Improve Your Running Technique: How To Run Faster, Longer And Injury-Free

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

ROY PALMER www.fitness-programs-for-life.com

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Video & Podcast Instructions This ebook is contains a number of videos and podcasts so you will need to be online to get access to these extras. The videos require Adobe’s Flash Player, if you not currently have this installed on your PC you can download it for free from a link on the video pages. The podcasts can be downloaded directly to your PC via the links throughout this program. These can then be copied to your mp3 player and taken on your run if you wish.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Introducing The Program Okay, hands up all those who were taught to run? Not many eh! If you were seriously taking up golf, tennis or a martial art we wouldn’t consider doing it without instruction. Yes I know most of us assume we can all run because it’s just like walking only quicker, it’s only putting one foot in front of the other – right? Well you would have thought so, but from my own experience and from working with many runners I believe few adults run ‘naturally’, that is, most of us have at least one bad habit interfering with our running. A poor running technique may not be immediately obvious but eventually the aches and pains start to turn into irritating injuries and if you are not careful these turn into great big injuries that stop you running! What I hope to achieve with this program is to show you how to identify poor habits that may be making your running harder than it should be. A good running technique will not only dramatically reduce the risk of injury, it will also help to improve your speed, stamina and most importantly, your understanding and enjoyment of this most rewarding activity. Right! Let’s get started.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

1. Running Technique (or Falling forward with style) Your running technique is very important. Get this wrong and you will severely limit the benefit you get from running; it could eventually lead to an injury that could prevent you participating in any physical activity – believe me, I know this because I’ve done it! But get this right and running will become a very enjoyable, rewarding lifelong activity – and not just from the fitness angle. I hope that has got your attention because very few runners give this enough serious thought. I am not going to insist you run in a particular style because there is no onesize fits all technique. The approach I take is to eliminate poor movement patterns that interfere with all activities and not just running. Once you can rid yourself of patterns that lead to poor movement your natural running style will emerge.

Stop doing the wrong things and the right things will take care of themselves! Most people incorrectly assume that they know how to run; after all, we could do it as children. But it may have been sometime since you last ran and do you still have the same body? Years of sitting at a desk, dealing with a stressful job or being inactive will have changed your body shape. We will start by looking at the basic building blocks of running so we can break down the action. Perhaps your current experience of running is not a happy one. Perhaps you are suffering from recurring injuries or your times and distances are static, well now it’s time to move on and see what can be achieved with a completely new mindset. (Yes running technique is not all about the physical stuff!)

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

I want you to think of running as the movement of your limbs to push the ground away in order to propel yourself forward at a speed of your choosing. Get your technique right and the movement will feel free and light and consequently a real joy. Much of the activity during running requires little or no effort relying instead on the momentum from earlier activity, the location of joints and the contact with the ground. Many runners can benefit from learning to let go at the right time to reduce interference, save energy and develop an efficient style. The following activities over the page will help you to appreciate how to reduce effort in your style. You may think that surely the whole idea of running is to use effort and burn calories. However, for the majority it is misapplied effort that causes injury and prevents them from staying active! Not a good way to keep in shape. When you are more experienced you can exert yourself more but an efficient running style is essential if you want to keep on running. We want to focus on the joy of running and not the effort. See next page for the first activity.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Activity #1: Pendulums I mentioned earlier that much of the activity of running requires less effort than you think. One of these is the leg swing, a movement that makes up a considerable amount of the action. 1. Sit on the edge of a table so the whole of your upper legs down to the knees are in contact. 2. Bring back your left leg until it is underneath the table and then let it go so it will swing forward. It is important to let it go and not to swing it forward yourself. 3. Let alternate legs swing with minimal effort (just give them a little nudge) and think of each leg as a pendulum. If you are experiencing the need to make them swing by using your hamstrings or quadriceps, think of the space at the back of your knee joint and let go from there. Let’s try a similar experiment with you arms. 1. Stand and think of a line from the tip of your shoulders through the biceps, down the arm to your thumbs. Or just think ‘long arms’. 2. As with the legs, see if you can get your arms swinging straight and by your side with a minimal effort without lifting your shoulders. 3. Now let you arms bend at the elbow, place your thumb lightly on your index finger, keep your fingers relaxed and again swing your arms without the shoulders lifting. Your hands should be relaxed, nether clenched into a fist or fingers held straight. These actions of your limbs will help to propel you forward whilst running but require less effort than most runners use.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Activity #2: Backs to the wall This is a very useful procedure to help you swing your legs from the right place to prevent excessive twisting of your pelvis and lower back when running, both actions reduce the efficiency of your technique and lead to injury.

