308: Don't Fix Your Running Form - POD AUDIO
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[00:00:00] This is the real life runners podcast. Episode number 308. Don't fix your running form.
[00:00:09] Angie: All right, so today we're talking about running form, and when you saw the title for this episode, don't fix your running form. You might have been a little confused considering you're listening to a running podcast and a lot of running coaches and experts and physical therapists out there talk a lot about running form.
And if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that we are. Both running coaches and I also am a physical therapist, so to see this title might be a little perplexing. Yeah,
[00:00:59] Kevin: I like that. The [00:01:00] physical therapist titled it, don't Fix Your Running for me. Yeah. Um, interesting side note, one of my first jobs as a track coach was to fix a kid's super, super screwy arms.
Yeah. But I still kind of like the, the background of don't fix your running form. Mm-hmm. He was literally hurting himself running though. So there, there's sometimes there's some nuance to it. Well,
[00:01:19] Angie: there's a lot of nuance like you guys know, especially if you've been listening to us for a while. And that's what we're gonna get into today, right?
Because it's obviously not as simple as, don't ever fix your running form, or no one needs to fix their running form.
[00:01:32] Kevin: Nope. That's it. Anne, thank you for joining us. Episode 308.
[00:01:35] Angie: Just
run, go run your life. Um, but. What I wanna cover on this podcast episode is that running form is probably not as important as you think it is.
It's probably lower on the totem pole or would that be higher on the totem pole? Lower on the totem pole. Lower on the totem pole. Right. More important things are higher. There's lower hanging fruit. There's lower hanging fruit, there's higher on [00:02:00] the totem pole. There's lower like in the pyramid, like cuz you wanna build the foundation first right Before, yes.
Before paying attention to the Yes, the top 1%. Your
[00:02:09] Kevin: running form is not part of the foundational things. There are a lot of foundational pieces that you could line up before form, and there are other coaches who probably have their own podcasts that are listening to this and thinking, you're completely wrong.
Totally. This is gonna be our take on it. Yeah, and I, I think it's valid. Well, because,
[00:02:24] Angie: Like you said, there are other coaches out there that just teach running for hundred percent or or physical therapists that literally, this is what they do for a living is they analyze people's running form. They watch them run on a treadmill, they take a video, they put all sorts of angles and like scientific things on and say, you need to fix, oh, with the runners, with like the
[00:02:43] Kevin: dots all over this, all over this,
[00:02:45] Angie: right?
And you need to fix this, this, and this, and then you won't be injured. But I. Personally don't think it's as as important as a lot of people think it is, especially recreational runners. Those of us that are real life runners in our forties, [00:03:00] fifties and beyond. A lot of people, a lot of messages that I get on Instagram, a lot of messages that I get on Facebook or you know when we run are, are free challenges or other trainings.
A lot of people tell me that they need to fix their running form. And I think that there's a lot of other things that you need to focus on before even looking at your running form, because a lot of times people ignore bigger issues and they're focusing on the wrong thing, which can lead to a lot of wasted time and energy.
So today we wanna talk about things that we think are more important for you to focus your time and energy on before you even start to think about your running form. And then later in the podcast, part two, we will talk about ways that you can improve your running form. Without specifically focusing on your running form, which is a, a really nice way to kind of tackle it
[00:03:49] Kevin: too.
Yeah. And if you're gonna focus on running form, making sure that you've already covered other base issues that really I should get covered before you start messing with, you know, what, what your [00:04:00] arm carriage is,
[00:04:00] Angie: right? Or at least you're in the process of working on those things. Excellent. Before you start.
Very good point to, to work on running form. Right? So, Like we said, one of the, the biggest things that we see is people focusing on the wrong things, and that leads to a lot of wasted time, a lot of wasted energy, and also, Very frustrating runs. Oh, yeah. Right. Because they think that they need to improve their running form, so they're constantly thinking about their running form on every single run, and that just is not enjoyable.
[00:04:30] Kevin: That just sucks
the joy out of all of it. I mean, I remember there was a point where I was like, I would like to, I. To increase my cadence. Mm-hmm. I think that this will be beneficial for me. Yep. And, and it did. Mm-hmm. And honestly, I'd covered a lot of these other bases. Um, and it did, but I remember I could not do it every run.
Mm-hmm. Because there were some runs. It was just like, this is awful. I just want to, to zone out. Like sometimes it's what I do on runs. I don't think about anything. Like, I just want to go out and not think about things for the next 45 [00:05:00] minutes, which still
[00:05:00] Angie: blows my mind that you can just not think about anything.
[00:05:03] Kevin: I am a man. I can just, I just get the switch and I don't think about anything. I don't. That's how
it works.
[00:05:08] Angie: Yeah. I mean, ladies, are you with me? I don't get it. It's like my brain does not work that way. I have no idea what it's like to not think about anything whatsoever. Like even in meditation and, and yoga, it's, it's like, I still am thinking about things and then I put them on a cloud and let them float away.
Like the practice of,
[00:05:25] Kevin: yeah, you need a
lot of clouds than I do more on, lemme put that thought on the cloud. Good. And I've got a clear sky.
[00:05:33] Angie: Oh man. All right, so let's talk about first. If you are someone that has ever thought about wanting to correct your form, why do you want to correct your form?
[00:05:45] Kevin: I know cuz I look awkward when I run.
And the other, do you think that's the big part? The other runners look like real runners. Mm-hmm. And I look super uncomfortable, almost painful running down the street, so I have to fix it.
[00:05:54] Angie: So do you think that that's one of the big reasons that a lot of people do it? It was
[00:05:58] Kevin: Or want to? It was. It was one of the [00:06:00] things when I got into running.
Mm-hmm. Because my coach called me Stevie Wonder. Because he said that my head,
[00:06:06] Angie: your high school coach,
[00:06:07] Kevin: my high school coach might not have been the most PC statement to go with, but my head bobbed all over the place as I was running. Yeah. And so he, he kept calling me Stevie, and I'm like, what? You, you know my name?
And finally he goes, no, you look like Stevie Wonder out there. Right. Hold your head still. Mm. Because to him it was important. It was a whole lot of wasted energy. Yeah. And so to me, this coach who'd been coaching for years and was very good at it, Thought that this was an important thing to do. Right. And there's something to be said when you've got a group of like 14 year old boys just getting into endurance running.
Yeah. To be like, all right, if I just tell him to hold his head still before he's done this for years and years. Mm-hmm. Maybe that's gonna change the whole trajectory of his running. Could be. Or maybe I probably could've just taken care of it. If I had just kept running, I probably would've moved my head a lot less.
