Running Question?

Question

I have been running for about 5 years now and I am curious on something.

I typically run 3 miles in around 21-24 minutes. I don't think my stride is very long. I fell as though I am stutter stepping. What can I do to increase my stride.

I know stretching before and after a run is good. What about weights? The kind you can put on your ankles, what good do those do?

Right now I am caring for shin splints, I wasn't fully recovered and decided to run.... bad idea. I have to take a few days off now.

wow thanks....
I don't run on grass, but I will definatley start those exercises.

Answer 1

To lengten your strides you have to actually weight train, not to bulk up obviously but to get muscle endurance. You are stutter stepping because your hamstrings, core and quads are weak and cannot handle the biomechanics of lengthening out you are asking it to do. Do some lunges with a squat bar on your shoulders for at least 10 steps on grass somewhere you can go at least 10 metres, when training do you do any running on grass, you can practice slow long strides on that to about 50 metres about 10 times,
Do not put anything on your ankles when you run there will be too much added pressure on your joints, there is alreday enough pounding on your body when your foot hits the ground in normal running,as you see you are already suffering from shin splints do you know how much force those shins and ankles take when you run especially on concrete.

Answer 2

you should start doing weight training and sprinting. Obviously you should stretch as well.

What i would also recommend is doing running drills which are excersices that force you to exaggerate your running turnover.

Doing excersises like high knees, butt kicks, high skips and leg extensions (keep your legs straight and lift them as high as you can). Repeat these exercises for about 30 meters as hard as you can and you may see an improvement in your running form. I'm sorry i can't show you how to do it but you may know what i'm talking about.