Any one notice Alyson Dixon's form

I've never heard of her until the London Marathon stream, and I'm American, so I'm probably not going to pay attention to her in the future, but I did notice her body position/form. What was weird was that her pelvis was tilted far forward/down, creating an extreme curve in her lower back to keep her torso upright. That looks like it might be bad for her back long term. She might have mobility issues with her hip flexors or something like that.

To what extent do any of us "choose" to run the way we do? to a large extent, surely, our form is the natural product of the way our bodies are put together. There is a limited amount a coach can do to get an athlete to run more efficiently but if the athlete has been physically active for years before taking up serious running (playing/competing in lots of other sports as a child) it is likely that their basic running form is pretty much fixed before they start their serious running career.

mark b wrote:

To what extent do any of us "choose" to run the way we do? to a large extent, surely, our form is the natural product of the way our bodies are put together. There is a limited amount a coach can do to get an athlete to run more efficiently but if the athlete has been physically active for years before taking up serious running (playing/competing in lots of other sports as a child) it is likely that their basic running form is pretty much fixed before they start their serious running career.

Bull&):"

I was a heelstriker, and changed my form drastically to forefoot. The change was pretty fast as well- about three weeks. And don't give me the excuse that I'm not a professional runner. Unless it's a form that results from a disability, it can be changed

She certainly doesn't look like a natural runner. Must just be hard work or ability to absorb the training? Anyone know much about her? Looking at her progression, very mediocre until early mid 30's?

mark b wrote:

I was a heelstriker, and changed my form drastically to forefoot. The change was pretty fast as well- about three weeks. And don't give me the excuse that I'm not a professional runner. Unless it's a form that results from a disability, it can be changed

How did u change ur form so quickly. New shoes? Strengthening? Or did u just consciously change the way u run?

Just decided consciously to land on my forefoot instead of my heel. I ran about 20 minutes this way, and because I didn't know how to relax my feet while in the swing phase, and probably wasn't letting my heel touch the ground, I put a lot of pressure on my calves, and afterward the were sore for a few days like never in my life.

But the next run after the soreness went down a little, it felt easier and I probably started to catch the idea of relaxing the feet and landing on the ball of the foot without working the calves too much. And after a few weeks, it felt completely natural, and heelstriking started to feel weird.

I'm watching old marathon footage while working on really boring work stuff, and for the 4th or 5th time watched a race Aly Dixon is in, the 2017 Marathon World Championships:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5o-zITZ7-U

.

Definitely looks pained and stilted - like she's swimming frantically with her top half against a reluctant bottom half. Very low knee lift, with her hips titled forward quite extremely and knees almost turned inward.

With all that said, she could destroy me in a race. Just wondering how she can have this form and not be wracked pain with each step.

Bigger question: how important is running form? How have you tried to adjust or fix your form? Have you been successful or do you just end up reverting back to your old form?