The Art of Running

When it comes to running, there are a few different classifications of athlete. You have your long distance athletes who enjoy settling into the continuous locomotion for up to hours at a time.

Then you have your middle distance runners who thrive in their “pain cave” and love to feel like their lungs have been transplanted from their body and put on a hot stove to see how long they can hold them there.

And finally, you have your moving Greek statues of chiseled muscular perfection blazing trails down the track in their sprinting spikes for distances that take less than a minute to run.

We understand all three of these athletes to be “runners”, with “sprinters” indeed getting their own label, but aren’t we all runners?

First You Crawled, Then You Walked, Then You Ran

Running is at it’s core one of the most primal movements we all have in our repertoire; yet, over time it feels like something that causes athletes to get injured on an expected basis.

You or your running buddies have likely complained of nagging achilles or plantar fascia pain, a tender IT band, hip or knee, stress fractures, or those awful debilitating shin splints. Yale Medicine estimates that over 50% of runners get injured each year, with improper footwear and lack of cross training being at the source of this disheartening statistic.

Part of what has created this interesting contradiction of our most primal movement turning into a recipe for chronic pain, is how our footwear has evolved through the years. More insight into this fascinating topic can be found in the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.

To summarize for you, the big ol’ fatty heel on running shoes has trained us to run on our heels. This is completely counter to how our bodies were designed to run, which is midfoot first, then transitioning to our heel, and following through off the midfoot again. Going for a long run with heel strike mechanics is equivalent to taking the shocks out of your car and taking it for a long drive off-road. As you’d imagine, that will eventually become an intolerably uncomfortable ride and cause a lot of damage to your car.

Your midfoot is intended to absorb the shock of each step with the added benefit of also providing natural forward propulsion. Contrarily, striking heel first is like pumping the brakes with every step and the compression experienced on impact then travels up through your joints.

Is It Worth the Time to Retrain My Running Mechanics?

Now armed with the knowledge of what part of running can be problematic, how do we fix it and is it worth it? While the cure is simple, the discipline to change is not. However, we think most folks can get behind the reality that you can become faster and less prone to injury without actually having to train harder, you just need to train smarter.

First, it’s better to retrain barefoot, so consider buying barefoot or minimalist shoes so that your feet have some protection from the ground. This is not a plug for the company, but this author personally likes Vivobarefoot. If you’d rather support an American company, New Balance has some great options as well.

Next, you will need to start the training process slowly.

There are many ways and recommendations out there, and I would pull from as many resources as possible when developing a training plan. The most important advice I can give you, having been through this process myself, is to listen to your body and meet yourself where you’re at.

At the time of my retraining, I was playing collegiate basketball and in excellent shape, but could only start out running barefoot for one lap around the track at a time. Week over week I was able to build on that distance and by the end of summer had worked back into my normal training volume with better form. It was 100% worth the patience as I literally became a faster runner by just fixing my mechanics alone.

Final piece of advice, you will feel sore in muscles you haven’t before, particularly your calves and potentially the little muscles in your feet as well. Consider this a good sign, as you are now utilizing muscles that have otherwise been dormant with your old man/lady heel running form. Trust the process, and gradually build up distance or time with each workout.

Bonus Tips to Avoid Detraining and How to Train Smarter in the Winter

A frequently asked question during this transition period is: “Well, how do I keep from detraining while retraining myself to run better?” and the answer is, you can maintain your required mileage with your old form once your limit for midfoot running has been met or you can cross-train.

Cross-training would look like hopping in the pool or on a rower or bike to supplement the training stimulus you’d be missing during your transition phase. I’m a fan of option two mostly because your old man/lady running form is going to lead to problems eventually and continuing to run with this less than desirable form is also continuing to cement bad habits.

Another question, is winter a good time to be working on this? While certainly less ideal than in warmer temperatures and clear paths or tracks (a flat reliable surface is going to be better to run for proprioceptive purposes), ask yourself, can better form honestly wait till spring or summer? Get on a treadmill if you have to, or better yet, get on on an Assault Runner or Woodway. We have one at the Sweat Lab if you’d like to come try it out.

These curved self-propelled treadmills are nearly impossible to continue running with the old man/lady form.

If the sacrifice of that fresh air and sunshine is not worth it for you, here is some sage advice from Alaskan running legend Kristi (Klinnert) Waythomas:

“The hardest part of running for runners in the winter seems to be the first few minutes … and once they get started the warm up is so important. Always, always warmup slowly and if tired, I always do the 10 min rule: you have to run for at least 10 min before deciding to not go … 99.9% of the time I personally keep going … if it’s not happening after 10 min it’s time to take a day off.”

