Running Technique
Contents
- Introduction
- Analysis
- Body
- Legs
- Arms
- Breathing
- Running Cadence
Introduction
What does good running technique look like? There isn't one simple answer to this question; think Paula Radcliffe or Tim Don, German ironman expert versus the speedy Kenyan track star. However the points in this guide are a good starting point. Hopefully it will encourage you to watching other people run and see how they match up. Think before making changes to your own running technique. Make changes slowly over time and seek advice before making significant changes.
Analysis
Have a look at the videos of Paul and Tom running. Out of interest Paul is running at 18km/h and Tom at 14 km/h. How many of the points of good running technique can you pick up? Are there any points that could be improved? Consider the following components:
Body
Before you being to run, stand tall, look in the direction you want to run and slowly fall forward from your hips until you loose balance. Use this momentum to begin running. Try to maintain the feeling of falling forward, but remember to stand tall and keep your hips forwards, don't allow yourself to bend/pike at the middle.
Head
- Neutral position looking straight ahead, don't look down at your feet.
- Minimise side to side movements of your head; if your head is moving from side to side try to work out why?
- Keep the muscles of the face and neck as relaxed as possible
Shoulder
- Loose, relaxed and square-on to the direction you are running.
- Stand tall, open up your chest and keep your shoulder blades back and down your spine.
Torso
The role of your torso is to keep help keep your body in the correct posture whilst running. It needs to be:
- Strong - to carry / contain your weight in the proper posture without fatiguing
- Resilient - to minimise shock from impact
- Quiet - so as not to induce any unnecessary movements
Hips
- Stand tall and keep your hips forward, don't allow yourself to bend/pike at the middle or lean back as you run.
- Visualise driving your hips forward as you run.
- Work to maintain stability in this region, especially at foot strike. Don't allow your hips to drop down.
- Minimize up/down movement of the hips (bouncing) around foot-strike as you move over your grounded foot. Landing your foot underneath your body will help this as will avoiding ‘pushing off' your supporting leg.
Legs
Upper/Lower Leg
- Focus on the function of your hamstrings and glutes.
- As soon as your foot strikes the floor try to pull your foot off the ground up to your back side using your hamstrings.
- Your quadriceps stabilise your knee at foot strike as you should be landing with your leg slightly bent. Without the quadriceps your knee would continue to bend and you would collapse in a heap!
- Don't try to straighten your leg.
Feet
- Minimize foot contact time with the ground (short propulsive phase)
- Your foot should strike the ground underneath your body
- Strike the ground first with your mid-fore foot. **Avoid heel striking if possible** as this will act as a brake to your momentum.
Arms
For endurance running the main function of the arms is to assist balance and maintain equilibrium. To test this try running with your arms fixed by your sides! Don't waste energy trying to drive them forward as you would whilst sprinting.
Upper/Lower Arm
- Movements should be mainly forward / back with some movement across your body. However avoid "over swing" of the arms resulting in them crossing the mid-line
- Your elbow should be bent, but no greater than 90 degrees.
- Keep all movements as relaxed and natural as possible and linked to those of your upper leg. Avoid excessive movements (pumping) of the arms.
- Focus on the coordination of your arm and leg movements. As your right thigh begins to move forward so should your right arm.
Hands
- Loosely cupped and relaxed.
- Imagine you are holding crisps between your index finger and thumb, trying not to break them.
- Tension in your hands can spread up your arms and into your shoulders effecting efficiency.
Breathing
Extract from Jack Daniels running formula (2nd Edition) P116-117: Breathing Rhythms
Most elite distance runners breathe with what is called a 2:2 rhythm - taking two steps (one with the right, one with the left) while breathing in, and two steps while breathing out. Most good runners take about 180 steps per minute (90 with each foot) so this gives them about 45 breaths per minute. This is an ideal rate because it gives you enough time for a substantial amount of air to be moved in and out of your lungs with each breath.
In the latter stages of an intense middle-distance race, 45 breaths per minute might not be enough. In this case, because you want to maintain some regular rhythm of breathing, the tendency is to shift to about 60 breaths per minute, which means either taking one step while breathing in and two whilst breathing out, or two in and one out.
When you're not breathing particularly hard you might use slower breathing rhythms, such as a 3-3 rhythm which is often used during easy runs but which becomes stressful at T (threshold) pace or faster. A 4-4 rhythm can also be used but isn't recommended because the depth of breathing consumes energy and the slowness of this rate often does a poor job of clearing CO2 fast enough from the lungs. In an attempt to get more air into their lungs runners often use a 1-1 rhythm to try to increase rate rather than depth of breathing. However 1-1 breathing leads to a very shallow breathing (more like panting) and isn't an efficient way to ventilate the lungs. I don't recommend a 1-1 pattern of breathing.
Actually a runner can use different breathing rates in different ways, an important example being during a warm-up. Start your warm-up with a 4-4 rhythm, switch to 3-3 after a few minutes and then to 2-2 for the remainder of the warm-up. This gives you something to focus on when going through an otherwise boring warm-up session.
You can also use you breathing rate to monitor your intensity of effort while running. You should be comfortable with a 3-3 pattern on an easy run, and maybe even a 4-4 pattern, if so desired. However, if a 3-3 doesn't give you enough air on an easy run then it's not an easy run. Slow down to where 3-3 is comfortable.
