Question about running form

[dutchie53]

When running in a straight line, should the front ball (big toe side) be in a line with the heel, or should the foot be straight ahead?

 

[barefootandagile]

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When running in a straight line, should the front ball (big toe side) be in a line with the heel, or should the foot be straight ahead?

Imo, when running forward the foot should land relaxed. Whether it is perfectly straight or not isn't important. It is most common for the foot to be straight ahead or slight outwardly rotated. What is most important is that the foot is relaxed prior to impact and the tension in the foot is quickly released as the body mass moves over and off.

 

[migangelo]

i've noticed if your feet are deformed from shoes your toes will point outwards. if not then they will point straighter. if they aren't that straight just give them time as it won't happen overnight.

 

[Hawkbilly]

I think it's most common for the foot to be straight. With the big toe and heel aligned it's going to have a rotation outwards (at least mine does when I try it). If one accepts the general rule that the foot landing goes from front to back (ball to heel) and outside to inside (little toe side to big toe side) then a foot placement that is more straight ahead intuitively seems to support that. I don't know that a small rotation one way of the other would matter much, and we all have different feet so I expect there is variation here.

I would certainly agree the foot should be relaxed. You shouldn't have to force your foot one way or the other if it's not landing there naturally. However, I'll share bit of a story here which may (or may not) be helpful. When I was suffering from a bit of ITBS I had one of my kids take a video of me from the side and from the front and back while running....just to check form. I noticed from the back view that my feet were landing almost on a line.....which is to say, if you drew a line on the ground, both my left and right foot would land at least partially on the line. I thought about this a bit and decided to try to consciously create a few inches of separation between my feet as they landed. To do this I found I just had to relax and open up my hips a bit. That got me to 6-8 inches between my big toes as I ran. This, I believe, also helped my ITBS as it got my feet and hips better aligned, and also removed a bit of foot rotation outward. Anyway, it's helped me out quite a bit. Not sure if it's helpful or related to your question.

 

[dutchie53]

The reason I asked is that for the second time this year I developed a blood blister on the outside of the ball of the foot (left foot), the first one was on the outside of the ball of the right foot . I was thinking that maybe this was caused by my foot landing straight and than rotating outstide slightly on landing. I figured that before I start tweeking my form that I was on the right track. Thanks for all the info so far.