Pro runners with light, short, choppy strides

Yeah, not sure what the OP meant by "light" but if we're talking ugly, choppy looking strides then Woody Kincaid, Salazar and Nick Symmonds come to mind. Obviously it worked for them though.

On the opposite end, Bernard Lagat always looked incredibly smooth to me.

Asbel Kiprop

Good shot of Grijalva's light, short stride at around 5:56 of the below video

and Reed Fischer's at around 4:40 of the below video video

Even further back in the day... Ronnie Delany, 1954 Olympic 1500 champion. Very short, choppy stride; but it worked for him!

Ron Delaney is a great example -- his stride looked like the needle of a sewing machine going up and down so quickly. A bit more recent: Kevin Sullivan is another example.

Tony Simmons - 4th in 10000m in 1976 Olympics; onetime holder of world's best for the half-marathon; second in World x-country championship to Carlos Lopes.

Ben Blankenship has a light, short, choppy stride which will suit him well on the trails going forward.

Delany ('56 winner) is a great example. Also Wes Santee, the American mile record holder. e.g. NYT, 1954: "Choppy-striding Wes Santee blazed a mile in 4:03 . . ."

Recall reading somewhere that his short, choppy stride was the result of running on plowed fields in Kansas farm country.

this stride business is intriguig. in fact. the lack of attention on the topic reflects the absolute backward level of the sport. like the mechanics of a batter or pitcher.

myself. i came from soccer and then lyiard training. where my stride was a mess on slow distance. then intervals . with natural speed i had the short high turnover stride. after some months running at 430 to 5 min mile pace the stride normalized. all of which points to adapting to what you are doing... duh..

still lydiard. the best coach and expert really. failed to realize that the LSD caused an over adaptation to slow twitch. of course the aerobic ability created by lsd is key to producing a finish near top speed. but that top speed declines with catabolism of fast twitch.

as a result. once an athlete has achieved an excellentvaerobic base over years. their build up phase can be shorter. and a lot of full recovery mid to fast 100 to 300m work and resistance hill training allows for fast twitch to reverse catabolism.

together. with certain exercises like depth jump. calasyhetics.

well your stride will be trending highly to normal which is optimal.

on fast twitch development or recruiting.

note that intervals with short recovery is very dangerous business. too much will destroy the runner for sure. but the right amount at the right time will optimize and peak performance.. for a handful of weeks. then you are done for the season.

in total contrast

recruiting fast twitch . need not be hard work nor dangerous.

150 m sprints with 3 min recovery for a fit athlete is not taxing. with 3 sets of 6. with 15 min between. is a walk in the park.

also half an hour of strides with three miles slowish is a good way to start the day.

in any kind of training you have to recover.

whatever you do . if you just work . and then recover. then you will move forward.

failures by coaches . dont communicate nor monitor properly recovery.

i saw a 19 year old salazar with a very nice smooth stride.

from there he went up to being one of the fittest guys on the planet coulped with maximum catabolisis of fast twitch . an training adaptation optimal to 50 miles. and he got away with it due to 1310 5000m ability which is more like 13 flat today.

alsal was actually a 202 or 203 guy. today.

but never the 2 hour or bettet that africa will bring. which is a bekeke type taking on the marathon in their 20s and not as an old man

Gabe Jennings

Jen Rhines