The Pose stuff is a great teaching and drilling process. I got the video and do some of those drills a few times a week. The technique improvements for me come in when I'm running a bit faster than long-run pace. My long runs are still most comfortable at 8:45 - 9:00 pace. But my tempo and 10k speeds have improved rather dramatically -- about 30 sec/mile.

The drills combined with strides a few times a week are great for your running.

A word of caution -- in real life, nobody runs up on their toes like the drills seem to emphasize. Even Gebrselassie lets his heel hit the ground. You're looking for a quick mid-foot strike.

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I've no experience with POSE, but I have really enjoyed learning running technique from Danny Dreyer. You can find him at:
http://www.chirunning.com

He has boundless insight into the biomechanics of running and teaches a comfortable, relaxed, and quite involved form which takes a bit of time to learn, but is well worth it.

He mostly coaches locally in the SF Bay Area, but I'm sure he will be willing to introduce you to his technique regardless of geography.

Good luck.

I just received the DVD this week. I can't say yet whether it works or not, but it does seem quite well done. Got a little tired of the sound track, however.

Starting in mid-December, there is also a POSE book out now.

I bought the stuff because I heard so many of their customers rave about its effectiveness.

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~~Bob

There's a long thread on this @ Crucible ==> http://www.cruciblefitness.com/...pic.asp?TOPIC_ID=587

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Anyone care to enlighten me on what POSE running is? I've been a runner for 25 years and have coached high school track and cross-country for 10 and have never heard of it? Is it some new acronym for standard As, Bs, and stride work that has been around since the dawn of competitive running?

www.posetech.com

POSE running helped me start running.

my knees are wrecked. totally wrecked. before POSE running knee pain prevented me from running. this technique enabled me to start running and build up some basic stamina and running "form".

here comes the weird bit. now that i have been running for 1-2 years my knee and leg strength has improved and consequnently my running form has changed.

now when runnnng at slow speeds i land (lightly) on my heels (ie NOT POSE form). when i speed up and run faster, i shift to POSE form and land mid-foot.

ps - I'm the furthest thing from an expert runner you are gonna find. just thought my experiences might be helpful. Andy.

there is very little discussion of or interest in POSE in running circles, it seems to be mainly triathletes that are using or talking about it. POSE attempts to inculcate a version of efficient running form via drills. But I think for the vast majority of distance runners, the best way to develop efficiency is by volume and consistency of training. Efficiency in distance running is dependent on the individuals' biomechanics, not on a specific technique. Correlation is not causality: that is, just because most fast distance runners are midfoot strikers does not mean that the midfoot strike is the reason they run fast. It might as easily go the other way - they use a midfoot strike because they run fast. In which case it would probably not be appropriate for slower runners to attempt to use a midfoot strike.

Also note I say midfoot advisedly - I don't believe there are any longdistance runners on a hard surface (road) that use a forefoot strike, because it would cripple them. Remember how Gebreselassie had to retire from the Atlanta Olympics after the hard sprinter's track had ravaged his Achilles during the 10000 ?

I think rather than focusing on the POSE drills, a better approach might be to think about overstriding. Overstriding will result in a heel strike and a considerable braking effect on each stride. The idea is to minimize the time spent in the heel strike, not to eliminate it. Try to maintain a high cadence, and use the offseason for a running focus. Run five or more days a week, two-a-days are probably a good idea if possible. Low low intensity will help prevent injury.

Remember that unlike swimming and cycling, running is not a technique sport. In distance running, a wide variety of running styles have been successful: Zatopek looked like hell, but was unbeatable in his day.

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

cookie wrote: "now when runnnng at slow speeds i land (lightly) on my heels (ie NOT POSE form). when i speed up and run faster, i shift to POSE form and land mid-foot. "

My experience exactly. There is a thread at crucible (that Khai pointed to) that makes this same point.

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Doug, you're exactly right. Over time (and many miles) a person's body finds its most efficient form--and that's going to be different for everybody.

I always marvel at those runners who look like human washing machines (thrashing every which way), yet they're fast as hell.

Doug-I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, because if I knew the answer I wouldn't have started the post in the first place...but I'm just not sure I buy your statement that running is not a technique sport. Why not? There are people that don't have great swimming form, and swimming numerous miles will make them somewhat faster, but they are never as fast as they would be if they took the time to focus and learn good technique. It's obviously magnified in swimming because inefficiency shows up so much more in water, but I have to believe that in running there are ways to improve efficiency besides just running thousands of miles. If I run thousands of miles with bad form am I not just imprinting that bad form?

I'm not saying that Pose or any particular answer is the right way for everyone, but there must be things that one can do to improve running technique besides just logging miles.

Doug-

Doesn't it actually make sense that triathletes would be the first to embrace a new technique like "POSE". Triathletes all tend to be tech heads that love to try new equipment and techniques (read: aerobars, tri-geometry, TI, periodization, etc..). Runners as a breed are fairly slow to try new things. I ran for years in HS, college, and afterwards and basically trained the same way that I was taught in the early 80's while in HS (each week= 1 LSD run, 1 fast tempo\track run, and 3-4 AT runs). It wasn't until I became a triathlete that I discovered that going fast 5 days a week wasn't necessarily a good thing. In the three years that I have been doing tris (and using POSE, periodization, etc) my performance has really been revitalised. At the age of 38, I am running times that are comparable to what I was running in my late 20s ( high 18's for 5k, mid 30's for 10K). I don't propose that my perforance improvement is only because of using the POSE method, but it certainly has contributed.

David

p.s. I definitely agree with your midfoot strike comment

while it may not be a technique sport for those who were coached in high school track and cross-country teams. for the rest of us who just bought some shoes and start plodding along. I believe it most definitely is a technique sport. I was very skeptical of POSE, et al. but started watching the races on TV (love my TIVO) and noticing that all the front runners run with a similar style.

I am now convinced that a heel strike is almost always analogous to "putting on the brakes", and that the modern running shoe is responsible for heel striking. Spend some time barefoot and you'll realize that if you didn't have that very large artificial pad on your heel, you'd never choose to land that way. The body was made to run differently.

Until I learned that I was very slow. running fast was about being tense and straining. Now I effortlessly cruise at speeds that I once though impossible. Sounds like technique to me.