I’ve heard from hundreds of runners who told me that they had to stop running because of pains in various parts of the body. After doing a running form evaluation, I found one or more problems with their running technique that were often the result of learning poor techniques when young. These bad habits can get hardwired into the reflex brain. When an inefficient range of motion is repeated thousands of times every mile, some aches and pains often occur—producing stress.
But there’s hope. When the form is corrected and the right drills are used to reinforce efficient movement, the aggravated area can heal, eliminating or managing the pain. But there’s something even more powerful going on. Monitoring running form and making adjustments activates the executive frontal lobe of the brain. The drills in the next chapter allow the conscious brain to retrain the reflex brain to activate efficient and smooth patterns.
Smooth running means using inertia
Your primary mission is to maintain momentum. Very little strength is needed to run—even in shorter races like the 800 meters. During the first hundred meters you’ll get your body into the motion and rhythm for your run. After that, the best strategy is to conserve energy while maintaining that forward momentum. To reduce fatigue, aches, and pains, your right brain—helped by muscle memory— intuitively fine-tunes your mechanics and motion to minimize effort.
Form mistakes that add stress and produce aches and pains
Bouncing too much off the ground
Using too long of a stride
Leaning forward (unless this is natural for the individual)
Using an unnatural foot push-off
Humans have many biomechanical adaptations working for them, which have been made more efficient over more than a million years of walking and running. The anatomical running efficiency of the human body originates in the ankle and Achilles tendon—which I treat as a unit. This is no average body part, however, but an extremely sophisticated system of levers, springs, balancing devices, and more. Biomechanics experts believe that this degree of development was not needed for walking. When our ancient ancestors had to run to survive, the ankle and Achilles tendon adapted to endurance running and walking, producing a masterpiece of bioengineering.
Through a series of speed sessions and drills, you can maximize the use of the ankle so that a very little amount of muscle work produces a quicker, consistent forward movement. As you practice these once a week, you’ll be able to run farther and faster by using the techniques learned in these drills. Other muscle groups offer support and help to fine-tune the process. When you feel aches and pains that might be due to the way you run, going back to the minimal and gentle use of the ankle and Achilles tendon can often leave you feeling smooth and efficient very quickly.
Wobbling—It all starts with general fatigue that stresses your weak links. For example, if your calf muscles become fatigued at the end of a workout or a race, and you keep pushing to maintain pace, your body will use other muscles and tendons to keep going. You start to wobble because these alternatives are not designed to do the job, stressing the knees, hips, IT band, back, glutes, and hamstrings. The longer you wobble, the more prone you are to injury.
Stride extension when tired—There are several instincts that can hurt us. When tired, for example, many runners extend stride length to maintain pace. This may work for a while—at the expense of the quads, hamstrings, and several other components that become overstressed. It is always better to cut stride and get back into a smooth motion when you feel even a slight aggravation at the end of a run. It’s OK to push through tiredness when running smoothly as long as you are not feeling pain in any area. But if this means extending stride or wobbling (which aggravates your weak links), you will pay for this.
Be sensitive and avoid irritation—I don’t suggest that everyone try to be a perfect runner. But when you become aware of your form problems and make changes to become more efficient, you’ll reprogram the reflex brain to a smoother motion, reducing aches and pains and lowering fatigue. This can also help you run faster.
When under stress, use the ankle
Shorten your stride, keep the feet low to the ground, touch lightly, and the ankle will release in a reflex action, over and over and over. Very little energy is used with this motion. Practice this fast shuffle, and you will program the reflex brain to run this way when needed.
Relaxed muscles are important—especially at the end of the run
Overall, the running motion should feel smooth, and there should be no tension in your neck, back, shoulders, or legs. Even during the last half mile of a hard workout or race, try to maintain the three main elements of good form—upright posture, feet low to the ground, and relaxed stride—and you’ll stay relaxed. You should not try to push through tightness and pain. Adjust your form to reduce aches and recovery time.
Tip: If you feel yourself tightening up, talk to the muscles, tendons, neck, and back as you make form adjustments. Tell yourself to take a good breath and run like a puppet on a string. This conscious act can help shift control to the conscious frontal brain and away from the reflex brain. As you do the puppet (or whatever helps you relax), you will be reprogramming the reflex brain to do this automatically in the future. It may take dozens of retraining sessions to see this happening.
Three negative stresses of inefficient form
Most runners have an intuitive sense that something is wrong with their form but don’t make corrections. The stress builds up and triggers negative attitude secretions:
Fatigue from extraneous motions becomes so severe that it takes much longer to recover.
Muscles or tendons are pushed beyond capabilities and break down, resulting in pain, injury, or fatigue.