[00:06:59] Angie: [00:07:00] Yeah. I remember there was that one girl that we used to run against, gosh, it was probably like a decade ago, that the girls on our team, she was a, a runner on one of the other tapes that we ran against. They used to call her bouncy, remember her? Yes. Yes. There was bouncing because like her head just bounced up and down.
She was like a bobblehead
doll.
[00:07:14] Kevin: Yes. And she had a whole lot of spring in her steps too. Mm-hmm. Like she looked like she was kind of prancing from spot to spot take. Mm-hmm.
[00:07:21] Angie: Yeah. So why do you want to correct your running form? Is it just because you think that you, you would like your running form to look better or that you think that there is such a thing as quote unquote ideal running form or perfect running form and, and you want to look more like those professional runners that you see on tv?
Those elite athletes, because if they're doing it, it's probably the right way and I don't look anything like that. So if I can. Try to fix my form to look more like that. Maybe I could run faster like them.
[00:07:51] Kevin: I mean that's, that is what I did through high school. Yeah. As I watched a lot of runners, like I just need my form to look as close to that as possible.
[00:08:00] And I wasn't even sure how I was supposed to do it. I would look at 'em. Mm-hmm. And I'd be like, all right, I think I'm holding my body in the same way. Yeah. But. You know,
[00:08:07] Angie: not even close.
[00:08:08] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, it was like, it was the late nineties. Everybody didn't have a cell phone. Everybody on the team did not have a cell phone in their pocket to just constantly record each other.
Yeah. So I don't even know. Thank, thank God. Right. Um, but I th that was a big thing for me is I wanted to try to look like fast runners. Right. Because I thought that it would help make me fast and that may be contributing to, to a bunch of people.
[00:08:30] Angie: Yeah. And I think that, so there's a couple reasons that I think people might wanna, um, correct their running form.
Number one is that, number two is speed. They think that if they correct their running for 'em, they will naturally be able to run faster. Okay. Number three is endurance. Because if they correct their running for 'em, they'll be able to run longer.
[00:08:47] Kevin: Yeah. Cuz if their form is wonky, maybe that's slowing them down.
[00:08:49] Angie: Yep.
And number four, pain. Like a lot of times if they have pain and they go to see a physical therapist, the physical therapist says, okay, let me watch you run. And they think, okay, well if I correct my form, then [00:09:00] that pain will go away. I think that's
a big one.
[00:09:02] Kevin: Yeah. I think the. If I fix my form, then it's gonna magically fix this pain.
Right. Especially if you go to see a physical therapist who specializes in mm-hmm. Running form correction. Right. Because then they're gonna always see every single injury through the lens of fix the running form. Mm-hmm. Fix the pain.
[00:09:19] Angie: Right. But if you actually look at. Elite runners and professionals out there.
There are similarities, but there are also many differences. And so if in your head there's this ideal or perfect running form, I want you to start to question that and I want you to start to let that idea go because I would argue that there is no such thing as perfect running form. Even if you look at Kipchoge, who is the greatest marathon runner of all time, you can.
Correct. Like you can critique his running form as well. Yes. Especially later in the race when he starts to get tired,
[00:09:54] Kevin: his arms are not symmetric. Right. And during the, like the sub two project he worked with, I [00:10:00] mean the team of coaches, you know, that two or three of those coaches in there had to be specializing mm-hmm.
In optimizing his form. Totally. But there's only so much you can do before you're fighting what your body naturally wants to do. Mm-hmm. And I think that's a key component that, that I, I think we're getting into next year is, mm-hmm. You can only fight your body so much, your body will, is going to naturally move in the most efficient way possible.
Right. And maybe that's slightly asymmetric. Mm-hmm. I tell myself that the fact that my arms are slightly asymmetric means that I'm so close to being as good as kipchoge. Actually.
[00:10:31] Angie: So close. So close. Um, I would say that you're a little more than slightly asymmetric as well. Fine. But like, but that's the thing is like when people look at you, they would oftentimes assume that you've got perfect running for 'em.
Right. I definitely do not. And. Kevin's got a little hitch, like your one shoulder, like one side of your body doesn't rotate as much as the other side. Yes. Right, and that's something that you can definitely work on, I think would benefit you. But it's because of other issues. It's [00:11:00] not that, okay, let's just correct your running form, right?
It's, let's look at some of these other things that we're gonna get into now, and if we correct those things, then your running form will naturally improve. Most likely, right? Most likely, maybe not, but it probably will just naturally improve, so and
[00:11:16] Kevin: so, what
are these things that we might wanna do before we just say, Hey, stop swinging your arms.
Weird.
[00:11:21] Angie: Number one is strength. Okay. Weakness. Is the number one thing you need to work on. So if you are not strength training, do not try to correct your running form. I will tell you that right now, spend whatever time and energy that you would waste. I'm just gonna say waste. Trying to fix your running form and direct that into strength training.
Instead into trying to figure out what you need to do to strength train, figure out exercises that you need to do. Start doing those exercises. Okay. Weakness is the number one thing you need to work on because when you have weakness in the body, that leads to [00:12:00] compensation in other areas, and that's often what leads to quote unquote bad running form or running form dysfunction or however you wanna look at it.
Which I would argue is there, is there really such a thing as dysfunctional running form? I mean, we could have a whole debate on that. As well. But what I want you to think about is like if you think, if you've ever seen a race photo of yourself, like this is one of the things that people will, will point to a lot, right?
They'll say, oh my God, I look awful in my race photos. Like I'm all hunched over like, so they'll point out their posture. Now, if you have poor posture, You likely have weakness in your back and core muscles. So by improving the strength in your back and your core muscles, you will probably naturally improve your posture when you're running because as we fatigue, as our muscles start to fatigue, and this really goes for anything, if you're a d a worker at a desk like say you, you have a very sedentary job.
You'll probably notice that later in the day, you have worse posture than you do at the beginning of the day. Mm-hmm. And that's [00:13:00] because you're tired. You're more tired, your muscles have fatigued throughout the course of the day. So it takes more attention and focus for you to maintain a more upright posture because your muscles are just naturally tired.
[00:13:12] Kevin: Yeah. By the end of the day, I'm pretty much in a prone position. It's just really dragon sometimes. Yeah.
[00:13:18] Angie: But then the other reason that you really wanna focus on strength is for that reason of pain as well. If you think, okay, if I fix my running form, then this pain will decrease. I will tell you that if you have pain, there is almost always, I'm still trying to find an example of where this is not the case.
