Running advice: having some trouble

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  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    It sounds to me like you may be a heel striker. Meaning you land hard on your heels as you move through your stride. When running on a soft surface, like a treadmill, this is mitigated, but when you transition to a hard surface the impact becomes much greater.

    The goal of a runner is to land somewhere in the midfoot region. In order to do this, your center of gravity has to be slightly 'ahead' while you are running. I remind myself to lean ever so slightly forward (without slouching!) while I run. This has eliminated any heel striking tendencies for me.

    ETA: Oh yeah - and as everyone has said, get fitted for new shoes at a running store where they do a gait analysis. :smile:
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
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    Stretching before run - don't do it. There seems to be a growing body of research and professional opinion that stretching before doesn't give any benefit and can actually damage your legs - this could be what is going wrong. Warming up is important with low intensity exercise specific movements - for running that means walk a bit and then very slowly jog for a couple of minutes before building up speed to your running pace. Stretching out afterwards is very useful for injury prevention.

    Also if you think you have a tendonitis on its way have a go at this if you like

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6EKuuZ7C2E

    I had tendonitis for over a year and nothing really helped , even backing off and doing nothing. After doing this for a few weeks I was back mobile again. The full exercise was too much for me to start with so I worked myself into it for a week or 2.

    Good luck

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