While we tend to accept that being able to perfect most athletic skills requires investing time into practicing and performing drills, most of us give little thought into how we run. This might be due to the fact that running is a skill we don’t even remember learning, and is an activity we can do passively. The purpose of talking about Good Form Running ( GFR) is to make you conscious of how you run instead of just going through the motion.
For this episode we repurposed the contentment from Coach Randy's fantastic video series on Good Form Running as a way to provide another avenue for you to become familiar with the topic. The ideas and concepts behind Good Form Running will be referenced by your coaches all season.
The aforementioned video series of Good Form Running goes more in depth on the topic and we highly encourage you take the time to check tt out at your convenience. You can find it here.
While we tend to accept that being able to perfect most athletic skills requires investing time into practicing and performing drills, most of us give little thought into how we run. This might be due to the fact that running is a skill we don’t even remember learning, and is an activity we can do passively. The purpose of talking about Good Form Running ( GFR) is to make you conscious of how you run instead of just going through the motion.
For this episode we repurposed the contentment from Coach Randy's fantastic video series on Good Form Running as a way to provide another avenue for you to become familiar with the topic. The ideas and concepts behind Good Form Running will be referenced by your coaches all season.
The aforementioned video series of Good Form Running goes more in depth on the topic and we highly encourage you take the time to check tt out at your convenience. You can find it here.
Welcome to the Chicago Endurance Sports podcast. For this episode, we have repurposed the content from Coach Randy's fantastic video series on Good Form Running. Good Form Running is a topic we like to begin each training season with as a way to lay down some basic concepts and introduce a common language that the coaches can use to help guide participants throughout the season. We hope you find this information valuable.
Anyone can run, but running efficiently takes practice and patience. The purpose of talking about good form running is to make you conscious of how you run instead of just going through the motions. We'll be introducing concepts and practices that can result in you being able to run more effectively and efficiently while at the same time, reducing the chance of injury.
Now, like anything else, learning a new behavior takes time, so everything we discuss we'll be working on all season long and likely as long as you continue to run. Which brings us to the question why learn Good Form Running? You see Good Form Running is a set of principles and practices that help improve running form and proper running mechanics implementing these practices can help to improve your Running Economy. Your Running Economy relates to how efficient you are as a runner.
In addition to the equipment that you use while you're training, your training program in and of itself contributes to good form running, doing the work, following the assigned workouts on your schedule and working with your coaches are all critical pieces to becoming a more efficient runner. Much of poor form can be attributed to muscle weakness and deficiencies and as such your schedule is designed to address a whole spectrum of workouts required to building a strong runners body. Directly related to this as Muscle Maintenance. Now, this includes things like stretching, strength, training, and recovery. You see muscles work in groups and not in isolation, so it's important to maintain an overall strong body and not just focus on select muscle groups. Tight or underdeveloped muscle can cause issues with unrelated muscles due to imbalances.
One way to offset this is through dynamic warmups, which increase muscle temperature, improve range of motion, improve muscle and tendon elasticity and decrease the chance of injuries such as muscles strains. Now dynamic warmups are different from stretching, which is more focused on just lengthening the muscles. Stretching shouldn't really be done until after the body is warmed up and for this reason they're usually done post-workout.
When we talk about Good Form running, we like to think about four main pillars, Posture, Foot Strike, Stride, and Cadence. We'll now we'll be taking a closer look at the four pillars, which will help you to improve your form and become a better, more efficient runner.
While, all four pillars are interconnected, Posture can be considered the foundation of Good Form Running as it impacts all aspects of good form and the performance of your body's mechanics. As we cover each of the aspects that comprise good posture, I encourage you to stand up and follow along with me, familiarizing yourself with what good posture feels like now we'll help you to put it into practice on your later runs.
