Some people take the born to run thing too seriously.

Sure, we are anthropologically build to run (some more than others).

But in today’s society, we spend a ton of time sedentary and sitting down. Just look at our academic life of sitting in class for 6-8 hours a day. Then we grow up and sit at the computer for 8 hours a day.

This is not an environment that fosters optimal running.

What To Do

If you look at the top running coaches, what are they preaching?

Technique.

Like any skill, it requires practice.

Much like how you can’t play a jazz solo without learning scales. You can’t join a pick up game of basketball if you don’t know how to dribble. You can’t drive if you don’t know how to use the pedals.

Running is similar.

You need to know technique to be able to go from an occasional runner to a recreational runner.

Studies Agree

“This study provides novel and robust evidence that technique explains a substantial proportion of the variance in running economy and performance”

More specifically,

“Regression analysis found three variables (pelvis vertical oscillation during ground contact normalized to height, minimum knee joint angle during ground contact, and minimum horizontal pelvis velocity) explained 39% of LEc variability. In addition, four variables (minimum horizontal pelvis velocity, shank touchdown angle, duty factor, and trunk forward lean) combined to explain 31% of the variability in performance (SB time).”

In other words, you need to pay attention to how much you’re bobbin up and down, your swing phase mechanics, and touchdown mechanics.

There are a ton of drills for this on social media.

Two of my favorites are:

@chrisjohnsonpt
@_charihawkins

What To Do

Find a good running coach to help you with these techniques.

Find a good PT that can assess you to make sure you have the physical capabilities to perform these drills.

Because one of the big problems with athletes, is that they’re often missing a link in the chain that causes bad technique. And you can’t out practice it with drills.

You need to fix the faucet instead of putting a bigger bucket under the drip.