Jae Gruenke- article about Farah's form on front page

Agree. I've read through her blog, and though she seems to get some things right mechanistically, it also seems that she is stretching for conclusions at times. Her qualifications also do not give me much confidence - but then again, those who are less qualified to speak often do so most confidently.

I'd say it's fair to point out certain form "aberrations" and propose why those might be happening from a mechanistic point. So for example, to say that an athlete's wacky arm swing on one side acts to counterbalance/correct something specific going on with their lower limb would be fair. It might be reasonable to suggest that what's going on with their lower limb is due to some inflexibility or weakness in some muscle. But it's hard to know that for sure without testing the athlete in person as there can be many layers that are all mutually dependent.

I do have a problem however, with her suggesting that these aberrations should (or can) be fixed. There is no evidence to suggest that an ideal running form exists from an economy perspective, and many would argue that you shouldn't mess with form unless you are experiencing injuries. Furthermore, most research suggests that each individual optimizes their gait in real time to whatever constraints they're dealing with at the time (surface, incline, speed, fatigue in certain muscles, geometric constraints from inflexibility or anatomy). Our understanding of these interactions is quite limited, so to speak so confidently seems misguided.

So while it's certainly possible to identify that a certain muscular weakness or tightness is limiting in the absolute sense and try to "curve jump" by working on those things (ie. range of motion drills, stretching, strength work), it's a bit of a leap to make concrete statements about whether correcting a runner's form in this manner will be as transformative as she suggests. We don't necessarily know why an athlete has a particular constraint, and it may be that this is not something you can fix (eg. mild scoliosis, certain tendon insertion angle) or it may be that "fixing it" brings some greater issue to the surface.

brickrunnin wrote:

Her article was a bit wonky

10 gold medals and hardly injured.

There are loads of companies trying to make runners believe the nonsense that improving technique not training harder is the key to improvement for hobby joggers. Should stick to giving that advice to the gullible.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

10 gold medals and hardly injured.

There are loads of companies trying to make runners believe the nonsense that improving technique not training harder is the key to improvement for hobby joggers. Should stick to giving that advice to the gullible.

What? How are form, mileage increases and injury prevention not inextricable..?

Who has ever said "Hey noob. Just stay at your current pleb mileage and workout load but just run like Lagat and we'll see you in the Olympics."

You're a coach..?

Totally agree

biomechanist wrote:

those who are less qualified to speak often do so most confidently.

Bingo. Her mumbo-jumbo is ridiculous, and it was surprising to see it hyped up as "expert" commentary by Letsrun. It's up there with the famous Bob Prichard of SOMAX.

Totally wonky, and dumb wrote:

brickrunnin wrote:

Her article was a bit wonky

Every time I see one of these form analysis articles I think "hey this might be cool" and then

Broscience.

These are fair questions, and I'm sorry I missed your comment--at the time you wrote I was offline on a camping trip, and I've only just stumbled across it.

Regarding my time at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, here's my ID:

http://www.balancedrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/IMG_20171105_193208852-1.jpg

You probably couldn't find a record of me because I had to use my legal name of Elizabeth instead of my nickname Jae (though I did manage to fit Jae into my signature on the ID). Also because they misspelled my last name, an error I never managed to get corrected.

As for the pilot study, it wasn't published... wrong research partners, too much going on in the department, balls got dropped, and when they were finally ready to pick it up again I was on the brink of moving overseas because of my husband's job. A very frustrating chapter of my professional life but a good learning experience. It's so long ago now that I should just take it out of my bio... it's due for an overhaul. As for LinkedIn, I don't really use it and my profile isn't particularly complete.

Regarding my other qualifications, I agree that personal training certifications are nearly worthless but that's not the qualification that counts. I'm a Feldenkrais practitioner--that's a 3 1/2 year training in movement and motor learning. Not available on Groupon.

As to whether anyone's seen me for treatment (though "lessons" is the more appropriate term), that would be over 1000 runners during the past 15 years of professional practice, including Jen Rhines who talked about her work with me in this interview:

https://www.runnersworld.com/newswire/a-brief-chat-with-jen-rhines-0

She also mentioned it just recently on the C Tolle Run podcast as key to staying healthy.

Regarding your question about just using TV coverage...well, that's what we've got. Of course it's not as good as other options. But I've got enough experience to recognize patterns, make educated guesses, and provide explanations for differences that both you and I can, in a gross sense, see. More about that here:

http://www.balancedrunner.com/jae-gruenkes-elite-running-form-analyses-what-you-need-to-know/

Thanks for sharing your concerns. I'm sure you're not the only one who's had them, and I understand they're coming from concern for the quality of information that runners are getting. I appreciate the opportunity to respond.