Running Technique Tips
This blog is an excerpt from my free ebook, entitled “Get Set: Foundational Knowledge For Recreational Distance Runners”. If you’d like a copy, see the footer of this website to grab one! You could also email me at hello@extensionfitness.com.au
Technique is somewhat important. It’s not everything, but it is something!
Some people are able to optimise their technique with no attention to the way they move; their body simply makes adjustments to improve efficiency over time.
For others, sub-optimal technique is a barrier to their progress – normally because their technique is contributing to pain or injury. These people need to focus on their form so they can reduce pain and unlock the capability to train consistently without injury or excessive discomfort.
For both groups, this general effect occurs: good technique and running fitness exist is a symbiotic, interdependent relationship. They can elevate or lower each other.
It’s important to note that good technique looks different on different runners. Just as different people can wear the same item of clothing differently and still look attractive! This is due to different factors like body proportions: long-legged people tend to run with fewer steps per minute, in a loping style, and shorter-legged people tend to have a more rapid turnover with a low-to-the-ground, gliding style. Whether you’re long-legged or short- legged, loping or gliding, you can run well or poorly.
What is good running technique anyway? Here are the broad outlines:
Upright spinal posture, with forward lean appropriate to speed
As much as you’re able to, run with a very erect posture:
- Ears are over shoulders.
- Shoulders are stacked over the hips.
- Hips are over the feet with the feet under the hips.
- Imagine you’re being pulled up by a string attached to the very top of your head (“run tall”).
While running, the spine has its normal curves, albeit straighter than in normal standing – less lumbar lordosis, less thoracic kyphosis, less cervical lordosis.
Sternum/chest is lifted, and shoulders are back – with slight tension in the mid to upper back between the shoulder blades.
Pelvis is tilted back (backwards), using lower abdominals. Many people run with an excessive arch in their lower back, which can lead to inefficient use of the legs. You should feel some tension in your abdominals above your pubic bone and you may like to experiment with tilting your pelvis backwards, bringing your pubic bone towards your sternum and flattening out your low back. Try switching that adjustment on and off, and gauging the effect on how your running feels.
Some people encourage a forward lean to improve efficiency. And it’s true that this can help – you can generate some momentum by falling forwards. But your lean needs to match your speed. Faster speeds need more leaning.
If your lean is too aggressive, you can start to over-reach or over-stride (same phenomenon, different terms). You’ll know if you’re doing this by an increased heaviness when your feet hit the ground, or maybe a slapping noise.
Feet land under hips & hips stay over feet
Speaking of over-striding, that is something you should avoid. Overstriding or over-reaching is when the foot hits the ground far ahead of the hips. In this situation, the brakes go on, which is a waste of energy. Also, this way of moving can set up the legs to move excessively in the lateral plane in a way which may increase injury risk.
To prevent over-striding, you need to nail your upper body and spine posture (see above). Also, using the arms effectively can help a lot (see below).
Get the most from your hips
Your glutes and hamstrings are the powerhouse for your running. They drive the pistons in your engine. By getting strong in these muscles, and focusing on driving with the butt, you can maintain a good speed.
You need good flexibility into hip extension (thigh travelling behind you) to get the most from your hips. This is one of the reasons why you hear people harping on about tight hip flexors. Tight hip flexors limit your ability to extend your hip, resulting in reduced speed and potentially excessive vertical motion.
A Physiotherapist or Personal Trainer can help you determine whether your hip muscles are as flexible as they need to be. You may wish to look up and try “The Thomas Test” as well.
Stretching prior to running is not as important as having a good range of hip extension. It is actually probably best to stretch after a run, or in a time period totally separated from your run training. This is because prolonged stretching immediately prior to activity can decrease the spring-like properties of muscle and tendon, which may diminish run performance.
Use the arms and trunk/spine rotation
Good runners have a constant, gentle, rhythmic shoulder and spinal/trunk rotation. This helps them to use the stored elastic energy in the tendons of the hip and arm muscles to drive propulsion. Free energy!
Imagine you’re a shish kebab (mmmm shish kebab ....) – skewered through your spine and rotating a small degree as you stride.
Accessing this rotation can be helped by emphasising shoulder extension (driving the elbows back). You can also imagine that your arms are doing a sawing motion as you run, with the hands holding the saws.
Run with appropriate cadence
Cadence refers to the numbers of steps you take per minute. For a few years, there was a lot of hype about 180 steps per minute as being a magical cadence for performance and injury prevention.
The reality is that there is no magical number where your cadence is definitely right. Generally speaking, you’ll have a lower cadence at lower speeds and your cadence will increase as you run faster. Also, people with short legs will naturally have a higher cadence and those with long legs will have a lower cadence.
It can be worthwhile to try to increase your cadence if someone who knows their stuff recommends it. But you need to be cautious about radical changes as too high a cadence can be very tiring. Nudge it up over a reasonable time period to allow your body to adapt.
It can also be worth your while to experiment with a faster step rate when you fatigue as this strategy can help you to maintain a good speed with less energy. Personally, I like to use this strategy towards the end of 5K races. In the fourth kilometre, from the depths of the pain cave, when fatigue is high but the end is still far off, I focus on maintaining a high cadence. If I need to shorten my stride to do this, that’s fine. As the finish draws near, I re-lengthen my stride and push to the end with what energy I have left.