Good Form Running

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Research & Resources: Review the latest research on running from some of the top researchers, runners, and other experts in the field. 

• 4 Steps to Good Form Running
• How to Practice Good Form Running: Posture, Midfoot Strike, Cadence & Lean
• 10 Components of Good Form Running
• Common Running Form Mistakes
• Guide to Good Run Posture
• Common Running Mistakes
• Tips for Proper Running Form
• Good Form Requires Time & Attention
• More Training Advice and Articles

Learning Good Form Running

Part 1: Benefits = Decreased Injury & Go Faster with Less Effort

Part 2: Straight Relaxed Posture: The goal is to align your head over your shoulders, over your hips, over your knees so you are standing in one straight vertical line. You will know you are in the right position when you can relax your whole body and be standing straight up with little to no muscular effort.

1. How to Obtain Good Posture:
   1. When you are aligned you should be able to look down (moving only your head) and see the bows on your shoelaces. 
   2. Head focused straight ahead and your chin should be down or level. (When running eyes should be focused on the ground about 10 to 20 feet ahead of you.)
   3. You can also reach for the sky with the crown of your head (be sure to keep your chin down) to get into this position. 
   4. Be sure your hips are neutral
   5. Your feet should be pointed straight ahead
1. Stand with your knees slightly bent and relax your whole body. 
2. Look straight ahead with your head and reach for the sky with your hands.
3. Put your hands down at your sides and you should be in alignment.
4. Do a body check. Where you feel tense or tight? Barring any muscular injuries or major structural alignment issues, you should be able to make minor adjustments to ensure that your body is aligned. When your body is aligned your skeletal structure will support you with minimal help from the muscles. Make micro-adjustments until you feel relaxed standing straight and tall.
5. Feel yourself contacting the ground on your midfoot triangle: heel and balls of your feet
2. Relax
1. Relax your face and jaw to relax the rest of your body
2. Drop your shoulder and tell yourself to relax
3. Try to stand without using any of your muscles
3. Practice
1. Slouch and then get back into good form posture. Relax, self adjust and stand.
2. Check your partner's posture and help them make adjustments.
3. Close your eyes and feel your body get into good relaxed alignment. 

Part 3: Lean From Your Ankles: Rather than over-striding or reaching with the feet, Good Form Running utilizes a forward lean to propel the body forward. When you lean, gravity causes your body to fall and your foot instinctively steps in the direction of your movement. By reacting to gravity rather than pushing off from the toes, there is less muscle strain in the legs and more automatic forward momentum.

1. Practice #1
1. Find a wall; Stand 1-2 feet from the wall.
2. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
3. Put your hands out in front of you.
4. Bend at your ankles and fall into the shelter. Touch the shelter with your hands.
5. Remain there and check your body posture. Be sure you did not bend at the hips. 
6. Try again standing 2-3 feet from a wall. 

1. Practice #2
1. Find a partner
2. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
3. Put your hands out in front of you.
4. Bend at your ankles and fall into your partner. Partner, please catch and hold the person.
2. Practice #3:
1. Find a partner
2. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
3. Put your hands out in front of you.
4. Bend at your ankles and fall into your partner. Partner, please catch and hold the person.
5. Now pick up your feet and walk. Partner hold them at the angle. Essentially you are doing a controlled fall into your partner and then gently pushing them as you walk. This simulates good form posture when running. 
3. Practice #4:
1. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
2. Bend at the ankles.
3. As you lean pick your feet up. 
4. Walk or jog.

Part 4: Midfoot Foot Strike: Landing on the midfoot, rather than the ankle, not only reduces the impact on the knee – a common source of pain and injury – but also works with the other principles to encourage forward momentum for the body. A forward-reaching step lands on the heel – acting as a brake and resisting forward movement, actually slowing you down. Landing on the midfoot (neither heel nor ball) helps to avoid injury caused by impact.

1. Practice #1:
1. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
2. Be sure your feet pointed straight ahead.
3. Pick your feet up and practice setting them down. Feel what it is like to land on your midfoot. 
2. Practice #2: 
1. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
2. Bend at the ankles.
3. As you lean pick your feet up. 
4. Walk or jog.
5. Be sure you land midfoot.

Part 5: 80-90 Cadence Means Quick Feet: Your goal is to run an 85-90 cadence (170-180 steps per minute or about 3 per second). A higher cadence works with the other principles to conserve energy by reducing the temptation to over-stride. Keeping this tempo encourages you to run lighter, resulting in a more efficient form that helps to prevent injury.