There's almost always a weakness involved when it comes to any sort of, um, Like recurrent running injury or overuse type of running injury, uh, outside of like, you know, you fell and you broke your leg, right?
[00:13:51] Kevin: Like almost all the
overuse injuries, any overuse are generally connected to a, to a
twin issue.
Always.
[00:13:56] Angie: There's always some sort of weakness involved, right? And people might ar like [00:14:00] kind of give you a chicken in the egg argument, like, okay, with the poor running form lead to the weakness, or did the weakness like lead to the poor running form and you're choosing option B. I chose, I choose strength.
Yes. Yeah. I always choose strength over running
form.
[00:14:12] Kevin: Okay. So I have a, I have a follow up to that one doctor. Yeah. Um, if, if you've got this pain mm-hmm. And you go, you see the, the form specialist. Okay. And they adjust something, they're like, oh, well if you, if you carry your shoulders a little different, if you, if you straighten the elbows, your elbows are a little too farb bend, is it possible that the pain does go away?
Maybe. Is it possible that the pain just migrates? Yes. Because I feel both are possible. I feel like I've tried this before. Yeah. And it didn't eliminate the pain. Mm-hmm. It just moved the pain.
[00:14:44] Angie: Well,
and that's what we see often when people try to fix heel striking. Okay.
[00:14:48] Kevin: Why? Why does this happen? Because why does the pain just move?
Okay. Why doesn't it, why don't I, why don't I fix it?
[00:14:53] Angie: I'm, I'm really glad you asked this question. Okay. So heel striking is a bit a really big thing that. People were [00:15:00] trying to correct and some people still do there. There's definitely plenty of of people out on the internet that are telling you that heel striking is bad.
Yep. And that you need to run with a four foot strike or a midfoot strike, and that you need to adjust your running form because that will decrease your risk of injuries. Okay. And basically what happens is if you land on your heel the way that the forces. Come up into your leg, right? Because there's what's called the ground reaction force.
Like any, we're going back to Newton's law. I mean, you're
the physics teacher.
[00:15:28] Kevin: I'm, I'm with you, with the physics on, on ground reaction force, right?
[00:15:30] Angie: So when for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. So when your foot hits the ground, the ground exerts the same level of force. Up into your foot.
Mm-hmm. Right. Otherwise, your your foot would just crash right through the ground. Right. Which would be awkward. That would be awkward. So, which is why you, you shouldn't run on ice.
[00:15:47] Kevin: You, you're just not get very far of every step. You actually crash through the earth itself. Exactly. Exactly.
[00:15:53] Angie: So when, um, when your foot hits the ground, there's that ground reaction force, and if you land on your [00:16:00] heel, a lot of that force goes up and through your knee.
Okay. Okay. Which is why people end up with a lot of knee pain in running. Sure. And they say, oh, okay, well if you just switch to a midfoot or a four foot strike, Oh my gosh, my knee pain went away. Right? Mm-hmm. That's what a lot of runners will experience that. Yeah. Like they will adjust their form to land more on their, you know, the, the front end of their foot, the front half of their foot, and their knee pain will go away.
But what happens?
[00:16:26] Kevin: And
then they praise this on the internet. They clearly, they're fixing the heels, stripes, eliminates the knee pain, right.
[00:16:31] Angie: But what they're doing is just shifting where the forces are going. So when you land on your four foot or your midfoot, More of those forces are going up through your calf.
Mm-hmm. The back of your leg versus the front of your leg because of just, you know, the lines. I mean, you can explain the physics part of it here. You can understand, you know, vectors and, and the way that the, the lines kind of hit the body. Yes. Right. Yes. Go ahead. Physics teacher.
[00:16:54] Kevin: I'm not
getting into, you don't wanna get into vectors.
I'm not getting into vectors. I just had to teach that today in pre-calculus. I'm not [00:17:00] getting into
vector.
[00:17:00] Angie: There. A simple way that you can kind of explain what I'm talking about. For anyone listening that's not quite sure what I'm talking
about.
[00:17:05] Kevin: No, I mean, I think, I think really the, the answer without getting into the physics of it Yeah.
Is if you land on your heel, your foot's gonna be more in front of you. And the immediate,
the
[00:17:16] Angie: well, okay. And that's, I'm gonna stop you there. Okay. Because that's a big part of what. The fallacy is, and where and why people are starting to kind of shift their thinking like in the research. Okay. Because in the research people were say, like 10 years ago, um, blaming, heel striking for a lot of running injuries.
Yep. And that's kind of where this, and then there was the whole barefoot running craze. Yes. And they said, look at all these barefoot runners, they don't. They don't heel strike because they don't have this huge cushion under their heel. They run with a more midfoot four foot strike and, and they don't even have any running injuries.
Right. And so there was a lot of look looking at that. But what they continue as they continue to research and try to figure this out even more heel, strikings not the problem. [00:18:00] Overrid is more of the problem. Yep. And they, and. Overt Striders pretty much tend to be heels, strikers most of the time.
[00:18:06] Kevin: It's hard to overstride and land on
your forefoot.
[00:18:08] Angie: Exactly. And so what they're finding is it's not actually the heel striking that's problematic. It's the overstriding that's problematic when it comes to those ground reaction forces. So you need to land more with your foot underneath your body, like under your center of gravity. And doesn't matter what part of your foot you land on, as long as your foot is in the proper place under your body.
[00:18:27] Kevin: Okay. So if the foot lands underneath you, if you land, heel, or midfoot, does it still change whether it's, uh, addressing knee or calf Yes. To propel you forward? Yes. And then you're getting into the actual vectors involved, so still Right. Landing midfoot is gonna accentuate your calfs. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So if you've been landing on your heel for a long time and you.
Fix it. Mm-hmm. By simply landing on your midfoot, you're now activating your calf way more than you've done for however long you've been running. So, which means your calf is probably weaker than it needs to be to support you. If you don't adjust your mileage, you simply do exactly what you've [00:19:00] been doing, but shift everything from landing on the heel to landing on the mid to four foot.
Your calves are gonna be screaming at you by the end of the week.
[00:19:06] Angie: So not necessarily, and this is why some people think that. Changing the, the foot strike will will fix their pain. Okay? Because some people have very strong
calves.
[00:19:15] Kevin: Ah, if you just naturally have very strong calves right then, then this could, in fact, Actually fix your paint.
