Improve Your Running In Five Minutes

Listen up people! Believe it or not, running is a skill that can be acquired. For whatever reason, most folks think that running well involves simply putting in the time and getting in decent cardiovascular shape. Running does involve putting in time in and it does involve getting fitter cardiovascularly. A lot of new runners, or joggers, or whatever, start out with improper form that can lead quickly to injury. Unfortunately, running “naturally” for many is fighting a losing battle with gravity, meaning their body weight is back and they are landing on their heels.

Again, running is a skill that you have to practice. You need to take your running technique as seriously as your swimming stroke or your golf swing. Running well requires proper form to take advantage of gravity. It requires a proper foot strike to prevent you from braking each time you hit the ground. It also requires a much higher cadence (how many times your feet hit the ground) than you are probably used to. If you want to make yourself a better runner in about five minutes, read on.

Forward Lean
Probably the easiest thing you can do to improve your running is to lean forward from your ankles. I know that sounds impossible but hear me out. I want you to try this now. Get up out of your chair and stand with both feet directly underneath you. Now, with both feet on the ground, lean a bit forward as if you were falling. Hopefully, one of your feet moved out and planted in order to keep you from falling.

Did you feel the movement from your ankles? This is what you want. Think of running as a controlled fall where you are catching yourself with your next step. Using your core, keep your spine in alignment and prop your head directly on top. When you lean from the ankles, gravity will take over. This will require you to expend less energy to move yourself forward. Eventually, with proper form, you will find yourself running faster at a lower heart rate.

Mid-Foot Strike
If you have been running for a while, you might feel comfortable with heel-striking, which is the way most folks run. However, it is much more efficient running with your entire foot hitting the ground directly beneath your hlps. When you heel-strike, your stride is happening out in front of you. Each time your foot hits the ground, you are braking your momentum, not to mention to the fact that you are asking your knees to absorb most of the impact.

When you mid-foot strike (and you have proper posture with a forward lean as discussed above), you take advantage of momentum and gravity, rather than fighting against it. If you haven’t tried running this way before, there will definitely be a transition period, but you should notice immediately that there is less jarring, less pressure on your knees and more forward drive.

You will have less chance of injury running this way, and your speed will improve almost immediately, as you are not braking your momentum. In the initial phase, you may experience some soreness in your calves (gastrocs and soleus). This is normal, because you have not utilized these muscles in this way before. After a week or two, that will go away and you will be running better than ever, I promise.

High Cadence
It has been determined by scientific tests that the optimal cadence for most runners is between 90 and 100. This means that each foot hits the ground between 90 and 100 times per minute. I would be willing to bet that your cadence is somewhere between 70 and 80, which is what we hope to improve. A faster cadence means your feet are spending less time in contact with the ground. This means less jarring, less resistance, more speed and more efficiency.

A quick way to see where you are is by counting the number of times your right (or left) foot hits the ground per minute. An easy way to improve your cadence is with a metronome. You know, one of those things you used to see on your mom’s piano that keeps the beat? There are very small, battery-powered ones available that will enable you to set the “beep” to your preferred cadence

Depending on where your cadence currently is, set your metronome five beats higher than that. Try to run with it and see how you do. You want your foot hitting the ground every time it beeps. This will take some getting used to and will seem awkward at first. You will be out of breath because you aren’t used to moving your legs that quickly. Stick with it, however, and you will notice after a week or so that your cadence is improving and your heart rate is lower. This is good. That means you are running faster and more efficiently all while using less effort.

My Story
About four years ago, when I was starting out (and about 40 pounds overweight at 255), I bought a book titled Chi Running. It covered all of the principles mentioned above and tied it all in to Tai Chi, Eastern philosophy and the martial arts, which I thought was very cool. I started implementing the techniques immediately and saw rapid improvement. I even took a month long class from a local Chi Running instructor, which helped even more. To make a long story short, I ran my first marathon in 2005 (Chicago) in a fairly slow 4:32 (10:22/mile). I stuck with the techniques, which helped me to stay injury free, and maintained a weekly running schedule of about 15-20 miles per week at aerobic heart rates.

The next year, I ran my second marathon (Charlotte, NC) in 3:49 (8:44/mile). The following season, still using the metronome from time to time to make sure my cadence was still where I wanted it, I ran a 3:30 (8:00/mile) at Myrtle Beach. Of course I was in better shape each year from triathlon training, but I’m positive I would not be running as well without utilizing this method. Now, I’m a big guy, 6′3″ and 210 pounds. Not a runner’s build by any stretch. My knees do not bother me, nor does the iliotibial band syndrome I developed during a previous bought of running the wrong way a few years prior. I have done many triathlons, including two Ironmans, my last Ironman Florida in 2008 (11:06, fifth-place Clydesdale, 3:57 marathon).

Being as big as I am, and running as much as I do, one would think I would have more injuries than I do. Knocking on wood, I credit this to my running form and the Chi Running method. I cannot recommend this enough for people who are either new to running, or those who find the way they are running now is causing them to get injured. A similar method of running is the Pose Method.

There may be very minor differences, but the basic three principles are the same: a bit of forward lean, a mid-foot strike, and a quick cadence. So, as the title of this post suggests, you can improve you running with just a few minor changes that can be implemented on your next run. Get the Chi Running book or visit Danny Dreyer’s site to learn more about it. Check out the Pose Method site as well.

Both are excellent resources for improving as a runner. The next time you hit the trails, or pavement, or tread mill, try one of the techniques above. You will not be disappointed. Give it a good two weeks for you to really start seeing benefit. If you try a few of the ideas and they work for you, be sure to let me know.