1. Stand with your back to a wall with your only your shoulder blades and buttocks making contact. You will need to stand with your heels away from the wall, the distance depends on the tone in your gluteus maximus! The back of your head does not touch the wall and should be resting on top of your spine – remember the nodding donkey. 2. Allow yourself to stand tall (just think this, don’t do it) and appreciate the floor pushing back up. Be aware of the location of the hip, knee and ankle joint of your left leg. 3. Imagine a thread attached to your left knee and allow your leg to release from the hip and ankle joint and allow the thread to pull the knee forward. 4. Roll onto the ball of the left foot without taking the weight off it. Your pelvis should neither drop or lose contact with the wall – but don’t push back. If you have pulled forward or dropped the pelvis you are not releasing from the hip joint. 5. Hold this position for a few moments and be aware of the contact with the floor and wall. Focus on the support you are getting from the right foot and think up from the sole up through your right leg, up your back, right to the top of your head.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Use the wall only as reference to whether you are moving the pelvis to move your leg. You should not push back or lean against the wall.

6. Slowly let your knee come back so your left heel returns to the floor and be aware of the responding push that comes as your shin bones straightens and pushes back up through your thigh bone. Repeat on the opposite side and when you are able to do this without swaying or losing contact with the wall, start to increase the speed until closer to walking speed. This activity is very useful for running as it allows you to appreciate how to all your legs to swing without undue movement of the pelvis. See btw_video for a video of this procedure. Okay. Let’s start moving – see next page.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Activity #3: One small step The objective with this procedure is to practise a simple movement without using unnecessary effort to carry it out. 1. Stand with your feet below your hip joints and let your arms rest by your side. 2. Think of taking a step forward but do not start to move. Observe what you want to do to get ready to step forward. Do you lean to one side? Are you starting to fall forward or hold your breath? 3. Now think about light coming from your centre and flowing along your arms, up your spine and through the top of your head as in the previous activity. 4. Keep this thought going and release your knee forward away from your hip and imagine falling up as you step forward.

This is about appropriate timing and minimal effort. To take a step forward you have to release and allow the movement to start with only the slightest effort to let the knee bend and lift. It’s like a car on a hill releasing its brake. Just as with the Pendulums procedure this will help you to let your legs swing when running.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Activity #4: Walk the Walk You are probably familiar with the saying ‘don’t run before you can walk’ and I can confirm this is very good advice. Although walking and running are different activities you can learn some very useful lessons from walking that are applicable to running. You are now going to put together the previous activities and take them into walking. See also wtw_video for a look at the activity or wtw_audio for on the spot instructions. 1. Use the same technique from the previous activity to initiate walking forward. 2. Be aware of the movement in your hip, knee and ankle joints, as learnt from activity you have just completed, to allow your legs to swing from the hip and your lower leg to release from the knee. The Pendulums activity will have shown you how little work is required to swing the lower legs and arms. 3. See how much effort you can take out of the act of walking and just allow your limbs to swing. 4. Think about releasing muscles and joints rather than the effort involved. 5. Be aware of the ground beneath your feet and think of ‘walking tall’ by using the upward thrust from the ground in response to your body weight coming down. 6. Start slowly and start to build up speed but not by trying harder. To increase your speed let your arms swing a little faster but without lifting your shoulders. If you can leave your legs alone they will increase speed to match your arms so you will be moving faster without the effort you probably think is necessary.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Activity #5: Walk to run Now we are getting down to business! We now want to take the feel of the free walking movement into running. Also see wtr_video and wtr_audio 1. Start with an efficient walking stride as in the previous activity and build up your speed by freeing up your shoulders to allow the arms to swing faster. 2. Think about going into a run and observe what you feel you need to do. Are you tempted to lift your shoulders? Does your neck stiffen and your head go back? Or do you feel the need to tighten your lower back to get the legs moving? You will probably have your own interpretation of what running involves but remember a number of these actions may be inappropriate, reduce the efficiency of your technique and will be carried throughout your run. 3. Avoid doing what you feel you need to do to start running to make the changeover from walking to running without additional effort. 4. Allow your arms to bend at the elbow and keep them swinging in a linear motion. Think of the legs swinging from the hips and raise the legs by thinking of your knees leading the move. 5. Once the knee has been raised, the lower leg can be allowed to swing through as in the pendulums activity. The kicking action of many runners increases the workload on the quadriceps, and as we shall see later, is totally unnecessary. 6. Be conscious of the hip, knee and ankle joints working together in the movement. 7. As with walking tall, think of running tall to use the force of gravity, this from a practical point of view is the ground pushing back up in response

