3 Metrics You Should Measure as a Distance Runner
If you are constantly battling running injuries, consider measuring these 3 things to see if you are overloading yourself.
Most people only track their pace and distance when measuring their running load. But when it comes managing injury risk, there are better metrics to track!
If you are constantly battling niggly running injuries, try keeping track of at least 1 of these and see if it starts to make a difference.
1. Heart Rate
Most people run too hard, too often. Keeping track of your heart rate during your runs helps manage intensity, fatigue, and recovery so training stress builds fitness without tipping you into overload.
If you only ever train in zone 4 or 5, when you should be in zone 2 or 3, this may be part of what is pushing you into the danger zone of injuries.
2. Cadence
Cadence measures how many steps you take per minute. A lot of beginner runners take too few steps per minute, resulting in overstriding. Small cadence changes can reduce braking forces and joint load, often useful for managing common running injuries.
As a rough guide we generally recommend aiming for about 160 - 180 steps per minute (less if running slower, more if faster). This is by no means a magic bullet, but it can give you a good place to start from.
3. Stride Length
Runners who land with their foot ahead of their centre of mass (overstriding) consistently show higher joint and tissue loads. Reducing your stride length can be a game changer in reducing your risk of injury and improving your running economy.
To check if your stride length is too long you can get a friend to film you side on, if your foot is landing in front of the drop down line from your knee this can often indicate that you are “putting on the breaks” rather than propelling yourself forward, leading to excessive joint force and a loss of efficiency.
Check out this video here to help: https://www.instagram.com/p/BYfGo8nDcrU/?igsh=MTZnczRwa3AxN2V4eQ==
By Mark Rennick - Senior Physio for Runners at Formotion Physio.
Check him out and book in with him here.
3 Running Tips to Improve Overstriding
Overstriding can slow you down and make running feel heavy and painful. If this is something you do try these 3 tips to improve your technique.
Despite what you’d think, running isn’t something everyone naturally does well, and overstriding is probably the most common issue we see in beginners and even our more seasoned runners.
Simply put, overstriding is when your foot stretches out and contacts the ground too far in front of your body when you take a step.
This effectively causes a stopping, breaking action which can also be quite jarring on the body. It tends to make running feel heavy and hard, and is often the culprit of pain in the shins, knees, hips and back during running.
It also means there is extra time needed for your body to get into the right position to then push off for the next stride, which slows the whole process down even more and wastes precious running energy!
See the video below for an example:
3 tips to improve overstriding.
Stride faster, not longer.
A more efficient way to run faster is by taking quicker steps that land close to the body, avoiding the stopping action, and allowing you to be in a better position to push back to propel yourself forwards in the next step.
See the video below for our same client a few months after practising!
To do this you can try focus on these three things next time you run:
Take shorter, quicker steps, rather than striding out
Often we’ll see people striding out to try to pick up their pace, which may sound correct, but usually results in more overstriding.
Aim to land close to your body, more towards the middle of the foot.
While the research tells us that there is nothing wrong with a heel strike, in practice with our clients we find that cues to pull your foot back to land more in the middle to front of the foot can help to achieve this better.
Think about “staying tall” & leaning forward.
Imagine a string pulling you ‘up towards the sky’ as you run, this will keep you extended and stable in your hips and core.
Lean forward slightly with the whole body, as opposed to just bending at the hips. It should feel like you would fall over if you didn’t put your foot out to stop yourself.The faster you go the further forward you should lean (up to a point!)
Staying too upright, especially as you try to pick up the pace, will cause you to reach out too far in front of you again.
If you are having trouble getting your head around these tips, or for advice that is specific to you, book an appointment with us or come along to one of our running technique workshops.