3 Pre-Run Exercises to Prevent Injuries and Boost Performance

Now that we’re in the full swing of spring with more moderate weather, most people are spending more time outdoors engaging in activities such as running, walking, or hiking. It’s a great way to soak in the beauty of spring and enjoy quality time with friends or family while also getting exercise.

The weather here in the San Francisco Bay Area has been spectacular so my partner Farah and I decided to take our preschooler and toddler on their first real hike. We made the 1.8-mile out-and-back hike that included over 100 steps down to a rocky, secluded beach along the Land’s End Coastal Trail in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. 

After spending some time playing in the sand and stacking rocks on top of each other, we made our way back up the trail—with me carrying our toddler of course. I was really feeling the burn in my legs about two-thirds of the way back up the steps and it made me think about how incredible the human body is to be able to perform repetitive movements such as walking, running, and hiking for prolonged periods with relatively few issues. 

Allow me to nerd out for a moment: assuming the average person has a stride length of 2 to 2.5 feet, it takes about 2,000 steps to walk 1 mile. A study published in 2010 of over 1,000 Americans found that participants averaged about 5,000 steps a day, which adds up to over 1.8 million steps a year. 

If you run, walk, or hike two days or more a week for exercise, you can easily more than double that if you combine the number of steps you perform during exercise with the number of steps you perform throughout the day. 

The human body is truly an incredible machine to be just fine racking up that many steps every year. Well, just fine until you start feeling aches and pains that are more than just normal muscle soreness. 

If this is you, don’t worry, you’re not alone, because most people who run, walk, or hike for exercise are bound to experience aches and pains at some point. If you’re one of the few lucky ones who has never had an issue, you’ll still...

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