Posts Tagged ‘Biomechanics’
Understanding the Mechanics of Fatigue
When we think of fatigue, we generally think of burning muscles, lactic acid building up, and several other descriptors that have rightly or wrongly entered the lingo of endurance athletes and coaches over the years. In essence though, fatigue is all about slowing down, or preventing that from happening. From a coaching standpoint we often…
Read MoreWhat do Orthotics and shoes actually do? Looking at data from a professional runner
Often times in research we focus on norms. We look at the average effect of different interventions and then apply them to everybody. In this way, as a whole we get what the effects are for most people. By doing this, sometimes we miss the individual effects. So in today’s first blog of 2013, I…
Read MoreThe most important information you will ever read about Running Form: Passive vs. Active
It might seem like I’m being overly dramatic with the title, but the following two concepts are critical for understanding running form, or even human movement in general. With the rise in popularity of running form and the increase in running form guru’s that accompanies that, I it was a good time to share what…
Read More180 isn’t a magic number- Stride Rate and what it means
Speed= Stride Rate X Stride length It’s simple. It warrants repeating. Through in Ground contact in and you’ve got a nice model….But I digress… There have been a recent surge in articles and blogs in regards to stride rate. It seemed to start with Jay Dicharry’s blog on stride rate and impact forces. Which led…
Read MoreHow to Run: Running with proper biomechanics
The simple question of how do you run is largely unanswered in the running community. You have a bunch of pseudo-guru styles like Pose or Chi, but the key to running correctly to maximize performance is a topic that is largely left to elite coaches or biomechanics experts. As Pete Larson pointed out in his…
Read MoreTo change or not: Salazar, Ritzenhein, and running form changes
Ritz and his new form: There is a lot of buzz going around about Dathan Ritzenhein and his form changes. You either fall into one of two camps as Amby Burfoot stated in his blog on the subject: it’s great or insane (his article is here). I’ve got to observe Salazar working on mechanics twice.…
Read MoreLearning how to run.
I thought this was pertinent given the focus on running mechanics and barefoot running. It’s an article I wrote for Running Times online a couple years back. It’s a simple and practical look at how to run properly. Running seems to come naturally, so why should we worry about our technique or form? Ask many…
Read MoreNew studies on footstrike. Do faster runners heel strike?
Perhaps the most interesting finding in Lieberman’s work is that it may not be so much the barefoot vs. shod but the footstrike that is the important part. Brefoot running allows for the footstrike to happen properly, so they are interconnected. Let’s leave behind injury prevention for a bit here and focus on speed. Is…
Read More1st outdoor meet, biomechanics revisited
1st outdoor meet- LSU 5k- 1st- 14:21.49 PR It feels good to win a race and set a PR again. Going into the race I didn’t know what to expect and I was not trying to hit a certain time or anything like that. I just wanted to get into a good rhythm, run right…
Read MoreMail Bag: Question on difference in form in CC compared to Track.
I’ve gotten some questions about my comment on the cross-country race that my running form/mechanicsdon’t suit that type of race. First we will go withthe simple explanation that I am a rhythm runner and atrack type runner. This means I run best when I getinto a particular rhythm with my stride. This can’toccur on a…
Read More