Hello.
Background:
Male, 34yo, 180cm, 76kg.
I’ve started to run from the march of 2024, and was training with Garmin suggested workouts from zero running to up to being able to go 10km in a long run.
For the past year I’was running 3 events for a 5km races, with a best time on the last race of 30:30 minutes.
On my trainings I was occasionally executing some running exercises to improve my running form.
At the end of the “season”, I was getting some minor problems with periosteum, and I suspect that it’s due to the combination of factors. One of wich is not so good running form. (Others are - hard surface to run (no parks nearby in my location in Europe) and higher level of load than the body was able to process)
Additionally I do have 1-2 functional training per week and trying to run 2-5 days per week, with having at least one day a week as a day off. I try to skip one week of training in every 3 weeks, to recover, or drop the trainings in case of problems.
So the question is: Are there any advices on my running form and what should I do to get improvement and prevent myself from problems in the future?
Thanks in advance!
Video1 at the start of the run:
Video2 at the end of the run:
Hi Artvart,
running form is a little contentious topic in world of running. I don’t think there is consensus among both scientists and coaches that ideal running form for everybody exists, can be specified, and each athlete should strive for it. It is also very difficult to learn new running form since it basically means slowly reprogramming your motor cortex - because if you need to consciously think about your form your running efficency goes down automatically.
That said, there are known running form mistakes like overstriding that leads to excessive heel striking (excessive is the important part) or “sitting” running form unsurprisingly typical for people with sedentary jobs. I don’t see such patterns in your videos.
I was for a period of time quite obsessed with running form beacuse I thought bad form was holding me back from better performance. Until I found out through trial and error and a lot of reading that my problem was actually just bad training - not systematic and not adhering to basic training process rules.
Couple of additional points:
- functional training is great, keep it up
- full week of not training after two weeks of training is an overkill as a recovery - It is enough to just lower number of runs or total mileage so you feel fully refreshed at the end of that week.
- It’s best to do warmups / running exercises / dynamic streching especially before faster paced runs
- easiest way to improve for you would probably be to progressively increase number of training per week so you have 5 days / week continuously and for example just 3 in recovery week. When you are able to do that, next thing would be to start diversifying your runs pace and distance and moving towards 80 / 20 scheme.
If you would like more specific advice feel free to contact me.
Cheers
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I once heard it put this way
“Most things that would be fixed by concentrating on changing your running form would be more quickly fixed by just running more”
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Thanks for the input guys, I’m trying to be as consistent as possible for the circumstances I’m in.
Probably the reason I skipped some weeks for a recovery (and the decision to skip every 3rd or 4th week) is coming from a low aerobic base and insufficient level of load in the first two weeks of the micro training period.
I would try to do less stupid stuff this year, run slow and follow the goals of the training period. And apply knowledge from the last year.
I’m not sure if I would need to find a running trainer or I would be able to find appropriate level of load from my knowledge + books + YouTube + Garmin. For now I’m going with this approach, but who knows, if I would have more serious goals I guess I would need a look from outside.
Maybe see a sports physiologist to correct the right foot is pointing outward while the left foot points strait ahead? I have no idea if that has anything to do with periosteum or what other issues you might be experiencing. I see this in the footprints in the dirt where I trail run. Maybe it does not do it when you run faster(?) I never “jog” like that. I run faster and then walk. (run/walk/run)
