3. NECK & BODY

When someone advises you to lean forward whilst running, remember all you’re doing is going downhill.

It all starts from the neck. Keep your vision at least 50 metres ahead of you. If you look straight onto the ground, your neck drops with your eyesight. The minute your neck drops, your shoulders cave in. When your shoulders cave in, your arms run closer to your chest.

When your body leans forward, you tend to overuse your knees and not your legs.

Note: Your legs start from the hip bone and end at your knees. Your lower limbs start from the knee all the way down to the ankles.

Hence, it is very important to run with your legs and not your knees.

The reason why most people suffer from knee injuries is because they run with their knees and not their legs.

An ideal running form for a newcomer is very simple. Follow practise one and two, the rest will flow as you run. Most long distance runners in the world can only run the first and last 3-4 kms on their fore foot and mid foot and it takes years of training to adapt to that practise. Most of us run heel to mid foot. So if someone discourages your foot strike, don’t worry about it. Get them to check theirs first before they correct yours.

Striking your heel first on the ground is the most natural form of amateur long distance running. Strengthen your ankles (calf raises and skipping) to keep those feet away from injuries.