The Right Way to Run

Hi, Friends & Fellow Runners:

As infants, we started scampering across the living room floor within days after first delighting our parents by being able to stand upright.  And because the progression came so naturally to us, we find it hard to imagine that the sport of running in which many of us are now engaged actually involves a proper technique that must be learned if we want to become as good as we can be and stay healthy in the process.

The simple truth is that an incorrect running form wastes energy and thus compromises running economy – which is the amount of energy needed (measured in calories expended) to run a given distance at a given pace.  And bottom line, it’s the improvement of running economy, perhaps more than any other result, that is the basic purpose of all training done by a distance runner.

Front and centre among the worst aspects of poor biomechanics, in my opinion, is the tendency of most recreational runners to extend their stride beyond their body’s center of gravity and strike the ground heel-first when they pick up speed.  The problem is, this technique creates a braking effect and thus slows down a runner.  It also increases, jackhammer-like, the force felt by the knees and leg muscles, thereby increasing the risk of injury.

The myth persists that East African runners (primarily Kenyans) win a disproportionate share of their races because they are genetically superior and live and train at high altitude. But aside from the fact that they simply spend more hours running than the rest of the world, a major reason why they consistently win is their near-perfect running form.  For starters, they don’t extend their stride length by more than several inches when they want to run faster.  Instead, they increase their leg turnover.  And most importantly, regardless of their speed, their feet consistently land almost directly beneath their bodies with a nearly flat, forefoot or mid-sole strike that is the best way to run and the key to faster times.  It is also perhaps the single most important safeguard against below-the-waist injuries such as iliotibial band syndrome (knee), piriformis syndrome (glutes), and plantar fasciitis (feet).

Let’s zero in on these ideas more closely.  First, as to the matter of performance – are you old enough to remember the pogo stick?  While riding that thing, if you hit the ground at less than a 90-degree angle, you’d be propelled backward.  The effect is roughly the same, although much more imperceptible, with the heel-first strike while running.

Arguably, it’s not just a coincidence that the decline in North American distance running (vs. the international competition) started at about the time – 1972 -- when the modern athletic shoe was invented by Bill Bowerman, a famous track coach at the University of Oregon, and later introduced into the US and Canada by a fledgling company called Nike.  The construction of that shoe – with its thick, waffle-like bottom and extra padding at the heel – made possible a heel-first landing for the first time in the history of our sport.  This change in mechanics was something that Bowerman may have felt would make distance runners faster.   If he did, he was terribly mistaken, a fact since proven by hundreds of research studies over the years.

Our running icons of the past – Frank Shorter, Steve Prefontaine, Bill Rodgers, et. al. – were all in their heyday during the seventies and all ran with the midsole or forefoot strike.  No one in North America has even approached their stature since then.  And it’s worth noting that the current Canadian woman’s record in the marathon was set by Silvia Ruegger in a time of 2:28:36 at the Houston Marathon in 1985.  To this day, her 28-year old accomplishment remains unmatched by any other Canadian woman – although, sad to say, hundreds of female marathoners from other countries have recorded faster times than Ms. Ruegger in just the past decade. 

Also, consider the matter of injury risk.  Dr. Timothy Noakes, author of the seminal book on our sport called Lore of Running, has discovered that hitting the ground heel-first while running transmits up to 50% more shock to the knee than the forefoot landing.  And it’s a common belief among researchers that the heel strike is a major factor accounting for the rampant injury rate among runners – which, at 70 to 80% per year, is the highest among all sports.

Consequently, as part of any training you may be doing, try to maintain a midsole or forefoot landing as you ratchet up your pace while running.  And remember that this should be part of a total package that includes a shorter stride length and more rapid leg turnover.  If you got on a treadmill and ran as fast as you could for one minute, you’d probably find that your feet struck the treadmill pad about 160 or 170 times.  The optimal number among elite runners is at least 180 foot strikes.  So work on reaching that total, if you would.  You’ll discover that in doing so, you’ll also be helped immeasurably in your efforts to wean yourself away from any problems with a heel-first landing.

Other Elements of an Efficient Running Form

·         Proper posture is one of the keys to good biomechanics.  Here we’re talking about the head held high, with ears aligned directly above squared shoulders.

·         As you run, avoid bending at the waist – something you’ll be prone to do with the onset of fatigue – because it will affect your ability to breathe properly.  Instead, take advantage of gravity by leaning forward slightly in a straight, unbroken line from the Achilles heel to the back of the head.  (This is the essence of the so-called Pose method of running.)

·         Don’t rock side-by-side or bob up and down while running.  This will just waste much of the precious energy you need to perform well.  Except for your arms, your upper body (primarily the head and shoulders) should remain as still as a statue.

·         Before starting a run, hold your arms at right angles at the elbow.  Then, once you begin moving, pump them forward in the direction you’re running, again to take advantage of the pull of gravity.  (Imagine a vertical line at the center of your chest from the neck to waist, and try to keep your hands from crossing that line.)  Finally,  keep your arms between the chest and hip even though you will be tempted to drop them lower as you tire during a long run or race.

·         Develop a breathing pattern that is in sync with your running.  Ideally, your stride-to-breathing ratio should be on the order of 4:1 – that is, the first time your left foot hits the ground, you should be breathing in, the second time it hits the ground, you should be breathing out.  This means that a full circuit of breathing is completed with each four steps of running.  (The correlation between breathing and foot strikes, by the way, is an important part of what has come to be known as Chi running.)

·         Strike the ground lightly and quickly.  Pretend, if you will, that you’re running barefoot on hot coals.

The objective of all this is to reach a point where you feel as if you’re gliding along as you run, not merely pounding the pavement and pushing yourself forward.  When you achieve that objective, you’ll have a real shot at getting “into the zone,” surprising even yourself with your pace and stamina.

Coach Stephen