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance to your feet landing on it. This may sound a little strange initially but the ground is where the force comes from that moves you forward. 8. Be cautious of trying to hold yourself up to achieve an upright position. If you can remove unnecessary effort, your body will attain an effortless upright stance due to the absence of excessive muscular activity. Your challenge is to prevent yourself from trying to run as this will involve habitual actions you associate with running. Run for a short distance and then stop and walk for a few minutes to regain the sense of effortless movement. Alternate between walking and running whilst preventing any build up of tension in your neck, shoulders and back.

Activity #6: Releasing the brake This is a good one for giving you a sensation of using less effort for running. Also see rtb_video 1. Jog on the spot just lifting your feet a few inches off the floor. 2. Think of a string pulling your knees forward to bring your feet up. 3. Now think of the string attached to the back of you heels pulling them up towards your thighs. 4. Notice a difference? You are now using your hamstring instead of your hip flexor muscles. 5. Keep jogging on the spot for a moment longer using as little effort as possible. 6. Now ‘release the brake’ and let yourself move forward whilst resisting the urge to run. There is much debate about which muscles you should use to move your legs when running. Many advocate a combination of hip flexors (to get the leg off

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance the floor and the quadriceps at the front of your thighs (to kick the legs forward). Others namely, Dr Romanov designer of the POSE method, recommend the hamstrings (back of thighs) to lift the foot. I tend to switch between both sets in a run but try to avoid the kick through. What you have just tried will allow you to switch by just thinking about either the knee leading the leg or the heel lifting off the floor. Try experimenting with both methods and see if you prefer one for hills and another for flat. I won’t dictate which is best because I believe each person has their own efficient way based on their individual body mechanics.

Some common running faults Let’s look at some of the most common running faults you will see in runners to help you avoid doing them and spare you the problems they cause. One of the first faults is that if we believe we are doing something wrong we assume we know how to correct it. For example, a friend watches you run and says that your right foot is swinging out to the right as you run. You would of course try and do something about it and probably concentrate on keeping your foot from swinging out. The problem with this approach is that the actions of your right foot are part of your total running pattern and therefore you cannot just change one aspect in isolation. You may on the surface appear to prevent the offending action but this is usually at the cost of doing something else wrong to achieve it. In the case of your right foot you might tighten your hip joint in an attempt to correct the fault. This is going to lead to another problem a little further down the line. My approach is to focus on the areas of your body that are involved in coordination and movement. Let’s look at some beginners in action and learn from what we see.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Angela Angela has walked up to base camp on Mount Everest so she is an experienced walker, very fit and has the right attitude to training. However, when she started running she experienced pain in her knees and found she soon became breathless.

From the side We can see what is causing this problem: She runs with her head pulled slightly backwards (a very common habit). Her knees are coming to the centre. Her foot is swinging out to the side. The front foot is also landing flat.

See next page for a view from the front.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

The front view This shows the knees coming into the centre and the feet turning outwards. These actions will put stress on the hip, knee and ankle joints. Not so obvious is the collapsing of the torso, as Angela is not ‘making use of the ground’. In other words there is no spring in the step and the tendency is to sink into the ground. This causes compression in the torso preventing the ribs from moving, hence the breathlessness.

