Running Cooldown

How to do it

1. Finish the hard effort and keep moving instead of stopping, dropping straight into an easy jog.
2. Shorten your stride and let cadence settle to a rhythm you could hold in conversation.
3. Keep the torso tall and the shoulders loose, with the arms swinging low and relaxed.
4. Land under the hips with a quiet foot strike rather than reaching out in front.
5. Hold the easy pace for several minutes until breathing and heart rate come down.
6. Finish by walking for a minute or two before you stop moving entirely.

Common mistakes

• Running the cool-down too fast, which keeps the session hard and defeats the purpose of the segment.
• Stopping abruptly after a hard effort, which leaves you standing still with blood pooled in the legs.
• Treating the cool-down as injury prevention, which the evidence does not support and can mask real issues.
• Cutting it to under a minute, which is too short for heart rate and breathing to actually settle.