The Subtle Art of Run Form: 7 Ways Run Faster Without Injury

Run Forever
Watch, listen and read the full episode here
[00:00:00] Could tiny changes in how your feet hit the ground, and whether you
overstride or not actually help you run faster.
[00:00:06] Back in my college track days before distance running, I believe Ross B
was everything I needed. Like who worries about technique when you got quick
legs? Thank you. Jeans. While ignoring my stride for so long led straight to knee
trouble when I decided to start training for my first marathon, and if I’d been working
on my form earlier, I’d probably have run faster times.
[00:00:25] Earlier, instead of sitting on Google trying to figure out why my knee is the
size of a basketball, I got runner’s knee twice. Actually, these days we know great
running form isn’t magic. It’s a learnable skill, and that’s exactly what we’re talking
about today. How to run faster and healthier by dialing in seven practical tips with
your running form.
[00:00:44] We’ll be talking about the seven different tools of posture, foot, plant
slash foot placement, stride length, arm swing, cadence with a bonus free
download training plan, so you can improve right after watching this.
[00:00:56] So stick around for that core and perfection.
[00:00:59] Let’s get into it.
[00:01:01] Daren: What is the difference between good running form and good
running economy? And then that will set us up for your seven tips. You are the most
efficient person in the world running how you run. I can copy it and run exactly how
you run. I’m not used to running that. My muscles won’t be firing as efficiently.
[00:01:17] Mike Trees: They’re not used to working that way. I’m not running as
efficiently because my body’s not working. If we change your running form, you
become less efficient. In the short term. So we have to decide if we’re going to
change someone’s form. So it goes back to the old adage, if it’s not broken, don’t
change it.
[00:01:33] Mike Trees: If they’re happy with the way they’re running, I learned really
about running form from swimming. Why do we do all these in swimming, but not in
running? Why do we look at the way we swim so much? But we don’t look at the
way we run. Just to recap, it’s, we, we do training. It’s specifically designed to make
the aerobic engine bigger.
[00:01:52] Mike Trees: Base is fun. I really like aerobic base. Like I, I found out that
it’s almost like spiritual in a way. You know, that’s steady when you get to that, that
aerobic building, I call it steady or high Z two heart rate where no lactate is building
up. Z two is fast where I’m like. Oh, I’m actually moving here, but my heart rate is
low.
[00:02:08] Daren: That’s some next level. I never became a pro like you, but always
trying to feel like a pro, and I’m like, yeah, low heart rate, running fast, you know?
This is great. Don’t discount the aerobic base stage. Foot plant. Explain that. You
take your shoes and socks off and run, I’ll guarantee you’ll land forefoot.
[00:02:25] Mike Trees: Because if you land on the heel, the shock is so much, it just
vibrates right through your body. It hurts. So the body knows it’s gonna hurt, stops
it doing it. How your foot lands on the ground is secondary to that so long as your
foot is coming down behind the knee when you land less damage and less stress
on the body.
[00:02:42] Mike Trees: So it’s a very inefficient way to run so that they’re constantly
accelerating, they’re not having this braking force. So yes, you do see people.
Landing on the heels, and I’m not going to say that heel striking is specifically bad. I
now think my view is that flat foot running is possibly the most efficient way of
running for longer distances.
[00:02:59] Mike Trees: That’s up for argument, but I now say land with your foot
behind the knee.
[00:03:07] Mike Trees: Great. Yeah, let’s jump into it. So number one is posture. Tell
me more about that. You need to stand up straight. I hate seeing slouched runners
looking down. So your shoulders are slouched forward, your head’s down, you’re
looking at the ground, you’re gonna run into the ground. You can’t get the chest
open.
[00:03:23] Mike Trees: Debris a hook on your head and it’s not hanging you so
much, but it’s pulling you up, right? So you’re just standing up straight and straight
and tall. Shoulders back a little bit. Head looking straight ahead. I mean, I naturally
just, when I talk, I actually start doing these things myself when I’m talking.
[00:03:38] Mike Trees: But before you run, you should stand and get your posture
correct gradually. Just lean forward a little bit till gravity takes over and boom, you’re
running and that’s it. Nothing more technical than that is a good way to start. Get
the posture right before you run. Once you start running and you’re slouched and
bending down, you are already off to a bad foot.
