TRAINING
Form Check
IS THERE SUCH a thing as correct running form? Can fast running be taught, or are we tethered by genetics and body type?
Put another way, as triathletes, are we well served by working with a qualified run coach to minimize any glitches in our stride, or are we better served just getting out there and running, allowing the body to best figure things out?
It’s a topic that author Matt Fitzgerald addresses in his 2011 book Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and the Greatest Race Ever Run (Velopress). Fitzgerland cites research done by Stephen McGregor, an Eastern Michigan University researcher from St. Thomas, Ont. McGregor initially concentrated on developing mathematical tools to quantify training workloads in cyclists, using data collected from power meters before moving on to study runners. In the absence of running power meters he relied on a piece of equipment called an accelerometer, which measures changes in speed and direction in all three planes of movement.
Several key results from testing with these devices are explained in the book: that too much or too little “bouncing” doesn’t much effect stride efficiency, and that the greatest source of energy waste in running is the braking that occurs when a foot makes contact with the ground. Furthermore, through a concept known as control entropy, the takeaway was that a runner’s brain must be “as inactive as possible to turn out the best possible performance.”
“Some running coaches try to improve their runner’s strides the same way golf instructors teach swings and strokes: by defining correct technique and encouraging their athletes to consciously emulate it,” Fitzgerald writes. “However, scientific testing of these techniques has consistently shown that making conscious changes to one’s natural stride actually reduces efficiency.”
The book states that there is no such thing as good running form – that efficient running is like a puzzle that each body must solve for itself.
“The refinement of running form must instead be left to unfold through unconscious trial and error … the running stride evolves through repeatedly confronting speed and endurance limits … You just have to run hard, without thinking about it, and let the process happen,” writes Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald asserts that many triathlon coaches try to make the fast running recipe more complicated than it really is. He claims that McGregor’s work proves that “the true keys to greatness are contained in the baldest clichés. No pain, no gain. Effort is everything. Just do it. Run like a dog.” Enter Dave Scott, the six-time Ironman world champion and icon of the sport. His running style, by his own admission, was horrible. “I’ve got the worst form of anyone alive,” he says. But, with this awkward gait, he consistently beat the best triathletes of his day, many of whom ran with textbook fluidity. Scott trained with high intensity. His running economy improved throughout his career, but not by means of intentional meddling with his stride. “Instead,” Fitzgerald claims in the book, “Dave’s stride improved because, as he said himself, he ran like a dog.” I ran this notion by Dave Scott. He vehemently disagreed with most of what he heard. He admitted to training with high intensity a lot of the time: “No pain, no gain is a wrong notion. I don’t agree at all. I don’t teach that way. I train my athletes to focus on being able to ratchet up the barometer of discomfort, but running shouldn’t be painful. If the interval is too hard, come down a single per cent or two. I’m all for pushing capacity, but you have to be able to walk away after a workout not feeling decimated.” If you’re injured, says Scott, stop. Scott recounted that about 90 per cent of his training during his race days was solo, before technology had infiltrated the sport and before most athletes had any form of coaching.
“If I’d had more knowledgeable people surrounding me, I think I could have been even better because I was always a student of the sport,” he says.
Although mental tenacity was something he was always endowed with, he would have certainly worked on the efficiency of his running stride if it meant potentially faster run times.
For Scott, run biomechanics is a key ingredient in run speed and the ability to prevent injury, a topic he reiterated numerous times. He spoke of the importance of quad and glute strength and hip flexion and extension, the latter being the primary cause of his choppy run form.
“You never see two that are identical, but the common thread amongst good runners is symmetry and good core stability. But even runners with good biomechanics and good fluidity better have mental and emotional strength,” he says.
Scott advises his athletes to use their intuitive skills on how hard to push themselves without the use of devices, something a lot of athletes don’t do enough. And for athletes over 40, focus on strength training to maintain musculature, which helps run form especially in longer races.
Scott gives a snapshot into the track workouts he coaches on a weekly basis. With his athletes circling around the track, he gives words of instruction and encouragement relating to form and tempo. In other words, while ratcheting up the “barometer of discomfort” as he likes to term it, he insists on what he perceives to be good run form.
They’re not running without thinking, with a no pain, no gain mentality. Pure effort is rewarded, but so, too, is an awareness and focus on efficiency. And running like dogs? Despite the aged videos of him running as hard as humanely possible over the closing miles of Ironman races with “horrible” form, Scott steers clear of the dog refrain. In his eyes, triathletes who practice efficient run form – alongside building mental tenacity – can improve times and, at the same time, help prevent injury. It’s a win-win.