As with everything we do in the endurance world, there is a required set of skills needed to practice the appropriate technique for our sport. This includes not just running and biking, but INCLUDES RUNNING. I have recently had the privelage of working with athletes who have been runners for a long time as well as new endurance athletes who are coming into the world of running to learn how to run biomechanically efficently.
Here are some things to think about when thinking about looking into running as a sport. Please bear in mind this comes from a coach who works mostly on running effieciency with his athletes and then adds speed to efficient running form.
Take this excerpt from "The Science of Running" A blog on truly, the science of running:
"Now I know a lot of distance coaches will say things like "oh with more training it will fix it self" or runners form is natural and shouldn't be changed. I think these are just excuses given because it's hard to change form and takes a ton of knowledge and work. And as for runners mechanics are natural. Well that's true to a sense, but as we grow up other outside forces influence it and change it for the worse. You don't hear pitching coaches say that arm mechanics are entirely natural and they won't mess with anyones arm do you? Also, try this experiment, go film a really young kid , look how he runs he'll run pretty good although probably with too much of a forward lean. Watch as he grows. His form (if he's american) will probably get worse as he sees old joggers slamming their heel into the ground or the bad mechanics of some baseball player running to first. Add that with the addition of our shoes with our high heels and you get a big change in that natural running form. Of course this is a long experiment. So you'll have to take my word for it. I have video of my sister running when she was young (she's 10 yrs younger than me). She runs pretty much correctly, getting her feet down underneath her. Kids run right before they get an outside influence."
OK... so what is REALLY going on here? Well, first I have taken a look at a lot of running coaches websites, and can mirror what our author is saying above. Alot of coaches feel they are teaching proper skills, however it takes a great deal of time and skills and drills practices to create the most efficient running form. However, we can look at running in a different light if we look a tthe above statement.
First, realize that 83% of runners are injured at some point in their running careers. What is it about running that creates the injuries? We have TWO movements that create injuries in runners- The stopping motion and the over extension, What this comes down simply is to Running Mechanics.
See the great thing is that shoe developers created the beefed up heel so we could cushion ourselves from the "Slamming" of our feet on the pavement. However, if you truly look at the mechanics of this, it creates a stopping motion every time we heel strike. In part because we also overextend off the rear in order to compensate for the stopping motion we are creating. I'll use Josh as an example in the video above. Josh is my roommate so I can pick on him a little bit.
Josh in the picture above on run 1 you can see is hitting out in front of him with his feet extremely dorsi-flexed. What this will create long term is the stopping motion as well as a continual breakdown of the muscles of the shin (tibialis Anterior and Posterior, and possibly some of the Talus longus and other smaller intrinisc muscles of the shin) which could possible create the potential "Shin Splint" as well as potential Hamstring injury with the overextension on the back side of the running mechanics. Here are some other things to look for in Josh's running form:
Taken From www.posetech.com:
A descriptive analysis of a bad running form was mostly popular among coaches and was related to some visible details of movement such as
- Excessive muscular efforts and tension
- Out of proportion movement produced by arms and legs
- Over striding (legs movement too far forward)
- Over kicking (legs too much behind)
- Feet position on the ground deviated from the straight line
- Arms moving across saggital plan of the body
- Clinched fists and tense face
- Too much up & down vertical body oscillation
- Slow rate of step cadence
- Trunk bent forward or backward
- Head position deviated from the vertical
If we look at the second run, we can see a HUGE difference in how he is running. In just one hour of working on drills he has drastically improved where and how he is hitting, going from a heel strike (except for that one stride in which is VERY apparent) to a ball of foot/Heel strike position. His posture is better, arms are tighter, pull off the ground more efficient, more time in the air. He is still reaching out for his stride however and as he practices the skills and drills more and more that will get closer and closer to his GCM (general center of Mass) and become EVEN MORE EFFICIENT!!! This is what it's all about. If you knew you could run the same speed on 10 Heart Beats per minute less wouldn't that improve your time alone??
Email or call us today to set up a running mechanics course for you or your team. We are starting our Marathon Training Program for those who would like to complete any distance of race. email kevin@fresnoendurance.com for details or call (559) 322-4490
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