Workshop Announcements: Learn for Charity!

Aaron Groen, PhD will be teaching two workshops this Spring for charity. ALL of the proceeds from these workshops will be donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as a fundraiser for Jen Chapin, a Team in Training (TNT) participant and mentor. Jen, a Bristol resident, is training with TNT to run the 2010 Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, AK on June 19th. She must raise over $5000 for the LLS's Connecticut Chapter to compete in Alaska. Her goal is to raise $6500 in an effort to further the LLS's mission of curing blood cancers by 2015. Visit Jen Fundraising Website by clicking here. GO TEAM in TRAINING!

#1 - Running Form and Nutrition - $30
March 13, 2010, 2pm-5pm, 2pm-5pm Farmington Valley Physical Therapy, 112 South Main St., Unionville, CT 06085

Course Description: Your body is fueled by food so shouldn’t the best nutrition be part of your training regimen? In this workshop you will learn how to maximize your performance by eating the foods you need most, and avoiding the foods you don’t. Students will also learn about the technique of running through a video-analysis of each student. An emphasis will be placed on nutrition and its general influence on metabolism and performance during training cycles. This workshop includes a running video-analysis of each student.

#2 - Running Form and Common Running Injuries - $30
April 10, 2010, 2pm-5pm Farmington Valley Physical Therapy, 112 South Main St., Unionville, CT 06085

Course Description: An in-depth analysis of running form as related to common running injuries. Students will learn about the technique of running through a video-analysis of each student. The course will focus on how changes in running form and training schedules can contribute to common injuries. Some injuries discussed include the Sacroiliac Joint (SI Joint) Dysfunction, Knee/ACL injuries, Iliotibial band (IT band), and plantar fasciitis.

To register by phone and credit card, call 860-673-0223.

To register by mail, enclose the name of the registrants, contact information including phone number and email, and payment by check in the amount of $30 per person made out to FVPT to:

FVPT, 112 South Main St, Unionville, CT 06085

A New Way to Look at Running Efficiency

People use the word running efficiency instead of correct running form because there is the belief that there is really is no "correct" way to run. However, there are some factors that are associated with faster running. In fact, there are many people in the US and the world who spend their lives researching precisely what makes up running economy.

Running economy is a term used to describe how efficiently a runner can use their body to generate speed. The more efficient your body converts oxygen that you breath in into speed, the higher your running economy. Sports scientists at the Research Institute for Olympic Sports in Finland measured many factors related to speed and their correlation with running economy including:

VO2max
Stride Length
Stride Frequency
Speed Range (the difference between the lowest and highest speed an athlete runs during a given distance)
Maximal Running Speed
Ground contact time (the amount of time your feet spend on the ground with each step)

The authors found that the ONLY FACTOR THAT CORRELATED WITH SPEED WAS GROUND CONTACT TIME. VO2 max, stride length, speed range, etc did not correlate with speed. The more time runners spent in the air (i.e. the less time they spent on the ground), the faster they went.

So what does this mean? As Dr. Romanov of Pose-Tech running stresses: Pick up your feet!! Run lightly and gracefully. Clunking on the ground is not associated with faster speeds so concentrate on the upward movement and not the actual steps you take.

Runner's World of Form

Let’s face it, running form is very controversial. I was taught that everyone is special, so everyone walks and runs differently. And to a point this is very true. In reality, there may not be one completely correct way to run. For this reason alone, people rarely use the words "correct form", but rather use "efficient form."

Everyone would acknowledge that there are more efficient ways to run (see entry on Running Efficiency). This topic has generated enough popularity to merit an article in The New York Times: "Who, Me Take A Running Class?"

The article takes no position, but offers various quotes with different positions:

“It’s a healthy thing and a beautiful thing to run. But if you don’t know how to do it, you’re in trouble.” -- Dr. Romanov (Posetech)

“Go stand at any finish line of any marathon in America and you see people with the most god-awful running form, hunched over and bowlegged. Alberto Salazar’s broken-glass-in-the-shorts style are proof that the unorthodox can win races.” -- David Willey (Editor of Runner’s World)

“You can lose sight of what’s great about the sport — which is that it’s simple. There’s no substitute for hard work and just getting out and doing the miles.” -- Dr. Jason Friedman (Shawangunk Running Camp)

Ugh! What is correct? Form is clearly important even though David Willey (the Editor or Runner’s World) stated Alberto Salazar’s broken-glass-in-the-shorts style are proof that the unorthodox can win races. What David Willey failed to mention is that Alberto had a very short running career. His enigmatic “burnout” is very famous. Thus, could it be possible if he had better form, he could have run at the elite level for more than 4-5 years? Additionally, how could you just go out and run many miles (as Dr. Friedman mentions) if you feel pain every time you bring up your mileage to a certain point? Clearly, something else must be changed--especially if you've already tried 10 different pairs of shoes!!

So, should you worry about your form when you run? My Answer: If running can be a repetitive stress to your body (i.e. you run a lot), you NEED to think about your form, as you WILL get hurt otherwise.

More specifically, you should only worry about your form IF any of the following apply to you:
1) You care about your race times.
2) You seriously train for more than 3-4 races per year.
3) You seriously train for more then one marathon.
4) You want to keep running your whole life.
5) You consistently run 3-6 times per week all year long.

So you decided to change your form? Well, changing your form is a lot of work, can take much patience and dedication, and is often very expensive (books, clinics, etc). Many times, you will feel like you’re taking many steps backwards when you are learning new form as your body has to adapt to a new way of running, which WILL engage different muscle groups and tendons. Thus, you will have to cut much of your running per week or risk getting injured. In the end, it can take up to 4-6 months of hard work to become strong enough to even reach a moderate level of fitness and proficiency. So, before you tinker with your form, you need to figure out if it is worth it.