[00:19:21] Angie: Actually fix your problem, right? Because your calves are strong enough, but they can take those forces on. So especially people that have a background in like dance or like your water polo coach at, at your high
school,
[00:19:30] Kevin: you didn't have calves. He had cows.
Every year we tried to get a freshman. Oh, no, no. Mr. Rogers thinks this is the funniest joke and we try and get some poor, innocent freshman to walk up and be like, Mr. Rogers, your calves are so big, they should be calling cows. Did anyone ever do it? Uh, not to live, lived, and tell to tell about it.
[00:19:53] Angie: Oh, but so, so that's what happens is like if you are someone or that just naturally has very strong calves, yeah.
Then [00:20:00] yes, changing, making that simple shift could eliminate the pain completely. Yeah. But that's often what we d we did see, or what we do see in physical therapy is that people that shift hoping that it's the magic cure-all now, instead of knee pain, you just have CF and Achilles issues. Gotcha. Right.
Because they never actually did the calf strengthening to. Uh, compensate for that shift in
forces.
[00:20:21] Kevin: Yeah. You like, I, I have weakness in this area. I have weakness in this area. If you bounce back and forth, you just keep migrating the pain from the knee to the Achilles, back to the knee, back to the right.
[00:20:29] Angie: Which is why people advocate for shoe rotating because like when you Absolutely. If you have, if you have different shoes with different levels of heel drop, yeah. Then they can hit the body differently. Actually get you differently. Right. So like, if you're doing one run with like a zero drop shoe and then you switch to it, you know, like you can get your body used to super jump to that section.
Watch running shoes. Yes. Um, I, are we done with strength? Because I really like talking about strength.
[00:20:52] Kevin: I
know. Do you want to make sure that we, I, I don't wanna make sure we, we don't hit mobility. Do you wanna hit strength mobility? We'll come back to shoes
in a second here.
[00:20:59] Angie: Yep. [00:21:00] We'll, we'll talk about shoes for sure.
But basically strength is the number one thing that you need to address. If you are not strength training as a runner, you need to do it. Okay? And if you need help, Reach out. This is one of the things that we absolutely love helping runners do, is integrate strength training into their running routine in a way that is sustainable, that is right for you, and so that you can actually avoid a lot of these issues and, and programming.
We talk a lot about, you know, building a comprehensive. Plan and programming it in a way that makes sense and that works for you in your life. So strength is definitely something that you need to be, need to be addressing.
[00:21:35] Kevin: You pointed out a thing that, um, you don't wanna waste your time on trying to fix your form.
You could use all of that time and put into strength training. Mm-hmm. I think you also don't wanna waste your mental capacity, right? Like, if you are like, okay, I'm not. Really a fan of strength training. Mm-hmm. And you have to almost like overcome this like mental barrier that you have to go do the strength work.
You don't also want your runs to be this frustration. Focus on form. Like pick [00:22:00] one mental hurdle and do it. And if you are choosing between, I'm gonna focus on my form, I'm gonna go out and run. Or I'm gonna overcome that barrier and actually do some strength training. Mm-hmm. Pick strength training. Yeah.
Because it's gonna be a, a more useful hurdle to jump over.
[00:22:13] Angie: Right. So going hand in hand with strength is mobility, and mobility is the way that your body moves. People think about flexibility a lot when it comes to running and say, oh, I know I need to stretch more. And this is not about stretching. Okay? I don't care if you spend 20 minutes stretching.
That's. Probably a waste of your time for most people. Okay? What I care about is the way that your body moves, and we need to have freedom of movement. So if you have restrictions in your joints or in your tissues, that's going to lead to compensation in other areas of your body and alter the running form, right?
So say you have a limitation in your hip, maybe you have an old sports injury, like. From rugby when you were back in college, right? And, and you have a, a labral tear in your hip. Okay? So you [00:23:00] just naturally have limited range of motion in your hip. If that's something that you already know is there. A lot of times you'll find, okay, the hip extension flexion is not the same on both sides, so it's gonna lead to like a little hitch in, in your running
form.
[00:23:15] Kevin: Do you think that's my issue? Is my old rugby injury? That's your old rugby injury. I'm just checking,
[00:23:20] Angie: but. When you have limitations, whether it's in joints or in in the soft tissue, like in the muscles, in the connective tissue, in the tendons, in the ligaments, in those kinds of areas, any sort of restriction in the body in the way that it moves is going to lead to an alteration in your running form.
So, If you free up those restrictions, if you work on your mobility, then your body while you're running is going to naturally be able to go through the running motion much more fluidly without kind of hitting into those physical barriers.
[00:23:53] Kevin: Right? Like you, it's, it's like trying to ride a bike and, and there's like a, just a hunk, literally a hunk of [00:24:00] gum on the bike chain.
So every time it goes through, it hits that spot and it just kinda like it hiccups. Yeah. Every single time this could be happening. On like any joint inside your body, right? And you're like, oh, well it's in my shoulder. How is that going to affect my, my running form? It's like, well your arm swing is balancing out your leg swing, right?
So if your left arm is doing something a little funky, odds are your legs are gonna do something a little funky to help keep your overall body in balance. So yeah, some joint being thrown off is probably then throwing off a secondary joint. Mm-hmm. Maybe even more than that, cuz you know, you're all just one person.
A lot of
joints.
[00:24:35] Angie: Right. And that's why we often say that running is a full body activity. It's, some people think it's, oh, it's just my legs, but it's not, it's, it's your full body. Like if you have neck pain, you're def That's definitely gonna. Affect the way that you feel when you're out on your run. Right?
Like, if you have pain, even in your wrist, like if you think about it, people are like, oh, it's just your wrist. Like, yeah. But like, you have to keep your, your arms kind of steady while you're [00:25:00] running. Yep. Right? And if you have a, an issue with the wrist, like you still need. Your muscles are still contracting isometrically, which means isometric means that the, the muscles are firing, but there's no joint movement.
So your muscles are still stabilizing your wrist. Yeah. And if you have an, an issue there and the, the muscles are weak, it's going to cause, cause problems, right? So these body parts that you might not think are connected are actually connected to your running and your running form. So if you can improve the way that your body moves, that can also naturally improve your running form.
Now, you may be listening to this thinking, I've got, you know, this old injury that's bothered me for 30 years. Yeah.
[00:25:43] Kevin: Okay. What about, what am I supposed to do about it? Care from my old
rugby injury.
[00:25:47] Angie: So it depends. I would always say if you have an injury, you should definitely see a physical therapist to get it assessed in person.
