Hello Everyone!
This is my first blog entry for Patch, although I have written many other blog posts elsewhere. I hope to write about running once or twice a week, and I encourage you to comment on or ask questions about what I write. So here's my 20-second intro:
I'm a long-time competitive runner (since 1978!), and now am also a personal running coach (www.BeTheRunner.com), training adults of all abilities. I'm an assistant track and cross-country coach at Alameda High, too. I have studied fitness, and especially running, more formally over the past couple of years - I now hold a Level 2 coaching certification from USA Track & Field and National Academy of Sports Medicine certifications as a Personal Trainer, Fitness Nutrition Specialist, and Senior Fitness Specialist.
So, what to write about first....
One of my interests is running form, both for new and long-time runners. In my role coaching the newest runners at the high school, I get to work with young runners just learning how to run long distances, and teach them to do it with the most efficiency.
Why is this important?
Running with poor form will often lead to injury, whether minor or major. But even for runners who don't get injured from their poor form, improving it can have dramatic effects on running efficiency and comfort. This means that you can run faster with less effort. Of course, many runners (including some of my clients) have no interest in running faster. But if good form will help you run faster with less effort, you can run the same distance in the same amount of time and feel much better - that is, it just won't take as much of a toll on your body.
Take me, for example. When I started learning more about the nuts and bolts of running form a few years ago, I started experimenting on myself. Could I improve my own form? Would it make a difference?
The answer turned out to be an emphatic "Yes!" A couple of years ago, I would go out for a 5- or 6-mile run, and my normal pace would be around 8:15 per mile. Not bad, although certainly nowhere near an "elite" pace for my age (almost 52). I wasn't experiencing any injuries related to running, so there wasn't really a big incentive to change anything. But I started trying to implement a few things, like better arm mechanics. Most people naturally tend toward carrying their arms instead of swinging them - they should be rotating at the shoulder (as if someone played "pin the tail on the donkey" with each arm) with minimal torso rotation. Arm mechanics are among the easier things to fix because you can see what your arms are doing while you run. Another thing I started playing with was how to stop landing on my heel and instead land in the middle or front half of my foot. This is quite a bit more challenging to correct, but can have significant benefits.
What happened with these changes was downright amazing. All of a sudden, once a few of these things started to click, I would go out for that same 5- or 6-mile run, but my "normal" pace was suddenly 8:00 per mile. Another few months of working on these, and it dropped more. Lately, I can go out and click off five or six miles at a 7:40 pace in my sleep, or I can run at the old 8:15 pace and barely break a sweat. The pace change reflects about a 7% improvement, which, if translated to my usual times for standard race distances like 10k, 12k, or half marathon could mean taking as much as 3, 4, or 7 minutes off my time, even with no improvement in my fitness level or effort. It's weird, actually. I know I am no more fit than I was at any time within the past five years or so, and I'm not doing anything differently in workouts. Plus, I'm older, and no one gets faster from one year to the next once they hit 40 or 45 or so, much less in their early 50s like me. But I am, and there's only one explanation: good running form.
When are you going to give it a try?
