This allows the muscle to be in a relaxed state when stretching. If I had to pick one more stretch to dislike it would be the hurdler's stretch. This should only be done by hurdlers. It puts a lot of tension on the medial collateral ligament of the knee and does nothing particularly useful for runners. General Principles Regular stretching may also help reduce injuries.
Runners frequently develop tightness in the posterior muscle groups.
This includes the hamstrings and the calf muscles. The quadriceps and anterior shin muscles may become relatively weak, due to muscular imbalance. The abdominal muscles also tend to be weak on runners who do not exercise them. I recommend stretching one set of leg muscles at a time. One leg is back, knee straight, the other leg is forward with the knee bent.