Running faster - no bounce in my steps
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77 days
jnrice posted 9 weeks ago.
Your not the only one to say running isn't as easy as some people make it look. Lance Armstrong had this to say after his first marathon, "Running is raw, pounding, and relentless." That being said, I suffered from the same thing a few years ago and it took me a full year of running to get where i felt my stride was even a little bit efficient. I did nothing more than listen to my body and how my foot was hitting the ground. The more sound you make the less efficient you are (give or take). Firstly, try to minimize heel strike as our heels are not designed to roll off of, rather to stand on. Secondly think about the kick of your stride propelling you forward and not so much up. I found my stride to be too "bouncy", a lot of wasted energy. Thinking about rolling through my stride rather than disconnecting strides as individuals helped a lot for me. I have very little coaching in the running area, but this is what worked for me. I went from mid 20min 5k's to right at 20min 5k's (hoping to get the sub 20 this fall).
Oh, and here is that article I quoted, kind of a kick.
http://www.markandgloria.com/articles/lance.pdf
2437
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1321 days
Triguy98 posted 9 weeks ago.
I wouldnt worry too much about being "bouncy" Instead, focus on technique. This may or may not lead to the feeling you're seeking.
At least once a week, maybe twice a week in the offseason, work on drills. I like to do a medium run and stop at a sports complex or school with a field. I always walk it to check for glass or any unpleasant items. Take off the shoes and socks.
4x 50m skips, 4x50 high knees, 4x50 butt kicks, 4x 50 strides (increasing intensity with each session) Speed is all about turn over, not stride length, so focus on decent technique and being able to do it quickly. The speed in the drills is overkill, but it definitely makes you a more efficient runner, which translates into running speed.
Life is short. Play hard and get dirty doing it.
335
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445 days
cjhoffmn posted 9 weeks ago.
I'm a fan of the technique concepts like pose and evolution running. I too am a slow runner, and have been hell bent for leather to fix that problem. ER has helped me develop a better stride, which turned into minor speed, but much less pain this year. Next year, I'm focusing on using the new form faster.
To tri or not to tri - that's not a question at all!
311
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661 days
KitKat posted 9 weeks ago.
Triguy98 wrote:
At least once a week, maybe twice a week in the offseason, work on drills. I like to do a medium run and stop at a sports complex or school with a field. I always walk it to check for glass or any unpleasant items. Take off the shoes and socks.
4x 50m skips, 4x50 high knees, 4x50 butt kicks, 4x 50 strides (increasing intensity with each session)
+1, skips or bounds are awesome for strengthening the calf muscle allowing you more force in your stride.
Triguy98 wrote:
Speed is all about turn over, not stride length, so focus on decent technique and being able to do it quickly.
Ah, yes and no. I've always had a quick turnover, avging 89-92. I hold an OK pace but would be so much faster if I could just open up my stride. All with time and drills I guess. So I agree and disagree with your statement.
Speed is about turnover and stride reach.
Triguy98 wrote:
The speed in the drills is overkill, but it definitely makes you a more efficient runner, which translates into running speed.
+1, remember to stretch well before and after drill work. Injury is easy with such high impact movements.
128
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425 days
burnman posted 9 weeks ago.
Efficient running is basically the feeling that you're not running, but rather translating (if that makes any sense at all). Any energy that is expended in your bounce (i.e. vertical displacement) is energy that you waste. Drills can help you learn and develop the efficiency of real forward motion (as mentioned by Triguy98), but ultimatly it comes down to mentality. In running, when you disconnect your mind, your body does what comes naturally (and for most of us that's not running efficiently). What works for me:
(1) imagine you're running through a line in space. The line must stay fixed on the center of your forehead at all times. If your head is not bouncing, then your body is probably not bouncing.
(2) minimize wasted energy associated with bad form, also referred to as running tall (shoulders back, hips driving forward). The physics is similar to carrying a long beam by one of its ends. It requires much less energy to carry it vertically than it does to have it hanging out in front of you.