Knowledge of breathing rhythms can assist you in distance races by helping you to determine how fast to run up and down hills or on rough terrain. If you're trying to maintain a constant intensity while going up and down hills, focus on adjusting your speed so that the 2-2 rhythm feels equally demanding (or comfortable) during all terrain changes. This means slowing down on the rough or up hill terrain and being able to speed up going down hills.
Another time when knowledge of breathing rhythm comes in handy is when you get a side stitch. Usually stitches are aggravated by a fast, shallow rate of breathing; a slower, deeper pattern can aid or eliminate a side stitch. Next time you get one of these sharp pains in your side or gut, try going to a 3-3 breathing rhythm and see if that happens.
About the only time a 1-1 rhythm might not be determined is during the final minute or so of a race. Keeping a 1-1 pattern for longer than a couple of minutes is usually counterproductive. In general, you'll use a 2-2 rhythm in most races, possible switching to 2-1 the last third of the race. In a marathon, 2-2 should work well throughout the race.
Yet another time when knowledge of breathing patterns is of considerable aid is when you're exposed to running at altitude. Let your typical rhythms guide you on easy runs and on T (threshold) runs in particular. If you usually use a 3-3 or 2-2 on these intensities, respectively, then adjust your speed of running at altitude to allow the same degree of discomfort as you normally experience at sea level. This is better than trying to reproduce the same running speed you're used to at sea level.
During all types of training, the same principles apply. A 2-2 breathing rhythm is preferred for most quality training. Although you can use 3-3 on easy runs. I suggest using 2-2 just to be consistent. Further 2-1 might be called for during the latter stages of an interval session in which repeats last several minutes each. It shouldn't be necessary to rely on a 2-1 rhythm during T-pace or R-pace work; in fact, the ability to avoid this faster pattern can be used to keep you from going too fast at times, particularly on a tempo runs.
Running Cadence
Extract from Jack Daniels running formula (2nd Edition) P93-94: Stride Rate: A step in the right direction
One of the first things I teach new runners is some basics about running cadence, or stride rate. Almost all elite distance runners (both men and women) tend to stride at about the same rate: 180 or more steps per minute. This means that they're taking 90 or more steps with each foot each minute, a rate that doesn't vary much even when they're not running fast. The main change that occurs as runners go faster is in stride length; the faster they go, the longer the stride becomes, with little change in rate of leg turnover.
The stride rate many beginner runners take is quite different from that of elite runners. When I have new runners count their own stride rates, I find that very few (sometimes none in a group) take as many as 180 steps per minute. In fact, some turn over as slowly as 160 times per minute. The main advantage of this slower turnover is that the slower you take steps, the longer you spend in the air, and the longer you're in the air, the higher you displace your body mass and the harder you hit the ground on landing. When you consider that many running injuries are the result of landing shock, it's not surprising that experienced runners tend to turn over faster than beginner runners do.
If a group of beginners were required to start running 100 miles a week, two things would probably occur: Many runners would hurt themselves and many who didn't get hurt would adjust to taking quicker, lighter steps. I try to save runners a lot of grief by encouraging them to convert to a stride rate associated with less landing shock and more efficient use of energy.
Several studies have been conducted on the energy demands of different stride frequencies, and it turns out that experienced runners are most efficient at their chosen rate of turnover; longer or shorter strides (which mean slower or faster stride rates) result in greater energy demands. However when working with less experienced runners, running economy can often be improved by converting slow-turnover runners into runners who use a faster rate.
My wife and I spent most of our time at the 1984 Olympics counting and measuring stride rates and stride lengths of male and female runners competing in distance events from 800 metres up to the marathon. The results were convincing - the faster turnover rates were among the 800-metre specialists, and next fastest were the 1500m runners, but from the 3000-metres distance on up to the marathon there was little variation in turnover rate. In fact the women took only a few steps more per minute than did the larger men, who were often running considerably faster as a result of longer stride length.
Next time you watch a marathon race on television, count how many times the right arm of one of the runner's swings forward in 20 or 30 s. Use the recorded number to calculate a one-minute rate (of course you're accepting the probability that the runner is swinging his or her arm as often as he or she is taking steps). Try counting steps of the same runner at various stages of the race. Chances are good that strong runners won't lose the cadence they began with. We often talk about getting into a good running rhythm and the one you want to get into is one that involves 180 or more steps per minute.
If you count your own stride rate and find it's considerably slower than what I'm suggesting, try to work on a shorter, lighter stride. Imagine that you're running over a field of raw eggs and you don't want to break any of them - run over the ground not into it. Try to get the feeling that your legs are part of a wheel that just rolls along not two pong sticks that bounce along.
If you feel that you need practice improving your stride rate, focus on this during easy runs. Rate usually goes up for slower-turnover people when they race shorter distances, so you may not need to think about it during faster quality training. When practicing turning over faster on easy training runs, don't let the fact that you're taking quicker steps force you to run faster. Try to run at your normal training speed, but do it with a shorter, quicker stride rate. With practice, you'll find it becomes quite natural and comfortable.