can you switch from heel striker to forefoot striker?

~~~~~~~~ wrote:

just that people have become a bit obsessed with the idea that you have to change to forefoot strike to run faster and there seems to be a myth that all the fast runners are forefoot strikers.

You are correct. NONE of the fast DISTANCE runners are forefoot strikers. It is one of the biggest myths that seemingly educated runners continue to perpetrate. It is complete and utter BS. ALL OF THEM ARE HEEL STRIKERS...ALL OF THEM.

No, no and no. Most strike mid-forefoot.

Flagpole I'd like your opinion of this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLg4j4gMzqA

I hope the Ethiopian's featured meet both your criteria as "long distance" runners and also "good runners".

Pay particular attention to 0:54 - 2:00. Also, notice how the clock at 0:54 reads 21 minutes. This is during a 10k race and they're not kicking but clearly all landing mid foot. They're not right up on their toes and their heels clearly touch the floor but the first point of contact is on their forefoot.

When running forefoot, until you are going at a fast speed, your heel will still touch the ground. The difference is that your foot comes down flat, or with the ball of the foot coming down slightly sooner. The majority of the weight remains on the forefoot, even if the heel touches the ground. Your lower leg should not be flexed to keep your heel from touching, this is toe running. Yes you can find pictures of elites touching their heel to the ground, but it seems that feel actually land fully on the heel and absorb the shock with ht knee instead.

The best way to get a feel for this is to run barefoot and focus on increasing your cadence somewhere between 160 and 190 per minute. Don't worry about keeping your heel off the ground. Relax your lower leg, and focus only on placing your weight on the ball of your foot. When you increase to a race pace it will be natural that your forefoot only brushes along the ground.

Does the heel touch the ground? Yes, even in most sprinters.

But that's not a heel strike.

http://www.ina.fr/economie-et-societe/vie-sociale/video/VDD05006323/said-aouita.fr.html

At 55sec, look at said auoita's footstrike.

I am not condoning running barefoot all of the time of course (though you may find that you like it). But it is an easy way to practice. In addition, small flats with a small heel lift will serve your well in forefoot running. I find the Mizuno Wave Universe 3 to be ideal.

Seb Coe says otherwise. With all due respect to internet cranks and science wankers, Seb Coe has a far more elegant understanding of this and how it relates to the realities of the sport.http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/05/HaileG.qanda.Coe/index.htmlQ: You mentioned the way he places his feet on the ground -- his running technique. Can you explain what running on the balls of your feet means?Coe: You hope all good athletes run on the balls of their feet. You don't want them coming down heel first. The perfect style is the foot to come down with a slight supination and on a tilt to the outside. You kiss the back of the heel on the ground and you move slightly, rotating inwards so the force and the central thrust is through the middle of the foot. Rarely do you see anybody at that level that doesn't have a good foot fall.

Flagpole wrote:

This heel striking vs. forefoot striking and efficiency vs. inefficiency crap is just that...crap.

The best way to run is the way that feels most natural to you. Distance runners ALL heel strike until they are in a sprint mode at the end of the race. To say otherwise is not to know. I posted pictures of Salazar and Ritzenhein clearly heel striking earlier, and I could find those pictures and tons more of elite runners running that way.

There's a name for someone who goes out for a 10-mile run and runs on his toes the whole way; that word is "idiot".

Flagpole,

don't know too much about you, and i have often thought you mena well, but if you want to be taken in anyway seriously after all THOSE capital letters in your posts, you should comment this video as handle Danny Komen suggests.

ALL obsessions are potentially destructive.

(page38)

the injuryproblem is partly modern running shoes:

"horizontal cushioning - meaning the forces that are caused by the movement from the front to the back and to the side during a foot strike. Research has shown that conventional cushioning systems cannot separate these two forces, which means that the critical horizontal loads to the body are not addressed by a conventional midsole system."

(page 50)

Flagpole wrote:

NONE of the fast DISTANCE runners are forefoot strikers. It is one of the biggest myths that seemingly educated runners continue to perpetrate. It is complete and utter BS. ALL OF THEM ARE HEEL STRIKERS...ALL OF THEM.

Please present your exhaustive research and evidence. ALL OF IT...AND I MEAN ALL OF IT

Ignore flagpole, he's an idiot, regularly posting nonsense on subjects of which he is ignorant.

On the previous page, there were lots of photos of runners with their feet in the air, being presented as evidence of footstrike. Pure stupididy.

Some distance runners' heels touch the ground lightly before their forefoot lands.

Most distance runners land on their forefoot, unless running a steep downhill.

Paula Radlcliffe runs entire Marathons on her forefoot, because she is a supinator.

weIInow wrote:

Most distance runners land on their forefoot, unless running a steep downhill.

Then why do the shoe companies put all of that cushioning in the heel? Are they really that stupid?

Yes they really are that stupid.

These stupid high heels have more to do with fashion and tradition than with biomechanics.

Also, if someone like you has to ask the question, then you obviously wouldn't understand the issue of how our heels don't absorb impact.

wondering wrote:

Then why do the shoe companies put all of that cushioning in the heel? Are they really that stupid?

I'd guess about 90% of "running" shoes aren't used for actual running.

I haven't read the entire thread but wanted to respond to the original question. I should preface this by saying in HS I was a pretty strong heel striker.

In short, I did this, thinking it would help my 800 times (being primarily an 800 runner). I figured that when I race, I'm up on my toes the entire time so I should be training on my toes (or at least forefoot) all the time. So over winter break as a freshman I decided to start running 100% of the time farther forward on my feet. At first, this was absolutely miserable and took a considerable amount of concentration. Especially considering I was running upwards 90 mpw at the time. For the next month or so, my calves were perpetually in pain. In hindsight, I'd say they were flat out injured/pulled, but I was pretty stubborn and kept training. Some days it was so bad I would get out of bed and fall over. That being said, I improved my PR from 1:57 to 1:52 by the end of the outdoor season that year and dropped my mile PR from 4:41 from the previous outdoor season to 4:18 at a meet in the middle of the next indoor season. Surely most of this improvement was a result of harder and smarter training (I don't care what anyone says, ROJO and JK are coaching geniuses), but I can't help but think adjusting the running form helped at least a little.

Since switching over to heel to mid/ forefront striking (still in learning process btw..), I agree about the soreness of the calves and even thought I pulled it but it went away. Now, it's just my feet that are sore!

Some good info on here!

First I will answer a question with a question:

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION?

Because there is a thread on this seemingly every quarter.

Yes, you can do it. I started in CC sophomore year as a RS and by the end of track season I was running low 14's for 5000m.

I know everyone is different and I was still getting used to collegiate running but I did take over a minute off of my 5000m time and 9 sec. off my 1500m PR in a year. Other than sore calves for a bit when racing this way I never had any ill effects.

I became more efficient and more free from injury.

Good luck. Talk to your coach about it too.

thanks will avoid injury