Good Posture begins with standing tall and relaxed. When you're holding on to unnecessary tension, you divert energy from your core, which holds you up and your legs, which propel you forward. When establishing proper posture it's useful to think from head to toe. Starting from the top of your body, your head should be stacked over your shoulders with your chin pointed up. To avoid expending unnecessary energy keep your face relaxed and your jaw unclenched. In fact, recent study suggests that smiling while you run can decrease tension and improve your running economy. In other words, keep looking up and stay positive. Additionally, the direction of your gaze influences the position of your head as well as that of your upper body. Tilting your head downward causes the shoulders to roll forward putting a strain on the neck and spine to avoid this, keep your eyes looking forward toward the horizon in front of you and not staring at the ground. Focusing on the horizon also allows you to spot and avoid potential hazards or obstacles prior to encountering them.
Continuing down the body, you want your shoulders squared off and relaxed. Over the course of a run many runners tend to slowly shrug their shoulders up or towards their ears. However, shrugged shoulders will inhibit arm swing and create fatigue by keeping the muscles tense. If you've ever finished a run with a pain in your neck or upper back, it's likely that you've been running with unnecessary tension in your shoulders.
As we move further down, your arms should hang at your sides bent in an approximate 45 degree angle. Some new athletes tend to run with what we call dinosaur arms with their hands held high and their elbows bent sharply out in front of the body. But this only strains your arms and shoulders and feels utilize your body's natural momentum. When utilized correctly, your natural arms swing is useful in maintaining balance and helping to propel yourself forward. The trick, however, is making sure that your arms swing isn't so exaggerated that you waste additional energy.
Starting with your arms bent at a 45 degree angle, your hands should move from the hips to your chest without crossing the midline of your torso, where the zipper would lie on the shirt or jacket. If you're ever unsure of how best to make use of your arms during your run, remember this from hip to nip and don't cross the zip.
Continuing to the hands, we want to make sure we're keeping our hands and fingers loose and not balling them up into fists. Clasp your fingers loosely as if you were trying to hold onto a potato chip in your closed hand, if you're squeezing too hard, you're going to crush it. Again just remember, from hip to nip, but don't cross the zip close your hands like you're holding a chip.
Moving on, we continue down to your core, the mid section of the body by pulling your abs inward and tucking your hips you'll find your neutral spine position. A neutral spine refers to the natural alignment of your spine, where all three of the spines curves are in good aligment. It's important to focus on strength and cross training throughout the season to ensure that you're building a strong core in sustaining your good posture.
Now let's talk about our glutes. Engaging or clenching your glutes will automatically bring your pelvis forward and tuck your hips underneath you helping to maintain the neutral spine we previously mentioned. You want to avoid sitting in a bucket which refers to running with your butt sticking far out behind. Sitting in a bucket can be an indicator of muscle weakness, tightness, or fatigue. However, maintaining a strong core will help you to prevent this issue and we'll be showing you ways to strengthen your core throughout the season as maintaining a good alignment of core hips and spine is essential for maximizing your stride.
We finish our head to toe assessment with the legs and the feet. It's beneficial to maintain a soft bend in your knees. As you run to aid and absorbing the impact as your feet repeatedly, strike the ground. Running with your knees, locked places unnecessary strain on your legs and transfers a large amount of force to your hips and lower back.
Finally, as you're running check to see that your toes are pointing forward, not out or inward keeping good posture throughout a run or race is a challenge. As our body fatigues, our posture tends to deteriorate. However, the reset provides a way to quickly bring your body into correct posture by clasping your hands over your head and reaching tall, you'll find your pelvis automatically pulled forward and tucked on your hips, your back straightened and your shoulders and head stacked over your body into alignment. The Reset should become a regular part of your run, and it's something that we'll be practicing regularly during group training. Anytime you feel your form, starting to fail give yourself a Reset to keep yourself running at your most efficient.
