FOOT STRIKE AND SPEED: What You Should Know And What You Can Do
Are you a heel, mid-foot, or forefoot striker?.....Do you wonder about that and speed?
Many of my runners ask about their foot strike - and everyone wants to know about speed.
Some facts, first…
1.) Generally foot strike changes with speed. If you are a heel or mid-foot striker in a distance race, you may well be a forefoot striker in a 50 meter sprint. (The longer the distance, the more likely you are to run on your heels.) Sprinters almost always use a forefoot strike.
2) Most runners – at least 75% -- are heel strikers.
3) Some heel strikers are the fastest in the world. Meb Keflezighi is one.
4.) One of the few studies on foot strike patterns during running events focused on elite distance runners and confirmed the frequency of heel strikers among them. The study focused on runners in the 2004 Sapporo International Half Marathon (results published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning (2007, volume 21).
The scientists set up a high speed camera at the 15km mark of the race, observing the foot strike of 248 men and 35 women. The runners were mostly heel strikers – 75%. Twenty-four percent landed on the mid-foot, and only 4 of 283 runners landed on the forefoot.
5. Unless you are already getting injured frequently, it’s not worth changing your foot strike. There are many accounts of runners getting injured as a result. (One study at the University of Cape Town asked runners to change their foot strikes from a heel to a midfoot strike. Within two weeks all had Achilles tendon injuries. The loading on the knees was reduced, but the loading on the ankle increased. Changing the position of your footstrike impacts your hip flexion, cadence, stride length and almost everything in the bio-mechanical chain….‘nuff said!)
6. If you are thinking about form, don’t over stride and reach out to strike in front of your body. That creates too much impact and effectively breaks your speed.
7. If you pretend that a string is attached to the top of your head and that someone is pulling it upward toward the sky you’re likely to run tall and land under your body’s center of mass (not too far out in front of you).
8. If you want to increase your speed (a function of stride length and stride frequency, the number of steps you take in a minute of running) whether you are a sprinter of distance runner, focus on increasing stride frequency. More steps means less impact absorbed with each foot strike.
Of course sprinters take many more steps per minute than distance runners. As an example, world-class sprinters like Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce take 221, 231, and 286 steps per minute respectively. That’s the respective equivalent in 100 meters of 36, 38, and 51 steps. By contrast, elite distance runners take about 180 or more steps per minute. Recreational runners take about 150 to 160 steps per minute.
To increase stride frequency, periodically count the number of times your right leg hits the ground. If you are a distance runner, as an example, count the number of times your right leg hits the ground in 30 seconds of running. Then multiple that by 4 for your per minute cadence. Cue words that help you improve your cadence are “quick feet” and “running on eggshells”. You can also use your phone by downloading songs according to beats per minute from a range of websites including www.runningmusicmix.com. That has songs from 140 to 180 beats per minute.
- C.U.
Many of my runners ask about their foot strike - and everyone wants to know about speed.
Some facts, first…
1.) Generally foot strike changes with speed. If you are a heel or mid-foot striker in a distance race, you may well be a forefoot striker in a 50 meter sprint. (The longer the distance, the more likely you are to run on your heels.) Sprinters almost always use a forefoot strike.
2) Most runners – at least 75% -- are heel strikers.
3) Some heel strikers are the fastest in the world. Meb Keflezighi is one.
4.) One of the few studies on foot strike patterns during running events focused on elite distance runners and confirmed the frequency of heel strikers among them. The study focused on runners in the 2004 Sapporo International Half Marathon (results published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning (2007, volume 21).
The scientists set up a high speed camera at the 15km mark of the race, observing the foot strike of 248 men and 35 women. The runners were mostly heel strikers – 75%. Twenty-four percent landed on the mid-foot, and only 4 of 283 runners landed on the forefoot.
5. Unless you are already getting injured frequently, it’s not worth changing your foot strike. There are many accounts of runners getting injured as a result. (One study at the University of Cape Town asked runners to change their foot strikes from a heel to a midfoot strike. Within two weeks all had Achilles tendon injuries. The loading on the knees was reduced, but the loading on the ankle increased. Changing the position of your footstrike impacts your hip flexion, cadence, stride length and almost everything in the bio-mechanical chain….‘nuff said!)
6. If you are thinking about form, don’t over stride and reach out to strike in front of your body. That creates too much impact and effectively breaks your speed.
7. If you pretend that a string is attached to the top of your head and that someone is pulling it upward toward the sky you’re likely to run tall and land under your body’s center of mass (not too far out in front of you).
8. If you want to increase your speed (a function of stride length and stride frequency, the number of steps you take in a minute of running) whether you are a sprinter of distance runner, focus on increasing stride frequency. More steps means less impact absorbed with each foot strike.
Of course sprinters take many more steps per minute than distance runners. As an example, world-class sprinters like Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce take 221, 231, and 286 steps per minute respectively. That’s the respective equivalent in 100 meters of 36, 38, and 51 steps. By contrast, elite distance runners take about 180 or more steps per minute. Recreational runners take about 150 to 160 steps per minute.
To increase stride frequency, periodically count the number of times your right leg hits the ground. If you are a distance runner, as an example, count the number of times your right leg hits the ground in 30 seconds of running. Then multiple that by 4 for your per minute cadence. Cue words that help you improve your cadence are “quick feet” and “running on eggshells”. You can also use your phone by downloading songs according to beats per minute from a range of websites including www.runningmusicmix.com. That has songs from 140 to 180 beats per minute.
- C.U.