Le professeur de trail
http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/its-all-in-the-hips
Very good article in my opinion. While I am still trying to figure it out, this has a lot to do with my string of injuries.
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
I think it is a good article. I was reminded about the forefoot strike craze and worked very hard to try to change my stride. What I found was that I am not really a forefoot striker, even with a shorter stride. I quickly abandoned the idea of making myself into something that I am not, and focused on shortening my stride and leaning my whole body in a way that allowed my feet to land directly beneath or slightly behind my center of gravity. I have not had a major problem since I became proficient at doing those things. I do, however, run much better in shoes that have a 4mm or less heel/toe drop. I do a good bit of running in zero drop shoes now because they seem to work well for me.
LB2
Faster Than Your Couch!
Interesting article. Many years ago, when I was watching elite runners, I realized that there is something about their hips that is different from most runners, and that many of them are forefoot strikers. Now that makes sense.
I am a mid-foot or slight heel striker on the road, but on technical trails, I naturally switch to forefoot striking, just because it feels better and allows me to move more "nimbly". Together with my hips, which many people have noticed to "move differently" from other people's (mostly American non-runners, in contrast to European lots-of-errands-by-foot-walkers), it works well for me.
Now let's just wait what Harrier has to say...
Run for fun.
Refurbished Hip
Are we trying to flush out Harrier by posting something controversial? He is lurking...
Running is dumb.
I was hoping for him to reply.
I am just thinking, we are all here feeling comfortable with what we do, and we try to do it with knowledge and purpose, but Harrier's story proves that you may feel great and things work well for you, and then, bam, you can get seriously injured and yet have to figure out why and what went wrong, and if it was your doing somewhere along the line. Just scary to me.
Ok I can't resist "It's all in the hips" that's what she said!
...and focused on shortening my stride and leaning my whole body in a way that allowed my feet to land directly beneath or slightly behind my center of gravity.
This is the exactly the same advice that anybody (myself included) who believes in an efficient forefoot strike will instruct you to do. And the thing is, if you are doing this, you're probably landing on your forefoot. In fact, what you just described is Chi-Running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkUqkdPQHis
I think a lot of people confuse the way they run for just being "the way they are made." But humans are creatures of habit, and runners fall into bad habits which are encouraged by footwear that effects the way our bodies interacts with the ground. We were ALL made and evolved barefoot. If you ran on your heels barefoot for every long you'd be in a world of hurt.
We teach ourselves to run wrong. I did it. And then I had to teach myself to run correctly again. Name ANY sport and there is proper a proper technique. Running is no different, but people get offended at the suggestion that we can all improve the way we move.
The bottom line is that if you are keeping your feet under your center of gravity, keeping a bend in the knee, leaning a bit, using a short stride and a high cadence... you're not heel striking.
Recently there has been an anti-minimalism crusade in the media. Paid for by the makers of puffy shoes perhaps? Most likely just a bunch of hasty folks who thought they could throw on a pair of vibrams and instantly be a superstar without and time to adjust, correct their technique, and adapt to the use of different muscles.
http://www.valleyrunningclub.org/