></p>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" href="https://www.instagram.com/coachzsion/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Zebulon Sion</a> (@coachzsion) on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2020-08-02T00:30:41+00:00">Aug 1, 2020 at 5:30pm PDT</time></p>
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<p>For as long as she can remember, Valarie Allman danced. She embraced ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap and contemporary dance early on and from the age of&nbsp;10&nbsp;performed competitively.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Dance was my first love,&rdquo; she recalls. &ldquo;Growing up, it was such a fun and challenging sport that&nbsp;had endless opportunities to learn."&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was so exciting to try new&nbsp;movements and gain confidence in how my body moved with&nbsp;practice. To see such clear progress was so rewarding.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Identifying her physical attributes&nbsp;of height and coordination,&nbsp;her high school track coach encouraged Allman to give the sport a crack in her early teens.</p>
<p>She agreed and while continuing to dance she tried&nbsp;the high jump, 200m, and 400m. While she enjoyed the sport, Allman did not yet feel she had discovered her athletics calling when she&nbsp;decided to try throwing simply so she could attend the throwers annual spaghetti dinner.</p>
<p>Finding the prospect attractive, Allman, at 14, had her first encounter with the discus. She was instantly hooked.&nbsp;&ldquo;From the get-go,&nbsp;I found I had a weird knack for it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>She quickly set a school record for the event of 100 feet 2 inches, just over 30 metres. &ldquo;Pretty quickly discus became a priority for me. I did both dance and track for a year before fully transitioning to track.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>So, how has dance helped her discus career?</strong> Allman shares four ways.</p>
<h3><br />1. Discipline</h3>
<p>There is little doubt in Allman&rsquo;s mind that performing as a dancer for more than a decade instilled in her good self-discipline, which has served her well as an&nbsp;elite&nbsp;discus thrower.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Dance taught me an incredible level of discipline,&rdquo; explains Allman, a Stanford University graduate. &ldquo;From a young age, dance was a big part of my life.&nbsp;It quickly became a huge commitment of&nbsp;four hours a day, five or six times a week.&rdquo;</p>
<p>"So much of dance is precision. At training, we would do movements over and over to find ways to make them just a&nbsp;little better and more refined. It taught me how important it is to think about the smallest of details and how there are always ways to improve."&nbsp;</p>
<h3><br />2. To perform under pressure</h3>
<p>Performing complex choreographed routines which require&nbsp;precision while the adrenaline flows is what Allman consistently prepared for as a dancer.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Such skills, she feels, have stood in good stead as a thrower.<br /><br /></p>
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Valarie Allman in action at the 2019 World Championships</div>
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<p>&ldquo;Performing to your best when you are feeling so much energy and adrenaline is a skill I&rsquo;m still refining,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;To control the body I try to&nbsp;keep things simple.&nbsp;My hope is that being intentional about our priorities&nbsp;in training and repeating them thoroughly will make them instinctive carry over in competition. In many ways this was similar to dance in that we prepared a routine and meticulously rehearsed&nbsp;it to ultimately perform at our best on stage.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Allman&rsquo;s coach, Zebulon Sion, agrees with this assessment.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;There are clear comparisons you can make between performing in high intensity competition &ndash; whether that is in dance or&nbsp;athletics,&rdquo; Sion says.&nbsp;&ldquo;Over time, we have seen that Valarie generally performs well in high level, pressure-filled competitions and this is absolutely a skill she has developed over time going back to her younger dancing days.&rdquo;</p>
<h3><br />3. Refining the art of body movement</h3>
<p>Allman believes having a deep connection with body movement through dance has been &ldquo;incredibly beneficial&rdquo; during her discus career.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When I first started discus, my brain instinctively&nbsp;thought of the movement as choreography," she explains. "I was able to learn rudimentary discus technique relatively quickly by thinking of the movement through the lens of my dance background.</p>
<p>In their simplest&nbsp;form, both dance and discus are about fluidity and connecting movements."</p>
<p>Sion supports Allman&rsquo;s comments. &ldquo;Similar to dance, crisp lines and angles can be seen when an athlete executes proper technique. Valarie's movement through the ring is fluid, graceful, powerful, and aesthetically pleasing.&nbsp;Learning choreographed routines has helped her posture, lines, and ability to connect movements with speed &ndash; all of which translate to the discus. It's interesting, Valarie does a double pirouette at the end of her throw. The double pirouette is a little stylistic, but definitely functional in terms of decelerating her body after releasing the discus and saving the throw.&rdquo;</p>
<h3><br />4. Coachability</h3>
<p>According to Sion, Allman&rsquo;s coach for the past four years, her body awareness leads to one big advantage as an elite athlete.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Valarie's kinesthetic&nbsp;awareness allows her to make technical adjustments faster than most people,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Once she makes a change, the new skill becomes engrained&nbsp;quickly allowing us to move on to work on other improvements.</p>
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<p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CENLXy-nZ55/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">✨💫 THANK YOU @RuizNews and @snadshots for the absolutely INCREDIBLE story 💕🎥🥰 it means so much for you to cover how challenging, meaningful, and special these last several months have been. Now looking back, it&rsquo;s so scary to think about how close I was to wanting to throw in the towel at so many points due to COVID complications, closed facilities, and hindered motivation when @CoachzSion and I we were on the brink of something so amazing🏅🙌🏽🇺🇸 I feel so thankful to work with the BEST of the BEST Coach on this wild🎢! #ThrowsBySion #HeadUpWingsOut #DiscusThrow #Sports #AmericanRecord #USATF #Olympics #Tokyo2021</a></p>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" href="https://www.instagram.com/vallman123/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Valarie Allman</a> (@vallman123) on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2020-08-22T21:35:56+00:00">Aug 22, 2020 at 2:35pm PDT</time></p>
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<p>&ldquo;One example is the way she collects her energy in the middle of the throw before transferring that energy out into the sector. She brings her left arm back to her body and also brings her knees together when she lands on her right foot in the middle of the ring. This gives her an efficient axis and allows her to accelerate like a ballerina.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I feel very fortunate that Valarie is so coachable. This is one of the many reasons she has improved so quickly.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Steve Landells for World Athletics</strong></p>