(3) keep the turnover high. There's some rule of thumb about not letting your foot strike in front of your knee (to minimize impact stress, I presume), but basically, the less time your foot is on the ground, the less energy you're expending on contact.
2437
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1321 days
Triguy98 posted 9 weeks ago.
KitKat wrote:
Triguy98 wrote:
Speed is all about turn over, not stride length, so focus on decent technique and being able to do it quickly.Ah, yes and no. I've always had a quick turnover, avging 89-92. I hold an OK pace but would be so much faster if I could just open up my stride. All with time and drills I guess. So I agree and disagree with your statement.
Speed is about turnover and stride reach.
Speed for the 100 and 400m might be a lot more about stride length, but over the course of 5k and up, turn over is king. If you are turning over with some nice forward lean, you will be faster.
Remember during your butt kicks you are not looking for forward speed, but want to be kicking your butt as fast as possible, barely having your feet on the ground.
Strides are the time to experiment and see what works for you. The more you do em, the more efficient you will be. After a few weeks, start timing your strides, and maybe make them up to 100m, playing around with stride length and leg speed. Find your happy median. Mile repeats are also a great time to play with this, as the effects are more in line with what you will see over the course of a longer run.
Life is short. Play hard and get dirty doing it.
718
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1028 days
gfd posted 9 weeks ago.
+1 on no wasted energy. Everything going forward and minimizing time the foot is on the ground. I have found certain shoes give the feeling that I am staying on the ground too long. The shoes seem to have too much cushion to them. Try a pair of 9 or 10 oz performance trainers to try the above mentioned drills. They are only an oz or two lighter than regular trainers, but they feel so much faster and quicker off the ground. Once you have the drills down start a speedwork plan preferably done on a track. The greatest gains I have seen over the past 9 years of my running have come with speedwork, hills, and long runs all in the same training plan. Not a lot of fun and you have to be careful you don't injure yourself.
"If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it you have won your race." -Dave Scott
~Garen~
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jperubog posted 9 weeks ago.
When you land where is your foot hitting the ground, is it landing in front of you? this may be causing a braking effect, focus on where your foot is landing in relation to your hips, you may need someone to watch you. Try to get your foot strike to land under your hips, you may have to shorten your stride length.
4914
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1716 days
beads1985 posted 9 weeks ago.
burnman wrote:
Efficient running is basically the feeling that you're not running, but rather translating (if that makes any sense at all). Any energy that is expended in your bounce (i.e. vertical displacement) is energy that you waste. Drills can help you learn and develop the efficiency of real forward motion (as mentioned by Triguy98), but ultimatly it comes down to mentality. In running, when you disconnect your mind, your body does what comes naturally (and for most of us that's not running efficiently). What works for me:
(1) imagine you're running through a line in space. The line must stay fixed on the center of your forehead at all times. If your head is not bouncing, then your body is probably not bouncing.
(2) minimize wasted energy associated with bad form, also referred to as running tall (shoulders back, hips driving forward). The physics is similar to carrying a long beam by one of its ends. It requires much less energy to carry it vertically than it does to have it hanging out in front of you.
(3) keep the turnover high. There's some rule of thumb about not letting your foot strike in front of your knee (to minimize impact stress, I presume), but basically, the less time your foot is on the ground, the less energy you're expending on contact.
This works for me as well. I can run for a long time and feel good.
Nothing to it, but to do it
I'm a slow runner. I've tried to go faster by running more and doing faster, shorter runs. I'm still slow. end of sob story.
Something I keep reading which I cannot relate to is the "bounciness" that is associated with how people run. By that I am referring to the feeling of returning X% of the impact energy of each step through the muscles to push off the ground.
This is what I am pretty sure I do not do... and I am not sure how to fix that.
When I take a step and I land on my foot (forefood impact), I feel like my feet and legs absorb all that impact energy and it is all gone. So instead of bouncing off, I just kind of dissipate that energy and I have to work hard to push off because there's no momentum from my previous step to scavenge off...
I hope this makes sense.
I'd like to know if there is something I can do to fix that.
It's frustrating because out of all my events, I'm ok with swim and bike but the run is where everyone passes me.