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Running form (Read 893 times)

    So lets say you are running down the length of a line. Where should your foot strikes be relative to that line? Should they be Hip/shoulder width out from the line or should they be closer almost touching the line? Also should your toes be parallel with the line or should they pointed towards it slightly?
    rlemert


      I'm going to suggest that your feet should hit at about hip/shoulder width. If you try to touch the line you're going to have to impart some side-to-side motion in your steps when what you want for maximum efficiency is straight forward-and-back motion. Similarly, I would think that toes parallel would be more efficient, but I doubt that a slight angle is going to be much of a problem. I definitely wouldn't make a change is parallel is uncomfortable. (I tend to splay out about 15-20 degrees, and when I realized this I tried to straighten out but felt too uncomfortable and awkward. I figure I'm better off splayed out than injured because I twisted my legs into an unnatural shape.) Don't take my comments for gospel until others confirm them.
        If you put in enough miles, your stride's efficiency will improve naturally. And it will be custom built for you, rather than a modification or form that worked for someone else.

        E.J.
        Greater Lowell Road Runners
        Cry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!

        May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.

        Mr Inertia


        Suspect Zero

          This past winter I did an experiment. I was fortunate enough to be out early after a light snow and had dibs on the first marks on a fresh bed of white (very nice). I walked, slogged, jogged, ran and then sprinted to see what my footprints looked like. Mostly I was just checking for stride length, but it yielded some interesting results. walk - shoulder width apart, toes pointing outward. slog - slightly narrower, feel with noticeably less splay jog - narrower still - if I'd been running down the dotted yellow line in the middle of the road, my feet would have impacted on the edge of the line. Feet pointing nearly perfectly straight run - feet nearly perfectly in line pointing nearly perfectly straight Sprint - same as a run but with longer strides Disclaimer: That's just me and I have no idea if that's normal.
            I have had a similar experience with my foot prints... slower I go the wider my foot strikes and the more splayed... I didn't crank it up to see what would happen but I did have some variences in my speed in the loop I ran... and in the faster seciton my feet were closer and less splayed... I also agree with what was said before... to just run the most natural and over time your stride will get more efficient. Mine has...
            Hannibal Granite


              I went to a XC camp when I was in HS and the coach running the camp had up run on one of the lane lines on a track and filmed us while doing it. He wanted to see (and wanted us to see) where and how our feet were landing. He filmed us from the front and from the side. From the front he was looking to see if our feet were landing more or less on the line, how much our feet deviated from parallel and if we were overstriding or understriding. The bottom line (from the froint view) was that the more we were on the line the better. So to answer your question the most efficient would be straight along that line with your foot landing along (parallel) to the line. The reason for this is the same as wanting to land midfoot as opposed to heel first (overstriding). Ideally, the foot lands almost directly under the bodies center of mass, by which you lose very little momentum going from step to step. This is why fast / efficient runners often look like they are floating along, they almost are. I don't completely agree with others that you will automatically find your most efficient stride just by running more, in fact if you have a serious flaw in your running mechanics more running will only bring on injury. That same coach who filmed us suggested working of form during short easy runs a few times a week, really focusing on how our feet were landing on each step, not during speed work or races. As Mr. Inertia correctly pointed out your form also becomes more efficient as you speed up to near top speed so throwing in a few striders a couple times a week can also help.

              "You NEED to do this" - Shara


              #2867

                It will be different for each person, and will change depending upon the footwear that they have on. It takes less than 1/6 of a second for your foot to go from a bag of a couple dozen floppy bones (the better to absorb the shock and conform to the ground you are landing on) to a rigid structure from which you can push off into the next step on. Trying to change what you do in that 1/6 of a second is not only impractical, but can lead to strange compensation movements that aren't natural for your body and can lead to an injury. There are a couple of easier ways to change your gait. 1. Change your shoes. Very simple. Hopefully you don't change them to ones that don't provide a good bed for your feet to land in. 2. Shorten your stride. Overstriding isn't really natural and can lead to an injury - try to keep your feet beneath your body. Theoretically, you want your feet to touch the ground with your head pretty close to being directly over them. 3. Wait. This is the toughest method, but as you build a better endurance base, your muscles will strengthen and bring your body into a form that works well for it. Just keep training and trust your body to do what is best for it. It's first priority is survival, so as you progressively overload it through training and then give it an opportunity to rest and repair itself it becomes better at withstanding the stress you put it under the next time. This takes about 6-8 weeks.

                Run to Win
                25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)