US record-holder Valarie Allman discusses four ways that an early love for dance has helped her evolution as a discus thrower.

Four ways that dance has helped Valarie Allman excel in the discus throw

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">Remember the days when we could jet off at a moment&rsquo;s notice to some far-away place, without worrying about social distancing, quarantine or self-isolation?</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">Those days of travelling freely feel like a previous universe now. But, as with many things we have had to forego during this pandemic, travelling may be something that we will all really appreciate, value, and look forward to when it fully returns. Of course, the reduction in travel world-wide has had some positive effects too &ndash; less air pollution, fewer carbon emissions which cause climate change, and less noise.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">One of the things I absolutely love about travelling is combining it with running. Whether it&rsquo;s for a race or training, running in a new environment and discovering unfamiliar places is a special treat. Taking in all the sounds, sights and smells of an unknown place as you run is just magical and always throws up a few surprises!</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">But to enjoy this unique pleasure, it&rsquo;s worth taking a few simple steps to ensure you can do it safely and without any mishaps. Over the years, I&rsquo;ve always run on trips away, and from these experiences I&rsquo;ve distilled what I&rsquo;ve learned into these five tips.</p>

Five tips for discovering running routes in new surroundings

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">Running is a fabulous sport &ndash; simple, inexpensive and exhilarating. There is much that is positive about it, and it&rsquo;s certainly good for physical and mental health. But the impact of every step can make it an unforgiving sport in terms of wear and tear, and injuries are part of being a runner.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">Reacting to an injury after it happens is one way of dealing with this. But there is a more positive way, namely accepting that injuries may crop up, and taking a proactive approach to preventing and managing them. This needn&rsquo;t be complicated. Keeping in mind a few key principles can help with understanding why injuries happen and how to handle them.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">As an athlete, I had various injuries over the years, most frequently the dreaded plantar fasciitis, but also a hamstring tendon injury, and an adductor tear, among others. Now that I coach and watch numerous runners, I see patterns in injuries and common problems that often cause them. From these experiences, I&rsquo;ve boiled down my injury tips to five key areas.</p>
<h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 42px; margin: 20px 0px 10px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 44px; color: #262626; padding-bottom: 10px; position: relative; background-color: #ffffff;">Strengthen the body</h1>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">Your body needs to be strong and robust enough to handle the running you ask of it. The more demanding the running, the stronger and more robust it needs to be. &lsquo;Demanding&rsquo; can mean various things &ndash; higher total mileage, faster running, more frequent runs, longer runs, hilly or challenging terrain, etc. So some running-specific strength and conditioning, alongside running, is a good idea. And how well muscles function depends on their sheer strength but also your brain&rsquo;s ability to activate them, on demand. Spending five minutes on activation exercises for the key muscle groups immediately before running is a simple and effective injury-prevention habit.</p>
<h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 42px; margin: 20px 0px 10px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 44px; color: #262626; padding-bottom: 10px; position: relative; background-color: #ffffff;">Make gradual steps</h1>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">Increases in training load (the volume, frequency and intensity) need to be gradual. Your body adapts to the stimulus of training, but this takes time, and different tissues adapt at different rates. Too much increase too quickly is a classic cause of injury. So when you step up your training, do it steadily and see how your body reacts before pushing on again.</p>
<h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 42px; margin: 20px 0px 10px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 44px; color: #262626; padding-bottom: 10px; position: relative; background-color: #ffffff;">Take care of the glutes</h1>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">Keep your glute muscles in good working order. Glutes are key muscles which do a range of important jobs when we run. But all the sitting down we do in our modern lifestyles tends to switch them off. If your brain struggles to switch them on when you run, other muscles will step in and do their work. This is another classic cause of injury, including in other parts of the body. Glute exercises that will help with strength and activation include squats, lunges, glute bridges, or simply clenching them repeatedly (don&rsquo;t be alarmed if people give you strange looks when you do this!). If you&rsquo;re going to do any strength work, glutes should be the top priority.</p>

Your body needs to be strong and robust enough to handle the running you ask of it. 