The experience is so negative that the desire to run is reduced, producing burnout.
The big three: Posture, bounce, and stride
In thousands of individual running form consultations, I’ve discovered that when runners have problems, they tend to occur in these three running form components: posture, stride, and bounce. Often the problems are like a signature, tending to be very specific to the areas that you overuse, because of your unique movement patterns. By making a few small changes in their running forms, most of the runners I’ve worked with have reduced or eliminated the source of the problems—even the source of pain, when present.
1. Posture
Good running posture is actually good body posture. The head is naturally balanced over the shoulders, which are aligned over the hips. As the foot comes underneath, all of these elements are in balance so that no energy is needed to prop up the body. You shouldn’t have to work to pull a wayward body back from a wobble or an inefficient motion.
Forward lean—The most common mistake
The posture errors tend to be mostly due to a forward lean—especially when we are tired. The head wants to get to the finish as soon as possible, but the legs can’t go any faster. A common tendency at the end of a speed session is to lean with the head. In races, this results in more than a few falls around the finish line. A forward lean will often concentrate fatigue, soreness, and tightness in the lower back or neck. Biomechanics experts note that a forward lean will reduce stride length, causing a slowdown and making running more difficult.
It all starts with the head. When the neck muscles are relaxed, the head can naturally seek an alignment that is balanced on the shoulders. If there is tension in the neck or soreness afterward, the head may lean too far forward. This triggers a more general upper-body imbalance in which the head and chest are suspended slightly ahead of the hips and feet. Sometimes, headaches result from this postural problem. Ask a running companion to tell you if and when your head is too far forward or leaning down. This usually occurs at the end of a tiring run. The ideal position of the head is mostly upright, with the eyes focused about 30 to 40 yards ahead of you. Imagine that you are a puppet on a string.
Sitting back
The hips are the other major postural component that can get out of alignment. When observed from the side, a runner with this problem will have the butt behind the rest of the body. When the pelvic area is shifted back, the legs are not allowed to go through their ideal range of motion, and the stride length is shortened. This produces a slower pace, even when spending significant effort. Many runners tend to hit harder on their heels when their hips are shifted back—but this is not always the case.
A backward lean
It is rare for runners to lean back, but it happens. In my experience, this is usually due to a structural problem in the spine or hips. If you lean backwards, and you’re having pain in the neck, back, or hips, you should see an orthopedist that specializes in the back. One symptom is excessive shoe wear on the back of the heel, but there are other reasons why you may show this kind of wear.
Correction—Puppet on a string
The best correction I’ve found to postural problems has been this mental image exercise: Imagine that you are a puppet on a string. In other words, you’re suspended from above—lifted from the head and each side of the shoulders. In this way, your head lines up above the shoulders, the hips come directly under, and the feet naturally touch lightly directly underneath. It won’t hurt anyone to do the puppet several times during a run.
It helps to combine this image with a deep breath. About every four to five minutes, as you start to run after a walk break, exhale more than usual and inhale so that you divert air into the lower lungs. Every third or fourth breath could be a lower lung breath. As you inhale, straighten up and say, “I’m a puppet.” Then imagine that you don’t have to spend energy maintaining this upright posture, because the “strings” attached from above keep you on track. As you continue to use this visualization, you’ll reinforce good posture, and the behavior can be hardwired into your reflex brain.
Upright posture not only allows you to stay relaxed, but you will also probably improve stride length. When you lean forward, you’ll be reducing stride to stay balanced. When you straighten up, you’ll receive a stride bonus of an inch or so, without any increase in energy. Note: Don’t try to increase stride length. When it happens naturally, you won’t feel it.
An oxygen dividend
Breathing improves when you straighten up. A leaning body can’t get ideal use out of the lower lungs. This can cause side pain. When you run upright, the lower lungs can receive adequate air, maximize oxygen absorption, and reduce the chance of side pain.
Note: Over the years, I’ve found a handful of runners who naturally run with a forward lean. If this is the way you’ve run and don’t have any back, neck, or other problems, continue. Each person should run the way that is natural, and most run upright, according to my experience.
2. Bounce
The most efficient stride is a shuffle with feet close to the ground. As long as you pick your foot up enough to avoid stumbling over a rock or uneven pavement, stay low. Most runners don’t need to get more than one inch of clearance—even when running fast. As you increase speed and ankle action, you will come off the ground a bit more than this. Again, don’t try to increase stride; let this happen naturally.
Your ankle, combined with the Achilles tendon, will act as a spring, moving you forward with each running step. If you stay low to the ground, very little effort is required. Through this shuffling technique, running becomes almost automatic. When runners err on bounce, they try to push off too hard. This usually results in extra effort spent in lifting the body off the ground. You can think of this as energy wasted in the air—energy that could be used to run faster at the end, when it counts.
