Pick Up Your Feet And Run Faster

June 6, 2017August 14, 2017

Pick Up Your Feet And Run Faster

Have you ever thought about what your feet and legs are doing when you run or even walk? Do you lift your feet off the ground, bending your legs at the knee or do you just drag them just above the ground, shuffling, one after the other?

If you have noticed your running form then you have already changed the way you run. If you haven’t now it’s the time to do so.

Watch the video below for a more detailed explanation, but in summary the reasons you should pick up your feet instead of dragging or shuffling:

Reason #1: You will run faster

Your legs are like pendulums. And like any pendulum, a long pendulum will move slower, a shorter one will move faster.

Reason #2: You will run more relaxed, lighter on your feet

If you pick your feet without lifting and leading with the knees you will not use the quads as much, thus you run more relaxed and with less effort. The work is done by your hamstrings and only at the start of the lift, after that your hamstrings should relax.

Reason #3: Reduce the risk of injuries

First of all if you drag your feet chances are you will trip or slip at some point. Pick up your feet and you reduce those chances, a lot.

Second if you drag your feet chances are you are landing in ahead of your body (instead of underneath), actively landing (driving your feet forward), heel striking and landing with a stiff leg or ankle. All this, in time, may lead to shin splints, plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis and then knee pain and back pain. It’s a chain reaction in fact.

So stop shuffling your legs, dragging them behind you and pick them up and bend your knee.

Remember running is a skill of movement, and art. As with anything you want to create, it will be difficult and uncomfortable at the beginning but once you get the hang of it you won’t run anymore, you will glide.

Check out the video below with this particular technical element and also this article Running Technique – Elements Of Effortless Running – Lower Body:

May 9, 2017

Running Programmes With Jorgen Welsink

As runners, if we don’t have a coach, we need to know how to train ourselves to reach the goals we have set without burning out and injuring the body.

Jorgen Welsink studied Hollistic Health Coaching / Nutrition at The Institute For Integrative Nutrition and Orthomolecular (Top)Sport Coach & Personal Health Coach at LekkerPuurLeven.

As a running coach Jorgen explains how running training programmes for marathons should be planned. Get a pen and paper because there are a lot of important points to remember and slowly introduce into your training.

We also talk about different types of running technique to reduce the risk of injuries. We talk about heel strike running and natural running technique.

Jorgen also gives us gives us his advice on how to choose your running shoes for marathon training and when. Yes, there is an ideal time of the day to buy your running shoes.

In terms of recovery during training and after your marathon Jorgen shares with us his advice on nutrition, sleep and training for recovery.

In terms of nutrition we talked about how running gels work, carbohydrate loading and how to build a fat burning instead of a sugar burning body.

Links mentioned in the video:

www.iherb.com

Celtic salt

Smoothie with pea protein

Make your own running gels

Pineapple-orange chia energy gel
Orange-Pineapple Chia Gel Nutrition DataIngredients:

1 oz chia seeds
1 medium seedless orange
8 oz pineapple
¾ cup brown rice syrup
½ oz dry fruit pectin
1 serving electrolyte mix (above)
Mix the chia seeds with ⅜ cup of water. Stir until the chia gels thoroughly, then set aside.

Peel the orange, removing as much of the pith as possible. Combine the orange and the pineapple, including the juice, in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.

Combine ½ cup of the fruit mash with the hydrated chia. It’s normal to have extra fruit mash (I had ¾ cup left over). You can freeze it until you need to make another batch of gel.

Stir in the brown rice syrup, then slowly add the pectin. Finally, stir in the electrolyte mix.

Put the mixture in a small saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil over low to medium heat, stirring constantly. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute, then remove it from the heat and pour it directly into a sterilized ½ pint mason jar for storage.

April 20, 2017August 14, 2017

Running Technique – Elements Of Effortless Running – Lower Body

Any books you read on running technique which has the potential to reduce the risk of injuries have a few common elements. Each technique or style of running (i.e. Chi Running, Pose Method, Natural Running) has its own particular elements that sets it aside from the others, however they all state that to run with less effort and fewer injuries a runner should:

1. Land with the foot underneath the body

That means DO NOT land ahead of your body because you overstride, break your momentum and increase impact. When you overstride you also have to power up by re-engaging the back muscle chains to start a new stride. More effort, more muscle tension, more impact, higher risk of running injuries.

