Running stride/form question

X 2. I used to run with what I thought was a long, efficient stride. I have a swimming background and have a long, very efficient stroke in the water so I thought I would run the same way. I felt comfortable and could run a long way like that. When I increased my volume (using the 10% rule) I ended up with a stress fracture in my femur! That took me out of running for most of 2006.

After talking to a running coach I shortened my stride and leaned just a hail forward and all of the impact went away. It felt like I was shuffling more than running to start but what a difference! Now I go back to my "old way" and it feels like I was hitting the brakes on every stride.

Good luck!!

If you are "sprinting" you want to be on the balls of the feet. If you are distance running you want to land more on the mid foot. If you do  A LOT of distance running on the balls of you feet it may cause  A LOT of problems. I have tendency to land on my heel i try for the midfoot but always fall back to heel.  I would work on having a quick turnover with your legs, similar to the way cyclists focus on a high cadence.

for my run tommorow I will try to focus on striking midfoot and counting cadence.  I just read some articles from Slowtwitch stating 80-90rpm as a good target.  THat could explain a lot of the problem.  I am always faster at the beginning of a brick run.  What that tells me is my legs want to spin faster. My asumptions were always that a big stride would been les strikes over the run.  I see my assumptions could be worng,

Thanks for the reply's. 

"May" being the qualifier since it also may not. Where I live there are two elite ultra runners, both of whom land on the balls of their feet. One of these guys has often run in excess of 200 miles/week for many weeks in the build for a key ultra. He also runs in a very minimalist shoe. The point is that it is possible for the body to adapt to almost any style. It takes lots of time and hard effort to make footstrike changes, but it can be done without any negative consequences if the progression is done in a reasonably conservative manner. Forcing a certain footstrike when the body has not been allowed to fully adapt is more likely the source of problems.

Don't worry too much about where your foot strikes (heel, mid-sole, whatever).  There is no 'right place' that works for everyone.  What is more important is that your foot strikes more or less underneath your center of gravity.  Heel striking per se is not a problem.  Heel striking that is the result of overstriding (striking out in front of your c.o.g.) is a problem.If you try to force yourself to strike mid-sole you could end up shortening your stride too much, which is also not a great idea.

If you can get some video of yourself running, do it.  It can be very informative if you have worked yourself up so much about it that you can't tell whether you are overstriding.  Another couple of things that are said to work (they work for me) are:

(1) Notice your form when you are running faster -- it is usually better, and then try to emulate that when you are running slower (except that your kick will be lower when you are running more slowly, and this is fine -- don't artificially kick high when running slowly).

(2) Run barefoot.  Many people have better form when they run barefoot.  Then try to emulate that more or less when you have the shoes on.