Right. Just to kind of know what you're working with and know what [00:26:00] it is that you can or can't do, um, safely. Right. Like if you have an injury from 30 years ago, there's probably not much that you can't do at this point if you have an acute injury from three months ago. Okay. There might be some restrictions.
Sure. You see what I'm saying? Okay. But I think it's important to kind of know what your, what kind of restrictions you're working with and what can actually be done about them. And that's something that a PT can definitely help you with. Um, and that's something that I, I actually help people with in, in our
program as well.
[00:26:31] Kevin: Okay. But, so you've got mobility issues from an injury that happened 10, 20, 30 years ago. Okay. Are you actually gonna be able to do something to improve that mobility? Mm-hmm. Or. Is this just gonna be like a slight hiccup in your form and you wanna make sure that you strengthen the areas so that that hiccup in your form doesn't lead to even increased form breakdown as you
get more tired?
[00:26:53] Angie: I think it's a combination of both. Okay. I think that it, it likely can be, Improved, [00:27:00] maybe not completely 100% corrected to be equal with the other side, but I think most of us can probably improve on, on different things, um, in different areas of restriction depending on how much focus and time we put into
it.
[00:27:13] Kevin: All right. Can I use you as the specific example? Sure. You have limited calf, limited ankle mobility on the one side versus the
other.
[00:27:20] Angie: No, I, I have limited ankle mobility on both
sides.
[00:27:22] Kevin: You have on both sides. Yeah. But the one is, is worse because you had an ankle injury?
[00:27:25] Angie: Yeah, but it, that side's actually looser than really than the other side.
Be because you've, because of the ligaments. Oh, okay. Because I tore ligaments on that side. Okay. So I need more. So yes, my right ankle does tend to have more issues than my left ankle. Not really anymore. But when, when, like before I actually, um, you know, started into a lot of the strength training and stuff when I was having, um, I had like, Anterior ankle issues.
Um, and tendonitis, like in my tibialis anterior, it was on my right side, but it's because like my ankle as a whole was weak. Gotcha. [00:28:00] Because I didn't have, I don't have the stabilizing ligaments on that side anymore. There's more scar tissue on
that side.
[00:28:04] Kevin: So that ankle is in fact more mobile than the other side.
Right. So it was a matter of strengthening the muscles around it to Im to kind of overcome
the extra mobility.
[00:28:13] Angie: Right. So in that case, I was trying to stabilize that ankle, not improve the mobility. I, I do work on the mobility of both of my ankles, not as much as I quote unquote should. Like I, I, I could definitely spend more time working on my ankle mobility, and I have started to do that more in the last couple of months.
Um, but yes, I think that depending on what kind of injury you had, maybe you have. Increased mobility in that joint because if you, you tore a bunch of, um, muscles or like, you know, a friend of ours just tore his rotator cuff mm-hmm. That's gonna lead to more mobility than you want in that joint, especially when the inflammation dies down.
So you're gonna have to increase the muscle strength to provide more stability where. The [00:29:00] ligaments or the tendons or the labrum. He, he tore his labrum too. Um, the labrum used to provide structural stability. That structure is now compromised, so you have to provide muscular stability to make up for that.
[00:29:11] Kevin: Lack
of structure. So check in with a physical therapist. Yes. Seems to be the real good answer. That is a good answer. On, on like an underlying injury, especially like a, a known underlying injury. Yeah. Hey, what should I do about this? Mm-hmm. Is this something that I should work on? Mobility, is this something I should work on Strengthening, right.
And, and how do I strengthen this specific area? Right. Check in with the physical
therapist.
[00:29:29] Angie: I, I mean, that's always one of the best things to do. And then like those of you that are members of the academy, that this is why we have. Self-assessment tests inside as well, you know, so that you can start to shine a light.
I think of it as like a flashlight of like, okay, let's, let's shine a light on some of these areas and find those areas of restriction, and then we can start to add in some of those mobility exercises or strengthening exercises that might be more specific to you that like maybe the other runner doesn't need to work on, but you do.
Yes. Right? Because your body has [00:30:00] this limitation, your body has this specific weakness because of X, Y, or Z. Okay, excellent.
[00:30:05] Kevin: Are we good on mobility? I think so. Okay. Running shoes.
[00:30:10] Angie: We're talking the number three thing that you need to think about before running form.
[00:30:14] Kevin: Yes. Making sure that you're actually one in a running shoe.
Yes. Like let's start there. Yes. It needs to be a running shoe. It needs to be a running shoe that works for you based off of how you currently run. Mm-hmm. Not how you'd like to ideally run, not because runner that you saw on tv, on social media. That's the shoe that they're in, right? And you think they're awesome, so you're gonna get their same shoe.
It needs to be a running shoe that works for you and your current running farm.
[00:30:41] Angie: Right? And the thing that a lot of people don't acknowledge or even realize is that the type of running shoe that is best for you might change over time as you get stronger and more mobile. So if you. Are a super smart runner that listens to this podcast and actually starts to put these things [00:31:00] into action, and you start working on your strength and you start working on your mobility.
You might need less support in your running shoe. So say you might have right now some weakness in your hip that some extra support in a running shoe might benefit you. Then you start working on those weaknesses and you might not need as much support anymore. You might be able to transition from a support shoe into more of a neutral type of shoe, and there are physical therapists out there that will.
Think that I'm completely blasphemous right now, like mm-hmm. Someone's support in their running shoes can never change because your foot anatomy can't change, but your foot can get stronger, your hips can get stronger, your core can get stronger. When your hips get stronger, your knee doesn't crash in as much, which means you probably don't need as much support in the shoe.
Like there's so much that goes into this. And so all I want you guys to remember is that if you've been in the same running shoe for a while and then you kind of start to notice like. When you get a new pair, [00:32:00] you get a fresh new pair. So you know, it's not the shoe that's worn out, but you get a fresh new pair and it's just kind of feeling off.
It might be a good idea to do another running assessment, like having someone watch you run and see like, is my knee crashing in the same way that it used to? Right. Yeah. Like if it's something that you've been working on. You might be able to, to change shoe categories and to find a shoe that fits you better at, at a different point in time.
[00:32:24] Kevin: Yeah. Or
I mean, just gradually transition, like mm-hmm. You don't have to go from stability to complete neutral. Right. You can go to one that's just a little bit less stable. Sure. You can change the, the heel drop. There's all sorts of things. There's lots of things you can play with and if you watch the professionals.
Just because your knee is crashing to the inside, there are plenty of pros making all sorts of money that have proven that they can put on whatever racing flat they want and run ridiculously fast times, even though their knees are just completely crashing to the inside.
