Conway Running Club

I used to think running fast was about pushing off hard with my feet, engaging my calf muscles and as I ran you could hear me “pounding the pavement”.  I would hit the pavement with my heel and push off with my toes each stride.  Work, work, work.

As I’ve run with more experienced (and faster) runners I’ve slowly learned that friction is not my friend when I’m running. When I’m hitting my heel first and can hear my feet pounding the pavement I am in a sense working against myself. Out on runs I’ve heard CRC runners say to run soft, minimize the time your feet are on the ground, lean to let gravity help you, relax your feet and calf muscles and let your larger hip muscles engage in the run and run like you are barefoot and running on hot coals.  Stride, glide, float.

This morning 2 of us were running and decided to catch up to a couple of other runners in front of us. I could hear his feet hitting the pavement hard. This reminded me of what I had learned about running softer, quieter and more efficient.  We decided to run like we were sneaking up on them. Our focus was on running like we were in the woods sneaking up on someone or something we didn’t want to hear us coming. Relax, slow down our breathing, run as quiet as we can with our feet softly touching the ground and spending as little time on the ground with as little pressure as possible. Lean in to this relaxed form and guess what? We caught them.

Run like you are running on a path with leaves on it and not wanting anyone to hear you coming and you’ll be faster and have less chance of an injury.

Click on comments above and share your experiences and running tips.

Running Tips

That is if you don’t fall and hurt yourself!!  Seriously, a group of us headed out of the fitness center parking lot this morning onto the early morning roads and as we ran you could hear runners yell – ICE!  Fortunately nobody fell and we all got our run in.  This reminded me of a blog entry written by Danny Dreyer, author of the Chi Running techniques, about how running on ice can help you learn to focus on your running form.

Specifically, Chi Running teaches landing on your mid-foot (as opposed to running on your toes or hitting your heel first) and running relaxed as opposed to pushing off on each stride.  Danny points out how running on ice can help you feel what a midfoot strike feels like and can teach you how to do it whenever you are running.  READ DANNY’S BLOG.

As you work to improve your running, pay attention to your form, where your foot hits the pavement, what muscle groups you are using and how relaxed you are.  Running form and efficiency are one of the keys to fast, injury free running.  There are many “schools of thought” on this and you should learn about them and decide what is best for you.

Running Tips