Proper Running Technique

One great part of cross country is how much you benefit by learning from your own body. Learning everything from what you eat, to how your foot strikes the pavement. In overview, the feet should strike the ground as close to midfoot as possible. The legs should drive forward in a straight line. Hips should be forward while the center of gravity should be positioned directly over the foot. To help the legs drive straight and the foot to strike underneath the center of gravity, the arms should go forward and back with as little side to side sway as possible and the elbows should never cross forward pass the torso. The head should sit squarely and comfortably in an upright position facing straight ahead. While many runners like to focus on the person in front of them, it is suggested that the head is kept erect while the eyes gaze down as to not throw off the rest of the body. This will allow the shoulders to stay relaxed which will permit the arms to do what they need to do. In addition, the jaw and face should be extremely relaxed. Proper arm movement can be summarized by saying it should be straight, high, compact, and relaxed. The arms should swing comfortably at the sides of the body driving as close to straight back as possible with very little side to side sway. Since the backwards pump of the arms is the drive phase, the forward motion should be a recovery phase used mainly to set up another drive phase. In distance running, the angle of the elbows should at 90 degrees or less, which will feel very compact to most people. Elite distance runners often have elbow angles far less than 90 degrees.

While the shoulders should be relaxed, the general position of the arms could be said to be high---that is, the general positioning of the arms is such that the hands generally stay in the vicinity of the chest and mid torso. In watching Olympic performances, you will rarely see the hands of these runners drop below their hips.

The arms should follow a principle of not crossing two certain lines or planes. First, when dividing the body using the median or sagital plane, the fists should not cross this plane while coming forward. In other words, if you were to split your body into a left side and a right side down the center, the fists should never swing in so much as to cross that midline. Second, also upon pumping forward, the elbows should not overextend much past the coronal or frontal plane which divides the body in half front to back. In essence, as the arms come forward in the recovery phase the elbows should not come forward past the hips.

Keeping the arms straight forward and back will ensure efficiency in going from point A to point B (i.e. running in a straight line) while keeping the elbows from crossing forward past the hips helps prevent excessive heel strike. Remember, the backswing is what allows for forward power and the arms only swing forward in order to recover for the next backswing. The fists of elite distance runners usually recover somewhere up between the chest and even as high as the chin. In addition, hands and wrists should feel natural to the runner. This generally means that the wrists are relaxed and the hands are in a loose fist. It should be noted that while the positioning and movements of the arms are important, the legs are what does the work. Proper arm movement and positioning just allows the legs to better do their job.

One major difference between that of sprinting and distance running seems to be in the position of the upper body. While many older sources proliferate the claim of running erect as sprinters do, newer research suggests that distance runners should use gravity to their advantage and run with a slight forward lean.

In observation, elite distance runners tend to run nearly upright but with their chest pushed slightly forward, in a seeming attempt to use gravity to their advantage. Hips are also forward as to lead the top half of the body along ahead of the legs. This allows the foot to strike directly below the center of mass and makes it very difficult to over-stride and heel strike.

As you add forward momentum to the body, an adjustment of posture is needed to keep the body weight balanced. During leg drive, your body develops a slight lean to align itself with the direction of the driving force.

If a runner's posture is too erect, muscles will need to be used to offset the backward movement of the upper body as the lower body is propelled forward. (This could be a possible explanation of why many runners experience lower back pain or soreness after a race or hard effort.) It causes the arms to swing too far forward as well as the legs in front of the center of gravity, which leads to a more straight-legged (less of a loaded spring) foot contact as well as a heel strike.

As far as the legs go, the movement should be as efficient as possible. The legs should follow the trend of the rest of the body as far as keeping in a straight line. The knees and feet should drive straight forward and back with as little deviation as possible. If we start during the support phase (center of gravity directly over the foot with a bent knee), the runner's forward momentum should carry them over the center of gravity at which time the foot lifts off the ground toward the buttocks in order to shorten the lever (the leg) so that it can make the most efficient and straight movement possible forward until the knee begins to extend. At this point, the foot should be relaxed and contact the ground somewhere near mid-foot directly under the body's center of gravity. If you are still not convinced that an emphasis on heel striking is not technically sound, take off your shoes and go for a run barefoot on the concrete.

