I am interested in improving my running form. I know that my bad running techniques and habits have contributed to my injuries and they have also prevented me from making significant improvements in my race times. In addition to doing long runs and speed work, I think it is worthwhile to do a workout that focuses on running form. I’m not sure how that workout would look like… maybe drills or video analysis. I know there were some recent talks about videoing. Did anything come out of that?

Since you can’t see yourself when you’re running, I think doing this in a group would be beneficial. Often times when I see my pictures from Brightroom, I’m like – Wtf?! That’s how I look when I run?!

Has anyone tried Pose or Chi Running and seen improvements? Rich, Matt, what do you think about having a regular workout that focuses on form? Is there anybody who can lead such a workout? I feel that I’m not the only one who would like to try this out. Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Good idea Paul. I think Scott does some form drills at the beginning of his shorter distance workouts on Thursdays so it might be a good idea to expand that to everyone's workouts on Thursdays if people want. Also, I forgot to bring the Flip cams last week, but I will surely try to remember to tomorrow.

A couple of tips from personal experience, my own opinion, and a bit of research:

-   First, in my opinion, everyone has their own form and trying to change it too much can actually cause more injuries. To some extent, your body's natural gait may be the most efficient for you. I think a key is to keep your back straight (in the movie Without Limits about Steve Prefontaine, Bill Bowerman says you should be almost in “midthrust”, if you know what he means, when you run) and try to strike midfoot (not too much on your heels).  I run a certain number of miles/week barefoot to teach my body to strike less on my heel.  Here’s a good little article by Hal Higdon:  http://www.runnerswor... and another:  http://www.runnerswor...

-   I’ve always been told (and think it’s true), that the most efficient number of strides per minute is around 180 (90 with each foot) so try counting sometime when you are on a run.  This shouldn’t really change much with the pace you are running.  If you have more strides, you are understriding and if you have fewer, you are overstriding.  Here’s an article on strides:  http://www.runnerswor...

- Runnersworld says one thing you can do to make your stride more efficient is to do strides after every run.  I don’t do these enough, but I think it’s definitely a good idea.  Strides are basically just accelerations for 60 to 100 meters.  Just doing speedwork can also help your form as your body should force you to run most efficiently when you are going at higher speeds.

- Also, the drills I’ve seen Scott do are good (I used to do them in high school).  Here’s an article on some of them:  http://www.runnerswor...

- Also, just strengthening your core could help.  Patricia is doing some ab workouts with us each Thursday run and they should help with form as well (basically – coming Thursdays should help your form, as well as make you faster)!

Hey Matt,

I think form and injury prevention is on everyone's mind (myself included). We should try and put something official together between sharing our personal knowledge and seeking out professionals who know what their talking about. Interestingly enough, the tips you gave Paul are pretty much what "Chi Running" talks about. I'll get the CD and book back from my friend and make copies for you guys to see if it makes sense.

That'd be awesome. I just looked at the nyrr site and they had a lecture about injury prevention in June. I'll keep an eye out for similar things. If someone would like to take the lead to see if they can organize our own lecture series, that would be great and I could help. I think getting a speaker may require some money, but it'd be great to see what we can come up with on our own or tag along on a nyrr or niketown lecture.

Another short term solution is to talk to Jenny (my wife) or her cousin, who are both physical therapists. Jenny works with children so doesn't see any running injuries, but she can still diagnose most problems. Her cousin Sandy has a lot of experience with adults. Jenny will be volunteering at the track meet on the 29th so if anyone is injured, you can talk to her then.

Also, the great thing about running is that a lot of people do it and the injuries are relatively common (with a few less common ones thrown in, I'm sure). There are a ton of articles and blogs out there about shin splints, stress fractures, ITB injuries, and piriformis syndrome. I've started a section in the message boards for injuries and will try to post some links, but anyone else is free to do so as well. Also, Joe wrote a great post about his experience with shin splints.

following on some of matt's basic thoughts, these are the things I picked up as I transitioned from heel-strike to forefoot-strike over the last half year:

+ shoulders up, but hanging loose and away from the ears
+ when talking about midthrust, think about running with your bellybutton leading you (speaks to the importance of core)
+ a combination of higher cadence and faster turnover leads to naturally shorter strides, and makes landing on mid- or fore-foot more natural, instead of trying to reach out with a big huge stride and landing on your heels (think of the "Keep on Truckin" cartoon from the 60s)
+ just try to be light on your feet and also use your arms and upper body with as much rhythm as you use your lower body

of course during this process, I also had a false-negative stress fracture on the top of my left foot, and am just recovering successfully from some achilles tendinitis which leads to the second and most important part of all this: like matt said, it's about individuals and their form but it's also about realizing that you are making some real changes in your body, and you should adjust your workouts accordingly as if you are learning how to run all over again. You are going to be using new muscles, moving your soft tissues differently for the first time so don't expect the same mileage or speed; in fact, rein in your performance and expectations until your body naturally catches up to your adjustments.

There was another Message Board topic that got into this I thought and we were maybe going to have someone bring a Flip (or something similar) to a track workout... Might that still happen? The Brightroom photos only show so much...

Hey Megan, I'm going to bring the two I have tomorrow if I can find them. I totally forgot last week.

Thanks everyone for their ideas and suggestions. I will definitely look into all the links above and also try my best to make it out to the Thursday workouts. I am still unsure how the midthrust should look like so I'll ask you guys next time I see you. So much work just to look decent for Brightroom... :)

Haha - midthrust! Use your imagination!

Just kidding. Basically, you don't want to be leaning forward...you want to be more upright.