Footstrike

A couple months ago I made a conscious effort to stop running on my forefoot and start running on my midfoot. This was a little tricky to figure out how to do and make sure not to heel strike at the same time -particularly on trails. The primary reason I did it was to increase my speed, and it worked. But, it had unanticipated benefits. Primarily I noticed a distinct increase in my core muscle strength, which makes sense since my center of gravity is more, well, centered. I noticed a special increase in strength in my hamstrings and glutes. Also, I noticed I did not grip my toes hardly ever after awhile. My feet were much more relaxed as I ran. And another benefit was better balance, which became particularly noticeable when I ran trails -in the super-slippery Oregon rain/mud. My ability to stop slipping in the mud became distinctly better. And I am able to stop from falling using my core muscles and balance, rather than gripping with my toes and trying to halt. I haven't fallen, yet, and though I'm sure my day is coming, it's a lot less likely now. And it's not that I don't stop and walk through certain super-scary mud puddles, but my balance has made me a lot more confident to go through the majority of them. And it's mostly cuz of changing to a midfoot strike.

Comments

If you can, have someone film you from the side as you run by and watch yourself in slow-motion. That's the only way to know for sure what's going on. Also, the drills at Vivobarefoot's training website are great for dialing in your stride. I'm one of the coaches there.
 
Congratulations, you are learning how to run, running barefoot or with shoes with no/little tread will force you to run slow and land with feet under you to keep from sliding! exactly what you want for general trail running.
 

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jldeleon
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