Contrary to popular belief, high knee lift is not a necessary component and can actually be a detriment. As far as back kick goes, it is important to avoid shuffling and dragging the feet. While elite distance runners tend to have a slightly higher back kick than elite sprinters, an extremely high back kick is not entirely necessary. What is important is that the foot takes the most direct and efficient path from take off through the position where the knee is at its most extended. Therefore it is inefficient to try and extend the leg all the way straight as this keeps the foot in contact with the ground longer. It is very important for a runner to push off from well behind their center of gravity.

While stride length is important, most runners emphasize it way too much and also go about it the wrong way that is by reaching more forward. Effective lengthening of the stride can only be done properly by pushing off more forcefully (spending more time in the air and less on the ground, thus covering more ground).

It should be noted that technique changes with speed. An athlete running at five minute pace following the principles of proper technique is going to look different at eight minute pace. In general for distance runners, there is an increase in back kick and backwards arm motion. Also of note is that relaxation is very important to make this whole process work.

There are many changes that will need to be made in order for a runner to undergo positive changes in running technique. Obviously, a change in which muscles of the legs will be used is paramount, but changes in hip, torso, and arm movement are needed as well.

When learning to run this way, it is often beneficial to start standing with the arms back as if they were both pumping back. The runner can then push their chest forward (and hips slightly) so that they feel their body start to fall forward which is an indication to take their first step and begin running.

As the foot comes toward striking the ground, extensor muscles of the foot should engage to bring the foot down on the ground as closely to flat as possible. This is considered the contact phase and as the muscles taking the abuse should now be the plantar fascia muscles as well as the anterior flexor muscles of the lower leg, especially tibialis anterior. The quadriceps also absorb much of the impact.

As the loading phase occurs (while the foot is left behind the body’s center of gravity), a shift is made to the posterior flexor muscles of the lower leg and especially to the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles.

For most runners, the main thing that will need to be changed is placing more emphasis on the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles of the calf. Elite runners fatigue their gastroc and soleus muscles first when run to exhaustion.

Runners who over-stride (heel strike) should focus on taking emphasis off of the hamstring muscles for pulling action. Tight hamstrings are one of the biggest thieves of speed and are almost always associated with over-striding. Hamstrings are not prime movers. Their design is more suited to providing balance and bending the knee when the foot is unweighted.”

The hamstrings are then used to support in facilitating knee flexion, quickly bringing the heel through at which time the quadriceps kick in to facilitate knee extension.

For these same runners trying to change their form, an additional amount of use of the quadriceps muscles will take place. In doing this, a greater amount of musculature is used, reducing injury and improving performance. Often, the glute muscles muscles will become sore when adopting this new style of running. This should be taken as a sign of progress as the hamstrings are being relegated to support and also antagonist status while the quadriceps and glutes become the main movers.

There should also be a decrease in the amount of pressure on the anterior portion of the lower leg (in part due to the lack of a heel strike and less dorsiflextion), reducing pressure on the tibialis anterior and toe flexor muscles while the nearly flat foot-strike should spread the muscle distribution evenly between the plantar fascia muscles, plantar flexors, and toe extensors.

Not only will speed increase with efficiency, but injuries will become less common as well.
This post was copied, pasted, and edited Harper, (2006). Running Faster and Easier Through Improved Economy and Biomechanics: A Kinesiological Analysis. Brigham Young University Hawaii if you ever wanted to learn more by all means go to this and download his PDF, its a great paper.  Harper the author of this paper/essay wrote that if you want to learn more to read Tom Miller's book Programmed to Run.