brusche wrote:

Watching Sanders vs. Lange in Kona really got me thinking about running form and efficiency. You watch the both of them run and you can't help but feel like if Sanders was as smooth as Lange we might have seen a different result.

Two different athletes at different stages on the continuum of terrestrial to aerial runners.
http://volodalen.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Gindre-IJSM-2016-Running-patterns-Biomechanics.pdf


Doesn't mean that Sanders is a lot less efficient than Lange, especially over long distances.

I've had your comment in my mind over the past week or so while running... I can't agree. I wanted to see what your point is - that we have only one stride?

I would say I have upwards of a dozen different strides.The loping pace I'll use in a 5K, the tooling along stride that makes up much of my running, the rock-crawler gear I might use on an Ultra are all distinct and different. Watching the kids at the XC meet last weekend, I noticed the the varsity team mostly in stride together on their warmup run, something I often do when I'm out for a run with a friend - someone is not running 'normal' in that situation. When I'm warming up I've got one stride, another in the middle of long run and in fatigued state, still another. I'm sure a video of me running as a teanager and today would also show some evolution ( more likely devolution...)

Sometimes I'll read an interview with Meb or Crowie or Ryan Hall and try to incorporate one of their ideas like 'drive the knee' or ' pick up your foot with a distinct kick' and I'll run like that for a season or so...perhaps some echo of those tips makes it into other strides. I've also experimented with footstrike to work on forefoot, heel or flat/mid foot strike.

In all those cases I think any outside observer would agree I'm running - but my body mechanics vary a good bit. I'm coming back to this because I'm wondering why you would say people have only one form. Is there research that supports that?

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

No opinion on the "one form" question, but form has been on my mind recently. I had to run indoors last week and can only stand so much treadmill. My Y has a little un-banked 14 laps per mile track around the weights/ cardio equipment. This provides pretty instant feedback. If I do :30 per lap, that is a 7:00 mile. :29 is 6:46, etc. I noticed that when I focused on driving the knee just slightly for a lap I was around a second faster. I'm trying to break 1:30 at a half marathon next weekend (and went 1:30:16 two years ago on the course) so that slight difference could come in handy. I think that will be my go-to cue in the final miles.

I also find that I am pretty consistently a 180 steps-per-minute guy regardless of pace, so my stride length obviously changes depending on what type of run I'm doing. I agree that seeing form from different runs would be interesting.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

My point is that if you do the proper work, your body will fall into the form it needs for whatever pace you’re doing. Meb isn’t thinking of his form all the time, he’s doing strides and all that to optimize his form.

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https://markmcdermott.substack.com

Here’s the single tip the majority of running injuries can be prevented by doing:

If something hurts, even a little, don’t run.

There. Bam. Solved.

But do runners do this? Never. We play games in our heads to figure how to minimize damage while still getting in some mileage. It can work sometimes and it turns out to be nothing... but it’s just not worth it.

So, you're telling me to never run, ever, ever, ever. You see, after numerous injures in my life I'm left with creaky ankles, a bad back. and the biggie is neuropathy in my left leg from a old nerve injury. It's very rare for something not to hurt when I run. Sometimes it goes away after several miles, most times not. Most of the times it's mild, but it's there. If I waited and only ran when I had no pain I'd never run, ever.

Guess then I could sit on my a$$ and get fat and wait for someone to criticize me for not being active.

Yup that's what I've read. Your form gets better the more you run.

Whenever this topic comes up, folks start confusing biomechanics and form. They are different. Biomechanics matter more than form does.

For example, a runner's "form" may look ugly, but biomechanically, they are sound... and the reverse is true.

As far as the research, some of the data

1) The rate of loading matters, folks who "stomp" the ground are typically more susceptible to injury.

2) Form isn't as critical as we once thought it was (cadence, foot strike, etc)

I would say, clinically, I see more folks with injury who try and run with a "forefoot" strike....it usually comes from them getting poor advice previously.

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CB
Physical Therapist/Endurance Coach
http://www.cadencept.net

+1 on that. Lionel Saunders just did the fastest bike run split ever at Kona. To do that and train for it injury free suggests to me he is biomechanically sound.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

This.

Training your core stability, doing fell running and by choosing a variety of surfaces (even cobblestones) you will be effectively strengthening the stabilisation muscles.

Over time, your form will improve. But it takes time. Similar to ingraining the proper swimming technique.