Five ways to prevent running injuries before they happen

<p><br />Tomorrow will see the return of top-flight marathon racing, with the 40th Virgin London Marathon taking place in a unique and historic format in central London. And in just two weeks&rsquo; time, the first world championships since the hot and heady days of Doha last year will see the world&rsquo;s best half marathon runners do battle in Gdynia on Poland&rsquo;s coast.</p>
<p>Will you be joining them? Many thousands of recreational runners have signed up to run the virtual mass participation races that will accompany these elite races. London&rsquo;s 45,000 places have sold out, but there&rsquo;s still time to <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.allyouneedisrunning.com/?utm_source=WA&amp;utm_medium=WAHOME" target="_blank" rel="noopener">join the World Half Marathon Championships virtual mass race</a></strong></span>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.allyouneedisrunning.com/?utm_source=WA&amp;utm_medium=WAHOME" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/91134e93-c645-423c-86dd-d8294d95a11b.png" alt="" width="500" height="250" /></a></p>
<p>Running a half marathon or marathon takes a lot of preparation, but have you thought about what you&rsquo;ll do afterwards? It&rsquo;s easy to overlook this part &ndash; after all, the hard work will be over. When there&rsquo;s so much to think about for the race itself, life beyond the finish line may seem like a low priority &ndash; something to worry about when the time comes.</p>
<p>But what you do after the race can have a big impact on how you recover, and therefore on how soon you can return to training. Racing on the road can take its toll &ndash; the hard tarmac is less forgiving than running on trails or the track. So it&rsquo;s worth spending a little time planning ahead, and thinking through how you will optimise your recovery afterwards. Believe me, your stiff and sore legs will thank you for any love you can give them!</p>
<p>Here are my five top tips for recovering well after a road race:</p>
<h1>1 Food and drink</h1>
<p>The need to replenish lost calories and fluid is obvious&hellip; but the exertion of the race makes many runners not feel like drinking or eating anything. So items that are easy to eat, drink and digest quickly are essential. No roast beef and Yorkshire puds on the finish line!</p>
<p>A protein and carbohydrate recovery drink is ideal &ndash; either shop-bought or home-made (check out my <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/be-active/lifestyle/smoothie-recipes-athletes-healthy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>recovery smoothie</strong></span></a>!). Simple snacks like bananas or <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/be-active/lifestyle/recipe-healthy-energy-balls-apricot-cashew-al" target="_blank" rel="noopener">energy balls</a></strong></span> are good alternatives. Have something in your bag at the finish which you can ingest within 20 minutes.<br /><br /></p>
<h1>2 Travel home</h1>
<p>Again this may seem obvious, but are you certain that your plan will work? No unexpected road closures, train cancellations or Covid-related restrictions in place? It&rsquo;s worth checking this in advance, because you may not want or be able to walk a step further than is absolutely necessary after completing a marathon or similar.<br /><br /></p>
<h1>3 Calming down</h1>
<p>Perhaps the most important activity for recovery after a race is sleep. But racing fills you with adrenaline and a general buzz of excitement which takes time to wind down.</p>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/c488f61b-d774-4ba4-9aa1-13c6643eba2c.jpg?cachebuster=2519558d-6739-48fd-b92f-c91f97845c45" alt="Home-made hot cocoa" width="600" height="400" /></p>
<p>I often found myself lying wide awake in bed, unable to sleep after racing marathons. So calming activities such as a warm bath, a hot drink, or relaxing with a good book may be worth a try in the hour before you go to bed.<br /><br /></p>
<h1>4 Self-care</h1>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/c6a5c347-b998-458f-beee-dcbb9c36de9f.jpg?cachebuster=d9fdc0f8-8817-4990-8b78-1dafa461a451" alt="Self-care items" width="600" height="400" /></p>
<p>There are lots of small steps you can take to be kind to yourself after a race which will help with recovery: an ice bath or icing any sore places, wearing compression tights or socks, applying a soothing massage or recovery oil (eg, emu oil) to your legs, elevating your legs to reduce any swelling, and so on. What works for each of us varies so just try one or more of these steps and see what helps.</p>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/d14dc062-9912-4a57-bc9f-105741ffc79c.jpeg?cachebuster=6558027d-f821-4c38-89c7-35054f8a058f" alt="Elevating legs" width="600" height="400" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1>5 Gentle exercise</h1>
<p>In the days after your race, some movement is better than none. This helps to prevent stiffness and flushes out waste products. But take it easy &ndash; some gentle walking, swimming or cycling are ideal, and when your legs feel ready, some easy running. You might be surprised but walking downstairs was impossible for me after some marathons &ndash; if I had to do it, I always turned around and walked down backwards.<br /><br /></p>
<p><strong>Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics</strong></p>

Running a half marathon or marathon takes a lot of preparation, but have you thought about what you’ll do afterwards?

