I apologize that my post comes across as elitist, I did a pretty poor job with it. After watching McDougals video I was admittedly perturbed and my post was essentially directed at McDougal himself, which is silly since he will never see it.

I feel it is worth mentioning that the “100 up” is very common in the sport except that it is generally just a drill called “high knees” and it’s compliment is “butt kicks.” If runners new to the sport follow McDougals advice and practice high knees thinking that it is a recipe for mastering running technique they will be disappointed with the results.

There are many people who have written books with great advice, people who have gone from couch potato to elite athlete and who have very valuable information to offer, it is my contention that McDougal is not one of them and that he should stop representing himself as a resource for running advice.

Ken, you are hitting the point, foot strike is more like a side effect of all things that are happening with our body above – a good example is a weakness of our hips. Take a 8 hours overweight office worker and let him run along with Galen Rupp for example. There would be many differances but one very visible – range of motion of a thigh. Why is that? Uncomparable difference in force to weight ratio (plus different stretching). Attach a 3 kg weight to Galen’s knee and his running form wouldn’t be so nice.

I don’t have strong feelings, and it will be somewhat related to speed. I think in general if you want to run faster, then propulsion through hip and knee extension plus plantarflexion of the foot are critical. Knee drive can help in forward propulsion, but for a recreational runner just trying to enjoy a run, approach may differ.
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Thanks for the mention Pete. Ken I agree, getting away from foot-strike only driven thinking is key.

Thanks Denvy!

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The 100 up looks like a helpful training tool for runners who already
understand what it takes to be an efficient runner, it also looks like a
recipe for creating a mass of bad run/joggers. The main mistake most
barefoot runners make is in having a circular motion going on directly
underneath their center of mass, this is inefficient. Elite runners maintain
a circular motion going on behind them, once the leg has come forward
ahead of the center of mass inefficiency starts and a sloppy bouncy
running technique, like that of McDougals, starts.

McDougal needs to let other runners know that he is not a good runner,
and that the advice that he is handing out will only get other runners
to an equally poor level of running. He should also stop with the
barefoot nonsense, I know that statement will not sit well with most of
crowd on this blog, at some point running barefoot is just silly.
Even the great Bikila would have opted for some shoes if they had some
in his size. Most competitive runners can kick their shoes off and beat
the pants of off the 5 fingers crowd, and all competitive runners
recognize that in order to stay injury free, and to be competitive,
shoes with padding are a HUGE benefit. That’s not to say that proper
running technique and mastery is not important, they are essential.

Looks at lot like a typical high-knees drill.