How to improve your running technique to be more efficient?
Having good running technique means gaining efficiency and running faster without expending more energy, maybe even less while delaying the onset of fatigue and reducing the risk of injury. It seems too good to be true and yet, it is not magic, just biomechanics.
Below is a quick guide to the key points to focus on to improve your running technique:
1. Adopt good upper body posture
To describe good posture, let's start from top to bottom with the position of the head first. You have to make sure to keep your head straight. It is the eyes that look towards the ground and not the head that leans forward, otherwise you will pull unnecessarily on the muscles at the base of your neck and tire them. You can also very slightly tuck your chin to keep your head centered above your torso.
Try to stay relaxed in your jaw, shoulders, neck and wrists. This relaxation is always very impressive to see on top athletes. Even in a 100m sprint which is an explosive race by definition, the face of some world-class athletes shows a total relaxation while they are producing extraordinary performances.
Keep your back straight and lean your torso slightly forward but without moving your hips back and without breaking your upper body at the waist. The goal is to always have your pelvis in line above your legs and impacts. It is almost the entire body in a straight line that is slightly tilted forward.
2. Optimize your stride with proper foot landing, length and cadence
The most important thing for the stride is not to make it longer. The feet should ideally touch the ground under the bent knee and not in front. Shorter strides with slightly higher knees and a slightly higher cadence are preferable to strides that are too long and a lower cadence.
An ideal cadence is often described as being around 180 strides per minute (between 170 and 190). When runners reach this level of cadence, it has been observed that the angle of inclination of the foot during ground contact is lower with a landing of the foot that is less on the heel (but rather midfoot) and a more grazing stride. This level of cadence limits vertical movements which, if they are too pronounced, are a waste of energy. An optimal cadence therefore rhymes with both lower impact forces (therefore less absorption at the hips, knees and ankles) and fewer vertical movements or parasitic rebounds, synonymous with loss of energy and efficiency.
If you start measuring your cadence, be careful to aim for very gradual changes to avoid risking injury. It is also important to keep in mind that taller runners tend to have slightly lower cadences (and vice versa for shorter runners) and that cadence increases with speed.
3. Use the arms to stabilize the torso and accompany the forward propulsion.
Your arms play a key role when running. They serve to stabilize your upper body by reducing torso rotation and they also provide support for each stride. Ideally, you want to keep your hands close to your body and your elbows slightly away from your body to allow for easy back-and-forth movement, but not too far away either.
The elbows are at an angle slightly less than 90 degrees with no change in angle during rotation. The hands can be closed while remaining relaxed. A tight, clenched fist will eventually create stiffness in the arms and shoulders over time. The movement of the hands should describe a circle or oval shape going from a position near the center of your torso to your sides and so on.
Be careful not to have an arm movement that is too linear along your torso. Conversely, you should also not cross too much and go beyond the middle of your torso: too much to the left with your right hand and too much to the right with your left hand. By keeping your hands close to your body, you will make it easier for your feet to land near your center of gravity and it will also be easier to tilt your body slightly forward.
Effective running technique involves working on the entire body, from posture to stride and correct use of arms. It may take a bit of work to teach your body the correct position and to maintain it over time when fatigue sets in. But it is the easiest way to improve your performance without having to expend more energy (you should even expend less at the same speed). Beyond and in addition to running technique itself, muscle strengthening (especially the core) and flexibility work will allow you to maintain good running technique for longer when the miles start to add up.
Leave a comment
This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.