A few years ago, I studied how many steps my marathoners took per minute when running at marathon pace. The answer was 170 steps per minute, which translates to 10,000 steps per hour or forty thousand steps for a four-hour marathon.
In the short term of a single training season, you can’t do much to significantly change your marathon finish time. But you can change the efficiency of the steps you’ll take while running it. Inefficiency leads to greater struggle, less fun, and a harder marathon. Yet, I see that the vast majority of runners are inefficient.
And their inefficiency is caused by overstriding, i.e., their steps are longer than they should be. Overstriding occurs when your center of gravity is behind your lead foot when it hits the ground (see the yellow line in the photo of Will overstriding, below). In effect, overstriding breaks forward motion and slows you down until your body catches up with your lead leg. This breaking action is why running is so laborious and why you probably go slower than you could.
“Most athletes who overstride compensate by leaning into a run from their waist. That puts them closer to a take-off position when they land, but they tend to lumber along when they could take more efficient steps, if they knew how.”
It turns out that running shoes exacerbate this problem by making it almost certain you will overstride. Most shoes come equipped with thick, soft, elevated heels, so you can take a long step on hard pavement without hurting yourself with the pounding. Moreover, many athletes who overstride reach out with their feet and land on the outer back corner of their shoes. The resultant wear and compression can lead to pain in the outer (lateral) part of the knee or hip. No wonder iliotibial-band syndrome is the most common running injury.
Most athletes who overstride compensate by leaning into a run from their waist. That puts them closer to a take-off position when they land, but they tend to lumber along when they could take more efficient steps, if they knew how.
This series of blog articles will teach you the elements of running form so you can use correct posture and mechanics to become a more efficient endurance athlete.
