Monday, February 18, 2008

Running Form Dissection


O.K. I found some pictures (although from a race in 2005). This is the Applefest Half-Marathon in Hollis, NH (one of my favorite races). I finished in 11th place overall (out of 905) in 1:25:00 but look at the pictures and see what, on a good day, my body does as it tries to run efficiently. The legs look O.K. , but there is a lot going on in the upper body that is not good!










Here I am in the opening miles. Does it look like the upper body is balanced over the legs? There is a lot of twisting and a slew of compensations going on! At least for the moment I am ahead of Joe Rogers.













Here in the middle of the race you can see what my left hip, knee, and ankle do on each stride I take. The left femur rotates in and drops down at the hip, the knee does a knock-knee action, and the left foot splays out causing a rolling-in pronation as the foot hits the ground.












Look at the finish line picture. Here you see my knee knocking in and the foot turning out. Not a pleasant way to run , but I have made it work. Even the race singlet can't fit correctly as one shoulder is higher than the other. How do I undo all those
motions and get to an efficient stride? Can it be done? I haven't given up yet! My wife says it is all in my brain. According to Z-Health, maybe it is, as I have to retrain the movements of my joints. I have a lot of places where my joints get "stuck" particularly with the left hip and ankle. I already feel freer in the places, particularly the left hip, as I continue to do my Z-Health exercises.

2 comments:

Jim Hansen said...

It should be noted that I did this race months after finishing a full 11 sessions of Rolfing in the preceeding months. Still I had no balance! Does anyone know what I am holding in my hands?

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