Those of you who know me know that I am a HUGE fan of Coach Jeff Galloway. As a new woman runner, I trained for my first 10K with Jeff's training program and for months I carried his book Jeff Galloway's Book of Running around with me like a bible.

So I was somewhat surprised when I read a recent response Galloway wrote to a reader in his beginning runners column, The Starting Line in Runner's World Magazine.  The new runner asked Jeff:

I notice that I take a lot of big steps, while more experienced runners take much shorter strides.  Why is that and does it matter?

And Galloway's response was:

You'll see a wide range of strides within any group of runners.  Some of it has to do with natural biomechanics, and some of it has to do with experience.  As you put more miles on your legs, you'll develop a shorter stride, and a more efficient running form all-around, which ultimately will translate into a faster pace.

His answer surprised me a bit because running stride is very closely related to form...and form, especially for new runners is best learned early to help avoid injury and soreness and to improve performance as training continues.

For efficient endurance / distance running you only need a slight knee lift, a quick leg turnover, and a short stride. Together, these will facilitate fluid forward movement instead of wasting energy on upward motion or bounce. When running with the proper stride length, your feet should land directly underneath your body. As your foot strikes the ground, your knee should be slightly flexed so that it can bend naturally on impact. If your lower leg (below the knee) extends out in front of your body, your stride is too long. One easy test for this is if when you are running on the treadmill your toes periodically hit the front board of the treadmill, your stride is too long.

The very best runners use high turnover instead of long strides to run fast.  Running with quick, short steps decreases the energy cost of fast running, decreases the stress on the muscles, and minimizes landing impact. Longer strides demand more vertical movement, which is terribly inefficient.  Efficient runners move almost perfectly horizontally. 

To ensure the proper leg turnover, many trainers use a clip-on mini-metronome that beeps at a rate that you set.  This helps train proper leg turnover until it becomes completely natural and you don’t have to think about it.  So what is optimal turnover?  About 180 steps per minute – and that is true no matter how fast you are, no matter how tall. 

So, while it's certainly true that new runners will (hopefully) find their proper stride, it seems to me that being conscious of proper form from the start - and practicing it right from the beginning is a better option, especially for new runners for whom speed and distance gains can mean the difference between being a runner for life, and dropping out due to pain and injury.

Perhaps the editors of Runner's World cut Jeff's answer short?

 

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Tags: running form, running stride, metronome, leg turnover, fast running, training, Jeff Galloway, runner's world, new runners