Does "Good" Running Form Make You Run Faster?

For running fans and runners, there is currently a nice Tracksmith video going around featuring *Nick Willis, a 1500m Olympic medalist (silver and bronze). The video is on how he's trying to run a sub-4 minute mile for the 20th consecutive year and how beautiful and smooth his running form looks.

Nothing against Nick Willis, the runner I think who has the best running form belongs to Sebastian Coe (pictured below). If you are old enough to remember Seb, he's the only runner to win back to back Olympic 1500m races (in 1980 and 1984). Also a former world record holder for the 800m, 1000m, 1500m and the mile. My friend Nai Min even named his older boy after Coe.

Seb Coe was much faster in his prime and also finished 2nd in the 800m at the Olympics twice. But Seb never did run 19 consecutive years of sub-4 min miles. 

What made Seb Coe's and Nick Willis' running form look so good is that they make running fast seem easy. So most of us assume that such runners with nice form must take less energy compared to a runner with ungainly and/ or awkward running form.

But the question is, is a nice looking stride (or running style) a fast one? Previous studies have shown that the way you look when you run does not predict how fast or efficient you are.

A new study proposed 2 ways of quantifying running form. Duty factor, which is how long your foot stays on the ground as a fraction of your total stride cycle and a proprietary Voloden scale using 3D motion analysis to quantify how much 'aerial' or float time. The study used 52 trained runners with an average of 1:31 hrs for their half marathon time and they had been runners for 8 years.

Runners with a high duty factor (more time with feet on the ground) tend to land on their heels bend their knees and ankles more and propel themselves forward rather than upward. Runners with a low duty factor tend to land on their mid or forefoot, keep their legs straighter and propel themselves upward. Ditto for the Voloden scale.

Both ways actually do not tell us anything about eficiency. Perhaps, the runners in this study, having run for 8 years have already optimized their running form. It may be possible using artificial intelligence to tell the difference in a more diverse group of runners and non-runners. The authors conclude that there is no link between efficiency and form. 

The researchers also advised that "running coaches should not try to modify the spontaneous running pattern of runners."

Why did the authors bother with the study? I'm still asking myself that question.

Reference

Patoz A, Lussiana T, Breine B et al (2021). There Is No Global Running Pattern More Economic Than Another At Endurance Running Speeds.Int J Sp Physio Perform 10: 1-4. DOI: 10.1123/ijspp.2021-0345.

*For track fans, there is also a nice GQ article on Nick Willis trying to achieve his 20th consecutive year of running a sub-4 minute mile.

And for those of you who remember, Sebastian Coe lost the 800m (despite being the world record holder and favourite to win) at the 1980 Moscow Olympics (pictured below). 

Coe looked untroubled at lap 1 of the race (left of picture above), was desperate near the end of lap 2 (right picture). And still disbelieving at the medal ceremony (inset).  

However, he picked himself up and won the 1500m over the favourite and world record holder Steve Ovett only a few days later.

Almost home - 30m to go

*pictures taken with my iPhone XI Pro from one of my favorite books "The Olympians" by Sebastian Coe with Nicholas Mason

** Nick Willis did it! He clocked 3:59.71 minutes in the the mile at the Millrose Games in New York on 29th January. 20th consececutive year of going under 4 minutes fot the mile. Amazing!

Running Form (And Heel Strike) Of The Tamahumara Indians

Picture from http://www.chrismcdougall.com/

Last week's Sunday Times article discussed whether runners were still in favour of Vibrams. Here's a related topic this week after I chanced upon another article by Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman. He had published a landmark article reviewing whether landing patterns (of Kenyan runners) while running barefoot or running with shoes produced more forces.

Lieberman is now studying the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico's Copper Canyon. The Tarahumara Indians and Copper Canyon where they live form the framework of Chris McDougall's best-selling book Born To Run - the book that launch barefoot and minimalist shoe running.

Lieberman compares the running style of the hurache wearing Tarahumara men/ women who wore huraches (leather or car-tyre soled sandals) with the slightly younger Tarahumara Indians who have grown up wearing mostly western styled shoes. 

Hurache - picture from http://www.chrismcdougall.com/

Both groups of runners did not differ in height, body weight or leg length, although the Western style shoes (WS) Tarahumara were on average eight years younger. 75 % of WS runners landed on their heels while only 30 % of the hurache (HS) shod runners did so. 

HS runners were also less likely to over stride compared to the WS runners, i.e. less likely to have their foot in front of the knee while the foot contacts the ground despite no significant difference between the 2 groups when comparing stride frequency. 