Five tips for a swift recovery after road races

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">When running uphill, it is essential to push off the ball of the foot. This movement ensures a lighter touch off the ground and, along with regular breathing, optimises energy.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">Running downhill requires concentration. It is important to run downhill by pushing the feet as far back as possible, so they are almost brushing the glutes. It is important when running downhill never to push off the heels as this increases exertion and can lead to a loss of balance.</p>
<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.33; color: #262626; margin: 0px; font-size: 18px; padding: 10px 0px; background-color: #ffffff;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Shoe-wearing tip</h3>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-family: 'World Athletics', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px; color: #262626; background-color: #ffffff;">To maintain stability, it is important to wear good shoes. They must offer protection but also be light enough to allow you to run to the best of your ability; in other words, a compromise is needed between a good running shoe and a trekking shoe. It is important that they are able to provide spring and aid momentum while running uphill but also to ensure a sense of safety when running downhill. The sole must provide good grip on rocky terrain (particularly when wet) as well as on snow and ice. A lightweight shoe is also essential and I would advise the shoes must weigh less than 200grams (7oz).</p>

To maintain stability, it is important to wear good shoes.

Mattevi’s 10 tips for budding mountain runners

<p><br />If you scan through any sport magazine, it is likely you&rsquo;ll find its pages stained purple with mentions of beetroot.</p>
<p>The root vegetable&rsquo;s impact is whispered from different corners of the running world. Gossip leaked from athlete chaperones and drugs testers suggest which superstar athletes have purple urine as a result of beetroot shots.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, keen club runners bulk buy beetroot juice to help supplement their training in order to clip a further 15 to 20 seconds off their 5km personal bests.</p>
<p>However, according to British Athletics nutritionist Marc Fell, beetroot can benefit performances by being taken as a supplement as close as 90 minutes before a race.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is something that can be loaded to help boost efficiency, taken a week beforehand a race or even as a shot on the day,&rdquo; Fell explains. &ldquo;It is very difficult to achieve the levels or quantities of nitrates (a vital natural chemical which assists with oxygen exchange) needed through your diet as you&rsquo;ve got to eat a hell of a lot of vegetables that are high in nitrates and different fruits.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Athletes load on high nitrate concentrated products (i.e. beetroot juice and nitrate gels) to boost nitrate levels if they don&rsquo;t have high levels of the natural chemical in their diet.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Only five to seven days of loading are needed prior to competition to have an impact,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no real evidence that it needs longer. There&rsquo;s also some evidence to suggest that 90 minutes before competition may have an effect as well.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This is reflected in research from the University of Exeter which suggests nitric oxide will stay in the bloodstream for six hours after being consumed.</p>
<p>As a result of this, runners have a window in which their bodies will work more efficiently before exercise. By consuming a beetroot shot, runners boost their nitrate levels, meaning their bodies are able to work more efficiently.</p>
<p>The reason for beetroot&rsquo;s benefits to exercise boils down to its high nitrate levels. Nitrates are a vital natural chemical which assists the body during high intensity exercise.</p>
<p>Nitrates, which are present in beetroot and some fruit such as rhubarb and green leafy vegetables such as cabbage and kale, are converted into nitric oxide conditions of low oxygen availability. Nitric oxide is known to play a number of important roles in vascular and metabolic control, so is considered an essential chemical for performance.</p>
<p>Any event which involves the body&rsquo;s oxygen levels becoming depleted relies on nitric oxide to help it continue to work efficiently. The oxygen cost of exercise can therefore be reduced and athletes can work harder with less effort.</p>
<p>The first studies into nitrates&rsquo; impact on performance happened in Sweden in 2007 when nine cyclists were assigned a supplement composed of sodium nitrate, or a table salt placebo to take for three days in the build up to the scarily named &lsquo;continuous incremental cycle ergometer test&rsquo; &ndash; commonly known as a seven-minute cycling time trial.</p>
<p>The results were dramatic. Nitrate supplementation significantly elevated resting plasma [nitrate] by 82% and significantly reduced blood pressure. Since then, the use of nitrates to boost performance has increased.</p>
<p>A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2013 found runners who took a beetroot juice shot before racing cut 1.5% off their 5km race times.</p>
<p>Nitrate levels are now widely considered when nutritionists produce plans for athletes and many sports teams are given rhubarb crumble the night before a competition because it is high in nitrates.</p>
<p>While studies show nitrates improve the efficiency in our muscles and blood, the benefits they bring vary for different runners. Elite athletes will not get the same benefits as other runners since their bodies are completely different.</p>
<p>Fell explained: &ldquo;A lot of people thought it would be beneficial for the elite athletes too but it didn&rsquo;t seem to have the same sort of effect because elite athletes have a very different physiological makeup.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Since professional athletes&rsquo; bodies are already so efficient in oxygen exchange, the benefits they get from boosting their nitrate levels is smaller.</p>
<p>Other obscure factors also impact how effective nitrates are. According to Andrew Jones, professor of applied physiology at the University of Exeter, the process of nitrates being turned into nitric oxide involves bacteria found in the mouth. This means if you brush your teeth or use mouthwash after consuming the nitrates, the conversion process will stop.</p>
<p>While beetroot may provide an opportunity for runners to feel faster and stronger, Fell shared a useful insight into the use of beetroot among the British team.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Some athletes brought beetroot shots abroad with them and they had exploded in their luggage, turning their kit purple!&rdquo; said Fell.</p>
<p>So make sure if you do use the vibrantly coloured root vegetable, it&rsquo;s kept separate from your race kit!</p>
<p><strong>Jacob Phillips for World Athletics</strong></p>

If you scan through any sport magazine, it is likely you’ll find its pages stained purple with mentions of beetroot.

