As I was finishing the last of my back-to-back training runs I was starting to tire. It had been a long training week for me. A 35Km run, 3x back to back 7km tempo runs, a day off then two 25km back to back hill trail runs.
When you are out for 4, 5, 6hr runs you think about a lot of stuff. Towards the end of these runs you think about one thing more than anything else... how to make it hurt less.
This got me thinking about technique and I asked myself the question of how much difference does the way I run make? Short answer - a huge difference
I won't just leave it there, as I'm sure you want to know a bit more. As I was tiring on my last run of the week I got to thinking about the physics of it all. I'll start with a few numbers that make a difference to how I'm approaching the technical aspect of running.
Impact Force:
When you run it's accepted that you put between 3-4 times your bodyweight in force through your legs. This is why heavier runners like me have such a hard time with injuries. Unless you're heavy you can't really appreciate this first hand.
Take a man who weighs 70kg and a regular runner. Add two large bags of cement to his back (which would get them to my starting weight when I first began running) then send them out to run 10km. Only then might that person appreciate what it does to ankles, knees, hips, back in terms of impact. Every step you take is multiplied three times. If, like me only a few months ago, you are running and you weigh 112kg, then that's 336kg of impact force in every step. Over 10km that's 16-18,000 steps. A total impact of 5.4 million kgs over the 10km distance.
Now look at the person weighing 70kgs. That's 210kg of force in each step. or 3.4 million. In only 10km the heavier person, putting aside the extra energy needed saves their joints (which might be no smaller, I might add) with an extra 2 million kgs of force... and that's just over 10km!
Take that weight difference over 100km and at 95kg, I will be putting myself through over 42 million kgs of impact force on my joints. This means every kg in weight I lose makes a huge difference. Lose a kilo and I'll be sparing my body half a million kilos ( or 500 metric tons) of force. That's mind blowing when I think about it!
Not withstanding that the body must be a remarkable machine to deal with that kind of wear and tear, it asks huge questions of HOW we run and why so many challengers break down. And this is where I thought hard about my technique. Long distance running technique
As a novice ultra-runner, when researching I found plenty of info about barefoot running, the mythical barefoot Tarahumara runners of the south american tribes, the Massai warriors of Africa, etc, But little about the reality of how to start running as a big guy in a way that limits the impact damage, and helps conserve energy. To go from zero to running like a lifelong barefoot runner is simply not realistic, despite being a romantic notion for many. This means thinking about how I run in a way that will serve me best in the time that I have to get ready. Most non-competitive runners have no idea how to run in a way that helps in going really long distances. I certainly didn't. It will come as no surprise that most people when they get over 5km tend to get knee, ankle, hip, hamstring, calf pain. Most of which is down to the way we run.
Most novice runners (myself included) start out lengthening our strides by reaching out in front of us; we often land our foot slightly ahead of our hips and heel striking as a result; and we apply force pushing up and over (almost bouncing) rather than pushing forward. This pushes against the maximum point of gravity using most energy, it results in pulling with our hamstring instead of pushing off with our glutes; it also acts as a small brake, wasting energy we have just built up in the previous stride; and has all other kinds of mechanical inefficiencies which are too numerous to list in this post. You don't notice poor form so much when you are fresh and early on a run. You sure as shit feel it in the later stages though. Over time it will simply lead to injury and is so often the reason for them.
What I've learned in adapting how I run for very long distance
Shorten my stride and foot strike with the ball of my feet or mid-foot area. This means quicker steps but noticeably lighter on the impact on my joints.
Engage my glutes. A shorter stride will help with this, as will squeezing your pelvis forward which engages your core. Actually try to feel your glutes working as you run. These are the biggest muscles in your body so you want to use them as much as possible
The runners lean. Rather than run upright, tilt a few degrees at the hips so I'm almost tipping forwards. This gets gravity working FOR me, rather than pushing up against it. Chest out, core engaged and a slight lean forward helps me feel that as I run I'm pushing forward and using less energy to move
Not lifting knees too high. I'm not competing to win a marathon. Energy economy is everything so I limit bouncing and pulling my knees too high. I allow an easy heel flick but let the leg's momentum do most of the work. The 'Ultra Shuffle' is a thing!
Stride out behind me, I make contact with the floor below my hips. I'll engage the glute to start the push away in the stride, which is then followed by the quads/hamstrings and then finally the toe-off from the calf muscles. I lengthen my stride by driving the leg behind me, rather than reaching it out in front of me. If you don't use the glute properly, your calves will do most of the work and eventually cause problems as they are a much smaller muscle group.
Move your feet quickly. Up the tempo of your feet. Over 100km you will not reach 160 steps per minute as suggested in the tips above. No way. But the sentiment is there. Shorter quicker steps with the right technique will help with the impact force.
Train your weaknesses. For me my quads and glutes have always been strong. I just didn't use them properly for this type of running. The main weakness is my soleus, peroneal, ankle and calf muscle around my left leg where the injuries have been. This has taken a lot of work to begin to correct but it is really paying off. Hops, speed skater lunges, Bosu ball one-legged squats, bouncing on toes/skipping, calf raises (very good doing these on a barbell plate. that way you can adjust which part of the calf to target to help build stability), foot eversions. etc. I still do the glute work as well (bridges, donkey kicks, banded rear leg raises, et al). This tends to be more about activating them to work in the first place. I can say that this work has made a very big difference.
The biggest thing is to test it out over distance. Get a feel for where the points are and take the time to feel the difference to forces, impact, energy used to move etc. Keep conscious about your form through your runs. This helps immeasurably to track your progress and feel the weak spots. Every body is different. These types of distances are a chance to test what works best for you. The corrections are often very small, but over distance they make large differences to what shape your legs are left in and your energy levels.
Thanks for reading.
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