[00:32:51] Angie: Yeah. But how long is their, are their
careers?
[00:32:53] Kevin: Some of them have been remarkably long. Mm-hmm. There are some, some female runners especially that have had incredibly long successful [00:33:00] careers. Mm. With like, Breaks for multiple children and their knees are still crashing to the inside. I, it boggles me how they're still running in or not just in excruciating pain.
[00:33:11] Angie: Yeah. But like, like what you kind of mentioned when we first brought this up is that some people wanna fix their forms so that they can run in a certain shoe, okay. Right? Like they see a certain shoe that's. Looks really cool.
[00:33:21] Kevin: I, I would like to do this myself. I just have the willpower to hold back from getting the shoe, just cuz I want it, cuz it looks cool.
Oh, do you want the alpha fly? No. God no. There there's a, what do you want? There's a bunch of shoes out there that I would like to simply try and be like, Ooh, that, that seems awesome. But, um, the, the reviews, especially some of the early reviews of the, like the carbon fiber shoes mm-hmm. Point out that they're just, they're so sloppy feeling underneath because most shoe companies put so much.
Of their like magic squishy foam and they all call it a different thing depending on what the brand is. Yep. But they all have their version of magic squishy foam. And I, if you have like two inches of that underneath [00:34:00] you, it's as soon as you land, you just feel like you're flopping all over the place unless you have just like absolutely perfect foot strike.
Yeah. And I do not. So until we get to like a few generations in and there's some stability to it. Yeah. Like, not even like. The same structure as the shoe I'm in right now, but it just, it doesn't feel as sloppy to land. Mm-hmm. Then I don't think it's a safe move for me.
[00:34:19] Angie: Well,
you've also been working a lot more on your strength than you ever have before.
[00:34:23] Kevin: This
is true, but there's
still,
[00:34:25] Angie: so it would be interesting to see Yes. You know, like if you could change shoes, That's, that's a whole, a different conversation. But yeah, a good running shoe is definitely something that you need to be in for where you are right now.
[00:34:37] Kevin: Yes. And it's possible that with improving strength and with improving mobility Yep.
You could try different categories, make the transitions gradually and all likelihood is gonna be your safest place.
[00:34:46] Angie: Yep. Okay. And the number four thing that you need to focus on before spending a ton of time and effort on. Your running form is pacing an effort level when it comes to your running. Okay?
One of the, the things that we see is that [00:35:00] people. Are concerned about their running form, thinking that it's gonna make them faster, but then they go out and they train, and they're pushing all of their runs at like a medium to harder effort level. And so what we want you to do is focus more on easy running and that polarized training before you start worrying too much about your running form.
All right? Like, so if we go back to the reasons for wanting to improve your running forum, if you think that. Fixing your running form is gonna improve your speed and endurance. I would encourage you to look at the way that you're training and how you are structuring your runs on a weekly basis. Because if you're running too hard on your runs, your form doesn't matter.
Your form is just going to, you know, If you're running too hard on all your runs, you're probably gonna get fatigued, burnt out, or injured. And doesn't really matter what your running for looks like. Right. Because you like you could have per quote unquote perfect. Running for. And if you're pushing too hard on all of your runs, you're still gonna get hurt.
[00:35:59] Kevin: Right. [00:36:00] And then you're not gonna have perfect running for him sitting on the couch cuz you're not running anymore cuz you're hurt. Like that's the thing is, You can make such greater improvements by fixing the, the methodology of your training. Yeah. Than by making sure that your, you know, your leg swing is exactly perfect and your heel kicks up behind you.
Exactly. You wanna, whatever detail you wanna focus on. Um, I, I suggest that it's sort of like, um, trying to, to prep dinner and being like, oh, look at how awesome I am with my knife skills. But you're not even chopping the right ingredients to make dinner. What's
[00:36:31] Angie: like that?
[00:36:32] Kevin: Like
trying to, to fix your running form.
Like this is trying to fix your running form. Yeah. Is, look, look at all of this. Like, I look so good as I'm doing my running. Mm-hmm. But you're doing all of your running too fast and you're, you're not doing any strength training, so there's no underlying basis and foundation for this. So Sure. You look great for the, like, opening five minutes of your run.
Mm-hmm. But then you're super fatigued. Because you're so mentally fried from focusing on your running form You're pushing everything too [00:37:00] fast. There's no actual substance there other than simply you look great at the very start of your run. Mm-hmm. When you're still able to be not exhausted and mentally focused on your form Yeah.
[00:37:11] Angie: It's like evaluating. Like the top chef contestants based on their knife skills instead of based on the final product of the meal
they create.
[00:37:17] Kevin: Yes. Which is always like one of their challenges. How quickly can you fill up this bowl with perfectly chopped onions, but then they ultimately have to take the bowl of chopped onions and make something with it.
[00:37:27] Angie: Interesting. With
it. Right. Exactly.
Okay, so hopefully you guys understand now the bigger things that you need to focus on before jumping into fixing your running form. And again, if you work on some of those areas, you might not even have to quote unquote, fix your running form or work on your running form because your running form might just naturally improve.
So what we wanna go into now are ways that you can improve your running form without specifically thinking about. Running form without making [00:38:00] specific running form corrections because a lot of times we see people wanting to improve their running form and they ended up trying to focus on every little detail at the same time.
And that can lead to some very frustrating and annoying runs. Very mentally exhausting runs physically too, right? Because like Kevin mentioned before, Each of us have what our body considers the most efficient way of running right now where we are, and when we try to correct or change our running form in any way, we automatically become less efficient at running, which means it's take, it takes more energy.
Out of us to just run the same distance or the same pace that we would normally run if we're trying to focus on actually correcting or changing our running form in any way.
[00:38:47] Kevin: Yeah.
Anytime you change your form from what it wants to be doing mm-hmm. It's going to be, uh, just naturally a more exhaustive process.
Yeah. Like your normal, easy run is not gonna feel quite as easy. Mm-hmm. And if it does, you probably had to [00:39:00] slow it down because something went a little funny with your, your mental capacity on doing that thing. You just, you had to. Try harder through the entire run.
[00:39:08] Angie: Mm-hmm. Exactly. And so form correction or just changing your running form takes a lot of time and effort.
And we want you guys to understand this because I've talked to people that have like sent me dms on Instagram that are not coaching clients, and they're like, I'm trying to, to change my running form and it's not working. And I'm like, well, how long have you done it? And they're like, about a week. And I'm like, Nope.