The power of beetroots

<p><br />When I was an elite athlete and battling plantar fasciitis, I remember my strength coach saying that the majority of running injuries are foot and lower limb injuries. This seemed very plausible to me &ndash; your feet are the only parts of your body that hit the ground when running, and therefore they, along with your lower legs, bear a heavy load. The impact of each step, along with adjustments to compensate for any imbalances higher up in the body, mean your feet and lower limbs take a lot of strain while running.</p>
<p>Achilles tendon trouble, shin splints, stress fractures&hellip;along with the dreaded plantar fasciitis, foot and lower limb injuries come in lots of guises. So what can we runners do about this?</p>
<p>Thankfully, the answer is plenty! I have had my fair share of these kinds of injuries over the years, so I&rsquo;ve built up a large &lsquo;toolbox&rsquo; of preventative measures and ways to manage them. I wrote about <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/be-active/performance/injury-prevention-runners" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>injury prevention</strong></span></a> more generally a few weeks back, and in addition to those tips, here are my top pieces of advice for keeping your feet healthy.</p>
<h1>1. Keep your feet strong and well-conditioned</h1>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/92da8e1a-03f9-46c8-bc31-ff1e56a208c9.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="370" /></p>
<p>Regular exercise routines for your feet, for example 10 minutes three times per week, will keep them in good working order. Ideally do exercises in bare feet or socks, and really try and work all the small muscles in your feet.&nbsp;Examples include scrunching a towel or picking up small objects with your toes, walking on tip-toes, on heels, and sideways, working you feet side to side using resistance bands, standing on one leg with your eyes closed, calf raises, walking with straight legs, etc.</p>
<h1>2. Foot care</h1>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/99743922-84e8-4e7d-9d0c-f5cbce982739.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="358" /></p>
<p>Simple ways of looking after your feet will help to stop problems from developing.&nbsp;For example, warming them up before training if you have cold feet, keeping toenails cut short, rolling over a golf ball to massage and stretch your arches, wearing compression socks for recovery, using a night-splint to stretch everything out overnight.</p>
<h1>3. Causes could be elsewhere</h1>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/77fd3643-df64-4c88-b868-0b802e92f160.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="421" /></p>
<p>Foot and lower limb injuries could well be caused elsewhere, for example by dysfunctional glutes. It&rsquo;s tempting to treat the site of an injury but bring an open mind to what could be causing it, particularly if the injury is persistent or comes back repeatedly.</p>
<h1>4. Well-fitting footwear</h1>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/94aea4b6-d8dd-417c-b822-4560441847a7.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="382" /></p>
<p>Running shoes are perhaps the most important piece of kit you&rsquo;ll buy, so take time to find a pair that suit you. Be vigilant when you change your shoes, especially if you switch to a model that is quite different to what you are used to. But everyday shoes can cause injuries too, for example very flat summer sandals can contribute to plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendonitis.</p>
<p>Our feet work hard and serve us well for our lifetimes. But we often neglect them and don&rsquo;t give them the love and care they deserve. A little investment of time and energy to keep them in good form, and keep you running, is well worth it.</p>
<p><strong>Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics</strong></p>

When I was an elite athlete and battling plantar fasciitis, I remember my strength coach saying that the majority of running injuries are foot and lower limb injuries. 