HS runners also had flexed knees and hips while their ankles seemed to point down more. (All these are clues to using the bigger hip muscles and less of the smaller leg muscles while running - my personal opinion and not Lieberman's).

Lieberman also found evidence to suggest that HS runners seemed to have stiffer arches- suggesting they had stronger intrinsic foot muscles which may mean fewer injuries.

Perhaps weary and wary of how runners interpret his research, Lieberman took the effort to say that "there is much more to running form than heel strike type," and "many limitations caution against over-interpreting the results of this study." 

He went on to say that for the majority of us runners (you and I) who grew up wearing conventional shoes rarely run ultramarathons anyway, so his research paper on hurache wearing Tarahumara Indians who mostly avoid heel landing is not justification for anyone to switch to minimal shoes to stop heel striking.

Reference

Liberman DE (2014). Strike Type Variation Among Tarahumara Indians In Minimal Sandals Versus Conventional Running Shoes. J Sport and Health Science. 

Mother and son in Copper Canyon (by glasspondstudio fr Flikr)

Heel Striking Even While Running Barefoot

If you have been running barefoot or in minimalist/ barefoot type running shoes and still landing on your heels (meaning you have not quite mastered the technique yet), take heart. Here is some evidence published early this year to show that not all people who grew up barefoot will run landing mostly on a forefoot strike pattern. So if you've been wearing shoes your whole life, you're gonna really have to master the technique.

Prominent barefoot running researcher Daniel Liberman published a key article three years ago showing a high percentage of forefoot strike in Kenyan runners who have grown up not wearing shoes, leading to conclusions that humans had evolved to be forefoot/ midfoot runners and not rearfoot strike runners. (Have a look here.).

This recent paper analysed another group of non running habitually barefoot Daasanach Kenyans and concluded the exact opposite of Liberman's research paper. Their study showed that 72% this particular tribe of Kenyans landed on their rearfoot while running at a self selected, comfortable pace. While running faster, the  Kenyans (who are not known runners) in this study tend to land on their midfoot or forefoot. However at slower speeds (of 9:00 - 13:24 min per mile), 83% landed on their rear foot. At speeds fater than 5:21 min, rear foot landing was 43%.

Subjects in Hatela study

In contrast, Liberman's group of Kalenjin Kenyans (where many elite runners come from) were running at under 5:00 min/ mile pace, while his American subjects average 6:52 min pace. Liberman's Kenyan runners average almost 20 km of running a day while this study's subject's hardly even ran at all.

One similar finding to the Liberman study was that a forefoot strike reduces impact loading.

This study concluded that many other factors like training level, running surfaces, running distance and frequency can influence preferred running style. They added that running speed is important as from an evolutionary perspective, we need to know how fast the cavemen ran to get food. Did they ran relatively long and slow or did they have to sprint and chase their prey while hunting.

References

Hatela KG, Dingwall HL et al (2013).Variation in Foot Strike Patterns during Running among Habitually Barefoot Populations. PLoS ONE 8(1): e52548. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0052548

Liberman DE, Venkadesan M et al. (2010). Foot Strike Patterns and Collision Forces in Habitually Barefoot versus Shod Runners. Nature. 463:531-535.

*Picture from Flickr

Pain Free Running

Do you want to run pain free? please read on if you do.

As you have read from the previous post, the thick heels from your high tech running shoes will encourage you to land with a heavier heel strike. Landing on your heels causes you to pronate (or roll your foot inwards) which then puts stress on your shins (leading to shin splints), knees, hips and your back. This "unnatural" heel strike is partly to blame for causing all sorts of running injuries. The evidence is now considerable and definitely stacking up in the article from the previous post.

Is landing our our heels unnatural you will definitely ask. Well, I'm going to say yes. Next time you happen to be in the company of little children look at how they walk or better still, see how they run. Parents who have kids and are reading this will tell you their little ones are always "falling forwards" as if they are tipping over slightly whether walking or running. And believe me they have a nice smooth style and they are fast. They also have no foot pain (or knee, hip and back pain for that matter) even though they love running around barefooted. Somehow as we grow older, we all stand up taller and walk with our stride out longer and landing on our heels.

We've had patients who have been told never to run again but are able to run pain free and even take part in races after seeing us at Physio and Sports Solutions. How do we do it? We do it by teaching you how to run with good technique so you can run pain free. Similar to how little kids run. Come and join us at our running club (please see the Physio Solutions or the Sports Solutions site for details) or come see us in the clinic.