Triathlon Coach Gareth Thomas reviewed my treadmill running videos and offered his comments. First, a bit about Coach Gareth…
Over the years, Gareth Thomas has been coach and advisor to top endurance athletes including World & National Champions in Triathlon, Cycling, Duathlon & Mountain Biking.
Gareth believes that everyone is an athlete and the techniques used to train the finest athletes in the world are equally applicable to the newcomer. Gareth offers the complete solution for athletes of all abilities, from all endurance sports.
Now, onto his comments about my running form…
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key points …
1. arm bend – try shortening your arm bend to about 80 degrees at the elbow – this allows the shoulder/ arm to move faster which will help with….
2. stride rate – 155 is too slow – simply focus on shortening the stride somewhat and aiming initially for 170 strides a minute – when running on the treadmill 1.5% is too steep for normal biomechanics – for you I suggest using a FLAT treadmill – this will allow your legs to turn over faster and also result in a lower Heartrate at the same speed – this might mean that you can increase the speed a little – in effect this is called OVERSPEED training and can really improve stride turnover and bring about quick metabolic changes = you get faster
3. look for a mid foot strike – think about landing lightly
4. heel rise at the back should be higher even at slower speeds – focus on lifting the heels about 10-20 % more at the rear
5. think TALL – you look like you collapse a little to the side at the hip joint as your foot strikes (in the gym do hip adductor and abductor exercises) – think about lifting taller from your waist, slightly pushing the hips forward and up (very slight) – in effect this is like standing still and leaning the whole body forwards about 2-5 degrees FROM THE ANKLE JOINT not hip – this allows you to gather momentum and better allows #3 above to be more natural
hope that helps
Coach Gareth
Gareth Thomas
High Performance Coach
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Great, Carol, nice to see you're getting good advice. I'll look at your video again to compare your style to his notes.
From following your blog I find it fascinating how different the training is today for runners as compared to say 50 years ago. When I was in high school for instance, the coaches actually told us to lengthen our stride and land on our heels for cross-country running. No wonder I blew out my knees after a few years!
Oh yeh, we were not allowed to drink water either! My how times have changed!
Some good comments. Carol, thanks for helping us fellow runners.
Bob
I wanted to put you onto the Body for Life program (www.bodyforlife.com) for weightloss. I never loose weight and I lost 20 pounds last year on this. Eating 6 meals a day was key and I got to the point I had to set an alarm to eat:) Good luck!
I'm relieved to hear that it supposed to be a hard long process to make these changes. Kaizen is my motto.
when trying to improve run form you initially need to separate that goal from the usual training you do. What I mean is, if you try to suddenly lift your heels, increase stride rate and everything else all that is going to happen is that you will feel uncoordinated plus the intensity will go up = higher HR and higher lactate. This is not the desired response. Do try the treadmill on FLAT for the whole run BUT only try to work on a specific part of the technique for 10 seconds of every minute. This allows you to feel the difference and not raise intensity. Do one session a week at the track or indoor track where you just focus on technique drills such as butt kick, high knee lifts, marching, bounding and accelerations - typically do 20-30 meters of each drill then rest. Over time you will feel like the old running style starts to merge with the new skills you've been learning and then running takes on a whole new efficiency.