Four ways to take better care of your feet and lower limbs

<p><br />Remember the days when we could jet off at a moment&rsquo;s notice to some far-away place, without worrying about social distancing, quarantine or self-isolation?</p>
<p>Those days of travelling freely feel like a previous universe now. But, as with many things we have had to forego during this pandemic, travelling may be something that we will all really appreciate, value, and look forward to when it fully returns. Of course, the reduction in travel world-wide has had some positive effects too &ndash; less air pollution, fewer carbon emissions which cause climate change, and less noise.</p>
<p>One of the things I absolutely love about travelling is combining it with running. Whether it&rsquo;s for a race or training, running in a new environment and discovering unfamiliar places is a special treat. Taking in all the sounds, sights and smells of an unknown place as you run is just magical and always throws up a few surprises!</p>
<p>But to enjoy this unique pleasure, it&rsquo;s worth taking a few simple steps to ensure you can do it safely and without any mishaps. Over the years, I&rsquo;ve always run on trips away, and from these experiences I&rsquo;ve distilled what I&rsquo;ve learned into these five tips.</p>
<h1>1. Plan ahead</h1>
<p>Spending just a few minutes learning about your destination online in advance and finding some suitable run routes is always worth it (eg on Google Maps or Google Earth). You can locate any nearby parks and green spaces, or must-see landmarks and elevated viewpoints. Rivers too are worth seeking out as they are ideal for out-and-back routes if you&rsquo;re not confident about finding your way on a loop course. A little planning ahead avoids having to scrabble around for information after you arrive.</p>
<h1>2. Rise and shine!</h1>
<p>Early mornings are my favourite time to run when travelling. Soft morning light, birdsong, the quiet before the bustle of the day, cleaner air, cooler temperatures, less traffic &ndash; it&rsquo;s a wonderful time of the day to run. And you can be showered and ready for a day&rsquo;s work or sight-seeing in good time.</p>
<p>I spent a few autumn days in Kyoto after one of my big races, and made sure I ran early each morning. Seeing the city&rsquo;s famous temples and shrines when the streets were empty created memories that will stay with me forever!<br /><br /></p>
<div id="5f37a832767f290c10acc895" class="dropMedia">
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Running in new environments</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1>3. Safety first</h1>
<p>I&rsquo;m always conscious of unknown unknowns when I run in an unfamiliar place &ndash; there may be hazards or dangers out there that I am unaware of, so I always leave notice of where I am going with the front desk or a travelling companion before setting off for a run; take note of the weather and local customs and dress accordingly; and carry with me some money and a note of my name, accommodation address and emergency contact number.</p>
<h1>4. Exercise en route</h1>
<p>Sitting down for long periods is known to be bad for us. Stiffness, back ache, and even deep vein thrombosis can strike. So I always try to exercise regularly, within reason, wherever I am. I have walked up and down the drop-off pavement at an airport terminal, done stretching in the galley area of a jumbo jet, got up frequently from my seat on trains and buses to stretch my legs&hellip; any small amount of movement to break up long periods of sitting always makes me finish a journey feeling better.</p>
<h1>5. Prepare for jetlag on long haul</h1>
<p>It&rsquo;s tempting to think that jetlag won&rsquo;t affect you or that you&rsquo;ll just deal with it when it strikes. But in my experience, I can&rsquo;t think beyond getting into bed when it hits me. So I plan ahead: drink plenty and eat light food little and often during the journey; go for a walk in daylight as soon as I can on arrival; prepare my sleep environment to ensure the best sleep possible for the first night in my new destination; and stay up until at least 9pm in the local time zone before going to bed.<br /><br /></p>
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<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/c5f9d167-a4d3-4c23-ac4e-102269bf4f01.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Discovering new places</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><br /> Travel is now returning in small steps as the world adjusts to the new normal of living with coronavirus. Let&rsquo;s hope that we can gradually, and safely, resume the wonder and excitement of travel in the months ahead. I&rsquo;m not sure when it will be, but the thought of spending an early morning running around a new unfamiliar place is keeping my spirits up for now!</p>
<p><strong>Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics</strong></p>

Remember the days when we could jet off at a moment’s notice to some far-away place, without worrying about social distancing, quarantine or self-isolation?

Since her early teens, world U20 mountain running champion Angela Mattevi has fully embraced the experience of running in the mountains.

<p><br />One of the good things to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic is an increase in physical activity &ndash; more people are reportedly enjoying exercise than before the world went into lockdown.</p>
<p>If you are one of the many people who are new to running, your focus will probably be on training &ndash; when, how often, and how much? But your rest and recovery between training runs is as important as running itself. Despite this, rest often gets overlooked and forgotten. So if you&rsquo;re just starting out on your running adventure, it&rsquo;s worth thinking carefully about the quality and quantity of your down-time.<br /><br /></p>
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Distance runner and Asics ambassador Mara Yamauchi</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Why does rest matter? As I explained in &lsquo;Be your own coach&rsquo;, the cycle of training and adaptation is what makes you faster and fitter over time. So it is not just training that makes you faster &ndash; the adaptation afterwards is just as important, and good rest and recovery helps this.</p>
<p>There are many different processes that take place during rest, for example replenishing glycogen (energy) stores, repair of muscle fibres, and production of new blood cells among others. And training is not the only thing your body has to recover from &ndash; the stresses and strains of daily life including work have to be left behind during rest periods. So rest is absolutely vital to running.</p>
<p>Here are five concrete steps you can take to improve your rest and recovery.<br /><br /></p>
<h1>1 Give your sleep a self-audit</h1>
<p>The best form of resting is sleep. This is obvious, and yet so many of us do not get enough sleep of the right quality and quantity. Things like your bedroom environment (light, temperature, noise, ventilation), pre-bedtime routine (meals, activities, screen-time) and sleep schedule (time to sleep, time to wake, consistency from day to day) are all worth revisiting to ensure you are doing your best to encourage good sleep.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1>2 Refuel straight after training</h1>
<p>The sooner you can eat and drink after training, the faster your body will start to recover. Again this ain&rsquo;t rocket science, but it&rsquo;s easy to get distracted and forget. Having some protein and carbohydrate (eg, a recovery smoothie) within 20 minutes of training is ideal, followed by a proper meal when time allows.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1>3 Rest your brain</h1>
<p>Mental down-time and recovery is as important as physical rest. Training is tough, and you need to be mentally fresh to do it. So absorbing activities that take you completely away from training, work and other commitments are important for mental regeneration. If you&rsquo;re mentally burnt-out, you won&rsquo;t feel like training even if your body is rested.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1>4 Keep an eye on how you feel</h1>
<p>Self-monitoring is a useful way to spot problems early. Your resting heart-rate, enthusiasm for training, mood, energy levels, changes in body weight, and sleep quality are all parameters that can be used to monitor yourself and judge whether or not you are getting enough rest.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h1>5 Occasionally skip training</h1>
<p>The ability to decide objectively when you are too tired to train is a skill that all athletes should develop. Of course you need self-discipline to train consistently, but this needs to be balanced with understanding when rest should take priority over training. Sometimes it is a difficult call. But there will be times when recovery is more important than training.</p>
<p><br />I hope I have persuaded you that rest and recovery are an essential part of a runner&rsquo;s life. Intuitively, many runners just want to train more. You have to run to improve, right, so surely more is better? Well, sometimes yes, but not always. If you haven&rsquo;t thought about it already, a quick assessment of the quality and quantity of the rest you&rsquo;re getting may actually make you run faster.</p>
<p><strong>Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics</strong></p>