1. Practice #1:
1. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
2. Standing still, pick your feet up and down by lifting at your ankles.
3. Now try this at an 85-90 cadence.
2. Practice #2:
1. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
2. Lean forward at the ankles and pick your feet up at the ankle. Practice walking.
3. Now try this at an 85-90 cadence.
3. Practice #3: 
1. Get into good posture alignment. Relax.
2. Lean forward at the ankles and pick your feet up at the ankle. Practice jogging.
3. Now try this at an 85-90 cadence
4. Note: The quicker you’re able to get your foot off the ground, the less you will decelerate. And the less you “hit the brakes” when your foot lands, the less time your foot will spend in contact with the ground. When you do run, each landing of your foot represents an opportunity to rest. Most of us take that opportunity to a greater extent than is good for our running performance. We land—pause—and then push off. The best runners don’t really do that. They don’t let themselves rest when a foot hits the ground. Instead, they bounce off it like they’re tossing a hot potato and catch their rest in midair or running on hot coals. The ground is very tempting. Your foot wants to hang out there a while. To the beginner, it seems (unconsciously) a little easier to land—pause—and then push off than to essentially refuse the ground’s embrace—to strike it, thrust it away, be done with it. But that extra investment of effort upfront saves energy in the long run. Most runners make little progress in overcoming their laziness. Those who make the most progress become the best runners. It is interesting that, in the latter miles of a long race, even the very best runners see their ground contact times increase. As they fatigue, the part of them that doesn’t want to run starts to gain the upper hand. That’s exactly what fatigue is: the athlete’s rising refusal to keep running. We become better runners by not letting ourselves be lazy—by pushing back against the pain with good old-fashioned willpower.

Part 6: Arms: Your arms propel your legs and vice versa. Pumping your arms at a faster rate will allow for faster leg turnover, however, make sure you do not put too much power into your arm movement unless you are doing speed work, running up hills or powering yourself to get across the finish line. Your goal is to hold off fatigue and muscle tension.

1. Good Arm Form:
1. Keep your arms at 90 degrees
2. Swing your arms from the shoulder; the lever you are working is from the shoulder to the elbow.
3. Ensure that your arms do not cross the body’s centerline (in the front)
4. As you run, keep your arms and hands as relaxed as possible. You can gently cup your hands as if you are holding an egg and you don't want to break it. Don't clench your fists because it can lead to tightness in the arms, shoulders, and neck. 
5. Move your arms at an 85-90 cadence, which will then drive your legs at 85-90 cadence

Part 7: Breathing: Spend some time discovering which breathing technique works best for you. Whether you breathe through your nose, mouth, or a combination of the two, is a personal preference. Most runners find that mouth breathing provides the body with the greatest amount of oxygen.

1. Deep abdominal breathing: Make sure your breathing is relaxed and deep. It may take conscious effort in the beginning, but deep abdominal or "belly" breathing is ideal for running. Most of the time, we breathe quickly and shallowly into our chests. This may work fine for daily living when the body isn't demanding a greater need for oxygen, but it's an inefficient—and even stressful—way to breathe when exercising.
2. Practice: To practice belly breathing, lie flat on your back with a book on your abdomen. Slowly inhale as you watch the book rise, then lower the book by slowly exhaling. This takes focus, but over time you will find it easier to do this type of breathing during your runs.

Part 8: Putting It All Together: Go easy on yourself. It may take some time to adjust your form. Remember you may be retraining yourself and this takes practice and repetition. 

1. Focus on one aspect at a time. 
2. While running concentrate on one aspect for 30-60 seconds. Then run for a few minutes. Come back and refocus on that aspect. Repeat. Pick a different aspect to work until you have mastered the entire technique.
3. Relax. The more relaxed you are, the better you will learn and the easier it will be. 

Part 9: Hills 

1. Hills Up: Uphill running burns more calories, improves oxygen delivery to the muscles, and can help an average runner train to become faster and more efficient on flat terrain. Hills help a runner increase his or her leg turnover, and they increase strength and power in the leg muscles.
1. Attack or charge the hill while still maintaining the same rate of effort, however know that due to the gravitational pull, your speed will naturally be slower.
2. Pick up your knees and shorten your stride while increasing your stride rate. Your stride should still allow for a landing in the center of gravity or just slightly ahead of the lead foot.
3. Pump your arms at a slightly faster rate, keeping in mind that the steeper the hill, the more arm motion you will need to drive up the hill. This will help offset the gravitational pull.
4. Lean into the hill, not from the waist or hips, but from the ankle. 
2. Hills Down: Downhill running actually requires greater concentration in order to prevent injuries. When gravity pulls you downhill, your quadriceps absorb the impact of gravity plus your body weight. This increases your risk of knee and quadriceps injuries—if you don't take precautions—and may contribute to muscle soreness more than uphill running does. Slowing down and maintaining proper form is essential to run downhill injury-free.
1. It is very important to maintain the same running form as you would on flat terrain while still allowing gravity to do some of the work.
2. While it is tempting to lean back when taking on these types of runs, it is very important to keep a slight forward lean at the ankles, similar to the technique you used running uphill.
3. Instead of using your arms to increase power and speed, think of them as helping you maintain rhythm and balance.
4. Land lightly on the ball of your foot as you run downhill so that your feet don't act as brakes and slow your forward progression.