Let's do a quick review, as the foundation of good form Posture affects all aspects of your running and because posture has a tendency to deteriorate as we get fatigued, it's a good practice to regularly check your posture throughout your runs. Remember, good posture is all about alignment. Your posture starts with standing tall and relaxed, with your chin up and gazing toward the horizon. Keep your head stacked over your shoulders. Your shoulders down and relaxed. Abs pulled in, your hips tucked, maintain a neutral spine. Keep your knees bent softly and keep your toes pointed forward. As you grow tired during the run, utilize the reset to realign your body and maintain your efficiency.
The second pillar of Good Form Running is Foot Strike. Foot strike also known as footfall is the pillar of Good Form Running most responsible for driving you forward. Foot Strike refers to the part of the running cycle in which your forward moving foot makes contact with the ground. The impact of your foot hitting the ground creates the energy that propels you forward. So it makes sense that improving your foot strike will increase the energy that it generates. In order to maintain proper form your foot should strike the ground directly underneath your body, or slightly ahead of the hips. This will result in your lower leg, forming a 90 degree angle perpendicular to the ground beneath you. Maintaining this form when running will encourage each step to land squarely on your midfoot.
When we talk about the mid foot, we're referring to the area known as the ball of the foot, which tends to be both the widest part of the foot, as well as the section of the foot with the most padding. Having a wide surface area allows for optimal stability when the foot is landing and it assists in maximizing the energy generated when pushing off the ground. Landing on your mid foot tends to be the ideal foot strike for many runners, as it produces less impact force on the body than heel striking, reducing the impact on the knees, hips and back and lessening stress on the hamstrings. While heel striking has long been regarded unfavorably among runners, recent studies and trial suggests that it may not be as detrimental as once thought. While we used to blame heel striking for acting as a braking mechanism studies have shown this isn't always the case. That said, heel striking is much less efficient and puts a greater stress on the skeletal system than landing on your midfoot. Moreover, heel striking is typically indicative of improper stride. When your mid foot strikes the ground beneath your body, it should already be moving in a sweeping motion behind you. You want each strike to be part of a smooth fluid motion that propels you forward. You can think of the foot brushing the ground with each step. As you push off of the ground, you want to make sure you are pushing forward, not upwards to minimize, bouncing and channel your energy into forward momentum.
Remember each Foot Strike exerts an average force of two and a half times your body weight. When your foot strikes the ground without the proper follow-through it creates a pounding effect on the ground that decreases efficiency, halts momentum, and increases the chance of injury. This pounding occurs when there is a pause between the foot strike and the transition of the foot moving backward.
In addition to pounding, you also want to avoid shuffling or scuffing your feet. Shuffling and scuffing are usually the result of not lifting your knees high enough while running. This typically occurs when our posture collapses. In turn a breakdown in posture is often the result of core weakness, fatigue, or muscle tightness. Running is an activity which engages the body as a whole and so small changes for better or worse in one area can greatly impact your form and efficiency. A great way to check if you are pounding or shuffling is to run with your ears. By paying attention and listening to your foot strike you'll often be able to hear if you were pounding or shuffling your feet.
Now that we've covered the importance of Foot Strike, let's take a moment to review. Foot Strike refers to the action of your foot making contact with the ground and pushing you forward. It's also the pillar most responsible for your forward momentum. As you run, it's important to make sure your foot is making contact with the ground beneath your body or slightly in front of your hips, this will help to ensure you're properly employing the mid foot strike. By landing on our mid-foot, the widest and most padded portion of the foot, we ensure stability maximize our forward momentum and mitigate the impactful force on her knees, hips and back. With each step think of your foot, brushing the ground, making each step a smooth fluid action to prevent shuffling and scuffing. Now achieving a proper Foot Strike is closely tied to the other pillars of Good Form Running. And as with all the pillars, improving foot strike will require time and practice.
