Also any chance you have some videos of you running uphill on trails Agel? Actually what am I supposed to call you anymore? Agile, Huff, Jeremy?
All this makes a lot of sense to me Jason. Why are you so sensible and everyone else seemingly so wacky? Today I tried manipulating hip rotation just to see what it felt like, and it felt really weird. Then I upped the pace a bit and felt my hips naturally open up a bit, just as Abide suggested. Overall, more and more, I'm coming 'round to what I call the Kenyan protocol, which was implied in your last few sentences: first work on pace, and then on distance. Form just seems to come together for me at sub-9mm paces. Above 10mm I have to consciously check it from time to time. Now that I'm building back up from my knee-tweak, I'm going to keep distance limited and try to get to 8mm pace before I start adding it again. I really think it's the way to go for me. Thanks for helping confirm it. And I wonder about the TMTS injury-risk, because I read somewhere, I think it was Magness but it could be Coach Dean, that training volume and not velocity is the best predictor of injury rates. Not sure if that translates to the kind of low-mileage recreational running I do, but it's something to keep in mind.Regarding hip rotation- I agree it's one of those elements of form that most people do successfully without conscious thought assuming other elements of gait are present. The problem with teaching hip rotation, just like any other element of gait, is there's a happy medium. Biomechanics become less efficient if there's too little or too much. Based on my observations, runners do fine with hip rotation if they have adequate hip extension as the body moves over the foot. The hip extension motion is associated (not sure of which way the causal relationship goes) with the pelvis rotating down and back. The other side of the pelvis is coming forward and up, which theoretically assists the passive pulling of the upper leg/knee forward.
I would hypothesize it would be better to have too much hip rotation. When you don't have enough, you lose some power from hip extension and are forced to activate more muscles to "pull" the other leg up and forward.
If you watch a lot of new barefoot/minimalist runners, you'll notice they have virtually no hip rotation. I think this is because they follow the "lift the knees" advice, which inhibits pelvis rotation (and hip extension). This is probably part of the reason why barefoot runners have such difficulty learning to run faster... they're robbing themselves of their major power source. It works fine when we're tooling around at a 12 minute pace, but doesn't work when we ramp it up.
As a teaching tool, you can teach hip rotation to solve the problem. You can also solve the problem by having the new runner run fast first, then work on generalizing the same gait to a slower pace. Of course, this is the exact opposite of what most of us teach because we're paranoid of TMTS injuries.
Uphills: Good posture is key. Peeling the ankles and not pushing off reduces a lot of energy. It is easier to lift your leg and fall forward vs. push your body weight up a mountain. Trust me, today I proved that. High cadence and pelvic rotation are very helpful.
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Whew, I checked on this morning's run and my feet point straight ahead. At least that's one thing I don't have to worry about . . .Watching your video made me think of something, you have a pretty duck footed footfall when you run Agel. I have read that this is something you should actively try to correct so your foot falls straight or just slightly off center either direction. What do you guys think? Bad advice?
Interesting, makes sense, as this is especially true for high-altitude hiking. Gotta take baby steps or you'll be Ralphing in no time.Like Damian, I teach people to take shorter, faster strides.
All this makes a lot of sense to me Jason. Why are you so sensible and everyone else seemingly so wacky?
And I wonder about the TMTS injury-risk, because I read somewhere, I think it was Magness but it could be Coach Dean, that training volume and not velocity is the best predictor of injury rates. Not sure if that translates to the kind of low-mileage recreational running I do, but it's something to keep in mind.
Very well-done, very clear. Just don't agree with some of it.What do you guys think about this poster as a teaching aid for running technique? http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/257519_414090641989843_1662537523_o.jpg
What do you guys think about this poster as a teaching aid for running technique? http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/257519_414090641989843_1662537523_o.jpg
I wonder if you have any thoughts about the Kenyan approach. I read that they train less mpw than is typical of elite distance runners, but 35-40 percent of their training is at or close to race pace. Coach Dean and Magness also have suggested that training at lactate threshold is a better way to build aerobic fitness than traditional Maff-type HR training, which is based on VO2max, although Magness is quick to point out that no one variable should be taken as a predictor of performance. Plus, I read that Lydiard runners actually did a lot of their base running at threshold, nothing like the Maff protocol, although the two are often lumped together as similar approaches.No matter how objective we try to be, we'll always fall for the confirmation bias. Our brains are just too lazy. We didn't get to the top of the food chain by working hard; we got to the top by finding shortcuts.
Yes, I agree about the speed versus distance stress. The focus on distance first makes sense in a wider discussion of running because it seems to be more effective to build aerobic fitness first, then add speed. That's why people have been following Lydiard and Maff with so much success over the years. I've tried both approaches (speed first via Crossfit Endurance and distance first via a combination of approaches), and the latter was definitely more effective.
Learning better running form is a different process, though, and that leads to the misapplication of principles. I'd like to chalk it up to our evolutionarily-developed mental laziness. This might just be a BFR/MR issue, though. I don't think competitive running coaches try to teach better running form during aerobic base-building runs.