In my previous posts on The Balanced Runner Keys I started with the feet and worked my way up through the legs, torso, and arms. Today we reach the head, which may seem remote from the main business of running. But how you hold your head when you run in fact determines your ability to … Read more
On September 24, 2023, Tigst Assefa flew through the Brandenburg Gate towards the finish line of the Berlin marathon, startlingly fast even at a glance; stunningly fast according to the clock. How? I can’t speak to all the factors involved in her performance. However I can speak to her running form and what it suggests. … Read more
How you should swing your arms tends to be an afterthought when running. You probably think of things like footstrike, core, posture, cadence, and so forth instead. That’s a mistake, since your running form is a whole-body cycle of events driven by your relationship to gravity. And in gravity, the higher up in your body … Read more
If you’ve given even a moment’s thought to your running form in the past two decades, it was probably either to your footstrike or to your core. My previous two posts in this series on The Balanced Runner Keys addressed the issue of footstrike; now it’s time to talk about core stability and running. The … Read more
In my previous post in this series I explained how our footstrike obsession interferes with developing better running form and why we must move beyond it. The Balanced Runner Key #2, land with a supple leg, which was the focus of that post, is one alternative sensation that will lead you towards optimizing your footstrike … Read more
For years – since roughly 2004, in fact – I’ve been telling people to avoid heelstriking and overstriding, and instead to aim for a midfoot/forefoot footstrike underneath you. In many quarters this is considered to be the very heart of good running form, especially since Daniel Lieberman’s well-known research supports it. For a quick overview … Read more
In an earlier post I explained some of the basics about why and how to lean forward when you run. Now it’s time to go more into depth on this lean – how to do it, when a “bad lean” is actually a good lean, and why I now recommend you actually don’t lean forward … Read more
When I was a dancer trying to learn how to run, my first great breakthrough was when I suddenly discovered how to lean forward from my ankles. That was when I went from bounding along uncomfortably to feeling smooth and enjoying myself. My second great breakthrough was when I suddenly learned how to lean even … Read more
Would you like a simple set of guidelines to good running form that would help you feel healthier, faster, more efficient, more joyful, and more naturally connected to the world around you? Although human movement is complex and each person’s body, history, and learning process is different, I’ve been working on formulating the basic keys … Read more
It’s one of the hardest kinds of running. You may think running up the hill was tough, pumping your arms, shortening your strides, and breathing hard. But what’s tough about uphill running is the level of effort, which is the kind of challenge one accepts in exercise. You expect to have to put in a … Read more
This post was originally written for International Barefoot Running Day, May 6, 2014. Happy Barefoot Running Day! As long-term readers of this blog will know, I run barefoot most of the time but help runners run comfortably in whatever footwear they prefer. The main reason I run barefoot is the enormous pleasure it gives me … Read more
One of the questions we hear all the time from runners is, “How can I tell if I overstride? I’m not sure what I’m actually doing when I run.” Reading about running form, watching YouTube videos, and so forth may help you become well-informed about running but it doesn’t improve your ability to feel your … Read more
Sunday, April 23, 2023, was a historic day in the annals of mid-run stretching. On that day Sifan Hassan stopped twice–once for a brief quad stretch and once to stretch her glutes–and went on to win the London marathon. Let’s look at Sifan Hassan’s running form along with her explanation to understand what happened. After … Read more
To say Eliud Kipchoge’s Boston Marathon didn’t go the way most people anticipated is putting it mildly. And yet this performance was actually more revealing about what makes him one of the greatest marathoners of all time than his many successes have been. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in feeling a baffled sense of unreality … Read more