Let's continue on to the third pillar Stride. When discussing Stride, we referred to the part of the running cycle in which your foot leaves the ground. A proper stride should be short and quick with the majority of the motion occurring behind you. A good Stride begins with proper Foot Strike. As we've discussed in our video on Foot Strike, you want to make sure your foot is landing underneath the body or slightly in front of the hips. After landing your foot should push off the ground and sweep behind you in a quick fluid. The movement of your foot, pushing off the ground and transitioning behind the body should be the primary action of the Stride. As your foot pushes off the ground, your pelvis will rotate to allow the hips and glutes to assist in driving your body forward. This rotation, which should be slight helps to minimize the impact of running and it reduces your body's reliance on the hamstrings. The stride concludes as you bring the foot forward underneath your hips to set up the next foot strike.
A common mistake, especially for newer endurance athletes is overstriding overstriding occurs when you bring your foot forward beyond your center of gravity. When this happens, your body is placed off balance and the priority becomes maintaining stability, as opposed to moving forward. To demonstrate this, go ahead and take a large step forward, creating a wide stance between your feet. Immediately you'll feel some instability as the muscles in your hips and legs engage to maintain balance this repetitive and excessive demand to maintain balance will accelerate fatigue in your muscles and can contribute to lower body injuries such as IT band syndrome. In addition to causing instability, overstriding requires that you pull your body over your center of gravity before pushing off the ground which disrupts momentum and allocates energy away from propelling you forward.
A common indication that you may be overstriding his heel striking. Go ahead and take another wide step forward as your foot lands it's likely your heel will be the first part of your foot to make contact with the ground. Now you'll remember from our discussion on Foot Strike that landing on your heel is much less efficient than landing on your mid foot. If you look at a pair of your running shoes and notice that the heel of your shoe is more worn out than other parts of the sole, it's likely that your heel striking.
In addition to overstriding, another potential issue to keep in mind is under striding. This can occur when your foot strike takes place behind your center of gravity. Under striders tend to shuffle their feet due to their knees not being raised high enough from the ground. The two major contributors to under striding are poor posture and tight muscles. It shouldn't be surprising that these two issues tend to be related. To demonstrate this stand up and bend slightly at the waist, you should notice that it's difficult to lift your knees, but when you straighten out and stand tall, lifting your knee becomes significantly easier. Are you beginning to notice how the pillars of good form running are all dependent on one another? We've seen proper stride relies on the proper Foot Strike and a proper Foot Strike relies on proper Posture.
No discussion of proper Stride is complete without talking about our arms. We talked about how you should hold your arms at your side, bent at a 45 degree angle with your hands and fingers relaxed. With that in mind, let's address your arms as they pertain to Stride. As you run your arms, should mirror your legs, such that your opposite arm and leg are moving in tandem. While arms swing does contribute to propulsion in a minor way, its primary function is to counterbalance the momentum of your legs. In addition to aiding in your balance, arms swing causes your torso to rotate in the opposite direction of your lower body allowing for a more efficient hip extension. This body rotation in turn, lessens the impact of your footstrike. Arm movement should come primarily from the shoulders, not the elbows, and it should be easy and relaxed taking care, not to pass the midline of your chest. If the rotation of your arms and upper body becomes too wildly exaggerated, you'll only create additional fatigue and tension. As always just remember from hip to nip, but don't cross the zip close your hands like you're holding chip.
Now that we fully covered the third pillar of Good Form Running let's review the basics. Stride is the part of the running cycle in which your foot leaves the ground and begins your Foot Strike. Your Stride should be a quick and fluid movement with the majority of the action occurring behind the body. Maintaining a quick smooth stride is more likely to result in striking with your mid- foot and will prevent you from over or under-striding. A relaxed arms swing from the shoulder, acts as a counterbalance for your legs and contributes greatly to generating momentum. As we're learning the four pillars of Good Form Running Posture, Foot Strike, Stride and Cadence are highly connected and a positive change in one of the pillars can immediately result in an improvement of the other three.
