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RUNNING STYLE

© Clive Maxwell Prestt

Introduction

A few questions to start just to get you thinking:

With a combination of a good economical running style and the right pair of training shoes, along with a balanced training schedule involving such things as running on soft surfaces, stretching exercises and circuit training, will you be able to avoid injury?

From this bottom line, can you begin to enjoy your running and build your strength?

Would you agree that the main satisfaction gained from long-distance running is derived from overcoming the fatigue?

Would you like to know of a style of running which will reduce the fatigue of running long distances leaving you fresher the next day?

If you adopt and develop a more economical running style, will you also stress your joints and muscles less and so help to avoid over-use injuries? i.e. help you to train rather than strain?

Personal Experience: Running near to the ground

I used to run with a long, loping stride until the coach I had for a couple of years called Vittorio Medica set about changing this defect into a style in which my feet stayed 'near to the ground' using short steps i.e. completely different from a sprinter's style. In addition, I found lifting the knees in advance is much better than pushing backwards. And this is not all, for I used to splay my right foot, a defect my coach also got me to correct.

So there are four points to concentrate on:

1. Run 'near to the ground'

2. Run with short steps

3. Lift knees in advance

4. Don't splay your feet

Why run with short steps?

It's time to get your pen and paper out and be ready to do some calculations - a little brainwork just like at school!

For the sake of argument the figures chosen are kept simple.

The author now weighs in at 93 kilograms (see photo below!), but used to weigh 73 kilograms in his heyday as a runner. If the author were to take up running again now, would he be less or more tired and less or more prone to injury if he were to lose weight?

In one of his books Bruce Tulloh observes that a fit athlete has no fat on his or her body, so the leg muscles are clearly defined, and reduction in weight impossible as the athlete's weight is already at its minimum. So to reduce fatigue, is dieting in order to lose weight an option for most runners?

If not, then what other options are there?

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