Reforming my Form

Yesterday morning, I went to see the physical therapist (Jeff Waldberg) who had given our Team a presentation on injury prevention. I decided that it makes more sense to learn proper running form now, while I'm achy but before I am seriously injured, than after the fact. So, after the preliminaries (intake, medical history, areas of concern, etc), he videotaped me running on a treadmill for a few minutes.

He was able to play back the video in slow-motion, and stop on certain pictures and show me exactly what I was doing. He had a lot to show me.

1) I was landing heal-first.

This is apparently normal and proper when walking, but when running, is not the best point for absorbing shock. Landing on your heal, Jeff explained, would be akin to jumping off of a 4-foot high surface and landing on your heals. That would hurt. It increases the risk for hurting the knees and hips, among others. Optimally, I should be striking the ground in the middle of my foot, (i.e., not running on my toes either).

2) My take off was too slow and I was bouncing vertically.

Basically, my stride was a bit too long, which was causing the leg on which I was pushing off, to hyper-extend my toes. It did some other things as well, making me generally less efficient, and overcompensating with a more of a bouncing up and down motion. It wasn't extreme, but still, was not optimal.

3) I was doing a few things right.

My cadence and arm swing angles were pretty close to what they should be. It was nice to know. I need to pick up my cadence just minimally, and it will be ideal.

4) I was tilting my body slightly.

I don't know how to describe this without the pictures, but essentially, I was bending a bit at the waste. Jeff said that he has seen people with much more severe tilting (which again, reduces efficiency and places additional strain on muscles), but that correcting it will help me run more efficiently.

These are all of the big points that I can remember off of the top of my head.

So, then he showed me how I should be running, such as where on my feet I should be hitting the ground, and basically how to run with more efficient alignment. I started again on the treadmill at a low speed, implementing his suggestions, and felt the difference at once. As I felt more comfortable, we increased the speed. As a comparison, he had me go back to running how I had been (heal-first), and instantaneously I felt more impact, more effort, and more work from certain muscle groups.

I'm going back next week, as a follow-up to make sure I am able to remember and continue to run with good form.

I am so glad that I was able to do this. I have never really been taught how to run in a way that identified what I was doing. TNT told us generally that we're supposed to not strike on the heal, but I didn't realize that that's what I was doing. And I haven't had anyone take the time to show me how to change it.

I have my 5 mile run on Saturday morning, so I plan to practice this new form then.