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Running on toes

mulecanter
mulecanter Posts: 1,792 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I've run for decades and always struck heel first. I notice people running occasionally that seem to be running on their toes (balls of their feet). It that a thing? Have I been running wrong for 40 years???

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I have a sprinting background and when going fast always ball and toe, never heal, but for distance running, I am heal strike first, until I get up to a speed of 7.5-8mph, and lately, other than intervals, I don't go that fast over long distances. I used to 5ks at 8-9 MPH and ran on the balls of my feet then.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    Do you have any problems that would require you to change? If not, then you're probably not doing it wrong. Could you do it better? Maybe. But I doubt you're "wrong".
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited April 2018
    I ran in a half marathon this past Saturday and saw a young lady running on her toes. It truly did spark my attention. I hadn't seen anyone run in this fashion before, she beat me in the half. lol
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    ideally footstrike should be mid foot but if you don't have that strike and have been doing it for a long time and it doesn't lead to issues why change

    if you want a real evaluation...try the local running store.
  • only6icecubes
    only6icecubes Posts: 20 Member
    Kara, Shalane and Meb did/do pretty well as heal strikers.

    It's not how your foot hits the ground, it's how fast you pick it up.

    Also, there are a lot of very fast runners who are flat footed, overpronate and don't wear stability shoes.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    only6icecubes wrote: »
    Kara, Shalane and Meb did/do pretty well as heal strikers.

    It's not how your foot hits the ground, it's how fast you pick it up.

    Also, there are a lot of very fast runners who are flat footed, overpronate and don't wear stability shoes.

    Love it!
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    Yes, clearly a person has more cushioning and spring when they land on the front of the foot and use the calf.
    But people have natural running styles, and they vary, it seems.
    A few years back, during the minimalist shoe craze, when experts were advocating forefoot running, there was a study done that suggested that people really cannot change their running style comfortably and probably don't need to.
    There once was a study of intercollegiate runners from Harvard that suggested that heel strikers got injured with twice the frequency of forefoot strikers. But I am not sure that finding has been confirmed elsewhere. And, certainly, forefoot strikers get injured too.
  • trochanter
    trochanter Posts: 76 Member
    Have a search on Chi running or Pose running.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    trochanter wrote: »
    Have a search on Chi running or Pose running.

    And then feel free to disregard about 90% of what those 'coaches' try to tell you is an absolute truth!

    To be fair, we all run on our toes when we sprint.
  • mulecanter
    mulecanter Posts: 1,792 Member
    Interesting, thanks for the inputs. I've run thousands of miles (I presume) since I started running when Nixon was President. I don't have any intention of changing now--I really was just interested if folks were doing the toe running intentionally. I gather that in most cases they do what comes naturally--even if it irritates me LOL.
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