I’m a bit out of sync with my posting but I wanted to slip in an update for the weekend which was quite active on the running front.

Firstly my new shoes arrived: Asics Kayano X11’s and Asics Gel Trabuco trail shoes. The first pair were simply a direct replacement for my existing Kayano’s - a touch larger so they shouldn’t bruise my toes. My parents were visiting as well so my mum ended up leaving with a fine pair of previously owned running shoes with only 158 km on the clock.

I took my folks to Richmond Park to show them the sights and used the opportunity to get a video of my running gait. Booyaa has stoked my interest in running styles by mentioning in a recent comment, the debate between pose and chi running styles. I thought it would be useful to see what my natural running style is before I consider altering it.

Here is the movie:

My 66 year old mum features in the video, she is only at the back because I absolutely forbade her from overtaking me during filming but the moment the filming finished she whizzed past me in her new trainers.

I think I’m demonstrating a definate heel strike in that clip, which doesn’t bode well for me ever getting any faster, every footstrike is the equivalent of me slamming on the brake. I need a video of an “ok” runner to compare techniques with. Would I be better to try raising the knee or kicking my legs out at the back for example? Any of you bloggers got a video to share?

I’ve managed to find a clip of someone demonstrating the pose running technique:

It looks pretty strange - as though the guy is hopping on one leg and bashing his trailing toe into the tarmac, however I think it also demonstrates most of the essential features of pose:

1) Strike on ball of foot, not heel
2) Land with knee bent
3) Land under Centre of gravity with knee, ankle and shoulder in vertical alignment.
4) Lift ankle under hips
5) High cadence resulting in very brief contact with ground.

Not sure where to go with this now, the pose technique looks too far away from my natural style to be feasible but there must be some simple improvements to be made.

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