Some people think they have near perfect running form and can be found talking about it all the time, while others haven’t even thought about it at all. There is, however, a third group of runners that I like to think I can most closely relate to – those that think about running form and try to do the right thing, but are not quite sure if they are getting it completely right.This third group of runners may read books, magazines, and blogs and think they understand, but without a knowledgeable individual giving an honest assessment they can never be completely sure they are correctly implementing what they have understood from their research. This is where I have found myself for so many years. I am proud of what I do know, but truth be told I have a lot to learn.Kyle O’Day from Continuum Sports is one of those knowledgeable individuals I am talking about and this past Sunday night was our first of the “hands on” sessions in the sold out Running Form Clinic put on by West Stride in Atlanta. What this meant was that my running form was starting to be put to the test so to speak. I was a bit nervous, but excited at the same time to see what I was doing wrong and what I could do better.The evening started with a short run to a nearby track. This was interesting given the busy roads that surround West Stride. I am not used to dealing with that kind of traffic where I run most of the time, and so I was getting a little impatient having to wait for traffic lights.This first session was focused on posture and upper body form including arm and hand placement. This brought back some memories of some techniques I learned while running Cross Country over 20 years ago, techniques that I still use today in my running. We started working on some drills that we will incorporate in later lower body sessions. It is a bit odd seeing adults doing drills. I watch my daughter and her team as they do drills, however as far as adults go, I think too many of them don’t think about drills or chose to ignore them. We are all so busy that we just head out the door and run – only to get upset and wonder why we get injured.Kyle watched us as we ran and worked on what we had been taught. I was happy to be doing exactly what I was taught, but too bad that wasn’t because I have always had perfect form, but rather because I was really good at faking it while being critiqued. :) It was good to hear that encouragement of a job well done, but I am still concerned on getting it right while I am out running on my own. I guess that comes with time and lots of disciplined practice.How would you rate your running form? Which group do you fall in? Do you seek out knowledgeable individuals to help guide you in the right direction? Time to update your feed reader to something that says 26.2 Quest even more - http://feeds.262quest.com/262quest read more..
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Foot Strike
This past month I was given the opportunity to participate in a Running Form Clinic offered by West Stride in cooperation with running form expert Kyle O’Day of Continuum Sports Solutions. I, like most runners, am aware of my form, but I am never absolutely sure if I am doing it right.If you read much about running form you know that a lot of emphasis is put on foot strike and what type of shoe you wear or maybe don’t wear. Too many times people try to fix their form and bent toward injury with shoes or other gadgets instead of seeking professional help with tuning up their form. Many runners don’t even think about form and it’s affect on injury, but rather think of it as a way to speed up and stay fresh instead of the premature fatigue most of us experience. If only I can fix my form I will finally be able to set that new PR, or go that new distance. While correct form will help both speed you up and take you further, the method to fix the form is once again approached wrong – many times with the focus being on shoes and foot strike.If you read my three previous articles on this clinic you have seen how much I learned in the four weeks we met. I previously thought I knew running form pretty well. I taught my daughter what I learned when I was in high school and was proud to watch her run with what I viewed as pretty good form. I rarely questioned if my running form had anything to do with my recent and numerous injuries.The first of the four sessions was a show and tell with videos showing both incorrect and correct form. Kyle also explained what we would be doing in the coming weeks to analyze and fix any running form issues we had.The second session was the first time we took the short run to a local track. We talked a lot about our posture and how it is the basis for good running form. We worked on learning some drills that we would continue to use throughout the entire clinic. The drills helped ready us for the lower body techniques we would be learning later in the clinic, but also was helping us “feel” the posture we were currently working on.The third session started to incorporate some lower body form. Kyle did not let us down when he had previously warned us that lower body form would be much harder to feel, and that most of us would not pick it up as quickly. I was a perfect example of this, and I even served as comic relief for some of the West Stride group that was helping watch and correct us as we worked on what we had been taught.The fourth and final session pulled all the different things we worked on together as a package. We all had the weeks between the sessions to work on our form and practice what we had been taught. This last week gave us the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback on how far we had come. We once again used the drills to drive home the posture and leg action.In addition to what we had already learned, we worked on maintaining form while running hills, as well as changing tempo. The final piece to the puzzle was foot strike. Don’t let me mislead you into thinking we didn’t talk about foot strike often, but this was the first time we actually worked on it. We spent a lot of time talking throughout the four sessions on how foot strike is more of a result of good form, and yet trying to change foot strike will not, in most cases, help with form.Working on this foot strike at the end gave everyone a good chance to work on their form, and many foot strike problems took care of themselves as the form was corrected. What helped further was when a slight problem was detected with foot strike Kyle could point to the issues with the form that caused it, and it was easy for each runner to understand what needed to be done to further correct the foot strike.When it was my turn to have my foot strike analyzed I intentionally didn’t think about anything and tried to run as I did normally. I wanted to see what my foot strike looked like without any correc read more..
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Upper Body-Body Form
The second week of the hands on form clinic which Kyle promised to be the more difficult did not disappoint. The first week at the track we worked on upper body form which was pretty easy to pick up on and to feel if you were doing in right or not.True to his word, Kyle did not let us down and give us more easy work. All I can say is that I did not start off looking like a rose, and I am not sure there is even an ugly flower that would be a good comparison with what I looked like.We started off the evening with drills and everyone was given the time to once again get comfortable with what would be the stepping stones of the work we had in front of us. Following the warm up Kyle O’Day from Continuum Sports took center stage and demonstrated the lower body form that we would be working on. It looked easy enough while he was demonstrating it, however once we started to attempt to put it to the test things fell apart rather quickly.Not only did I feel really awkward and uncomfortable, I was told later that I looked rather comical as well. I started trying to just replicate the drill, but while running. I ended up looking more like a soldier trying to march his was through a local 5k. The first pass brought the critique that I wasn’t getting my knees high enough. I now am thinking they were just trying to make me look even more foolish so they could point and talk about me the rest of the evening….. not that they would ever admit to it!After a couple more passes I finally straightened up like I was supposed to and I started to finally feel it. Each time I ran for the rest of the clinic I was hitting it. It is not so bad to run with good form if you can be correctly instructed and coached to the point that you can then feel it for yourself.While I was at the West Stride Running Form Clinic it was easy to stay in good form, however I have not had the same luck throughout the rest of my runs this week. I tried to pull it into my trail run on Monday morning, but only felt awkward so I am not sure I was doing it right. This will take much more practice to where I can at will get into the correct running form and eventually train my muscles to where I just naturally fall into stride.The lower body form was much harder to feel at first, and is proving the same as I try to get that feeling once again while I am running on my own. We have one more session in that I am sure we will once again go over each piece we have learned so far. I am looking forward to getting some more instruction and seeing how everything comes together. Time to update your feed reader to something that says 26.2 Quest even more - http://feeds.262quest.com/262quest read more..