for an ad-free Fetcheveryone experience!

More efficient running style

1 lurker | 183 watchers

Canute Feb 2014 10:43pm, 15 Feb 2014 865 posts	Quote Pin Canute Here is some more evidence that forefoot strike reduces the magnitude of impact loading, but the question of ‘natural’ human running style does not have a simple answer. These habitually barefoot runners from north Kenya tend to employ a forefoot or midfoot landing when running at high speed (where impact loading is high) but the majority of them use a rear foot strike at endurance running speeds. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
SPR Feb 2014 7:09pm, 27 Feb 2014 19,029 posts	Quote Pin SPR Couple of study I picked up from Steve Magness's twitter The Valid Measurement of Running Economy in Runners: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Foot pronation is not associated with increased injury risk in novice runners wearing a neutral shoe: a 1-year prospective cohort study: bjsm.bmj.com
SPR Feb 2014 7:10pm, 27 Feb 2014 19,030 posts	Quote Pin SPR He has a book out called The Science of Running, which is good from what I've read so far.
emjaybee Feb 2014 11:05pm, 28 Feb 2014 5,494 posts	Quote Pin emjaybee Way too long since I have dropped in. How is everyone doing.
Jhuff Feb 2014 11:32pm, 28 Feb 2014 3,738 posts	Quote Pin Jhuff Emj, Doing great here. What have you been up to?
emjaybee Feb 2014 11:37pm, 28 Feb 2014 5,495 posts	Quote Pin emjaybee Coaching junior multi event athletes
Jhuff Mar 2014 4:12am, 1 Mar 2014 3,739 posts	Quote Pin Jhuff Me too!!!
FenlandRunner Mar 2014 9:08am, 1 Mar 2014 758 posts	Quote Pin FenlandRunner Weyhey, hiya, MJB Very long time. Hope you and your family are well
SPR Mar 2014 9:21am, 1 Mar 2014 19,033 posts	Quote Pin SPR Hi MJB
Canute Mar 2014 12:03pm, 1 Mar 2014 867 posts	Quote Pin Canute Hi MJB. It is good to hear from you SPR, with regard to the question of whether energy cost or oxygen cost is the most important measure of efficiency, it seems to me that the crucial issue is what cost matters to you, and that depends on individual characteristics and on race distance. When running a little faster than lactate threshold (i.e. the point beyond which rate of oxygen supply is inadequate to allow energy to be obtained by metabolically efficient oxidative metabolism), oxygen cost is the more important thing, unless the event is so short we can bear the oxygen debt. Thus in the half marathon, and perhaps also the marathon, oxygen cost is the crucial. On the other hand in ultra-marathons, we are not limited by ability to obtain enough oxygen, but fuel supply is an important tissue. Although most of us have a lot of stored fat, fat metabolism can supply energy fast enough for slow paces, so conservation of glycogen and glucose becomes the big issue if we aim for a medium pace. It is therefore of great interest that Gruber et al found that efficiency of use of carbohydrates was greater with heel striking. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov However until there are further studies confirming this, we should be cautious about accepting this finding. Furthermore despite the increasing evidence that heel striking might actually be preferable at low and medium speeds, we need to be aware that in marathon and ultra-marathon, issues such as loss of power due cumulative muscle damage are also very important, and there is little evidence about the effect of foot strike on this.