                  In 1991 Tokyo T&F World Championships, Carl Lewis won the 100m in then the world record time of 9.86 (if I remember it correctly...). That race was one of the most competitive 100m race ever even today with something like (once again, if I remember it correctly) 8 runners ran sub-10 seconds. After that race, Japanese formed a biomechanics team, including Lewis' coach, Tom Telletz, and have been analyzing running form since. One of the first things they did (not necessarily intentionally) was to bring Coach Tellez for a series of clinics that resulted to throw "heel-to-toe" running technique out the window. Then "heel-raiser-for-longer-stride" type of exercise. There's nowhere in the world I know of (okay, I can't really say that because I never been to Europe...) where you can find so many books written on running biomechanics than Japan. Every time I go back there, I pick up a couple of books. I was there a week ago and I picked up 3 this time. One such book that I picked up last time (last November) was written by coach Susumu Takano who himself was a finalist in the 400m at Tokyo WC and now had coached Shingo Suetsugu, the silver medalist in 200m at Paris WC in 2003 based on what they call a two-line running technique (as well as a running technique employed by ancient ninja, Namba-technique). Naturally, as the name indicates, it is a technique where you run on 2 lines, slightly narrower than the shoulder width. Basically, the reasoning behind is that this would eliminate a torque of the torso. Actually, I have noticed, if you watch world class sprinters from the front, they do land more or less on 2 lines with their legs pumping up and down straight, no angle whatsoever. 2 or 3 years ago, Harumi Hiroyama, a Japanese 2:21 marathon runner who missed the Olympic sellection in thte year 2000 with that performance (that was quite disgusting!), and her coach/husband, Tsutomu Hiroyama, wrote a book on speed marathoning. In it, they described this two-line running technique for distance running. I'm not quite 100% convinced this is good for distance running. So I was happy this time to pick up another book written by Manabu Kawagoe who is coaching a group of young ladies, including Mara Yamauchi who won this year's Osaka marathon as well as Shimahara (6th at Osaka WC marathon last year) and Kano (3rd at Nagoya marathon). He was more of talking about conventional one-line running technique for distance running. As Run-to-Win described, it only takes 1/6 of a second to be on the ground for us to run. Actually, it takes a bit longer for us slower runners and a bit shorter still for sprinters. In other words, as a leg sticks out about 10-inches from the center line, as our foot lands, the hip bone will tilt a bit and it makes more sense to have the supporting point being much closer to the center line than outside the center line. I thnk it's actually quite interesting, as Inertia and Hannibal found out, as you speed up, our feet "naturally" land much closer to the center line. I personally found that, as I tried to stay on two-lines, my upper body sway side to side more. I think it makes it easier to think of our body as a spinning top. As you pick up speed (I guess with the observation of sprinters, up to a point), it becomes more stable to be closer to the center line. When you're moving much slower (like walking), you spend much less time in the air (well, not at all in walking...) that you can afford to stay off balanced because your "other" supporting foot will land so much quicker. Note, however, that during a race walking, elite walker will land on one line probably because they can gain about half an ince every step that way. It's just a matter of slightly longer stride gained by running on single line vs. slightly faster stride by bringing your legs straight forward (two-lines). While I sort of agree that the more you run, your most natural running form will naturally develop. You do to a point but you'd also develop most economical form, meaning, more or less shuffling action. There is a certain "work" that should be involved in obtaining a good running technique. This does not mean you should constantly "thinking" about correct running form (angles and all). You need to find "natural" ways to develop certain movement. For example, if you think you need to develop a better knee lift, you should run up and down the hills. In fact, I believe one of the best way to work on your "good" natural running form is to run rugged undulating running course (muddy, if you have a choice!). Some of the sprinters drills are excellent also. Running style is a very much individial matter--yes. However, there are structural (bones) and muscular (strength of certain muscle groups) reasons why people run the way they do. Bone structures differ from individual to individual but, in most cases, that does not place you outside the "norm" when it comes down to mechanical fundamentals. What, in most cases, determines the running style is muscular strengths balance and inbalance. If you think you shuffle and don't bring your knees high; more often than not, it's because muscles to bring your knees high are weak and they need to be strengthened. Probably the best way to do so is to run up and down the rugged XC courses. I feel like I'm digressing a lot but one more thing--about the toe pointing outward. Probably the most mechanically sound form is your toes pointing slightly outward--where the line that connect your heel and the big toe points out straight ahead. This is because where you generate most power is the base of your big toe. However, if you see pictures of some elite runners with thier foot pointing quite a bit outwardly (like Bill Rodgers or Steve Cram), it is most likely because they tend to land on the base of their little toes (as fondly called, but incorrectly, as "toe runner"). When this happens, the torque created at the base of your ankle will push your heel forward and inward and, as the foot "sinks down" on to the ground completely, the toes would point outward much more than it actually does. It's not a bad practice but, if you do this excessively, further torque will push your heel over the edge of the shoes, particularly if the shoe has thicker sole, and pronate too far and could cause some problems around medial side of the ankles and/or knees. It is, however, better and more natural than pointing your toes "inwardly". The one I can recall who point his/her toes inwardly and runs well would be Frank Shorter. Could he have run better/faster if he pointed his toes outwardly? I highly doubt it.


                  uncontrollable

                    Lot of information - I might trip and get run over if I try to implement any of that! I guess I should practice on the track.

                    peace

                      Lot of information - I might trip and get run over if I try to implement any of that! I guess I should practice on the track.
                      That's why you don't want to "thnk" about your running form while you're running! ;o) You want to figure out workout(s) to "correct" any flaw of your running form, not by "thinking" about your form. Let me tell you a story; when I was coacing in Japan, our head coach was pretty head-strong about a certain running style. One of young girls we had (20 years old) got actually too scared to run because she was thinking about it too much. She developed this weird sensation and literally could not run. That was when I quit the team and went home which happens to be a half a mile from one of the best physical therapists/sports doctors in the country. The head coach actually called me to tell me that he's sending her there and asked me to help her out. I took her out to run over dug-up rice field, muddy and uneven... We ran for an hour and then I asked her how it was. Only then she realized that she actually ran for an hour. The footing was so bad that she was too busy trying to stay on her feel and not on her face that she couldn't afford to even think about running form. Then we went to the beach and ran around on sand barefoot; another hour or so run when she couldn't even run for 15 minutes before. No, working on your running form by "thinking" about it is definitely not the way to go about.
                      roman_the_runner


                      Run, boy, run

                        Just in case someone stumbles across this topic https://sportnomad.net/article/proper-running-form 

                          I wouldn't worry too much about it, but...

                           

                          I believe either directly on that center line or just off to each side, ie right foot a little right, left foot a little left.

                           

                          I would simply read, watch, perform "running form drills" at least during your interval warm ups.

                           

                          good luck!

                           

                          ps- I would run as much as what feels good and natural, least effort.

                          300m- 37 sec.