running form ?

[alpinerabbit]

In skipping, how do you prevent landing very hard - something my shins seem to dislike currently?

[Wahine]

...to increase your speed beyond a certain point, you will have to increase BOTH cadence and stride length -- this is because you can't endlessly increase your cadence, and so you will have to pick up the difference by playing with the other limiting factor to speed...

In fact, in Chi Running, once you find your sweet spot/cadence, you should learn to maintain it at all speeds. Even slow running. The change really does come from pushing out the back and swinging the leg through faster with more hip and knee flexion. Elite runners have a cadence of around 88 to 92.

So while we're on the subject, what else helps with either running or running stride? Are weights beneficial? What types of stretching is best?

The best type of warm-up includes dynamic activity that helps to stretch slightly while working on your own personal running faults. If you're a heel striker, marching is good with a focus on high knees and appropriate foot strike, then moving to skipping, then moving to bounding skipping where the focus is the slight forward lean of the body with the push coming out the back. Sustained stretches of tight muscles AFTER running (not before) is also helpful. Strengthening exercises are useful but that's getting really specific and what I would ask one athlete to do I may not ask of another, so I'm ot going there. If you're asking if using weight vests during running is helpful, I personally think it's rediculous.

In skipping, how do you prevent landing very hard - something my shins seem to dislike currently?

Start by just doing fast heel lifts with both feet on the ground. If that doesn't hurt, do it with one leg. If that doesn't hurt you can move to small skipping. The key to any of these is to work on rhythm, starting with slower movement and increasing quickness and foot position under the pelvis. It helps a lot to do it on a softer surface like grass.

[OakLeaf]

As a totally non-serious runner but a formerly serious cyclist, I wasn't completely surprised when I first timed my natural running cadence and found that it's right at 90-95. A little higher than Chi Running recommends, but it's what my legs were used to from cycling. You may find the same.

Wahine, what type of warmup would you recommend for a forefoot striker?

[Wahine]

Regardless of what type of foot strike you have a dynamic warm up that focuses on rhythmic motion through range is a very good idea. Best done on a flat grassy area. You can do the following things for about 50 to 100 feet each:

Heel walk with knee locked, ball of foot is lifted and curl toes if you can
Toe walk with knees locked
Straight march - lift the knee high and grab the shin gently pulling to chest, try to land on the foot the way you would running and also try to push off the toe in the same way.
Leg cradle march - as above except that you rotate the foot toward the opposite hip turning the thigh and knee outward
Quad pull - walk like the march but instead of pulling the leg to the front you grab onto the ankle and do a motion akin to a quad stretch.
Walking lunges
Skipping - first small and quick then bounding forwards
Sideways running - aka Karaoke

All together this takes about 5 minutes.

Please note that this is not my stuff, I got this from the running course I took with Matt Walsh. I just wanted to give credit where credit was due.

[rocknrollgirl]

I took a running course in November, and they too emphasized smaller strides with faster turnover. They said if you watch the Kenyans run, they are really taking very small strides with either fast or faster turnover. They told us to keep our stride small regardless of whether we were running easy or hard.

[KnottedYet]

I love the Chi Running book. Made a huge difference in my running ability (I'm a big long overstrider) and pretty much got rid of my running pain.

[emily_in_nc]

I bought Chi Running but have not read it yet. I tend to have a short stride, high cadence (maybe from being a cyclist who spins rather than mashes -- or maybe just from being a slow, shuffling new runner!), and I think I do more of a mid-foot strike than a heel strike, though I haven't had a knowledgeable runner watch me, so I couldn't say for sure. On the treadmill I do use 1% incline and find myself running on the front, so if that's an indication, I don't think I'm a heel striker. I might be more so outside, though, with real hills.

One thing I need to do soon is go to a running store and be fitted for shoes. I bought my current running shoes, New Balance 754s, at REI because they were on sale and seemed to fit well (I learned from having black toenail with a previous pair of shoes that I needed to size up a half-size over my street shoes), but I have no idea what would really be the "best" shoes for me. I did have a quickie analysis at a fitness fair at work, and the gentleman (who works at a running shoe shop) said I overpronated with my left foot only, so I've been using a wrap-around arch support on that foot only when I run, and it feels great -- I never even notice it. But really, I need to get new shoes. Just haven't had time, with working overtime, getting ready for a new puppy, and going to the coast this weekend.

JoAnn -- great question, thanks for bringing it up! By the way, I currently only run three times a week and have still been able to improve a lot. I really think at my age (47 next month), it is best for my body to have at least one not-running day between each running day. So I run twice during the week and once on weekends, and lift 2x a week on two of the other days. Cycling will start up very soon now, hopefully 2x a week. Cross-cross training: good; running in cross-training shoes: bad.

Emily