Hi,
I running and have done one marathon and biking mostly MTB, and will eventually start specific tri training, once i get to live in a part of the world where its available. I’m a heavy, i run slow and I’m a heel striker. - This gives me tired and sometime painful knees, when i take longer runs.
Will it be worthwhile to start getting use to front striking, or should i just live with the running style i have?
Regards
J
In my opinion, and based on my personal experience…Yes it will be worth it. I used to heel sike. Spent one full season shortening my stride and focussing on my strike position and it has paid off.
Getting faster and have not had any injuries.
But don’t change your shoes right away. Keep running in what you are used to until running with a more efficient stride is natural for you. Then, if you want to, try some new shoes.
Switching to a minimalist shoe will likely lead to injury if you do so in connection to your modification of your running style. Don’t believe the hype - the shoe itself will not change your stride, even if the marketers tell us they “promote” a forefoot strike.
I agree with switch to forefoot if you have the patience. I thought I had developed the right muscles after about 3 months, but in actual fact I think it ended up taking about a year. What other animal in nature runs on their heel? None that I can think of. I am so glad I made the change, I am sure you would be to. I now warmup barefoot, have run a couple of halfs in vibrams. I have not experienced any knee or shin problems since switching from heel strike - although that could also be because I was new to running.
“What other animal in nature runs on their heel?”
Dog, horse, cheetah, deer, lion…they all appear to run on their heels like we do. But then of course they all have four legs. Now I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ape run for play or hunting.
The majority of professional runners heel strike too unless they are running the 100.
The problem isn’t heel striking, it’s overstriding
Definitely check out minimal, low-drop shoes if you currently use more substantial ones. And definitely shorten your stride if you tend to overstride. These two things are conducive to forefoot striking. Maybe they will help you transition from a heel strike, or maybe not.
What I would NOT do is consciously try modify your foot strike. The heel strike has been unjustly demonized. There’s no evidence a forefoot/midfoot strike is faster or more efficient for everyone. There’s also no guarantees that you will reduce your injury risk - you may save your knees only to develop foot problems. Finally, and most importantly, you will look silly trying to run on your toes.
Unless your running form has glaring technical flaws (of which there are few), or you have major injury problems due to running, then don’t worry about your form. Most people naturally gravitate towards the most biomechanically efficient form given their unique morphology simply by running more miles and more years. For some people, this includes forefoot striking, for others, heel striking.
The problem isn’t heel striking, it’s overstriding
This.
“What other animal in nature runs on their heel?”
Dog, horse, cheetah, deer, lion…they all appear to run on their heels like we do. But then of course they all have four legs. Now I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ape run for play or hunting.
The majority of professional runners heel strike too unless they are running the 100.
The problem isn’t heel striking, it’s overstriding
Haile Gebreselassie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Q_TIuf_ZI
Other top distance runners who don’t heel strike: Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher, Mo Farah, Meb Keflezighi, …
The Brownlees also run with a mid-foot strike, as does Mirinda Carfrae. There are many, many more.
Also, Usain Bolt doesn’t magically change his stride when he runs the 200m.
However, I agree that overstriding is the main problem. Heel striking is often a sign of bad form, including overstriding, but isn’t necessarily the problem. Having said that, it’s very difficult to overstride if you land on your mid-foot. I think the point here is to let the landing come as a consequence of the stride - fix stride and posture and the landing will come. “Fix” the landing without changing anything else and you’re asking for trouble.
(I’m not going to spend any time on the animals running except that the structure of the foot means that they all run and walk on their toes – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_foot_morphology)
The majority of professional runners heel strike too unless they are running the 100.
No, they don’t. Heel appearing to touch first is not heel striking. Most of them the heel of the shoe does touch first, but that is not heel striking.
The problem isn’t heel striking, it’s overstriding
1/3 isn’t bad.
John
When I was racing in college and after I weighed in the 120s (5’9" male). I had a long, fluid, heel striking stride. It worked for me then, more or less. The less is that I had problems with long runs (over 16-18 miles), and typically was susceptible to tendonitis. After a decade away from the sport, when I started coming back I was heel striking again, but the tendonitis was awful because I weighed about 60 pounds more than I did as a 25 year old. I changed to a forefoot strike based on articles I’d read and it has been great. It requires a different kind of fitness, since the turnover is typically higher and the stride motion and muscle recruitment are different. Take time to make the switch slowly and properly and it should pay off for you, particularly at a heavier weight.