One of the good things to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic is an increase in physical activity – more people are reportedly enjoying exercise than before the world went into lockdown.

The importance of rest and recovery

<p><br />Running is a fabulous sport &ndash; simple, inexpensive and exhilarating. There is much that is positive about it, and it&rsquo;s certainly good for physical and mental health. But the impact of every step can make it an unforgiving sport in terms of wear and tear, and injuries are part of being a runner.</p>
<p>Reacting to an injury after it happens is one way of dealing with this. But there is a more positive way, namely accepting that injuries may crop up, and taking a proactive approach to preventing and managing them. This needn&rsquo;t be complicated. Keeping in mind a few key principles can help with understanding why injuries happen and how to handle them.</p>
<p>As an athlete, I had various injuries over the years, most frequently the dreaded plantar fasciitis, but also a hamstring tendon injury, and an adductor tear, among others. Now that I coach and watch numerous runners, I see patterns in injuries and common problems that often cause them. From these experiences, I&rsquo;ve boiled down my injury tips to five key areas.</p>
<h1>Strengthen the body</h1>
<p>Your body needs to be strong and robust enough to handle the running you ask of it. The more demanding the running, the stronger and more robust it needs to be. &lsquo;Demanding&rsquo; can mean various things &ndash; higher total mileage, faster running, more frequent runs, longer runs, hilly or challenging terrain, etc. So some running-specific strength and conditioning, alongside running, is a good idea. And how well muscles function depends on their sheer strength but also your brain&rsquo;s ability to activate them, on demand. Spending five minutes on activation exercises for the key muscle groups immediately before running is a simple and effective injury-prevention habit.</p>
<h1>Make gradual steps</h1>
<p>Increases in training load (the volume, frequency and intensity) need to be gradual. Your body adapts to the stimulus of training, but this takes time, and different tissues adapt at different rates. Too much increase too quickly is a classic cause of injury. So when you step up your training, do it steadily and see how your body reacts before pushing on again.</p>
<h1>Take care of the glutes</h1>
<p>Keep your glute muscles in good working order. Glutes are key muscles which do a range of important jobs when we run. But all the sitting down we do in our modern lifestyles tends to switch them off. If your brain struggles to switch them on when you run, other muscles will step in and do their work. This is another classic cause of injury, including in other parts of the body. Glute exercises that will help with strength and activation include squats, lunges, glute bridges, or simply clenching them repeatedly (don&rsquo;t be alarmed if people give you strange looks when you do this!). If you&rsquo;re going to do any strength work, glutes should be the top priority.<br /><br /></p>
<h3>Squats<br /><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/0d791540-95ee-4655-a137-c955c6b9e650.jpg?cachebuster=70f358bc-e484-4991-923c-4340ccca5bd1" alt="Squats" width="600" height="600" /></h3>
<h3><br />Lunges<br /><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/95e5acfa-3560-4962-9996-e330e14d9082.jpg?cachebuster=338f3d32-237a-4c8d-9d2a-1bc9c72b45ff" alt="Lunges" width="600" height="600" /></h3>
<h3><br />Glute bridges<br /><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/baa0eb89-ebd2-49bd-a2e3-daf2eb680c11.jpg?cachebuster=9d980ea2-bf91-41dc-a93b-058fbfc49395" alt="Glute bridges" width="600" height="400" /></h3>
<h1>Use the right running shoes for you</h1>
<p>Be vigilant about your footwear, both on and off the track. Your feet are the only part of your body that hits the ground when running, so they take a lot of punishment, especially if there are imbalances or problems higher up. So running in good quality, well-fitting shoes that are suited to you as an individual is essential, as is replacing them promptly when they wear out. Changing your shoes is another frequent cause of injury; ensure any new shoes are worn in at home first, and not too different to your previous pair. Your non-running shoes are also a possible cause of all sorts of trouble, such as blisters, bunions, plantar fasciitis and more, so strike a balance between function and fashion.</p>
<h3>MORE: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/be-active/performance/finding-the-right-running-shoes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Advice for finding the right shoes</a></span></h3>
<h1>Identify patterns with previous injuries</h1>
<p>Learning about and looking after yourself is vital for preventing injuries. If you can figure out over time what injuries you are prone to and why, then it&rsquo;s easy to take steps to prevent them. I know that my right glute muscles don&rsquo;t work well and if I don&rsquo;t keep them in good order, my feet will complain. Similarly, small simple steps to look after yourself are perhaps the best way to prevent injuries, for example self-massage with a foam-roller, icing any soreness immediately after running, rolling a golf ball under your feet, doing a thorough warm-up, eating enough protein, etc.</p>
<p>Some injuries call for expertise, from a physiotherapist, doctor or other practitioner. But injuries generally happen for a reason. By developing your understanding of their causes, and how to prevent and manage them, you&rsquo;ll be well-placed to deal with them when they do happen, and will be able to enjoy more running injury-free.</p>
<p><strong>Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics</strong></p>