I learnt the hard way about running but if you develop a good technique early in your running career it should not be the case for you. If you are returning to running after a break I would like you to think as a beginner and not bring the old running habits into this program. Check the picture of me on the next page finishing in a half-marathon in 1983. I was 19 years old, very fit but had a dreadful running technique. My foot and knee are pointing in opposition directions, my torso is twisted and I am not using the spring from the ground.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance About eighteen months after this race I completed a marathon but at some cost. It was the beginning of the end for my running as I was to suffer from knee and back problems. Ten years later I met Malcolm Balk, author of Master the Art of Running – see later, he showed me what I was doing wrong. I have now been running for over 13 years now without injury and still run the odd half-marathon. The main problem for Angela and most runners is the position of the head. Very few runners and coaches will address this problem. The temptation is go straight for the obvious faults and correct them one by one but never getting the root cause. The author in 1983 aged 19 finishing a half-marathon in Birmingham, UK. My poor running technique led to a serious back problem that took ten years to rehabilitate!

Why should the position of the head matter? From a physical point of view the weight of the head if in the wrong place will put undue stress on your body. It weighs around 10 lbs (4.5 kgs), that’s heavy, too heavy to have it pulling your neck backwards – see side view of Angela. The position of the head also activates your reflexes used for coordination. If the head is dropped back it feeds inappropriate messages to your nervous system. If you put garbage in, you’ll get garbage back. So your muscles will receive the wrong messages about what you are planning to do. The end result is your muscles are working over time to keep you upright whilst also trying to run.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance So how did Angela improve her running technique without trying to change what she was doing with her legs? The first thing we did was to look at how her neck could release to allow her head to sit nicely poised on top of her spine. Try this yourself.

Question: Do you know where your head sits on your spine?

Check the location of the atlanto-occipital joint in the diagram above – it’s where the two lines cross. I bet this is much higher and further into the centre of your head than you thought. And this matters a lot! People will point to where they probably move their head from and this has a huge bearing on how much muscle tension they hold in their neck.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance Try the activity below and maintain an awareness of this joint when you run or at any other time of the day.

Activity #6: Head start

1. Place both index fingers in the groove behind your ears and appreciate the joint is roughly in between your two fingers and almost level with your eyes. 2. Leaving your fingers there for the moment, look up and think of the movement from this joint in between your fingers. 3. Then look down, again with the thought of the pivot point and allowing the movement from here – see opposite x marks the spot. 4. How did you do? Now try using less effort. Think of your eyes leading the head to look up whilst allowing your head to tilt back on the pivot point like a seesaw. 5.

Let you head release forward by letting go of the back at the neck and your head will drop back down without having to pull the head forward. Your head is heavier in front of the pivot point and if the muscles at the back are released gravity will do the rest.

6.

Keep your fingers there and let your head move side to side.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance Appreciate that your head balances at this point and it will go a long way to helping you coordination. See what difference it made to Angela’s technique.

This is half an hour after the first set of photographs. Now we can see that then her head is not pulled back she has a springier step and getting a good sense of the ground pushing up. She is no longer collapsing giving her freedom in the torso so her ribs can move. Breathing became a lot easier and the breathlessness disappeared. The left leg is still pulling slightly to the centre but with the procedures she now practises combined with other ongoing techniques, more on these later, this will soon be corrected. One small change in Angela’s thinking has made a big difference to her overall coordination. It

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance wasn’t a physical thing rather an adjustment in concept. This may sound a little confusing but if you can appreciate that your muscles do exactly what you are asking them to do, then if there is a problem with technique or coordination, it is your thinking that has to change! By working on your concept of what it involved in running, or all movement for that matter, you can make a big difference. As I said your muscles do what you ask them to do, but do you know what you are asking them to do? So let’s compare the difference.

Before

After

Collapsed and sinking

Lengthened with a

into the ground.

spring in her stride.

