Have had some issues in my ankles for years, mostly PTTD. Been to PT before and again now. Had gait analysis before and again now.
This is the first time a PT suggested that I shorten my stride length (and substantially too). Showed me how my knee is almost locked out (no bend at all) when I strike. This puts all the pressure on my ankles and little on my glutes.
Two weeks in and the pain is definitely getting better in my ankles. I’m not quite up to speed, but assume/hope/been told it will get there in time.
Just wondering anyone’s experience with shortening their stride and how it impacted speed/endurance/race pace? It certainly feels weird not opening up my stride to run fast, but I am hoping that more ground contact and less heel striking stride will help me get faster.
From books: you’re supposed to “open up” the back half of your stride, not the front half. I can imagine that you’re throwing your foot forward well in front of the knee and that is causing the problem. You have a long stride but the initial phase of that long stride achieves nothing but loading the knee. The key is for the foot to go back (and up towards your butt) far enough behind you rather than to be thrown forward in front of you.
Look at elite runners. They run at a cadence very similar to ours. The difference between us and them is their stride length; but it’s not because they throw the foot forward - it’s because their pushoff is immensely strong so that they fly 2 meters ahead at every step in a marathon.
I did successfully increase my run cadence a few years ago at the cost of stride length (probably because it was the fad of the day), getting to 180 steps a minute for a zone 2 run. The result was that I was taking baby steps, finding it difficult to run fast and exerting myself.
P.S. “I don’t know shit about fuck” (Ruth from Ozark)
I don’t want to believe that I have short legs and scoliosis.
That my perception of time is not slowing down with age.
I want to believe that I can run with relaxed (i.e slow) smooth gate.
In reality, I end up running like a wounded geriatric camel.
To avoid this
I do focus on keeping my stride around 180.
The older I get the more frantic that turnover seems.
And my stride is shortening.
But better a short balance hyper stride.
Than the wounded camel.
Thanks for your reply. It absolutely feels like baby steps and I do NOT like it.
Its funny because I was thinking of trying this for training for a while but still opening it up a bit in races. Probably not a great idea after training a certain way for so long, but…
I’ve been up to 188 spm in recent runs with a max of 208 which seems ridiculous. Yet, my ankle is feeling better. (possibly at the expense now of my IT band).
The “truth” probably lies in the middle in terms of stride length from where I was to where I am now.
I’ve done this and my experience was that it only clicked for me when I started doing all of my running in firmer, faster trainers. I was running in squishy training shoes and the shorter stride felt awkward and slow, but since switching to my “race” trainers for all running, it feels way better and I can get the feeling of the forward lean and the fast feet. Since the switch, I’ve set a half-IM run PB, at age 48, so stick with it, it can work.
Good to know. I look forward in a few weeks to getting into my racers and seeing how it goes after a few more weeks of training this way in my squishy shoes.
We had out first Xc practice yesterday and I filmed the kids. It was pretty eye opening (for them) to see how much over striding they were doing.
I’d suggest filming yourself both at normal and at race speeds multiple times over the next 6-12 months.
In my decades of coaching runners and triathletes it seems to take a long time for these changes to fully stick without thinking about it, longer typically in adults who have been running for years/decades.
The other thing I’d suggest is finding the mental cue or cues that works for you. For one of my kids yesterday when I explained it as “lifting the foot under rear then putting it straight down”. Worked great for one kid not for another.
I battled a hamstring injury for years that was the result of over-striding. I had a coach (old timer) tell us to lengthen our stride and take bigger steps so as a result, everyone in the group was an over-strider (and injured). Took me a long time to stop over-striding.
Check out the book “Running Rewired”
Also, there was a training peaks article recently about GCT Ground Contact Time. I think GCT relates directly to high cadence running.
With over striding your shank (lower leg) typically goes out too far in front of your body.
If gliding/skating on ice doesn’t work try something else. When you’re running if your lower leg is going to far forward then you need to fix that so your feet are landing more under you. You can think about a few things. Lifting the knee up/bringing the pushoff foot under your butt then stepping down
What I would also do is look at videos from world class runners on youtube. Slow the speed down to 1/2 speed and look at what they are doing, where their lower leg & foot is in relation to the knee then watch where they push off and how they get their foot to the position where they are about to step onto the ground.
Then I’d also open another window and look at Des Linden running. Especially if you can find side vid of her running 10-12 yr ago
Compare the two. Take notes at how much further her lower leg goes out compared to most other elite runners. Start comparing and contrasting. Then I’d open a 3rd window so you have side by side by side (yes I know they are getting tiny now).
Load up your video of you running. same thing break down their running form and yours. then reverse engineer yourself to better form.
It can be done. You may have to start at just taking barefoot steps in your house so you learn where to land and then progress to marching then to running. Yet, if you do it right, in 4-6mo you can overhaul your running form completely and probably find your running faster for the same effort or even less effort.
your stride is shorterning over time due to lack of flexibility, so you will more than likely put that foot out more forward to heel strike. Stretching has helped me big time, and my run times are coming back to what they were of 10 years ago, with less mileage!
If you look at americas current hot topic running super star, parker valby, she can do a split, did it after setting a national collegiate record of 30:50 in the 10k:
i am also seeing a lot of good runners who took up distance had some steeple chase background
My PT used the cue, like skating/gliding on ice. That doesnt work for me.
It’s also harder to overstride (overstriding means in front of you) when you have good (the right) posture when running. Try to focus on lifting or keeping your sternum as high as possible when running. This ensures you don’t bend at the waist and instead have a slight forward lean from the ankles up.