[00:03:56] Daren: So I know you wanna be able to increase your run Cadence,
ASAP. So to make it easier for you to go out and do it, I created a free six month.
Yes, not six weeks. Six month
[00:04:05] Daren: download training plan that specifically allows you to increase
your run cadence 1% better each week.
[00:04:11] Daren: To slowly adapt your biomechanics
[00:04:13] Daren: so why so slow? Because if you change your run form too fast,
you can injure yourself and the change won’t last.
[00:04:18] Daren: And we’re not trying to change your run form. We’re just trying to
optimize what you’re already doing and make it just that much better.
[00:04:23] Daren: Be smart and use the QR code on the screen right here. Link
below in the video description or in the podcast show notes if you’re listening on
your podcast player to get your copy of it.
[00:04:33] Daren: Right now in your inbox bonus, you’ll automatically be signed up
for our 1% Better Newsletter, which isn’t like other running newsletters because we
don’t do quick motivational hacks. Instead, every week-ish,
[00:04:44] Daren: you’ll get tools and tactics to transform you through small
step-by-step daily habit improvements, all to help you train, race, and live
exponentially better in your run life. Let’s get back into it.
[00:04:54] Daren: A lot of people don’t believe in the arms. You know, they’re like,
my arms won’t help me go, you know, go fast.
[00:05:01] Mike Trees: I need the strong, the big legs. Go out for a run. Move your
arms really slowly and try and move your legs really quickly. You can’t do it. If you
do a short, fast arm swing, it’ll help you to get a short, fast cadence.
[00:05:13] Mike Trees: So if someone wants to pick the cadence up, if you want a
longer stride. Do a longer arm swing. The arms are super important for balancing
the legs. It’s a shorter, easy movement that’s much easier. You see a lot of Kenyans
running like this. And the other thing with the arms, I’d say that’s important is trying
not to cross the center line.
[00:05:29] Mike Trees: You do see some elites crossing the center line if you cross
that, so your right arm comes across to your left shoulder. So instead of running in a
straight line, you’re running from side to side to more efficient when you swing the
arms. Try not to cross the center line as you’re running. This helps you keep your
legs going in a, in a straight angle.
[00:05:49] Mike Trees: Cadence. We spoke on that a bit with the stride length. More
in depth on the cadence. There’s something called elastic recoil, and it’s the natural
spring in the legs and the muscles. So when you hit the ground, you load up this
spring in your lower leg muscles, the tendons and the ligaments. So their cadence
is way higher, but that’s obviously ’cause they’re very short.
[00:06:06] Mike Trees: Your silence’s gonna be shorter, so the quicker your
cadence and around about 170 to 180 is a good target. Somewhere between 170
and 180 is a good cadence to aim for a note on cadence. If you struggle with
increased the cadence. So you know, if you naturally run it 160, you’re trying to get
to, let’s say 180, and then you could speed that up and start slowly getting up the
cadence.
[00:06:25] Daren: You don’t want to drastically change it. Too quickly ’cause you
might get injured. Whatcha gonna say? Now, if you’re running faster, the heart has
to work harder. If the heart works harder, you’re gonna get tired. To keep the
balance the same, you must shorten the stride length to increase the cadence. And
then how can we do that?
[00:06:39] Mike Trees: We can swing the arms quicker. If you increase your
cadence, you must shorten the stride to keep it all in balance. I’ll, I’ll let you sum it
up in your own words of, uh, of perfection and champions. We are all not gonna
become world champions. You can still be a little bit better than you are now. If you
are happy with the way you run and what you are doing and don’t want to change
anything, well don’t change ’cause you’re happy aiming for perfection.
[00:07:05] Mike Trees: We might not get there. But if you aim for a hundred percent,
you might hit 80%. But if you’re happy with 70%, you’re probably only gonna hit 60
or 50%. Always keep aiming for something a little bit higher. Don’t get stressed out
about it. Remember, it’s a hobby. Hobbies are to be enjoyed, so enjoy the process.
[00:07:21] Mike Trees: That’s the most important thing. So my last tip really is just
keep aiming for perfection, but have fun. Aim to enjoy what you’re doing at the
same time.
[00:07:29] Daren: If you wanna learn more about this topic, we went into further
detail. You should go and check that out right here.