No. Like if, if you are actually trying to change your running form, This could take weeks or months, like, or maybe even up to a year, depending on how frequently you're focusing on trying to change the running form. And also if you are adding in some of that other strength and mobility work that we were talking
about.
[00:39:49] Kevin: Right, right. Like if you're really just trying to, to do form correction without trying to deal with any of the underlying, like lack of strength that mm-hmm. That's probably a year long process. It, it takes a while.
[00:39:59] Angie: A [00:40:00] frustrating year
long process. Right. I mean, both of us. Improve, like changed our cadence.
Yes. Right? Like this was something that you and I both worked on probably a decade ago, maybe more than that at this point. Um, and it. It worked. What we did worked. We, we both increased our cadence, but it, it took time, you know, for us to just change that one small thing about our running form. Yeah. Like, it wasn't like we even overhauled our entire running form.
I mean, you could argue that by changing your cadence, you'd just naturally change your, your overall running form, which is kind of true. Yeah. Um, but, Ti you know, form correction in general takes a lot of time and effort. So this is not a quick fix. Fixing your running form is not a quick fix. People think that it is, but it is definitely not.
Okay.
[00:40:46] Kevin: O one
of the other things that when people are out on their, their run, they're trying to fix, if they try to fix every detail mm-hmm. There's too many moving pieces. Yes. When you go running, like you're taken. Two to three steps per [00:41:00] second. Mm-hmm. And you're trying to think about what both arms are doing and your knee coming forward and your leg kicking back.
There's too many moving parts to think about them all simultaneously. And so these form coaches have broken it down and tried to come up with a. A cue to, to lean in on and some coaches will, will lean in on where your shoulders are. Some will lean in on where your head is. Some will lean in on how your foot lands, how your foot kicks back if your knee drives up.
They've all got a different cue and some work for some people and some don't. Some work better for sprinters. Some work better for long distance runners. Some just don't seem to work for certain people. There's lots of different ways to do it, but the last thing you wanna do is find some like mental cue that you're like, oh, I'll focus on that part of my form.
Mm-hmm. I'll always cue into that. And it turns out that form cue doesn't actually work for you. So there are a lot of other things that you can do. You know, one, start with the foundational pieces of strength and mobility and things like that. Mm-hmm. And then these techniques that will kind of get towards [00:42:00] improving your form without directly going off and thinking about it for the entirety of your whole run.
[00:42:05] Angie: Yeah, so the first thing that you can do are running drills. Okay, so some examples of running drills are high knees, skips. Butt kicks, toe walking, heel walking. There's lots of different things that you can do, but running drills are a great way for you to naturally improve both your strength and your mobility to help improve your running form naturally without having to think about your running form on all of your runs.
[00:42:29] Kevin: Right? I love doing the. Like a karaoke, like a high karaoke. Mm-hmm. Because I think that it's really good for my hips, which are naturally super, super tight. And when you go off and run, especially around here, where we're basically running on sidewalks and paved pads. Mm-hmm. So there's no undulation to it.
It's, it's a very straight line running form. I don't get a lot of side to side. I don't have the. The nuance of trails and stuff like that. So going out of my way to make sure that I do something to kind of open my hips up, I think is super, super
helpful.
[00:42:59] Angie: I [00:43:00] agree. And so there's lots of different running drills that you can do.
I mean, it's something that you can look up if you want to, if again, if you're a part of the academy, we have a whole section on running drills and things that you can do, and they're added to every single per. Person's plan, um, as just that natural way to improve your running forum. The second thing you can do are strides.
You wanna talk about strides? Yeah. Strides. Great. You love strides?
[00:43:22] Kevin: I do. Okay. I, because I think that strides are great if you don't do any speed at all. Mm-hmm. And you just start adding in strides. Mm-hmm. A couple of times a week. It can. Drastically change your running. Like, yes, it can improve your running form.
I think you can change so many things about your running right. Um, so strides are essentially, uh, like a 22nd increase in your pace to a little bit beyond 5K effort. I personally like to kind of crank up towards, like gradually increase my pace until I'm like, okay, this is 5K effort. This is a little bit faster than 5K effort.
And now this is where I like to do my strides. [00:44:00] It's, they're not sprints because your form changes on sprints. Right? Um, I, I heard another coach describes strides as the fastest that you can go before your arms. Bless you. Excuse me. Before your arms have to change over to sprinter arms. Okay. I thought was a really good way of explaining it is you can move pretty quick, but as soon as your arms go from like what they look like at, at like your casual, easy run, and that doesn't mean that they're not moving faster because a lot of times your feet are gonna go faster with strides, right?
So your arms have to move faster, they're moving faster, but they still generally have the same swing to them.
[00:44:33] Angie: Well, cuz like you said, it's a little bit harder than 5K effort, right? Yeah. So it's, it's. A pace that you could maintain for a little under three miles. Right. So you're talking about like one to two miles is kind of a Yeah.
A typical stride pace. Yeah. Like 10 minutes. Yeah. And so, When you perform the stride, you're gonna do that pace for about 20 seconds. Mm-hmm. And, and then you take a break and you do that four to six times. Yep. A couple of times a week.
[00:44:58] Kevin: Yep. And you can, you can [00:45:00] walk the break, you can easy jog the brake.
Right. It kind of depends on your personal preference. Mm-hmm. I like to walk the brake sometimes. I like to walk the brake. And do karaoke during my walk. Yeah. Or do high knees. Yeah. Throw a drill in the break. Right. Like if I'm feeling kind of tight and I'm like that, that stride felt a little awkward.
Sometimes I'll put a drill before I hit the next stride. Mm-hmm. But usually if I just do strides, I feel pretty open and, and good by the end of. Mm-hmm. It, I don't feel exhausted. And you stride should not be an exhausting thing. Right? They should kind of be invigorating and, and open up the body.
[00:45:31] Angie: Yeah. The next thing you can do is speed work, right?
Which is strides is essentially just the, the beginner level speed work. Yep. Um, but when you're doing speed work, running faster makes your form automatically more efficient because in order to run faster, your body has to use your energy and your power to propel yourself forward. So the unnecessary side to side movement that a lot of people have just has to naturally [00:46:00] like fix itself to help, to make you go faster.
Yeah. Otherwise you're not gonna be able to hit the speeds, right? So if you try to run at a fast pace, like I would dare anybody to do this and then send me a video of it because I think it'd be fantastic. But like try to run with like your. Arms, like swinging side to side, right? Mm-hmm. Or your arms like kind of like doing like airplane arms.