Thank you! Finally someone who gets it.
The majority of professional runners heel strike too unless they are running the 100.
No, they don’t. Heel appearing to touch first is not heel striking. Most of them the heel of the shoe does touch first, but that is not heel striking.
The problem isn’t heel striking, it’s overstriding
1/3 isn’t bad.
John
I’m sorry that I don’t agree with you on that one. Heel touch first is heel striking but not necessarily overstriding.
“What other animal in nature runs on their heel?”
Dog, horse, cheetah, deer, lion…they all appear to run on their heels like we do. But then of course they all have four legs. Now I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ape run for play or hunting.
The majority of professional runners heel strike too unless they are running the 100.
The problem isn’t heel striking, it’s overstriding
Haile Gebreselassie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Q_TIuf_ZI
Other top distance runners who don’t heel strike: Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher, Mo Farah, Meb Keflezighi, …
The Brownlees also run with a mid-foot strike, as does Mirinda Carfrae. There are many, many more.
Also, Usain Bolt doesn’t magically change his stride when he runs the 200m.
However, I agree that overstriding is the main problem. Heel striking is often a sign of bad form, including overstriding, but isn’t necessarily the problem. Having said that, it’s very difficult to overstride if you land on your mid-foot. I think the point here is to let the landing come as a consequence of the stride - fix stride and posture and the landing will come. “Fix” the landing without changing anything else and you’re asking for trouble.
(I’m not going to spend any time on the animals running except that the structure of the foot means that they all run and walk on their toes – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_foot_morphology)
So when I get home tonight and get to view youtube (I can’t at work) you are sure that I’m not going to find a video of any of those people heel-striking?
“What other animal in nature runs on their heel?”
Dog, horse, cheetah, deer, lion…they all appear to run on their heels like we do. But then of course they all have four legs. Now I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ape run for play or hunting.
The majority of professional runners heel strike too unless they are running the 100.
The problem isn’t heel striking, it’s overstriding
Haile Gebreselassie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Q_TIuf_ZI
Other top distance runners who don’t heel strike: Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher, Mo Farah, Meb Keflezighi, …
The Brownlees also run with a mid-foot strike, as does Mirinda Carfrae. There are many, many more.
Also, Usain Bolt doesn’t magically change his stride when he runs the 200m.
However, I agree that overstriding is the main problem. Heel striking is often a sign of bad form, including overstriding, but isn’t necessarily the problem. Having said that, it’s very difficult to overstride if you land on your mid-foot. I think the point here is to let the landing come as a consequence of the stride - fix stride and posture and the landing will come. “Fix” the landing without changing anything else and you’re asking for trouble.
(I’m not going to spend any time on the animals running except that the structure of the foot means that they all run and walk on their toes – http://en.wikipedia.org/...tive_foot_morphology)
So when I get home tonight and get to view youtube (I can’t at work) you are sure that I’m not going to find a video of any of those people heel-striking?
You will according to your interpretation of what heel striking is.
John
“What other animal in nature runs on their heel?”
Dog, horse, cheetah, deer, lion…they all appear to run on their heels like we do. But then of course they all have four legs. Now I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ape run for play or hunting.
The majority of professional runners heel strike too unless they are running the 100.
The problem isn’t heel striking, it’s overstriding
Haile Gebreselassie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Q_TIuf_ZI
Other top distance runners who don’t heel strike: Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher, Mo Farah, Meb Keflezighi, …
The Brownlees also run with a mid-foot strike, as does Mirinda Carfrae. There are many, many more.
Also, Usain Bolt doesn’t magically change his stride when he runs the 200m.
However, I agree that overstriding is the main problem. Heel striking is often a sign of bad form, including overstriding, but isn’t necessarily the problem. Having said that, it’s very difficult to overstride if you land on your mid-foot. I think the point here is to let the landing come as a consequence of the stride - fix stride and posture and the landing will come. “Fix” the landing without changing anything else and you’re asking for trouble.
(I’m not going to spend any time on the animals running except that the structure of the foot means that they all run and walk on their toes – http://en.wikipedia.org/...tive_foot_morphology)
So when I get home tonight and get to view youtube (I can’t at work) you are sure that I’m not going to find a video of any of those people heel-striking?
