Never-ending injuries

Are you a heel striker or a midfoot runner?

I have been a heel striker, but video analysis shoes it's not too bad. I recently tried switching to mid-foot as well, but got posterior medial stress on the tendon there. I should also note when trying to run midfoot or forefoot, my legs/feet/ankle feel stiff, like it's forced.

*shows

Ryan, I'll give you my two cents when it comes to running form and injuries and your other issues. I truly believe what I have to say will fix your problems.

1 - The left leg self consciousness thing is not an issue. You are simply thinking about your leg and ultimately it is interfering with the signals of your brain. I know the exact feeling you describe. Just relax and it will go away.

2 - The reason why you probably have become self-conscious of your leg is that all because all of the specialists you have seen have over complicated things for you and made you over think your running stride. They complicate the running stride and tell us things that leave us confused and that feel awkward.

To me it sounds like the sharp pain in your knee is from ITBS. I have suffered ITBS issues and in my mind the ONLY thing that will make it go away is changing your form. I will get hate for this and this is fine but I dont think that stretching does shit. I dont think strengthening does shit. And I dont think diet or supplements really have any effect on the injuries your having (unless your not consuming enough calories.). Personally I believe that 95% of running injuries are from heel striking.

Changing your form is NOT hard. I don't care what people say. You can be running like bekele by tomorrow. You describe it feeling unnatural and at first there may be some discomfort with the movement. But this will leave. You may have calf soreness but this will dissipate too. When you start running on the balls of your feet or your midfoot or your forefoot(all the same thing) you will understand why injuries occur when running heel strike.

My tips for changing your form:

Don't over think it. Many coaches talk about the different phases and knee drive or maybe they tell you to push when your striking. Its all wrong. You dont need drills like A skip and B skip. Just try jumping in place. You feel that you land on the balls of your feet. Now go run like that. Dont push with your feet, that will just lead to foot problems,Just run on the balls of your feet and everything else will take care of itself. The running stride is reflexive.

In terms of the ITBS, i'm not sure if your going to be able to run even if your running properly with an inflamed IT band. It can't hurt to go out and see how it feels running with the new stride. Let me know how it goes.

Thanks for the advice. I have one problem: when I try to switch to midfoot, as I said before, my ankle/foot/leg is really stiff, and I am absorbing a ton of impact. How do I fix this?