Notice the effortless upright poise and the spring in the step. And as promised she also looks happier because believe me it’s more fun running efficiently than poorly! Let’s look at another runner in action.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Simon

On the left we can see what happens if the leg lands in front of the head and body – the straight leg has no ‘shock absorbing’ capacity leading to a jolt going up the leg and into the back as the full body weight lands on the heel. In addition to the potential injuries this action also reduces the efficiency of the stride. We can see this in the photo on the right because when the heel lands first in front of the body it acts as a brake. Motion is momentarily stopped as the leg has to recover its ‘spring’ to bounce back off the floor. The effect is that you have to work harder to get it going again. Note also the collapsed spine and position of the head as discussed previously. Now let’s see what happens when we make a few small adjustments to Simon’s concept of what’s involved with running.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Notice the difference! On the left the ball of the foot is about to land under the head and body. The head is nicely poised on top of the spine leaving the neck and consequently the body free from tension. When the leg lands it is not straight and therefore able to bounce back from the ground to propel him forward for the next stride – see right. The change was achieved by using the techniques at the start of this chapter to bring about a change in Simon’s ‘body sense’, that is, an understanding of how the body can use the floor as a spring and how to allow you body to respond in the most efficient way. See case1_video for moving footage of this process.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Sarah

We can see a similar problem with Sarah. Landing on the heel with a straight leg causing a stop/ start run with the result of a much-reduced ‘push’ coming back from the floor – see left. In the photograph on the right you can also see an excessive lifting of the leg which uses unnecessary effort and also leads to the lower leg swinging through ahead of the body. The technique that made the biggest difference for Sarah was Releasing The Brake. Once she could experience that with minimal leg lift and effort it was still possible to run, her technique began to change.

See next page.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Now we can see a much more relaxed, upright style and better leg positions. The tension is reduced in the neck, shoulders and torso allowing for easier breathing. The changes brought about in these three case studies were achieved by changing the runner’s concept of their body and what is required to move it. No work was done to correct the perceived individual ‘faults’ with actual running technique without first taking the whole body into consideration. See case2_video to see this in motion.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

You Are What You Do Changing into your running kit does not automatically change your body! How you carry yourself in the car, office and at home will have an impact on your posture and ‘body mechanics’. If you are slumped at your desk for 8 hours a day you will take this into your run. If you try to correct your posture by making an effort to sit or stand up straight you are more likely to add to the tension in your body.

Your posture will influence everything you do – especially your running! If you would like to find everyday ways to keep your shape you are welcome to download my program How To Improve Your Posture Without Exercise and find that good posture does not have to be hard work! For more details please click Posture_Program.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

Now It’s Your Turn! I would like you to do the activities in this section and to start running with just a slow pace for very short distances, 20 to 30 meters will do for now. Start with the walking as discussed already, then move up to a running pace being careful not to lift your shoulders, tighten your neck or pull your lower back in. Always maintain an awareness of the ground pushing you upwards and that you are just letting your legs release from the hips and knees to swing through. Imagine a beam of light is shining up through your spine and out of the top of your head up into the sky. Running checklist 1.

Keep your jaw free

2.

Don’t look at the ground – look forward about 30 meters

3.

Check you are not lifting your shoulders to swing your arms

4.

Don’t push forward with your back

5.

Keep you legs swing from the hips

6.

Let your lower leg swing through

7.

Keep your ankles soft

8.

Let the ground push you up and forward

9.

Let the air flow into your lungs

10. And remember this is supposed to be fun! See next page to download the audio files to use on your run.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

The following podcasts are verbal instructions based on these techniques. If you have an mp3 or iPod you can use these when you are on your run. Walk the walk - wtw_audio Walk to run

– wtr_audio

On The Run

– otr_audio

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

2. Where’s Your Head At? What do you think about when running? This is an interesting question to ask runners. Of the hundreds of runners I talk to, a large number will think about everything else except running! This in my view is a shame because this means you are not really engaged in the activity. Remember, I would like you to think of running as something more than just a physical activity. With the right attitude your running will be a way to develop yourself as a whole. You can set yourself challenges and work out how you are going to meet them using your experience, intelligence, emotion and obviously your body. All in all a pretty good way to integrate your total self! So rather than compiling your grocery list whilst running, why not try to be present, or as sports people call it – be in The Zone. If you want to find out more about this paradoxical state, click Get_Into_The_Zone. A survey into what runners thought about when competing and how it affected their performance identified four categories – see over the page for the findings of the survey.

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance

What Should Runners Think About? Runner’s thoughts were divided into four main categories:-

Inward monitoring focusing on how you feel while running.