Also known as stride rate or leg turnover Cadence is the last of the four pillars of good form running. Cadence refers to how frequently your foot strikes the ground while running. Now Cadence and Stride go hand in hand because of their interdependence. As we've previously discussed, Stride refers to the part of the run cycle in which the foot is off the ground. As such a longer Stride length will inherently result in a lower Cadence. Conversely, achieving a higher Cadence requires a shorter Stride. The best way to maintain proper stride length is to make sure you aren't bringing your foot out too far in front of the body. Instead, it should fall just slightly ahead of the hips, which in turn encourages a mid-foot strike.
When considering proper running Cadence, a metric of 180 foot strikes per minute is a commonly used benchmark though it's best to consider this a target and not to get too hung up on the exact numbers. It's also important to note that your Cadence is independent of your running pace meaning that you can keep a Cadence of 180, whether you're running a six minute mile or a 12 minute mile. A simple way to get an idea of what a Cadence of 180 feels like is to use a metronome or a metronome app on your phone.
After you've queued up your app set the metronome to 180 beats per minute and march in place with your footsteps matching the ticks of the metronome. The proper tempo will sound something like this. You'll notice that in order to keep up with the beat, your steps must be short and quick. This in turn keeps your steps light and will help you maintain a fast foot turnover.
Now that we understand what Cadence is, let's talk about how we can check our Cadence during a run. On many smartwatches can give you a readout of your cadence there's a simple and low tech way to check it as well. Focus on counting every time your right foot strikes the ground over the course of a thirty second period. Next take that total number of steps and multiply it by two in order to account for both your right foot and left foot striking the ground. Then we'll double that resulting number to calculate the total number of steps for a sixty second period. This final total is your cadence of steps per minute.
As with every other aspect of Good Form Running a good Cadence can take time to develop. A good place to begin improving your cadence is by reviewing the other elements of your running form. Poor Posture can inhibit a good Stride and an improper Stride can prevent proper Foot Strike, and as we've learned Stride and Foot Strike intimately tied to achieving a higher Cadence. Remember by using the reset though, and clasping, when your hands overhead and reaching tall, we can quickly bring the body into correct posture and subsequently reset our entire form. Additionally, it's important to note that other aspects of your physicality, such as height may affect your optimal Cadence, while 180 steps per minute is used as a common metric for proper Cadence it's not ubiquitous for all of runners. And it's only meant to serve as a point of reference. Above all else, listen to your body and find what works best for you. Now, in addition to smartwatches and metronomes, there are other resources that can assist with dialing in your cadence. For instance, many popular music streaming services, such as Spotify, provide the ability to build a playlist based on songs with a selected number of beats per minute. Likewise, the ability to set and control a constant speed it makes the treadmill another great tool that helps you work on your cadence. Also based on your location and training season, another great way to speed up your leg turnover is to run on sand or snow as the softer surfaces require you to keep your steps soft and quick in order to prevent your foot from sinking in too deep.
Now that we've covered the importance of proper Cadence, let's review the basics. Cadence, this refers to how frequently the foot strikes the ground. And no matter what pace you run at, you should aim for a Cadence of somewhere between 170 and 180 steps per minute. It's a good practice to regularly conduct a Cadence check throughout your run by maintaining good Posture, Foot Strike, and short, efficient Strides you're likely to see your cadence improve over.
Like any behavior or skill improving your form isn't something that happens overnight. improving and maintaining your running form is a perpetual practice that you'll continue to hone as long as you're running it. Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to perfect each of the Good Form Running pillars at once. Instead, try to make it a habit to devote a little part of every run, to focus on one or two pillars of good form running. By practicing your Posture, Foot Strike, Stride and Cadence, you'll notice your form gradually improving with time, allowing you to run further and faster with reduced effort.
Thank you all for your time and commitment. And on behalf of myself and everyone here at Chicago Endurance Sports, have a great day and happy running.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Chicago Endurance Sports podcast. The topic of Good Form Running is one that constantly evolves as new research and studies become available. If you haven't already seen it, we highly encourage you to find some time to watch the original Good Form Running video series. We'll provide a link in the show notes