My sports doctor suggested that I get my running form analysed properly not just the Physio watching me run on the treadmill for a few minutes which he had done in the past. There were a few options out there which involved video, fancy technology and treadmills. I don't run very well on a treadmill so when I found Shane did similar but running outside that was the obvious choice especially as his website had testamonials from some top ultra runners.
https://runningreborncoaching.wordpress.com/
The session began with a bit of chat about my running history and goals. Shane is an ultra runner himself so I didn't get that look I usually get from Physio's / doctors when I talk about running for 24 hours; he totally gets it!
We went to a nearby park for the session. I ran a lap (approx 400m) warm up then another at a steady pace followed by a final lap at a hard pace. The surface was a bit uneven for a tarmac runner and there were some wet leaves so there wasn't a great deal of difference between my easy and hard pace! On my shins I had Vimove sensors and was videoed on each lap to analyse later.
The Vimove showed various interesting data like how hard each foot hits the ground, contact time of each foot, acceleration and cadence. My Garmin shows some of this but doesn't show the difference between right and left.
I'm not totally symetrical but apparently not too bad. My cadence at a steady pace was 177 and faster pace 192. I knew that 180 was about right and know form my Garmin that I am usually a bit lower for slow runs and higher for fast runs. I didn't realise it mattered but Shane explained why 180 is the key figure for ALL paced runs so I need to work on getting it lower for the faster runs. In addition on long runs I need to try to keep the cadence the same. Obviously this session was not long enough to test what's happens to cadence after 20 miles but apparently it gets lower and the stride stays the same. What should be happening is cadence should stay at 180 but stride get shorter. This should then help save the quads a bit.
The Vimove data could be used in conjunction with the video and observations Shane made about my running. I'm not as bad as I thought I was but do have a few things to work on which should help improve my effciency.
1. Head position - I look down at the ground when I am running, should be looking ahead. I think I do think as I am scared of tripping on things.
2. Arms - they are in the right position and don't cross over he centre line but are not doing anything particularly useful
3. Left foot - has a slight heal strike, right foot is fine.
He explained why each of these things should change and why they would improve efficiently which I am not going to go into here but it was all explained clearly and made a lot of sense.
There are other things to work on as well which we did not go into this time - can't change everything at once, need to get the basics right.
My final run was another lap trying to focus on the 3 things above. I was videoed and got the left foot thing right, arms were better but head wasn't - I blame that on the surface being uneven so found it hard to keep my eyes off the trail just infront!
I have done a few runs since the session and a finding it easier to make running changes than making changes to my swimming. I think the head position is going to be the hardest - each time I think about it I realise I am looking down!
The session began with a bit of chat about my running history and goals. Shane is an ultra runner himself so I didn't get that look I usually get from Physio's / doctors when I talk about running for 24 hours; he totally gets it!
We went to a nearby park for the session. I ran a lap (approx 400m) warm up then another at a steady pace followed by a final lap at a hard pace. The surface was a bit uneven for a tarmac runner and there were some wet leaves so there wasn't a great deal of difference between my easy and hard pace! On my shins I had Vimove sensors and was videoed on each lap to analyse later.
The Vimove showed various interesting data like how hard each foot hits the ground, contact time of each foot, acceleration and cadence. My Garmin shows some of this but doesn't show the difference between right and left.
I'm not totally symetrical but apparently not too bad. My cadence at a steady pace was 177 and faster pace 192. I knew that 180 was about right and know form my Garmin that I am usually a bit lower for slow runs and higher for fast runs. I didn't realise it mattered but Shane explained why 180 is the key figure for ALL paced runs so I need to work on getting it lower for the faster runs. In addition on long runs I need to try to keep the cadence the same. Obviously this session was not long enough to test what's happens to cadence after 20 miles but apparently it gets lower and the stride stays the same. What should be happening is cadence should stay at 180 but stride get shorter. This should then help save the quads a bit.
The Vimove data could be used in conjunction with the video and observations Shane made about my running. I'm not as bad as I thought I was but do have a few things to work on which should help improve my effciency.
1. Head position - I look down at the ground when I am running, should be looking ahead. I think I do think as I am scared of tripping on things.
2. Arms - they are in the right position and don't cross over he centre line but are not doing anything particularly useful
3. Left foot - has a slight heal strike, right foot is fine.
He explained why each of these things should change and why they would improve efficiently which I am not going to go into here but it was all explained clearly and made a lot of sense.
There are other things to work on as well which we did not go into this time - can't change everything at once, need to get the basics right.
My final run was another lap trying to focus on the 3 things above. I was videoed and got the left foot thing right, arms were better but head wasn't - I blame that on the surface being uneven so found it hard to keep my eyes off the trail just infront!
I have done a few runs since the session and a finding it easier to make running changes than making changes to my swimming. I think the head position is going to be the hardest - each time I think about it I realise I am looking down!
It was a great session and well worth the long drive. I would definitely recommend Shane if you are looking to improve running form/ efficiency and reduce chance of injury
No comments:
Post a Comment