Outward monitoring focusing on aspects of the race such as distance, terrain and tactics.

Inward distraction having thoughts irrelevant to the race such as solving ‘mental puzzles’ or wondering what we are going to do after the race.

Outward distraction focusing on surroundings irrelevant to the race, such as scenery.

The research concluded that inward distraction should be avoided as it reduces awareness, resulting in either running too fast and ‘burning out’ or running too slowly. Inward monitoring is useful for judging the required pace and also for being aware of any warning signals such as muscle strain. The researchers believe that the most attention should be focused outwardly on aspects of the race, to minimise the influence of discomfort whilst remaining aware of the race situation. I would like to add a fifth category; I call it interactive awareness. This is thinking of how you are running. This is not to be confused with what you are feeling or doing in the race, but to the actual movement in relation to yourself and your surroundings. For example, when running are you aware of the location of your hip and shoulder joints or the active role the ground is playing

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance in your movement? Remember all that work you put into your running technique? This is where it can pay of as you maintain an awareness of your movement. This type of thinking is neither inward nor outward; it’s both, as it requires you to maintain awareness of who is running, how you are running and where you are running. For example, if you are aware of the feet landing on the ground when running, you can appreciate the force opposing your weight as the push back helps you to move forward. The upward push is translated into a forward motion by the action of hip, knee and ankle joints in conjunction with the movement of your arms. Newton’s third law of gravity states that ‘the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal and in opposite directions’, or more commonly known as, ‘for every action there is an equal opposite reaction’. You do not have to be pulled down by gravity; yet many runners appear to lose the battle. Contemplate this law when running and you can allow yourself to ‘go up’ - to go forward due to the action of the legs and use this force to your advantage. Applying interactive awareness will help you get into The Zone mentioned earlier. Once you are there you will find yourself thinking about all sorts of stuff, and it really doesn’t matter now what you are thinking about. Your mind will be set free and you’ll be amazed at what comes into your head!

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3. More Useful Running Tips There is no substitute for experience - a runner must have written this phrase! You will learn many little tricks on your journey over the next few months and years but here are a few to get you started.

Running up hills – unless you run on the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, you will come across at least a gentle gradient when running. In fact, I recommend you go and find a few to run up as part of your training. A mistake I used to make in common with many runners is to use the wrong muscles when going up hill. I would grit my teeth, tighten my neck, lift my shoulders and attack the hill so I could get up it faster and look to recover on the flat. I still believe it is a good tactic to ‘attack the hill’ but it doesn’t require the stiff jaw etc. As you approach the hill think loose! Let your jaw, shoulders and hips release and just let your arms swing a little more. I imagine I am running with ski poles that will drive me up the hill – okay it may sound a little strange but I know many runners who find this works really well! Think tall as in the running technique instructions and check you have not pulled your head back. Stay loose and just lift your knees and let the lower leg swing through without kicking. I think of learning just very slightly forward and ‘push’ the hill away from underneath me.

Running down hills – a gentle down gradient is a joy to run down but the steeper the hill the more stress will be placed on your ankles, hips and especially your knees. Check that you are not ‘braking’ as you run down a slope. By this I mean tightening up in fear of falling over. This will only add more tension to your legs. Stay relaxed and just let my lower legs swing through. Keep your ankles ‘soft’ and you will absorb the shock a lot easier. Do not allow your legs to straighten, this will send a shock wave right up your

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance body. Keep your legs slightly bent. If it is a very steep hill I lean very slightly backwards and let the legs go.

When not to run – Just as important as running is…. not running. Your body will need periods of rest as it uses this time to consolidate the benefits. Do not run two long distances on consecutive days, ultra-marathon runners may do this but they are a special breed! Alternate distance and sprint but also set aside days when you don’t run at all. If you have an injury, cold or feeling a little unwell maybe consider a comfortable walk instead. It is also a good idea not to run on your anniversary or partner’s birthday! Keep it in perspective and you will get the full benefits of running. You probably do not want to become a very lonely distance runner.