Try to run fast like that. It's very difficult. Versus having your arms like tight against your body going forward and backward, because when your arms are out to the side, you're just naturally going to
slow down.
[00:46:29] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, unless you're running downhill, in which case, airplane, arms for the wind, airplane, arms, like definitely airplane arms for the wind on a downhill.
[00:46:36] Angie: Yeah, so speed work will naturally make your running form more
efficient as well.
[00:46:40] Kevin: It makes everything about your running more efficient. It makes like the way your body is processing a lot of like the different nutrients and turning it into energy more efficient. Yep. Speed work makes most things of running more efficient and more fun.
It will also often highlight where your forms break down. Mm-hmm. Like if you try and do speed work and suddenly you notice that like your left shoulder [00:47:00] is, is really uncomfortable after speed work. Odds are that's where your form has an issue. Like if, if your hips are bothering you after speed work, yeah, it's gonna highlight where there was probably a weakness because that's where the form was breaking down.
Like, oh man, after I did speed, speed makes my left hip hurt. No, your funky form makes your left hip hurt. Your speed highlighted your area of weakness improved the muscle in the area.
[00:47:25] Angie: Or the lack of mobility. Or lack of mobility, right? Because with speed work, your body naturally needs to go through more range of motion.
Ah, good point. Right? So like say you do have a hip restriction, a lack, I do lack of hip mobility. When you're doing slower runs your hip. Forward and backward doesn't need as much. When you're sprinting, like just watch sprinters versus distance runners. You can see, you know, in the Olympics at a higher level how much range of motion the sprinter has to go through.
The knee has to come up much higher, right? And, and the leg has to drive backward much. Like further. Um, [00:48:00] so higher speed work requires more mobility. So yes, restrictions are gonna be definitely highlighted during that time.
[00:48:06] Kevin: Yeah, there's a great video that I saw online. It was, it was a distance runner, uh, and a sprinter.
They were both like collegiate distance runner, collegiate sprinter, who were like multiple years removed from collegiate running. And they put them both on a track and had them sprint next to each other and they were going the same pace. And the question was like, Which one's? The distance runner and which one's the sprinter.
Mm-hmm. And one of them still had like sprint form. Yeah. And that, that knee was driving and the other one was trying to get there with like improving their, their turnover and just getting there faster. Uhhuh, they're like, it was so obvious to tell which one the sprinter was cuz they, that's funny.
They had sprint form.
[00:48:38] Angie: Yeah. And then finally is intentional form practice. Okay? Like if you really, after all of this that we've been talking about, still really wanna work on your form, I would highly encourage you to focus on just one thing at a time. Like we said, do not try to fix it all at once. Pick one thing to focus on.
Maybe you wanna improve your cadence first. [00:49:00] Maybe you wanna improve your posture, maybe you wanna improve your arm swing. Pick one of those things. Focus on that for a while until you feel like it's at the point where you want it to be. And then switch to the next thing if you even want to focus on something else.
Yeah,
[00:49:14] Kevin: a hundred percent. I mean, the, the. Fix your arm. Swing goes back to, like I said, how I first got into coaching. Yeah. This kid, he carried his arm so high, his shoulders almost touched his ears and his elbows, like, he looked more like a scarecrow, like the elbows were like out to the sides. Oh, wow. So it was like this super awkward form.
And so, I fixed his arm swing and because of that, it then fixed the way that his legs moved. He wasn't cramping up in his back because he wasn't holding his shoulders up under his ears. It was like fix the way his hands move and the rest of the running form kind of fell into place. Right. There is a domino effect.
There's a domino effect. Mm-hmm. He was also a freshman in high school and so. As we were working on form, he was also working on underlying strength training. Mm-hmm. Especially upper body [00:50:00] strength training that he didn't think was in at all necessary because, well, I, I run, I need to make sure my legs are strong enough.
Right. Like, yeah. But you have a difficulty like doing one sit up. Like your back is weak, your abs are weak. Yep. We need to fix this so that you can support yourself standing upright.
[00:50:15] Angie: Yeah. The first plank that we do at Cross-Country Practice every year, it's like 22nd plank blows my mind. I'm like, you guys are, Healthy young.
Athletes. Yeah. I mean, some of them are not athletic at all because this is the first sport they've ever done. Right. Like Sure. But some of '
[00:50:33] Kevin: em are coming from like travel sports and, and other
[00:50:36] Angie: things. Yeah. And they come in with such weaknesses. Yeah. And such terrible form in the plank. Um, so that's another good way for you to find weaknesses and mobility issues is do a plank and see where you
[00:50:47] Kevin: hurt.
Oh. Do a, do a plank and a side plank and try and do it well, like. Will squeezing all of your muscles, right? Right. In a planky, you're not gonna last very long, but it'll show the weakness real quick.
[00:50:56] Angie: Right? And so people often, you know, especially when we, [00:51:00] cuz we work with recreational runners, we work with real life runners and people think, well in order to get better as a runner, I just have to run more.
And it's just not true. Okay? You need to be doing drills. Look at any athlete in any other sport. Athletes do drills in practice. They don't just go out and play the game over and over and over again, like to become a better basketball player. You don't just go play basketball over and over and over again.
You probably, if, especially if you're on a team like, or if you ever were on a team, you had dribbling drills and you had shooting drills, and you had passing drills like you broke the game down. Into component parts, and then you worked on those parts, and then when you put them all together, it makes you better at the game overall.
And running is the same way, like when you break it down into its component parts and you work on the strength, you work on mobility, you work on the drills and the strides and the different pieces and, and running form. Is a piece, but when you work on all the other little pieces, oftentimes you're running form and then you're running, of course, in [00:52:00] general, will
[00:52:00] Kevin: get better.
Yeah, I think that sums it up really nice. If you don't work on all the pieces as a basketball player, it's just gonna look like a giant pickup game. Or you know, the N nba the way that the
[00:52:10] Angie: NBA is
[00:52:10] Kevin: now. Oh man, that was
[00:52:12] Angie: pointed, another conversation for another day. All right, you guys, if you found this helpful or if you know somebody that.
Really focused on their running forum, and maybe they need to focus on other things after you listened to this and, and kind of educated yourself in that way. Please share this with a friend, um, or if you found it, what was helpful. Also, please head over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a rating and a review.
It helps other runners to find the show, and our goal is to help more runners understand how to train in a way that is right for them so that they can run their life. So share this podcast episode. If you found it helpful, and as always, thank you so much for joining us. This is The Real Life Runners Podcast, episode number 308.
Now, get out there and run your life.
