I participated last night in a great Runner’s Roundtable Podcast on running form and how it relates to both injury and performance. The show was a sequel to a well-received previous RRT episode on Running Form that we had done last Fall. Other participants last night for Running Form Part II included Steve Magness, currently assistant coach of the elite Oregon Track Club under Alberto Salazar, Ian Adamson of Newton Running, and RRT regulars Mark Ulrich, Craig Macfarlane, and Joe Garland. We covered a lot of ground, touched on shoes quite a bit, and it was an all around great discussion.
To listen, visit the Running Form episode page at: http://runnersroundtablepodcast.blogspot.com/2011/02/rrt-115-running-form-wed-feb-23-8-est.html
To download the episode from iTunes, visit: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/rrt-115-running-form-wed-feb/id287953154?i=91586083
real quick question, i have a friend who wears vans….flat of course
and has never really worn super clunky shoes, and is barefoot a lot at home, would he be alright jumping into minimalist shoes like the NADA that just came out? slowly of course
I’d say probably he would have an easier time if he always wears flat shoes
and barefoot. Caution is always warranted though.
Pete
yea, i didn’t wear flat shoes, but i was barefoot at home, pretty much instantaneously after school
and it did help me
but considering track season has started…should he just go low drop, not flat?
I’d probably go with low drop as running big miles in zero drop can
strain the calves and feet if you don’t transition slowly.
Pete
alright cool, looks like i’m reeling in another minimalist runner :P
Hi Pete,
I think it was you that raised the raised of feet crossing over as a problem, something that I don’t think wasn’t discussed but might be relevant to helping cure the problem is to fix the arm swing so that your arms don’t cross over.
To see how the arm swing can affect the lateral movement of the body run on the spot a foot or two in front of an open door or edge of wall so that you see beyond it – this will give you a parallax cue for how much lateral movement your upper body has. Try running on the spot with the arms swing with the hands moving across to your center line and not how much your head moves side ways in response to this. Then keeping change your arm swing so that the arms going forwards and backwards with no cross over. If you are like me you’ll note practically no lateral movement when running with arms forwards and backwards.
The lateral movement of the upper body will affect what happens with your lower body too, and I believe you’ll be much more likely to cross over with your feet if you body is moving laterally in sync with arm swing. Fixing the arm swing may well help to solve some of the problems with feet crossing over excessively.
Interesting thoughts, I’ll have to back and look at the video of my
wife and check her arms…
Pete
On Sunday, February 27, 2011, Disqus