When to step up the pace – We have talked a lot about training sensibly, keeping an eye open for injury and playing safe, but there is a place for you to push yourself a little harder. Unless you do this you run the risk of reaching a plateau, getting frustrated and giving up. If you are running well and you have no injuries or pains it can be an interesting experience to set aside a ‘go for it’ run. I will set out a target in advance to set myself a challenge. I then spend a little longer warming-up and then ‘go for it’. It may be looking to set a personal best in a sprint, 400m, mile or 3 miles etc. The difference with this session is that I go out faster and accept it will get a little uncomfortable. However, I will stay in the moment and be fully focused on how I am running more than ever so I can spot any early warning signs. I will say to myself that I am going to go that little extra distance into the unknown and see how I can cope with it. This is a good way of learning what you are capable of and it will prevent plateauing. Be sensible, apply the skills you have learnt and see where you can go today! Do not make the mistake of thinking that more effort results in a

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance better performance. For many runners I see more effort simply means wasted energy! Run smart and efficient and your performance will improve. For more running tips visiting my Running_Pages. I add articles here on a regular basis.

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4. Returning To Running After Injury If you do suffer an injury – don’t despair. All is not lost. If done in the right way the rehabilitation period can be used to strengthen your resolve and increase your skill and understanding of running. On your return to training following an injury go back and assess your technique – or send me another video. By going back to the start again you can assess whether your basics were right. One advantage of recovering from an injury is that it can provide you with instant feedback concerning your performance. It is like an alarm bell that rings if you are doing it in your habitual manner, i.e., wrong again. If the bell rings, STOP! Stop immediately what you are doing and give yourself a few moments to run some checks to see if you are holding any tension in your neck, shoulders or back. When you have achieved this, maintain your awareness in the moment for a while longer before starting your activity again. Immediately you recognise something that tightens your body and prevents a feeling of lightness in your movement, stop and go back to the beginning. It is tempting to carry on with the niggles or aches and pains – I know I’ve done this enough in the past, but as mentioned earlier, all you will achieve by doing more of the same thing is the same end result – the injury. Be patient otherwise you will go straight back to the situation that got you injured in the first place. Learn from your injury and you will return stronger, wiser and better placed to progress your running. An excellent source of information on all types of sports injury on the web can be found at www.sportsinjuryclinic.net

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5. Online Support

If you have any questions or require support please do not hesitate to email_me see next page for advice on getting your technique assessed

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6. Video Analysis

If you purchased the Gold Program when you are ready to have your running technique analysed please email the video to [email protected]

If you didn’t purchase this feature as part of your program but would like to do so now you can do so by clicking request_video_analysis

Tips on getting the most from your analysis: •

If possible please include footage taken from the front, side and behind.

•

Take the recording from as close as possible – it’s difficult to assess a runner on the distant horizon :0)

•

Video yourself following a warm-up and short run.

•

I know it’s difficult but try not to be aware of the video camera.

I will analyse your technique and send you my assessment within 7 days in most cases. I will suggest changes only where appropriate.

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7. More Programs & Books

If you would like to subscribe to my free monthly newsletter, the eZone please click below subscribe_to_ezine

If you have found this program useful you might want to check out my other programs – see below

Fitness_Programs_on_eBook

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8. Zone Mind, Zone Body

"This book will be a very useful addition to the tool kit of any coach or performer." Greg Chappell MBE, Former Australian Cricket Captain and current Indian National Team Coach.

“A book for anyone serious about their fitness and sport."

Available in paper back or eBook with added features, my new book Zone_Mind, Zone_Body is the result of ten years experience of

working with sports people of all abilities.

Discover how you can ‘get into The Zone’ and take your fitness and performance to the next level!

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9. Recommended resources The following are resources and products I have either used or come highly recommended by colleagues.

For more great books on running, fitness and health I can recommend please visit my Bookstore. If you are looking for a treadmill, rowing machine or bike and not sure which would suit you, please see my reviews at my Fitness_Equipment page.