If you can see your feet when you run (by looking down with your eyes and head, not by bending your whole body) it’s a sign you are probably overstriding, landing heavily in front of your body.

Bouncing up and down too much can be another sign. Usually, if you land under your General Centre of Mass you won’t bounce, you will move smoothly, almost like gliding.

This will also help reduce the rotational forces in the joints which lead to overuse injuries in the ankles, knees, hips, spine.

2. Lean the body from the ankles

This is an up-right, slightly forward leaning from the ankles, correctly aligned posture. Let gravity do the work instead of using your muscle strength.

3. Strike the ground with a midfoot strike

Another common element is the midfoot strike. If you land under your general centre of mass and use gravity to move forward there is no way you will do a heel strike. You will automatically go into a midfoot-forefoot strike.

That being said make sure you don’t run on your toes. You land on the balls of your feet and then allow the heels to touch the ground slightly. That’s it.

If, when you run, you listen closely you can tell whether you land with the ball of the foot. You will hear a “tap” and then you will feel the heel touching the ground. If you hear a “punding” that’s heavy landing and probably heel striking.

If you think about it pretty much all sports require a midfoot or forefoot body weight distribution: dancing, skiing, martial arts free sparring, even tennis. Look at the footwork in this tennis match, just the first 10 seconds.

4. Pick up the feet

Your feet are like pendulums. A long pendulum will move slower, a shorter one will move faster. So stop shuffling your legs, dragging them behind you, instead pick them up and bend your knee.

5. Aim for optimum cadence

Running cadence is measured by the number of strides per minute that each leg takes. The optimum running cadence is considered to be 85 to 90 strides per minute.

If you do all of the above then you can maintain the optimum cadence.

However you have to build up gradually to this cadence if it’s not your normal. Then you keep that cadence all the time and use the lean and picking up your feet to move faster. In Chi Running you also increase the strides to increase speed. But you move faster because you lean more and relax your legs more not because you are using muscle power. You should not put effort to increase your strides, it will happen as you lean more. But first master the lean.

April 26, 2016

Transitioning To Barefoot Running – What You Need

Barefoot running or minimalist running is not something new. It’s new for us in this modern age, after we stepped into our amazing modern world. However, we must understand that we have inherited a stone age body, and have placed it in a modern environment (Daniel Lieberman – The Story Of The Human Body). Thus, many of the aches, pains and some of the diseases we suffer from today come from this discrepancy between what our body needs and what our brain gives it.

When I transitioned to barefoot running or minimalist running (this means running in minimalist shoes, for those who are not familiar with the term), I was coached by Obstacle Course Race Coach Michael Cohen. And how lucky I felt and feel learning such skills from a coach like him.

Throughout coaching and then my own exploration of bare foot running I reached the following conclusions about what a runner needs to safely transition to bare foot of minimalist running:

1. Running technique

You might be an amazing running, a very experienced one, but going from normal running shoes to barefoot or minimalist running is a great leap. It’s a great leap for your body from a mechanical point.

When wearing shoes some muscles grow weaker, as they are not challenged. For example with bare foot running the foot muscles, knee muscles, calves, core, glutes (buttocks) are some of the muscles which are more challenged when running barefoot or with minimalist shoes.

Thus, you must ensure you practice correct running technique, go slow and have patience.

I wrote articles on running technique leave a comment below and I will send it to you.

2. Patience

No matter how much you wish to hurry the process, your muscles, tendons, ligaments and skeletal system will gradually adapt to support each other, as each develops.

Force your body at the wrong time and you risk long term injuries.

Even if you are a marathon runner you must start with 5-10 min slow running barefoot or in minimalist shoes, and build from there.

3. Coaching

Yes, I do believe that if you want to achieve something at a good level coaching is necessary? Why? How can you see the frame if you are in the frame?

You can’t, there has to be someone outside to see your technique and correct you. To make you aware of what’s happening. What might seem correct to you might be incorrect.

In conclusion here are a few points to remember when transitioning to barefoot or minimalist running:

Start slow: wear the shoes in the house, then walking outdoors, then running 5 min, 10 and so on
Build gradually
Understand the basics of running technique such as malingered body and short strides (there are more elements)
Transitioning can take anywhere from 3-6 months to 12 months, depending on how your body adapts and responds to training
Get a coach, to ensure you are doing it right from the beginning; correct movements that are already ingrained in you will be much more difficult

That’s all folks. If you have questions do book a free consultation with me and I will do my best to help you on the spot. Book here