Run Better with Ash

I am always trying to encourage you to get into yoga. Here is a free yoga practice to follow along to at home and do in your own space, in your own time. There are no excuses not to! This practice is focused on leg strength and shoulder mobility which transfer nicely into our running. Give this practice a go and let me know how you get on with it. YouTube practice: (Please SUBSCRIBE) https://www.y...

"Where should my foot strike the floor?" this is something that I get asked a lot as a running coach. It's an area of running form that has been studying in great detail and we have lots of evidence that shows us the difference between foot strike positions and how this impacts your running form and the forces going through your body. In this episode I talk about optimal and non-optimal foot strik...

Trail running is a beautiful form of running that a lot of road runners are missing out on. I run both road and trail. I enjoy running trails more. In this episode I talk about why I enjoy trail running more than road running and what the evidence shows us about the benefits of trail running compared to road running.  I hope to persuade you to gain some of these benefits and get out onto your...

When you have children the state of the planet is heightened. You want to leave a healthy planet for them. My consuming has totally changed as I don't want to contribute to the issue of waste and emissions from the products I buy. Fitness brands contribute hugely to the global emissions and they actively encourage us to purchase excessive amounts of their clothing and trainers. In this episode I t...

Are you a head chaser? Do you suffer with hip or lower back issues when running? Where should our head be when running? These are all questions I address and more in this episode of the podcast. Our head position influences the forces that go down through the spine. Getting this alignment correct will limit your injury risk and maximise efficiency in your running form. From your personal podcastin...

Running when you have children can be a total change of routine that some of us (I did) resist and end up causing ourselves more stress and illness from burnout. How do you know if you are pushing too much? What are the things to look out for if you have children? What is the biggest thing we need to learn to do now that we have children? Are we going to be able to run at the same intensity and vo...

The debate rages on. What is best, minimalist shoes or cushioned shoes? In this episode I discuss my running journey and experience with cushioned shoes and then how I came to learn about the minimalist shoe movement. I discuss some key facts about the arch of the foot, the Flexor Hallicus Brevis (big toe muscle) and how the arch and toe perform together when running. I also talk about what a pain...

You can legally boost your performance with ergogenic foods. Some of these foods and food supplements have better benefits than performance enhancing drugs!! One of those performance boosting foods is beetroot. I talk about how I discovered the benefits of beetroot juice, what you can expect from supplementing it before you run, when to take it for optimal performance boost and some key considerat...

In this BRAND NEW style of episode I will be guiding you through an Audio Running Coaching Session to help develop your Somatosensory Cortex in your brain. This area of your brain functions as the touch, temperature, pressure and pain information processing and receiving signals from the different areas of your body. This is one of the first exercises I do with my clients to help them develop a be...

How does eating a plant based diet impact your running? Can you run fuelled only on plants? Where do you get your protein from? If it has the word 'vegan' on the packaging does that make it a healthier option? These are some of the questions I address in this episode about plant based diets and running. It's important to remember that no two diets are the same and what works for one person might n...

There are two main elements to our running cycle: Contact time and flight time. What we do in contact time affects how efficient we are in flight time. One area we can make improvements in our running cycle is in our leg stiffness. Leg stiffness influences how well the energy from the ground contact is transferred up and throughout the body. What is leg stiffness and how can we improve it to Run B...

This episode is based around an email from a listener called Paul. Paul is a postman and walks 18-24k steps a day, hes a new dad and eats a vegetarian diet and is finding it difficult to fit his usual running time in to his now tired and busy life. I'm going to offer some advice that I've learned from personal experience as a dad of two little girls. Let's look a bit deeper into the things we can...

This episode is inspired by one of my clients that is having personal issues in his life. He has been spending a lot of time thinking and overthinking stressful thoughts and situations in his head. On reflection after a disappointing half marathon time (by his own standards) he noticed that he was wasting a lot of mental energy on his runs letting the stress of his life impact negatively on his ru...

Too much range of motion can be detrimental and too little can also cause imbalances. How much range of motion do we need to run? What is range of motion? How do you know if you have enough range of motion? In this episode I explore the topic of range of motion and how it influences our running. What we can do to understand if we are tight or restricted at a joint and what we can do to combat our...

Probably the most common thing I hear as a running coach is something along the lines of 'running hurts my knees so I don't run anymore' this is extremely frustrating to think the amount of people writing themselves off as runners because of knee pain.  Running is not the problem, the way you are running is the problem! There is a difference. In this episode I explain what to look for if you...

In this episode I want to share with you 7 ways to run mindfully. As a yoga and mindfulness teacher I have learned lots of strategies and self-awareness tools that we can use when running to help us spend more time in awareness rather than stuck in the busy, stressed out mind!  Use these tips to help lighten the mental load and watch the benefits you gain from running mindfully. From your per...

There are so many common fitness/exercise myths. In this episode I talk about one that is very damaging to our overall health. if we can improve this aspect of our life it will help you live longer, move free and run better! WARNING if you are a box ticker when it comes to exercise or running then you may find this challenges you, give some of these simple tips a go and notice how much better they...

A mantra is words or a sentence that encourage your focus or attention into a specific area. Like shining the light in the dark, where you shine your awareness has an impact on what you experience.  I have brought my yoga and mindfulness experience into running to create my own running mantra, you can hear it in this episode. Use this or develop your own to become a better, more connected run...

Are you starting to lose motivation with running? Or maybe you have a feeling of wanting to enjoy running more but not sure how? Or maybe you've not even realised how stuck in a rut with running you are!  In this episode I talk about 10 ways that can help you enjoy running more. If you don't enjoy running it is much less sustainable, you are more likely give it up or let your running drift in...

As we are heading into summer we are generally running more and for longer, some of you experience muscle cramps. This has become common with some of my running clients lately. I thought I would do an episode on what we can do to immediately treat a cramp and also what we can do to help prevent future cramps from occurring. This episode will help you if you suffer from cramps. From your personal p...

Are you wanting to run a faster 5K time? In this episode I talk about the areas we need to consider to help us run at peak performance and then I go a bit further into detail with 4 types of training session you can do to help you improve your 5k time. This episode is inspired by a lady client I'm currently working with and some of the ways that I have managed to improve my 5K time. From your pers...

Hello, in this episode I wanted to share with you some reasons why hip mobility is important for runners and how good hip mobility helps us Run Better. This is the video that accompanies this episode, I take you through a routine that I do everyday. It's a short 10 minute yoga mobility routine to improve our hip health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqqlLSrtlCk&ab_channel=AshFoster From your...

Protein bars are a huge market these days, the pace that we live at has contributed to convenience food and protein bars craze. Whether you're a treat swap snacker, a post-run refueller or full blown meal replacer, there are some important things to consider the next time you reach for your favourite packaged protein! In this episode I talk about some of the pros and cons of protein bars. From you...

Breathwork is really popular at the moment and it is getting a lot of attention in the scientific community with study after study coming out and confirming what the yogis have known for hundreds of years. Changing your breathing can change your life.  Nasal breathing is the starting point of good breathing yet most of us mouth breathe. In this episode I want to share with you reasons why you...

This episode is a running training session that elite athletes do to increase their speed and stamina. It's a great session that will mix up your weekly running schedule. You can run these interval sessions on a hill or on a flat. This is a pyramid interval session that lasts for 28 minutes which is roughly the same amount of time as the average weekday run that most of my clients run. Instead of...