You may want to consider a complete program of exercise, diet and lifestyle changes. I can recommend Lynn Van Dyke's ‘Melt the Fat program’. For more information click Melt_the_Fat

If you find cramp becomes a problem this program has all the answers. With over 100 hundred pages of advice on nutrition, exercises and hydration you will find the solution to prevent runners cramp. For more information see Running_Cramp_Relief

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10. About The Author Runner, cricket coach, martial artist and published author, Roy Palmer has over 25 years experience in competitive sport and has spent the last 10 studying performance enhancement. Like many of us, he often had annoying injury problems, coupled with backache and fatigue, but thought they were just ‘normal’. Until, that is, he realised he was actually causing them himself. Conventional therapies would work temporarily but only as long as it took for him to repeat the same injury-causing habit. After developing better movement through the Alexander Technique, he began to enjoy sport again and gave up a career in telecommunications to complete his three-year full-time training to teach the Technique. He now achieves greater performance in his own sports than he did 10 years ago! Roy works with people in many different sports and activities. He is an active contributor to regular sports forums around the world, including Greg Chappell’s Cricket Academy. He also applies his knowledge to help children with learning difficulties, challenges with handwriting and co-ordination, behavioural problems and dyslexia. Roy is available for one-to-one sessions, group workshops and bespoke corporate programmes.

My experience of The Alexander Technique One of my ambitions in my late teens was to run a marathon and for many months my life revolved around achieving it, to the extent of overlooking one vital aspect that seemed so obvious with hindsight. I followed a strict diet and training timetable but made one big mistake - I neglected to assess my running technique because in common with most people I assumed I knew how to run.

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Each day on returning from work I would put on my running kit, warm-up and head off for my run. I eventually achieved my ambition by finishing a marathon in 1984 but not before aggravating a condition that would frustrate me for the next ten years. Shortly after the marathon I began to experience back pain whilst running which became gradually worse until I felt some level of discomfort in most of my activities. At the time I blamed running so I promptly gave up and moved onto martial arts to satisfy my need for physical activity and competitive sport. I consulted a fitness coach and took advice on exercises to improve my condition. For a while this seemed to help but as I progressed in karate I began to experience difficulties again. The decision to change sport turned out to be misguided as the culprit was not the running itself, but how I ran. This problem was waiting to happen and existed before I began training. The build up to the marathon accelerated the condition due to more vigorous activity, changing my sport was not going to solve this problem as this time it was how I applied myself to karate. For my back pain I received treatment from an osteopath on a weekly basis for about six months. The benefits would last for several days before the aches and pains returned. I went on to consult a physical therapist and chiropractor with much the same result. Thanks to the treatment I received from these therapists I gained a welcome relief from my symptoms but the cause of my problem was a little closer to home – it was me! As soon as I left the treatment room I began to undo the results achieved by the therapist as I resorted to my usual harmful habits. I also had been using these habits to do the exercises as advised by my fitness coach - serving only to re-enforce the poor habits. After a number of years of this cycle I had reached the point of being prepared to try anything and this is how I came to hear about The Alexander Technique. I

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance read an article in a newspaper and was intrigued by what it had to say. I promptly found a teacher in my area and booked a course of lessons. Soon after starting I began to appreciate the different approach required to address my predicament: instead of complaining of my back hurting me I began to ask ‘what am I doing with myself to cause this pain?’ Later I came to realise that the back pain itself was just a symptom of a more fundamental problem – I had lost the ability of natural movement partly due to, paradoxically, my preoccupation with exercise and sport. Whilst I had thrown myself into every new sport with enthusiasm and vigour I had not considered whether I knew how to ‘use’ my body well enough to be able to do this. This had not been assessed by my fitness coach who could only assess whether I performed the exercises correctly but not how I moved generally. Participation in a new sport put additional stress onto my body as I continued to use myself badly whilst attempting different or more complex techniques. An added complication was that the more I used myself in this way, the worse my condition became, as my movement deteriorated through repetition of poorly executed moves. Each training session helped only to consolidate the habits that were at the route of the problem. In short I became more proficient at moving badly and was totally oblivious to the degradation until the pain began. Through Alexander lessons I began to unlearn bad habits and eventually returned to running and started again. I began to appreciate my teacher as an expert fitness coach able to assess my performance and make changes at the most fundamental level. For the last ten years I have continued to experiment with The Alexander Technique and fitness and found just how much can be achieved by first learning how to do less and not more. It has opened up a whole new

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Improve Your Running Technique: Reduce Injuries & Enhance Performance perspective to how I approach my training and fulfil my role as a fitness coach by adding some much needed intelligence!

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