Seeing your reply to Devlin, you’ll disagree about Meb for sure. The rest I’m pretty sure about. Of course, I can’t speak as to what you’ll see in the video, just what I see in the video.
Rather than go straight to a minimal shoe, you might try a transitional shoe. By transitional, I mean a shoe that has a small heel to toe drop, but is still well-padded.
Two shoes in this category are the Brooks Pure Flow and Saucony Kinvara. These shoes have a 4mm heel to toe drop and more cushioning than a typical minimal shoe, but less than a traditional shoe. This compares with a traditional heel-striking shoe that has 8mm+ of heel to toe drop.
With the traditional shoes, I was getting achilles tendonitis. After every run my achilles would hurt.
I found that when I tried to go straight to a minimal shoe like Vibram Five Fingers, or Newton, or a racing flat, that my feet would get painful - I think a lot of muscles needed for mid-front foot striking were suddenly getting woken up, and complaining. It was a different pain from the achilles pain, but pain all the same.
I’ve been running with the Pure Flow for a couple months now and love them. I’m not getting either kind of pain. Eventually I would like to get to zero drop and less cushioning, but I’m happy doing that in stages.
I have just recently switch from Nike Pegasus (after 5 years) to a Newton: http://www.newtonrunning.com/shop/men-running-shoes/guidance-2010-white-black-sir-isaac-wide which was advertised to me by our local run store as an intro to minimal running. So far I’ve only had 2 weeks worth of lower volume running trying to get used to the drop difference. I already was a mid-foot to forefoot striker so I’m really not changing my form a lot besides maybe shortening my strides a bit. The only thing I’ve noticed that’s noteworthy is after about 30 minutes my arches on my feet begin to feel just a bit of pain. I’m not sure if that’s from the drop of the shoe compared to what I’m used to or not.
Good luck to you!
I’m willing to concede that they are not overstriding and run in such a way that they are not impacting hard with their heel upon landing.
My problem with the term “Heel Striking” is that it is not descriptive enough. There are a lot of people that take it the wrong way and practice stomping instead of just landing their foot under their body and then rolling off.
Definitely check out minimal, low-drop shoes if you currently use more substantial ones. And definitely shorten your stride if you tend to overstride. These two things are conducive to forefoot striking. Maybe they will help you transition from a heel strike, or maybe not.
What I would NOT do is consciously try modify your foot strike. The heel strike has been unjustly demonized. There’s no evidence a forefoot/midfoot strike is faster or more efficient for everyone. There’s also no guarantees that you will reduce your injury risk - you may save your knees only to develop foot problems. Finally, and most importantly, you will look silly trying to run on your toes.
Unless your running form has glaring technical flaws (of which there are few), or you have major injury problems due to running, then don’t worry about your form. Most people naturally gravitate towards the most biomechanically efficient form given their unique morphology simply by running more miles and more years. For some people, this includes forefoot striking, for others, heel striking.
^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^
I jumped on the midfoot/forefoot bandwagon and conscioulsy tried to run with a forefoot strike and the result was sore calves (expected) and shin splints (not expected!). After re-assessing what I was trying to achieve and looking at my running form before I started trying to mess with it more closely, I realised that I wasn;t a heel striker in the first place and actually land on my midfoot which isnt immediately obvious in running shoes as looks like heel lands at the same time. By trying to prance around on my toes I was causing myself problems by overstriding and loading up my shins. I ended up ditching my vibrams (apart from the odd treadmill run) and going back to my relatively chunky Saucony Triumphs and made a conscious effort not to try and land with my forefoot whilst focussing on increasing my cadence…injuries cleared up in no time.
Are you actually a heel striker or do you overstride? If you are landing with your leg straight and foot out in front then trying to do so on your toes will not correct anything and could cause allsorts of other problems with your shins and feet. This is at its most obvious when running downhill as people often extend the foot out rather than maintaining slightly bent knees and proper form Try upping your cadence, with a slight forward lean and landing with your feet under your body and you may find that this takes care of itself and that you actually aren’t heel striking at all.
Dog, horse, cheetah, deer, lion…they all appear to run on their heels like we do.
Remind me not to go to your optician.
I’m glad someone finally called him on that. All those animals must have invisible toes somewhere:)