One of the things about this blog that makes it relevant enough to publish is that it’s a sort of public diary where I share (perhaps over-share) my experiences. Although I’ve got about 2 years of running experience (2001-2002, 2013-present) I am still very much learning. Of course, you can learn with me, and learn from my screw-ups and successes.
So this weeks big experiment, which I’m forced to do on my long run day (though, importantly I’m not forced to have my long today) is to start of the transition from striking at mid foot to striking at the forefoot. I’m also going to track my running cadence—amazingly I don’t know how many steps per minute that I take.
Let me also take a moment to state that my reasoning for altering my biomechanics has more to do with reducing the force of impact on striking and less to do with increasing my speed or anything like that.
As everyone knows the ideal cadence is 180 footfalls per minute, and that will be another item on my list of things to strive for today.
I’m actually writing this *before* my scheduled 14k run--after the list below, I'll return with my post-run thoughts.
Here are a links that are relevant here:
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Part 2
Okay, so I completed exactly 14.02 kilometres (1 hour and 26 minutes)--though I wonder how accurate Runtastic on iPhone is (not that Garmin is any better).
My first impression of forefront striking is that it's pretty tough stuff, but that you begin to tolerate it fairly well after a few kilometres. As expected, I worked different leg muscles (and feeling it now as I type this). The amount of energy expenditure was such that I'd say my run was less efficient than usual. I compensated by filling my water bottle with gatorade (usually I go with a sugar free drink, like PowerAde Zero), and taking three glucose tablets (always a good idea of diabetics to keep these on hand).
I didn't experience as much force of impact with forefront striking as I normally do with midfoot striking. Ultimately, though, I only did about 10-11k forefoot striking... because, it's tiring.
I downloaded a metronome app and ran 180 paces per minute and can confirm that yes, a higher cadence does in fact reduce the force of impact. I have to admit it felt a little strange increasing my cadence without immediately increasing my speed (I increased gradually). But as was the case with forefront striking, I abandoned the whole 180 cadence when fatigue set in.
So there you have it.
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