I was watching a video of Peter Reid running about three weeks ago in a triathlon race tape. He looks relaxed in running, he doesn’t cock back that elbow way back there, nor to the inside and back like some of you “Delt Killers” do. The arm swing is minimal. The elbow swing is almost lateral. Its almost slightly crossing but it doesn’t cross midline.
He’s like a machine, if you watch him run. Everything basically from the waist up is straight up and still.
Isn’t the trend now to reduce arm swing to save energy especially in halfs and marathon distances. Driving back my elbow wears my arms out, even if you time it with your legs.
Reid is a GREAT runner from a technical aspect. Arm swing really does nothing except for sprinters. If you look at Peter, he runs a lot like some of the really exceptional distance guys – Haile GS as the most notable. Speed is obviously lower, but his technique is pretty close to flawless.
Although I am no Peter Reid, let alone a super elite runner…I do have pretty damn good form…more than a few times I have had people comment that I make running 15:xx 5ks or sub 3:00 marathons look like I am just jogging…almost effortless…I have a very quiet upper body movement…
I say this not to brag, but to comment on how hard it is to teach someone else to run this way…I have spent considerable time over the last 20 years of running and racing thinking and communicating about running form to other people…most of them having been Marines around me who are looking to improve their physical fitness test scores, but certainly other multisporters as well…But the Marines I have led represent a much more captive audience…I have their nearly undivided physical training attention for extended periods of time…
I can say it takes an incredible amount of effort to retrain someone’s running form…most have fallen into whatever their current form over years and years…It feels “natural” to them, regardless of how unnatural it looks or how inefficient it is…You can’t “unlearn” them in a weekend seminar…you might be able to show them a different way…but without consistent observation and execution over a considerable amount of time. I’d put forth a VERY UN-SCIENTIFIC timeframe of 1-2 years of disciplined effort before someone has fully assimilated whatever corrections to their running form…
And there is also the other piece of the pie that there are some “inefficiencies” that are best left alone…you cannot necessarily say that someone’s bad-LOOKING form is making them slow…one of the fastest guys I know personally (sub 30:00 10k in his younger years) has horrendous upper body form…his right arm swings like a sledge-hammer out and across his body…it LOOKS terrible…but obviously it isn’t slowing him down…so you have to beware of trying to “fix” someone’s running form…remember…everyone’s body is slightly different in form and function.
I think most people come pretty close to their best running form by running often and raising volume to reasonable levels over a few years…you will tend to shed most energy robbing sloppiness when you are running 6-7 times per week, with a long run of 15 miles or more… this kind of running makes demands on your form that 20-25 miles per week simply can’t produce…anyone can “power” through 3-4 3 milers and a 5 miler per week…no matter what form and speed…its when you are really tired and closing out 50+ miles per week (consistently over time…not some “special” 50 mile “super week”) that you will find that you are somehow not working so hard to go as fast as you once did (I’m speaking beyond actual physiological fitness improvements here)
Trust me…build up to consistent 50+ mile weeks and you WILL become more or less a running “machine”…no matter what your current form and speed are.
There are all kinds of fancy theories, elaborate workout programs, target zones, thresholds, special intervals and on and on about what to do to improve running. However, there is perhaps no greater cause-and-effect protocol, from what I have seen, than simply increaseing ones running frequency if the goal is to dramatically increase ones running performance. This is particularly so for the weaker runner or someone who has been running less than 2 - 3 years. It’s not terrible fancy. It’s not very complicated. It’s not very sexy. But . . it works. Perhaps it’s the simplicity of it all that confuses people!
Take 4 -6 months. commit to running a minimum 5 - 6 days a week for that period. Build the overall weekly volume slowly and I gauratee that someone will be running faster at the end of that period. Plus, that running fitness will not go away quickly. It will stay with you for a LONG time.