Recently I was able to attend a Good Form Running clinic put on at my favorite local running store, Tortoise and Hare Sports. I learned so much (like I still heel strike, my arm swing is a little wonky, and my cadence is way slow) and hope that the tips I brought home will help improve my running!
Wondering what a Good Form Running Clinic is? It is a clinic that covers some basics of running form that will help you run more efficiently, and more important, reduce injuries. It covers four main ideas; cadence, lean, posture, and strike.
We started out in the shop, and watched a video that showed some high level, competitive runners so we could see good form (and not good form) in action. After that, it was outside to learn and work on a few drills to help us identify where we can improve. Christine was great, and she video’d us as we run a simply down and back – while we counted the number of times our right foot hit the ground. Afterwards, she had us do math (yes… there was math) to determine our cadence. I think mine was about 140. Good Form calls for a 180 cadence.
We progressed on to talking about the other 3 factors, and most importantly how they can all be interconnected. We did drills to help with posture (and I figured out why the small of my back hurts after long runs – I tend to let my hips flare back), lean, and getting that mid-foot strike!
Once we finished up the drills and tried to put it all together, we were able to head back into the shop to watch the video of each of us running. They broke down each of our technique – I learned I have a tendency to swing my arms across my body a little too much and have the dreaded heel strike.
The best part was the time for questions and answers. We were able to talk about goals (sub 2:30 half marathon time for me) and gear. Plus what they would recommend as the most important thing to work on (Christine’s answer was cadence in case you are wondering) I am currently listening to a metronome to get that 180 beat per minute cadence burned into my head.
I can’t recommend a Good Form Running clinic enough. Check with your local running stores, I am sure there is one that holds them! My next step will be checking out their Good Form Running Clinic 2 – that has much more time devoted to practice and drills!
Renata on
I go barefoot quite a bit, so after 2 weeks of just going erweyrheve barefoot I tried it out for real. I had run in grass before, but that isn’t firm enough to really stress those muscles in your feet and in your lower legs. I ran on the sidewalk and did a mile without even breathing hard. My body told me my feet and legs were done, but after a couple days of healing I’m back at it and running even further. I recommend the couple weeks to just get some callus though. At first I couldn’t run on the actual road, but now I run on it like it’s nothing.