The other negative force that bouncers experience is that of gravity. The higher you rise, the harder you fall. Each additional bounce off the ground delivers a lot more impact on feet and legs, which during speed sessions, races, and long runs, produces aches, pains, and injuries.
Light touch—Correcting too much bounce
The ideal foot touch should be so light that you don’t usually feel yourself pushing off or landing. This means that your foot stays low to the ground and goes through an efficient and natural motion. Instead of trying to overcome gravity, you get in synch with it. If your foot slaps when you run, you will definitely improve with a lighter touch.
Light touch drill
During the middle of a run, time yourself for 20 seconds. Focus on one thing: touching so softly that you don’t hear your feet. Earplugs are not allowed for this drill. Imagine that you are running on thin ice or through a bed of hot coals. Do several of these 20-second touches, becoming quieter and quieter with each one. You should feel very little impact on your feet as you do this drill.
3. Stride
Studies have shown that as runners get faster, the stride length shortens. This clearly shows that the key to faster and more efficient running is increased cadence or quicker turnover of feet and legs. A major cause of aches, pains, and injuries is a stride length that is too long. When in doubt, it is always better to err on the side of having a shorter stride.
Don’t lift your legs.
Even most of the world-class distance runners I’ve observed over the years don’t have a high leg lift. When your legs rise too high, you will overuse the quadriceps muscle (front of the thigh), resulting in a stride that is too long to be efficient. Many runners do this subconsciously at the end of long runs and races. The most common result is sore quadriceps muscles for the next day or two.
Don’t kick out too far in front of you.
If you watch the natural movement of the leg, it will kick forward slightly as the running foot gently moves forward, and then land underneath to contact the ground. Let this be a natural motion that leaves no tightness in the muscles behind the lower or upper leg.
Tightness in the front of the shin, behind the knee, or in the hamstring (back of the thigh) are signs that you are kicking too far forward and reaching out too far. Correct this by staying low to the ground, shortening the stride, and lightly touching the ground.
The following drills have helped thousands of runners run more efficiently and faster. Each develops different capabilities, and each rewards the individual for running smoother, reducing impact, using momentum, and increasing the cadence or turnover of feet and legs. With each drill, you’ll be teaching yourself to move forward more directly and easily down the road.
These drills should be done on a non-long-run day. It is fine, however, to insert them into your warm-up before a race or a speed workout. Many runners have also told me that both drills are a nice way to break up an average run that otherwise might otherwise be boring.
Troubleshooting Form-Related Injuries
Lower back — Caused by forward lean, overstriding, and too few walk breaks
Neck pain — Caused by forward lean and head placed too far forward or back
Hamstring pain — Caused by striding too long and sometimes stretching
Shin pain on front — Caused by too long a stride length, especially on downhills or at the end of a run
Shin pain on inside — Caused by overpronation and uneven terrain
Achilles tendon pain — Caused by stretching, speedwork, and overpronation
Calf pain — Caused by stretching, speedwork, and inadequate number of walk breaks on a long run
Knee pain — Caused by too few walk breaks, overpronation, speedwork, and an extended stride
The shuffle
The most efficient and gentle running form is a shuffle. The feet stay next to the ground, touching lightly with a relatively short stride. When running at the most relaxed range of the shuffling motion, the ankle mechanism does almost all of the work, and little effort is required from the calf muscle.
Speedwork increases risk for injury
To improve, time goal runners need to run faster in some workouts, and this means some increase in stride length, greater bounce, and foot push-off. By gradually increasing the intensity of speed training, the feet and legs can adapt (with sufficient rest intervals and rest days between). But there is still a risk of injury. Be sensitive to your weak links and don’t keep running if there is the chance that you may have the beginnings of an injury.A gentle increase in the beginning of the season can significantly reduce risk.
Suggestions for running smoother and reducing irritation to weak links:
Feet should be low to the ground, using a light touch.
Try not to bounce more than an inch off the ground.
Let your feet move the way that is natural for them. If you tend to land on your heel and roll forward, do so.
If you have motion control issues, an orthotic can provide minor correction to bring you into alignment and avoid irritating a weak. A supportive shoe may also be needed. Check with an experienced podiatrist about these issues.
Maintain a gentle stride that allows your leg muscles to stay relaxed. In general, it’s better to have a shorter stride, and focus on quicker turnover if you want to speed up.
Water running can help in eliminating flips and turns of the feet and legs which sometimes cause injuries, aches, or pains. With a flotation device, run in the deep end of the pool so that your foot does not touch the bottom. Even one session of 15 minutes once a week can be beneficial.