Sunday, November 15, 2009

Style critique please

Just to let you know, tomorrow morning a transcript of a big interview I did will be made public after extensive editing. It`s big, baby! I will post a link in the morning.

To keep things interesting, here are a couple video`s of my "unique" running style for all to critique. They were shot at the Sinister 7 relay this past July. The second one has the entire relay team running in with me for the highly lucrative race win. I am a professional.....

Any opinions on my running style? Critical comments? Fans? Haters? Fencesitters?

4 comments:

  1. Hi Mark,
    Not so much a criticism of you're running style. Just a couple of things to bear in mind.

    Everyone is different, so if that high arm carriage works for you go with it.

    When you're feet are landing, its better to land on either the balls of the feet or mid foot if possible - try running in Newtons or the VFF's to get used to that style of running. this may take some time and could be hard on the calf muscles.

    Probably the most important thing to remember though is to try and have your foot strike right below your hips.

    Other than the Newton shoes try running tall and lead with your chest if possible. If you incorporate drills (google dynamic warm up or sprinters drills)into training it will make having good form easier, its hard to retrain running form though so don't expect results overnight. Most of us (myself included) have weak core muscles, so maybe try to add something like Pilates or Yoga. There are also plenty of videos on Youtube.

    The last thing to remember is if you can run fast now without making any drastic changes stay with what works.

    Niall

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  2. Thanks Niall. My arm swing is something I am aware of and trying to adjust. As far as the footfall I try for the midfoot landing. I tried a demo pair of Newtons and could not get used to them. I suppose more time in them might change that. You run in them, right? Obviously you like them as well?

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  3. Hey Mark,
    Yup, I run in them. I like them a lot although it took me about 6 months to get used to running in them. Other than really tight calf muscles, I had a couple of other problems such as sore toes one my left foot when toeing off.

    During the winter I found out that they are no good on icey pavement.

    I will say though that my legs don't feel beat after races (1/2 Marathon and full), they are comfortable and you do feel like your running faster than you are in them, in a couple of races this year I needed to check my PM to convince me that I was running fast.

    They would get my vote although I'm not sure if I land properly on them.

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  4. My one comment is that you appear to be running way too fast for the camera. I suggest slowing down to a more moderate pace and enjoying your surroundings.

    All kidding aside, nice to see the blog - keep it up!

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