How Can I Run Efficiently?

Whether you are preparing for your short or long distance races be it 5 km or half-marathon having the right locomotion movement is essential to be successful your race. To complete your distance races or even set a record to win at your personal best doesn't just come with high levels of conditioning, although it is essentially useful, but also a proper running mechanics are imperative. Both are the equal drives for a successful performance. A lot of times, we have seen casual runners or even athletes made mistake without realizing themselves. Long term improper running mechanics may lead to improper force absorption and distribution hence leading to soft tissue injuries such as plantar fascistic, shin splint or runner's knee are common among runners. This is due to the fact different bio-mechanics hence there are no universal running form as everybody bio-mechanics are different from each individual, but that doesn't mean the running form AKA the KPI (KEY PERFORMANCE INDEX) should be no different. The below figure 1 gives us a guideline or standard to optimize your running technique and to minimize soft tissue injuries when perform correctly. There are plenty of reasons why soft tissue injuries occur aside from running mechanics itself, it could be improper training method (the more, the better mindset*) which is the recipe for disaster, improper footwear and recovery etc. That would be in another topic.

First, we have to seek for understanding how this running occurs. Often times we have come across in the magazines or online articles to find out which running mechanics are right, such as;

1) should we land on our heels? (heel strike)

2) Or should we land on our mid-foot or ball of the foot?

Which one should we adopt?

Well it depends. While it is certainly no right or wrong. First, let's take a look at our WALKING GAIT. We land on your HEELS which is relatively normal, we wouldn't be landing on our mid-foot when walking otherwise we will look funny when we walk!

As we move into a jogging phase to running at higher speed or velocity, or mechanics does change. From heel strike to mid-foot strike to ball of the foot as the velocity increases. Hence, you wouldn't see athletes who sprint land on their heels, else it will look funny as well. This is to say that our running technique changes as we move into faster pace or higher velocity. Our body has to adapt to such changes such as when we are driving our car with the lowest gear of gear 1 to give us a good start acceleration and as we move into 5th gear everything changes. The moral of the story we can't just maintain at gear 1 try to run faster at gear 1 otherwise your engine will overhaul. I find this concept pretty similar. If we don't change our running mechanics from heel strike to foot strike, we are in the risk of poor performance and injury.

How soft injury happens?

Let us take a look what happens when you are running at higher speed while you are still landing with your heels. When you land on your heels, the first thing is the force absorption. Most of the high speed forces will distribute to your heels and when your heel contacts the ground first, this will act as a breaking forces which then slows down your speed. And we are curious why we will never get faster despite all the conditioning effort we put in the gym. This will also lead to over striding (when you are trying to keep up with the speed that you applied during running by using your leg to take a bigger leap). This is call energy wastage or leakage. So much energy has lost during running. Also, knee, hip, and lower back pain occurs when the force is being distributed in the form of vibration from heels to knee joint to hip joint to lower back when your legs are fully in the extended position when landing. Muscle weakness is also another factor when force absorption is inefficient.

So how do we overcome it?

By switching our running mechanics. When you are moving at a higher speed your body has to stay upright, neutral and balance with mid-foot landing and subsequently to your heels. The mid-foot landing should directly under the hips or slightly in front, but not too far forward as you will risk over striding. In order to maintain your cadence. Most of us are not use to landing with our mid-foot when it comes to running at higher speed. It seems awkward at the start, however it takes practice by learning the principle of the landing and technique, of course start running at higher speed. Of course, we wouldn't want to run at a higher speed on your first day of training without learning the proper mechanics. It has to come with proper progression running plan. (i.e. building your way towards higher speed).

Strength training on the other hand place an important role for successful performance. A lot of these question embedded in the minds of the distance runners such as;

1. Strength training will make my muscles bigger and slows me down

Well it depends. Strength training will make muscles bigger when your whole year training program involves like a bodybuilding program most of the time. Let's put it this way, if your training plan in the gym involves countless bicep curls or tricep extensions, then we wouldn't get as much physiological changes in the body. Well, this is not to say that the exercises are bad per se. But it is rather the application is not too appropriate to the nature of the sports.

2. Why should i strength train if i'm just running?

The stronger our muscles are, the more ability for our muscles to apply and absorb force.

Take an example;

Person A with the same body weight and height without strength training background

Person B with the same body weight and height with strength training background

Who do you think will have a better running performance?

The person B will definitely have better performance as the cost per movement is lesser compare with person A. Same weight with same height, person B are more efficient in moving his own weight hence produce better power output and more resistance to fatigue compare to person A.

So does that mean i will have to run faster most of the time? Shouldn't we PRESERVE our energy by running at a moderate pace?

As we all thought running long distance, preserving energy is the key for successful run. But have you ever notice those ultra marathon runners run? They are fast!

Our body will be much more efficient at running as we get stronger from strength training, hence this leads to better stamina. The cost of energy consumption is lower per cadence, and we won't feel as fatiguing to run. This also leads to a better running speed which means you will be running faster than before and best part is you wouldn't know if you are running faster when you have the right running mechanics. So running at the pace wouldn't cost you as much anymore. That concludes this topic for today.

So would you choose a car with big engine or a car with powerful engine?

I will leave the answer to you. Have fun running!