Strides - Does anybody actually know how to do them?
I'm going to try to do a run block to start my long journey toowards becoming a runner.
I have seen "strides" on my plan for the past couple of yrs but to be honest, I don't really know how to do them right. Can anyone chime in with a simple description of what strides are and how to actually do them? Bonus Mojo points awarded if you can link to some good videos or other resources.
are there any other good technique drills you can recommend?
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Hi John
Strides are the running drill.
The idea is to run fast with perfect form - for a short distance because it's easy to stay focused for a short distance - typically 30s to 1m - RnP have us focus on cadence / turnover but I also pay attention to a stable core, a smooth and balanced mid-foot footstrike (e.g. landing) and a balanced push-off that includes coordinated glute, quad, foot firing and a relaxed recovery.
http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/training/running-a-faster-ironman-marathon-part-iii-running-more-efficiently/
Strides
The tool you are going to use to gradually improve your running form is called Strides:
In our experience with Strides, when you force your body to run quickly under controlled, safe circumstances like this, it learns the coordination of good, efficient, smooth running. This coordination then begins bleed over into all of your runs. We’ve found that 1-2 Strides sessions per week can be easily implemented into your run training and will do wonders to improve your form, without the need to take the significant training stand down warranted by a more dramatic running form overhaul.
In short, now is not the time of year, and this is not the training article, for showing you how to do a major makeover of your running form. Strides, and a focus on cadence, are an excellent and simple compromise.
Rich explains strides in a video during Week 2 of the training program.
@Frank - I knew I had seen it somewhere but I had forgotten where. Thanks - going back to watch.
I am by no means a runner and last year had no idea what a Stride was. I found this video that helped me - hopefully it is accurate. Made sense to me.
www.youtube.com/watch
When I get lazy at the end of a long run, I can feel it. I look down at the watch and, sure enough 86-88. Then I dig deep and lift it.
Try the foot pod if you want more cadence. It is like a power meter. The more you look at it, the more your awareness grows, RPE dials in and you see gains.
@Frank- Which plan do you have loaded? I might load it up to check that out.
@Greg- I have watched that youtube video before. I guess I wish it was a side view and not a rear view.
@William- Shouldn't I always be "practicing" perfect form while running...?
@Dino- I got a foot pod last winter and it has helped me immensely. My natural cadence used to be in the mid 70's. I can get into the 90's early on in runs, but drift into the low 80's over time. I must keep working on that.
@John
Not sure I can help you with how strides feel - it's a drill, and drills never feel completely "natural", but should feel smooth and strong and over time can improve your natural form. At least that's the thinking behind them: short time, high focus, your best form. It never hurts to run with good form (funny), but most of the time we're just running when we're running; I let my mind go off and do its own thing without me until I need to cross a street or calculate my pace-zones or until I go sprawling across an icy bridge (not that this ever happens).
The point of strides as I understand them is to take 30s and keep your focus entirely on your running form at a moderately hard pace...
My Vdot has jumped over 20 points in 7 years and I believe a large part has to do with strides. It teaches your Nervous system to fire in a specific sequence that = running faster, that's why perfect form is paramount. To take this a step further I'm strongly against spending any time jogging if you want to run faster. Jogging will do the opposite of what I've explained above strides will do (it'll create a motor pattern = running slow). Between my intervals I walk for recovery, I never "jog" only run. This is also key to break old patterns of running slow. Hope this helps. Please ask any questions if any of this is unclear. Good Luck!
That's incredible Sukhi, thanks for the tip!!!
@Sukhi, how do you define jogging? Do you have a cadence or pace at which point you choose to walk for your recovery? I've also been using a footpod this year for cadence with great success, but so far I still top out in the upper 80's with a VDOT of 42ish. In talking with my faster running friends, my long run pace is their jog so I'm looking for a more concrete definition.
@sukhi! Yes! That's exactly what I was looking for! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Also interesting comment about the jogging. Makes total sense but I never actually thought about it that way...
@Sarah, we can do this...
After three years of doing strides I have my down.
I found a pace my going as fast as I could until I broke good form. I then slowed it down until the form was good. I started doing them on a football field, then light pole to light pole, now about anywhere.
I do all my running in the winter on a treadmill at .5%. Once I transition back the great outdoors it takes about a week cause different muscles are a little more sore then usual.
My strides now and most running though are both around 90-95 steps. I do however run at my easy pace for recovery. I mentally agree with Sukhi but physically haven't tried the no jogging yet. But guarantee I will!!
I "tried" to do a bunch of strides this morning and would like some more feedback. I kind of felt like I was doing a "high knees" drill and then tried to convert that into forward motion, but my knees did stay higher than a normal run for me, is this right? I know it's not supposed to be "high knees", but it kind of felt like that. Should I be moving "forward" at almost sprint pace or simply be moving my legs at that fast pace (not sure if I am asking this properly). Also, before my foot pod crapped out on me, I would glance down and see ~105 cadence during my attempted strides, is this actually too high? I kept thinking about Sukhi's skateboard analogy...
Final thing is that after a while my left calf muscle started to get sore (upper inside part), and the right one as well but to a much lower extent. Then it was a tiny bit sore on the inner part of my right hamstring. Does that mean I was doing them wrong, or does this mean that I have simply been running wrong for yrs? This was actually my first workout after IMFL ~12 days completely off, but even the day after the race my calves never hurt (only my quads). All told, I probably did like 6-7 strides with walking in between, then run/walk for a couple miles (where I was really focusing on cadence and form and didn't look at pace during the runs), then another 3-4 strides.