Using the 10 Minute Rule is a brilliant way to not only trick your brain out of it’s comfort zone so you actually go do the thing, but to also truly prepare your body properly and further prevent risk of injury. Like during your retraining phase, start slow!

We also asked Kristi what one of her favorite running mantras is, you know, for when times inevitably get tough, and she gave us this gem:

“Strength grows in the moments when you think you can’t go on, but you keep going anyway.”

A good mantra for the cold or hard days, indeed, and for the when your mind is winning the war with your body in tough training sessions.

Below are some drills that we do at the Sweat Lab on sprinting days to help - mostly for our young athletes - hit better positions on sprints, but we are strong believers that these are valuable at any age and before any length of run!

Optimize Your Core to Maximize Your Performance

We know it’s important, but why is training your core an essential part to athletic performance? Here are the whys behind your core training program and a few assessments to see where you’re really at.

Transfer of Power

Not the kind of transfer of power that occurs during election season, but the kind when you throw, kick, run, punch, shoot, catch yourself before you fall on ice, and basically every other athletic and daily movement under the sun.

Your core is the foundation of your body, much like the foundation of any structure. Imagine a cannon in a giant warship, and a cannon in a tiny little canoe. The warship provides a stronger, more stable surface for the cannon to fire from because of it’s size and command presence in the water. The little dinky canoe on the other hand, takes up no presence in the water at all and will be displaced when the cannon fires.

Your core is the type of ship in the above example. If your core muscle fibers are small and weak, they don’t stabilize your spine and absorb the force of your arms and legs in action, and the power leaks away through your weak foundation as well as forces your joints, ligaments, and skeleton to absorb impact instead. Imagine wood splintering on that canoe when the cannon fires. Your bones are the wood now in this metaphor. Eek.

However, if your core muscles are big and strong like the warship, then they will be able to absorb and then transfer force back into your arms and legs into that game winning goal kick or jump shot, and you will decimate the other boats in the water.

Spinal Bodyguard

Have you been warned about back pain yet? Because if you haven’t, consider this your warning, you do not want it. It is the most crippling, humbling pain a person can ever experience. Your spine is so central to every single movement you take, that if you damage any part of that structural chain, the rest of your body feels it to the point of where even getting out of bed or sleeping itself seems intimidating due to the pain factor.

Strengthen the muscles that do a 360º around your spine, and you will have a happier playing career and, more importantly, better overall quality of life for your entire life.

How Do You Know If You Have a Strong Core?

This perhaps, is the most important part of the article, and will require that you actually go test yourself physically. I hope you’re up for the challenge! Coaches, you can also use this testing battery with your team to establish levels of overall fitness to develop smarter training programs, strategies, and predict and prevent injury using data.

World renown back guru Dr. Stuart McGill (who also has a sweet mustache) and a few of his colleagues use the following four isometric postures to test overall core endurance.

BIERING-SORENSEN TEST

This is an insanely important test because it can actually predict the likelihood of back pain in an athlete in the next year. It’s a little tricky to set up, and if you don’t have a physiotherapist table with three straps for your legs like most of us don’t, you can simply use a Glute Hamstring Developer (GHD) that they have at most gyms.

If you are unable to hold this position for 176 seconds (2:56), it is indicative that you will have back pain within the next year! If you are able to hold longer than 198 seconds (3:18) you will most likely not experience back pain. Between that range of time? Well, it would seem from the research it’s a bit of a grey area.

Curious what age based norms are? Open this link in a new tab to see, you may be very surprised by what you find, especially now knowing the criteria for predicting back pain. Side note, 39% of adults in America experience back pain… so… yeah.

SIDE PLANK (BOTH SIDES)

In my experience, folks typically struggle with side planks more so than front (tall or forearm) planks. This is likely because in every day situations we are moving more forwards, up, and down, than rotationally or sideways.

Your obliques, or the muscles being worked in side planks, are used more with upper body rotation and bending. This type of stress on the core is much more common in sports, and from an injury prevention standpoint, we absolutely want to be bulletproofing these muscles.

“A number of functional core assessment tests can be used to assess the core. Keep in mind these tests do not directly assess the core but speculate a strong or weak core based on how well the participant completes the task”

— "Developing the Core", NSCA

Though there is no magic number like in the Biering-Sorensen test, a good goal for most people for time held in a side plank is at a minimum 30 seconds. For higher level athletes, a realistic minimum goal is more around 60 seconds.

