In my analysis of the Olympic men’s 10,000 I wrote how Galen Rupp’s technique reminded me in some ways of Usain Bolt’s, with his use of the frontal plane (side-to-side motion, basically) more than rotation. In this race it became evident he also has this in common with Eliud Kipchoge, the winner. Like Bolt, Kipchoge uses … Read more
Okay, let’s talk some more about heads bobbing forwards and backwards. I expect to mention this when writing about Mo Farah, the winner, but in the whole Olympic Men’s 5000 field in Rio it was practically an epidemic. When I wrote about this phenomenon in my post about the women’s 10,000, I said that one way to think about … Read more
Watching Galen Rupp and Mo Farah running side by side is endlessly fascinating. They are the Odd Couple of men’s track. Rupp channels his height into a clean lean, moving primarily in the frontal plane (bending/shifting side-to-side) and using very little rotation of his pelvis or upper body. In fact I’m always amazed at how … Read more
Everyone wants to know how Ethiopian Almaz Ayana’s amazing world record run was possible. I can’t tell you that from looking at her technique–as always, running technique is just one of the elements of performance. However a close look at her technique does reveal a way she could actually be faster. Dibaba too, along with many … Read more
I’ve had ample opportunity recently to think about stress and movement. As I sought ways to ease my stress over the past few unsettled months–four moves in two months with my family, living out of suitcases in a new country where we speak the language to only a limited degree–I found that movement was the stress-reducer I … Read more
Over the course of this week I’ve told you my story of learning how to run—complete with some real dunderhead moments. Through that, you saw how learning to move better is critical to realizing the dream of smooth, flowing, easy running. Not exercise, not pushing, not shoes, but a really effective learning process targeting the … Read more
In the past couple of posts I’ve been telling the story of my frustrating, miserable early days as a runner, as I fruitlessly chased the dream of running that would feel nearly effortless, flowing… even like I was flying! If you’re a runner I’m guessing you have that dream too. You may be actively trying to make it … Read more
Last week I wrote about the top women finishers of the 2016 Boston Marathon. Today I have some observations about the top two men, Lemi Berhanu Hayle and Lelisa Desisa. The two men run a bit differently and both run well, so while we could use the images below to compare them to each other, the … Read more
Hello dear runners! I’m so happy to be back blogging after taking a 2-month hiatus to move my family from Scotland to Germany. I’ve been catching up on the Boston and London marathons bit by bit, and today I have a slideshow for you summarizing the things I found interesting about running technique in the elite … Read more
“Running inspires in us a deep curiosity about the unexplored territory within. Whether training to make an Olympic Team or to run healthy and happy for the rest of our lives the quest to expand the “new frontier” inside ourselves, is universal and eternal. My “Tips for Competition” pertain to the inner landscape…The opportunity to … Read more
If you follow running you’ve probably already heard that Mo Farah was beaten by Garrett Heath in yesterday’s Great Edinburgh XCountry 8km race. In the UK it’s on the front page of all the papers, and it was up on LetsRun.com virtually immediately. There is, however, another way to look at the race. This is … Read more
When you read about how to fix your running technique, a few recommendations pop up over and over again. This makes it seem like there is overwhelming agreement on these points, but in reality it just indicates that people are repeating the things they’ve been told without examining them critically. Most of my clients come … Read more
Here are The Keys to Becoming a Balanced Runner, the 10 interrelating elements of healthy, flowing, free running. I wrote one or two blog posts about each of them over the past year, but here they are all in one place for you to read through and experiment with during the holidays. Over the next few weeks I’ll be … Read more
An old dance friend of mine recently started running and posted about it on Facebook. Lots of people commented on her post, congratulating and encouraging her. But I was shocked at the number of commiserating comments from other runners about how bad running feels. In fact, there was not a single comment from anyone saying they enjoy running. I know the … Read more
