Running on the balls of your feet (Read 4555 times)

I'll make no claims as to what gait is better, worse, or faster. But as far as what is possible? I weigh 200lbs and am a midfoot to forefoot striker. I've finished a handful of 100Ks, one hundred, and a bunch of 50 milers. Lest anyone accuse me of being misleading, by the end of 100K I'm usually just trying to find a place on each foot to land that is less bruised/blistered than the rest of my feet. That may not exactly resemble normal midfoot striking.

Input taken, but this forum is more typically interested in running form for bipeds. Moreover, we humans do not normally have the luxury of using wildebeests as fuel during their long runs. However, we do appreciate your attempts to join human culture...

Hippo!

A great way to improve your running form... Go out one day and run hard and run long. Get yourself totaly spent. Make sure you are good and sore next day. Go out and run while sore. Go slow and do everything you can to make it feel as smooth as possible. Run in a way that limits the pain as much as possible. You can find ways to run that limit the jarring and impact.

Interesting thread... I tend to land outside of the ball of my foot (like Nobby mentions) although I think I run best when I can land more flat footed. For me my toes want to curl if I don't focus and the entire motion seems better if I can keep those darn toes flat. Funny the elites land on the side of foot too..and here I've been blaming pregnancy hip changes. Us girls like to blame pregnancy on everything.

I switched to mid-forefoot striking a few months back after repeated hip injuries. Figured I'd try it and it seemed to lessen the stress on my hip so I kept doing it. Ran for about 3 years heel striking. I'm a bit faster now and it just feels much more natural for me. I do think I've found that it's easier for me to run at faster speeds like this as well. I've got some vibrams and use some water shoes sometimes, sometimes barefoot but not that often, I'm still working on bringing my mileage up before I go back to those. I'll probably never fully convert to minimalism but I like the idea and I like the way it feels sometimes and I like mixing it up. *shrug* Along with what a couple other said, yeah, I'm 195lbs so there's a bit more stress the farther up on the toes you go and the less shoe you wear, but I've also got 17 inch calves and I'm built more like a sprinter than a distance runner so it's probably a bit easier for me to stay up on the balls of my feet than most. The thing Nobby mentioned about coming down on the outside of the foot I do also, but I think I've always chalked that up to they way you run. Standing, your legs are apart. Running, your legs aren't that far apart. Or at least mine aren't? My feet overlap a little as I run... probably by a quarter to half of the shoe area? To get my foot to that position my leg has to angle inward and therefore it would make sense that the outside of my foot would hit first, right? Even when I heel struck that back outer corner would wear out first. Dunno, I don't pay that much attention to it but it's something I've noticed.