From an objective stand point the best I can say is that the closer you are in Zone 2- Zone 4, the more you're "running". The more time you spend in Zone 1 and slower the more you are "jogging". A great example of "running" is to watch clips of Mirinda Carfrea and how she drives forward with every step. I watched her run the day before IMFL on the road and it looks as if the ground is like a hot potato and with each step she's tapping the ground. With running there's more time spent with you're feet in the air driving forward (not vertical), with jogging it's getting closer to speed walking with one foot "almost" always being on the ground.
WIth jogging we're not driving forward with every step. The best way to "feel" this is to do a contrast set. Get in a good warm up then jog for 1 minute at a pace that's 1 minute slower than your Zone 1 pace, after this run at your Zone 3 pace for 1 minute. Repeat this several times and you will "feel" the difference between your running vs jogging.
@Sarah, Comparison kills! So please know this is a relative thing unique to each person.
When we think about cadence, rather than trying to force your body into a specific window of cadence. I suggest trying to develop that motor pattern for running, in doing so you will see your cadence will naturally climb to the high 80's and 90's over time, your stride length will also naturally open up. I'm not saying to ignore your cadence in training, but if it's in the 70's and you begin running in the 90's, you may be setting yourself up for injury. The challenge as triathletes is that the TT position on the bike is closing our hip angle creating tight hip flexors and good running form requires an open hip angle to drive forward, working on flexibility will greatly help this.
Be patient, persistent and diligent and eventually running will feel far more comfortable than jogging and come race day on the last few miles of the race, as every cell wants you to slow down that motor pattern for running will be overriding it bringing you home... : )
John - sounds like maybe your mind is raring to go, but your body is not yet ready for any intensity or focus during the transition phase after your rather demanding Ironman performance. I assume you've at least looked at the transition training plan for the 2-4 weeks after an IM. The podcast from Patrick for week two urges caution and restraint. Don't sweat it if you're not able to handle the strides yet!
And meditate on what Jess wrote (was that Jess, or just you in the wrong acount...?) "Running with awareness..."
"Paying attention to what your body is doing" is NOT the same thing as "Trying to control what your body is doing". I've found in general that my body is much smarter than "I" am when it comes to learning physical actions. I just let it do it's thing; if it "feels right" (or better), then I try to focus on what specific things Im doing that make it feel better. The action of focus - "awareness" - is what drives the neuromuscular learning (imprinting?) Sukhi talks about, IMO.
Yep, Al, that was me (Jess) referring to "awareness!"
@Sukhi - I marveled at Rinny's run form at FL as well. I wish I would have taken video of her on the run course - it really is amazing. There is an older video analysis of it here: http://tinyurl.com/b7zqmpx Almost looks as if she's heel striking in real time, but when slowed, it IS more of a mid-foot strike.
John - when you say you felt like you were doing a high knee drill, it makes me wonder if you were trying to "muscle through" the motion of the stride and landed with a heel strike (possibly the cause of the calf pain? Although I think shin splints would be the more likely result). I found myself thinking of Sukhi's skateboard analogy and remembering "knees down, heels up" as I allowed my forward lean to be what accelerated my pace.
@Al-- My body is NOT ready for training yet, but my mind is raring to go. I figured this might be a good intermediate step since it was "just" technique stuff. I'm sure now that I was wrong...
@Sukhi-- 12 days is the longest I have gone without a workout in a long long time. But after 2 very hard IM's and a near death experience in less than 3 months, I need to force myself to not be so stupid... My legs felt good "before" the strides...
@Jess-- You know me all too well. I'm sure I was muscling through it, like I muscle through everything, but it was so "not-natural" for me, but I was 100% not heel striking, if anything my knees were too high but with the super high cadence I was landing almost on my toes.
I don't need to run like Rinny, she's like 5'-0" 100lbs... But I would be happy if I could at least do a good Chris Lieto impersonation...
Before too long you'll find yourself flying along at speeds and paces you haven't seen on your garmin ever before, and in the process, teaching your body and muscles how to fire in coordination to run fast and efficiently. Then, when you are halfway through a TP run interval, you have some mental cues to draw on to keep your form from slacking and help you get through the interval with as minimal energy drain as possible.
I just wanted to say thank for creating and responding to the post. I thought strides were just about speed. Realize now that I need to focus much more on form. Very insightful posts! thanks!
@ Sukhi, so if you are doing mile repeats @z4, for example, you walk for the recoveries? Or you walk to recover, then start to run at some "running pace" then do the next? Let me know the paces, it will help me to understand what you're doing.
The reason I ask is that last year I would take some inactive recovery (say, 30") after z4 intervals, then do the "recovery" at a pretty fast pace. For example, 7' intervals at 6:35, then pause 30", then 3' at 7:15ish until the next one. I got it in my head that the inactive recovery was not helping to raise my TP, because the pause would allow a lot of lactate clearing that would happen more slowly compared with running, and my HR would drop a lot. So for 2012 I committed to myself to keep inactive recovery to a minimum, and would "jog" between intervals. Practically speaking, this meant reciveries that averaged ~7:45...typically starting at about 8:20 but unconciously speeding up as I recovered over the 3' period. Is 7:45 is "jogging" given a 6:40 TP? I'm pretty sure 7:15 wasn't - that felt like running. But the 8:00 might be a jog. I'm not sure that my approach this year was more effective (my VDOT went up but part of that is only running for 3 years so expecting some improvements just from a fitness increase in general), but it was certainly more mentally taxing because no "resting" was allowed.
After intervals, I walk until my HR gets to the range of 100-105 (Z1 for me), then I start jog/running for the rest of the recovery interval , trying to keep my HR in the range of 10X. For miles, I usually just do a lap on the track in 2:45-3:30, then take off again.