FOREARM PLANK

A classic test of muscular endurance for pretty much every single core muscle, but primarily the rectus abdominis, or the singular “six pack” muscle that you may have previously thought of as your core.

TURKISH GET UPS

It’s become a point of angst and hilarity among a few groups I currently train and have trained in the past, that the Turkish Get Up will come out of no where in programming, and then hang around for awhile in weeks worth of workouts.

That’s because it’s somewhat of a tricky movement to learn, but once mastered has incredible benefits for core and shoulder stability, as well as systemic coordination. Furthermore, it’s centuries old, and was used as a training technique for soldiers who fell in battle and needed to get back up. Okay, that’s one of many cool reasons to learn this!

STAR EXCURSION BALANCE TEST

Fun fact for you, good balance is a direct correlate with core endurance, so the stronger your core the stronger your balance. Now check this out, if you’re a high school athlete, you will find this very interesting. The Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) shown below indicated whether or not high school basketball players had a increased chance of getting hurt in season, and though this study was only on basketball players, I would strongly argue that fact transcends all sports that require balance.

“Plisky et al. (2006) used the SEBT to predict injury in high school basketball players during the competitive season. Athletes who displayed a four-centimeter right–left anterior reach difference were more likely to suffer a lower extremity injury. ”

— "Developing the Core", NSCA

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Help, Everyone is Faster Than Me

Sick of feeling like you’re eating other people’s dust? Time to do something about it. Here are 10 powerful movements wrapped into three different strength session combinations for you so you can stop feeling like the tortoise next to the hare.

DISCLAIMER: always differ to learning and performing these movements under the supervision of an experienced coach or adult.

FRONT Squats

Trains:

• Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes

• Core

Builds:

• Lower body strength, power, and speed

• Ability to handle your own body’s force output, and forces acted upon your body (taking hits).

Box Jumps

Trains:

• Glutes, Hamstrings, Lower Leg Complex

Builds:

• Lower body power

• Single leg stability

• Coordination

Note:

This video shows the single leg landing variation, simply land on two feet to perform a regular box jump.

Kettlebell Swings

Trains:

• Hamstrings, Glutes

• Upper-Back, Lats, Core

Builds:

• Explosive jumping power

• Great posture

• Coordination

• Proper hinge patterns

Workout #1

E3MOM: 6 Rounds (Every 3 Minutes on the Minute)

5 Front Squats @ 3:0:x:0

*tempo reads as 3 seconds down, 0 pause at the bottom, up quick, 0 pause at the top

3 Box Jumps

10 Heavy Russian Kettlebell Swings

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ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS

Trains:

• Hamstrings, Glutes

• Forearms

• Upper-Back, Lats, Core

Builds:

• Explosive jumping power

• Grip strength

• Great posture

• Coordination

• Pre-requisite movement for Cleans

Single Arm DB Hang Snatch

Trains:

• Glutes, Hamstrings

• Core

• Lat, Shoulder Complex

Builds:

• Lower body power

• Shoulder and core stability

• Coordination

• Pre-requisite movement for Barbell Hang Snatch, Devil’s Press, and Double KB or DB Snatch

Single Leg Box Squats

Trains:

• Glutes, Quads, Hamstrings

Builds:

• Single leg stability

• Right to left imbalances

• Single leg strength and power

Workout #2

E3MOM: 6 Rounds

6 Romanian Deadlifts @ 3:0:x:0

9 Single Leg Box Squats (each side)

12 Single Arm DB Hang Snatch

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Tempo Lateral Lunges

Trains:

• Glutes, Adductors, Quads

• Core

Builds:

• Lateral strength, power and speed

• Control and stability in awkward positions

Swing, Stick, Lateral Bound

Trains:

• Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads

• Calves, Anterior Tibialis

Builds:

• Lateral quickness

• Bilateral and unilateral landing mechanics

• Body control and coordination

Exchange Lateral Lunges

Trains:

• Glutes, Adductors, Quads

• Calves, Anterior Tibialis

• Core

Builds:

• Lateral strength, power and speed

• Control and stability in awkward positions

Double Hurdle Hops

Trains:

• Calves, Anterior Tibialis, Foot

Builds:

• Lateral quickness

• Footspeed

• Coordination

Workout #3

E3MOM: 6 Rounds

12 Tempo Lateral Lunges @ 3:0:x:0 (6R/6L)

8 Swing & Stick to Lateral Bound

12 Exchange Lateral Lunges

16 Double Hurdle Hops

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There are hundreds of different combinations and ways to train. Doing something is, of course, better than nothing at all. That said, the best recipe is following a consistent plan where you train 2 - 5x/week depending on your goals.