Running is a fabulous sport – simple, inexpensive and exhilarating. There is much that is positive about it, and it’s certainly good for physical and mental health. But the impact of every step can make it an unforgiving sport in terms of wear and tear, and injuries are part of being a runner.

<p><br />Despite all the gloom of the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been significant positive things to come out of this crisis. We&rsquo;ve been forced to think about what really matters and focus on what is important. One of those positives is an increase in physical activity, especially running, as a recent study by ASICS discovered.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="5e9acc430d00ae08f026e6b3" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/7292fdae-0010-44ce-8de7-2801e19fad78.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Distance runner and Asics ambassador Mara Yamauchi</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>If you&rsquo;ve recently taken up running, a question you&rsquo;ll quickly face is, how do I plan and organise my training? The easy way to answer this is to find and follow an off-the-shelf training plan, from a running magazine, website or similar. You just do what the plan says and don&rsquo;t have to think too much &ndash; what could be simpler?</p>
<p>This is one way to start, but the problem with this approach is that every runner is different, and a one-size-fits-all training plan may not be suitable for you. A better way, I think, is to learn the key principles of training so that you can create your own plan. In other words, to be your own coach. Let&rsquo;s look at five of those principles.</p>
<h3>The cycle of adaptation</h3>
<p>The function of training is to provide a stimulus to your body to adapt in various ways. You train, then adapt, train, adapt, train, adapt, and so on, repeatedly, over time. This cycle, if done properly, makes you run faster over time. By &lsquo;properly&rsquo; I mean training of the appropriate quality and quantity for you; and adaptation which is helped along by good rest and nutrition. If you are improving over time, then your cycle of adaptation must be working well, and it&rsquo;s best to keep doing what you are doing. If your running is flat-lining or even getting worse, then your cycle of adaptation is not quite right and may need changing. A key point here, which often gets overlooked, is that the time you spend NOT training is as important as your training.</p>
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<h3>How often to run?</h3>
<p>Keeping in mind point 1 above, if you are new to running, then two, progressing to three times per week is a good place to start. This allows for rest and adaptation between runs. From there, one way to build further is to increase to four or more runs per week. But increasing frequency of runs means not only are you doing more runs, but the gap between runs becomes much shorter (e.g. 48 hours rest dropping to 24 hours). It&rsquo;s a double whammy in terms of increasing the load. So after each increase in the frequency of your runs, stick with it for a few weeks and monitor closely how you react.</p>
<h3>Intensity and volume</h3>
<p>In addition to frequency, these are two other ways of progressing your overall training load, when you&rsquo;re ready. Intensity means faster running such as tempo, hills or intervals. And volume means more time or distance covered. Increasing one of these at a time, rather than two or three, is a safer way to step up your training. Add extra load in small amounts and see how you feel, before progressing further.</p>
<h3>Non-running elements</h3>
<p>It&rsquo;s tempting to think only about running when writing yourself a training plan. But non-running things like nutrition, quality of your sleep, and some kind of strength training will support (or hinder) your running and adaptation to it. So give yourself a &lsquo;self-audit&rsquo; on these things and ask yourself if you could improve any of them. This is especially important if you are running regularly but don&rsquo;t seem to be improving.</p>
<h3>Goals</h3>
<p>Some kind of goal, not too far away, gives a training plan direction and focus, and helps you to decide what kind of training to do. With few races able to go ahead at the moment, a time trial over, for example 5km, is a good alternative. A goal could be about your training, as opposed to a &lsquo;race&rsquo; or other outcome. For example, running four times per week consistently by the end of August; or running a total of 30km per week for three consecutive weeks.</p>
<p><br />I hope these five tips will provide a useful &lsquo;toolkit&rsquo; for you to become your own coach. Have a go at creating your own training plan and see how you get on. You are the best judge of what works for you. So write your own plan, give it a try, and adjust accordingly as you progress. Go on, Coach, you can do it!</p>
<p><strong>Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics</strong></p>

Despite all the gloom of the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been significant positive things to come out of this crisis. We’ve been forced to think about what really matters and focus on what is important. One of those positives is an increase in physical activity, especially running, as a recent study by ASICS discovered.