I start off by doing hamstring and quad stretches since those are the muscles that will def. get sore after I run, and I’m pretty sure they both need to be loose for you to be able to do a split.

For hamstrings (back of upper leg) you can pull one knee into your chest while either standing or lying down and hold for 20-30 sec. You can also do a low lunge.

For quads (front of upper leg) you can stand on one leg and hold the other foot up by your butt and keep your knees together. The point isn’t to make your foot touch your butt, it’s to feel a stretch in the bent leg. You can also stretch out the quad muscle by kneeling on the ground with the back knee on the floor and the front foot on the floor with the leg bent 90* like you’re kneeling and about to get knighted or something. If you can’t feel the stretch in the quad of the back leg then feel free to try to grab the back foot and bring it up to your butt while keeping that knee on the ground (but that requires a bit of balance too).

Then I try to actually do a split on each side, hold for 20-30 seconds then rest. I usually just touch my toes or do “Child’s Pose” from yoga in between.

Some days I can now go all the way down on my first try, other days I don’t get even close haha.

Oh and one last reccomendation: when you’re stretching out in a split try to keep up on your back toes and keep that leg straight. You won’t go down as far as if you just kind of plopped that leg down on the floor, but it is a LOT safer and better for your knees. Also it forces you to stretch more :)