6 best ways to improve your running technique
If you’re like me and constantly strive to improve your running efficiency to match the likes of the elite runners of the world, then read on!
Ok, so I can’t turn you into a gazelle overnight but with a few tweaks you CAN dramatically improve your running technique.
1. Run a bit faster
Top runners include regular sprint training (also know as Fartlek training) into their schedules. Swedish for ‘speed play’, Fartlek refers to an unstructured speed training session — usually for runners and cyclists — where the athlete varies his or her speed over a course of several miles, alternating between slow, moderate and faster efforts for varying time periods. Using the Fartlek technique can relieve the monotony of repetitive track training.
If you just run slow, your body can become lazy and that’s when your form falls apart. You generally won’t see any progression in your running either, due to the body reaching a plateau. By doing weekly speed training, you’ll stimulate your neuromuscular system. The bottom line is faster, more efficient running.
To get you started, perform 4–8 times 10 second sprints after a thorough warm up, 1–2 times per week.
Alternatively, try these intervals on a treadmill set at 1% incline:
Start treadmill and get comfortable with your pace for 1 minute. Launch into 1.5 minutes of high intensity sprinting at 95% of your MHR. Followed by 3 minutes of running at 70% of your MHR.
Try and complete 4–5 rounds and ensure you cool down at the end.
2. Eliminate over-striding
If your foot contacts the ground ahead of your hips, you’re committing this form flaw. As well as wasting energy, over-striding increases the force of impact putting you at risk of shin splints, stress fractures and knee pain (see earlier post on ‘Runner’s Knee’).
Over-striding can be a result of a number of factors; tight hip flexors is a common culprit so ensure you stretch them out regularly or get practising with those frog squats!!
Over-striding can also be the result of slow stride rate. By speeding up your foot strike, you’re feet will be more likely to land underneath your hips.
3. Tread softly
A bit of a heavy plodder? Are you pounding those pavements hard? If you’re stomping down with each step, this is undesirable for you as well as your neighbours.
If your feet are slapping down, your lower leg muscles will be working overtime to reduce impact. This can put you at risk of shin splints and other lower leg injuries, particularly if you’re flat-footed and tend to overpronate.
To fix this issue, think about running like a ninja. Keep a light, quick step and imagine you are running over egg shells.
The way to practise this technique is to incorporate more plyometric movements. Also known as jump training or plyos, these are exercises in which muscles exert maximum force in short intervals of time with the goal to increase both speed and power. Think hopping, thrusters and box jumps.
4. It’s all in the hips
Another common form flaw, which can lead to knee pain, ITB syndrome and other running maladies, is hip drop. This is where one hip drops whilst the other foot is on the ground. This lack of pelvic stability wastes energy and puts you at risk of injury.
The most common cause of hip drop is weak glutes (bum muscles).
To boost those glutes and level up your hips, try performing single leg squats with a focus on keeping the hips level. Form is more important than how many you can do so cut the session short if you start to fatigue. And you can always practise those frog squats again (can you guess what my favourite exercise is yet?)!
5. Let the foot do what it wants
You’ve probably heard the hype about forefoot/mid-foot striking, but contrary to popular belief not all top runners do this.
Forcing a fore foot strike may actually decrease efficiency in some people.
However, you can encourage a forefoot strike (which does tend to be lower impact) by reducing over-striding. Sometimes your running gait will just naturally change over the years and I would encourage to leave it this way and go with the flow!
If you notice a significant change in your running gait and feel your trainers aren’t providing you with the right support, then it’s always advisable to get your gait analysed again in a specialist running shop.
6. Perfect your posture
Running with good posture is key to efficient, injury free running. However, most of us could improve ours.
We spend way too much time sitting down and this has a big negative impact on how we run. Spending too much time at our desks can lead to rounded shoulders and tight hips. These movement patterns become ingrained and we adopt them in our running form.
Stretching out our hip flexors can help to counteract the effects of sitting down; do this regularly throughout the day.
You’ll want to practise running with good posture. As a quick fix, imagine you’re a puppet with a string attached to the top of your head, pulling you towards the sky.
Focus on running tall, but with a slight forward lean. Ensure this slight lean comes from your ankles and not from the waist. That way your body stays in alignment. If you bend at the waist, you risk overstriding and pushing your hips back when running. If you lean from the ankles, your hips will move forward allowing gravity to do some of your work and save you energy.
Incorporate some shoulder stretching exercises into your workouts, for example scapula wall slides, Cuban rotations and shoulder shrugs. These will open up your chest muscles and release any tension in those shoulders and shoulder blades. You can even do them at your desk!
How would you rate your running technique on a scale of 1 to 10?