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What is good running technique?

runningtechniquebook.com

41–50 of 57 posts

Re: What is good running technique?

#41
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is "correct form"? and where is all the research demonstrating its success at preventing injury?

You can Google "proper running form" and get a ton of resources. I do think learning good form at a younger age helps, perhaps in a similar way that learning a second language is easier.

My running form improved greatly, and quickly, when I ran barefoot (or wear 5 finger shoes). Doesn't have to be far, could be a few hundred meters as a part of a warmup. If you're overstriding, slamming your forefeet or heels, it'll hurt. When it stops hurting, you're running with good form.

Re: What is good running technique?

#42
post #2

I recently developed 'IT band Syndrome' which made me say goodbye to boring/injury prone running and switch to swimming. Best decision ever. Fuck running. I don't know of single runner who hasn't suffered some kind of injury. Again fuck running.

Have you considered the idea that you may have been injuring yourself due to poor technique?

Humans have been running long distances for a long damn time.

Re: What is good running technique?

#43
post #25
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's ironic that it is IT band syndrome that caused this reaction, since that's by far the easiest running-related "injury" to solve. There is literally one magic-bullet stretch that will solve it completely - allowing you to go from excruciating "am I destroying my knee?" pain to pain-free in a few days or a week. Just a note: even if you don't ever return to running, that tightness in your hips and your IT is not g…

I'm in the exact same situation as parent. Except i skipped to biking. It seems to me that Foam rollers ( or in my case just stretching on a tennis ball) are good for relieving the pain a bit after you've stopped running. But what do you suggest to stop having the pain in the first place ?

The magic stretch is the one where you lie, on your side, on the edge of a bed.

Then, you drape the affected leg (the leg that is on top, not the leg you're lying on) behind you, such that your foot ends up below the level of the bed.

You're basically stretching your hip farther than you could stretch it normally, since you can drape it backwards into empty space.

Play with it a bit, with different angles, etc. This is the stretch that can have you go from debilitating pain (I couldn't even walk properly) to completely asymptomatic.

This is a good stretch for everyone, since even if you don't have "IT band issues", most people have much tighter hip joints than they think, and it affects the health of your knees and back.

Re: What is good running technique?

#44
post #23
post #22

"How should I run" is a question that can only be asked by someone who doesn't run much. That sounds flip and snarky, so let me frame it in a personal way ... Years ago, when I started my martial arts training, I naturally asked a teacher about some details / techniques of a certain kick. He said "do that kick 5000 more times and then ask me that". So I did. And I had no questions to ask about it. That's the beauty o…

This seems like dangerous advice -- the flip side of this auto-correct-by-experience coin is creating entrenched bad habits. As a common example, take posture: "Just stand up and walk around 5000 times and then ask me what correct posture is." Yet the majority of people have problematic posture, both when standing and when sitting, despite a lifetime of practice. While there probably are examples where your martial a…

My personal experience as well. I squatted for years and the secrets of perfect form eluded me. I had anterior pelvic tilt. Certain muscles were tight, others underdeveloped and correcting the issue was very tricky.

The advice may work for people who are generally physically active, as their muscles won't be out of balance from sitting.

Re: What is good running technique?

#45
post #33
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't really see animals running for hours in the wild. They sprint to hunt or survive, then they walk.

Humans tended to hunt animals to exhaustion. The sprinting predators you're talking about stalk in close then sprint to take down their prey; groups of hunter-gatherer humans have instead tended to chase animals a long distance at moderate speed until the animals drop from exhaustion. It makes it easier to take them down, when you consider that humans are not really going to be jumping on the back of a buffalo and bi…

Those were particular humans and the method worked in hot weather. Wolves hunt the same way, wound the animal then exhaust it. I don't think humans used this approach in Europe.

And the reason people need technique bootcamp is they're not physically active anymore. They have muscular imbalances that need direct attention to correct.

Re: What is good running technique?

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you run the same mileage every day every week every year well yeah then you are very unlikely to get injured. But that tells us nothing.

I run at least 5 miles, sometimes 6, 7 8 etc. also varying terrain, indoor, outdoor and so on.

Which, still, doesn't tell us anything. Injury occurrs when you consistently increase your weekly mileage by a considerable margin. Why would you expect injury if you have been running more or less the same every week for years?

Re: What is good running technique?

#47

Is an elliptical a good alternative to running?

If you can stand doing your exercise exclusively on some indoors machine such as the elliptical, then sure. Get that heartrate up.

But I'm afraid the population of people who can do that is rather small. Don't set yourself up for failure, do something you enjoy and better yet, join a group.

Re: What is good running technique?

#48
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't like to run, then just don't do it. No one is asking you for a justification, so don't feel obligated to offer one. That said, after forty years of competitive running at various levels, I can recall one debilitating injury, a stress fracture. Yeah, let's blame that on running and not being a dumbass sophomore in high school who thought 95 miles/week was a ticket to success. But do what suits you as long…

Wow, that's a crazy figure (to me anyway). Have you ever written up your experiences anywhere?

It is a crazy figure for high school kids at least (though far from unheard of). But that was back in the day when our heroes ran ridiculous mileage, too. Problem for me was that my heroes were training for 10K meters or more at an international level, not just hoping to make the state meet in the 2 mile. I wasn't pushed by a coach to do so (my coach probably would have had a cow had he known), it was mid-winter and what the hell else am I going to do in Indiana in December? For the remainder of high school I kept it to 70/week, and much less when competition started.

If you have the time (and that's probably the biggest limiter), 95 miles/week isn't all that uncommon, especially among top runners. Whether one starts to run into massively diminishing returns is another discussion. Even now in my advancing middle age, I'll be trying to crank it up to a peak of 80 miles/week in preparation for a marathon in May (one last shot at a time goal before I get too old). Lots of early mornings and my wife won't see me on Sundays until noon, but doable for a person with a job. But we'll see if my old legs can still handle that, and adjust accordingly if necessary. And I don't plan to win anything; if I have a really good day maybe I can walk away with a free pair of socks.

As for write-ups, meh, there are plenty with more interesting stories than mine (and to directly answer your question: no, never written anything worth reading). I've always been one of those "just shy of greatness" runners. Never quite good enough to qualify for Olympic Trials, pack fill at cross-country nationals, that kind of thing. As I often say, there are two people on the planet that care about my results: my wife and my mother, and I'm not 100% sure about my mother. So I've just never written much down.

Re: What is good running technique?

#49
post #7

POSE method is pretty good for injury avoidance - http://birthdayshoes.com/introduction-to-the-pose-method-of-...

Not necessarily. It has been found that radically changing your running technique quickly alters where the majority of the load on your skeleton occurs, which may lead to injury: http://sportsscientists.com/2007/10/pose-running-reduces-run... The same blog has a whole series of posts on running technique, much of its opinions supported by the scientific studies: http://sportsscientists.com/running/running-physiology/…

> http://sportsscientists.com/running/running-physiology/runni...

Read this. There's a ridiculous amount of pseudo-science, superstition, and hucksterism around running technique. Without becoming a quack myself, all I can say is "be patient and don't make any sudden changes."

Re: What is good running technique?

#50

Is an elliptical a good alternative to running?

If you can stand doing your exercise exclusively on some indoors machine such as the elliptical, then sure. Get that heartrate up. But I'm afraid the population of people who can do that is rather small. Don't set yourself up for failure, do something you enjoy and better yet, join a group.

If you really want to take your elliptical outdoors there's always the ElliptiGo: http://www.elliptigo.com/ I've seen a surprising number of these around Boulder CO.
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