Review of Miranda Carfrae at 2010 Rev3 Triathlon: Running Technique

Nate Parady

Review of Miranda Carfrae at 2010 Rev 3 Triathlon

First, Thanks to Coach P for posting this to the Wiki.  Huge value in that for sure.  Thought it would be a good discussion for the group.If someone else started a thread on this please point me there. 

I was was suprised to see Miranda landing more or less flat footed (or is this a mid foot strike?) versus more up on her toes/ball of the foot.  For longer distances is a mid foot strike just a better way to go versus rolling through the ball of the foot for each strike. Thinking in terms of injury prevention.  Over the last 18 months or so I've really tried to change my running technique to a mid foot striker but recently have worried that I have been running to much on my toes whcih have resulted in my haveing sore feet and having to stand down a bit.

My assessment of the video could also just be way off.  Curious to see what better runners than i have to say. 

Norton

Oh man, I could watch her run all day long. Just spectacular form.

Keith Wick

She is a mid foot strike and there is a great video of her feet in her KSwiss shoes on the intro to the 2010 Kona broadcast. It shoes just her feet landing and she lands just before her arch on the outside of her foot. The video then shows how her foot rotates from outside to inside making contact with the road until she toes off with propulsion coming from her big toe. It's like runners porn!!!

Scott Alexander

Posted By Bill Russell on 14 Sep 2011 12:46 PM

Oh man, I could watch her run all day long. Just spectacular form.

Yeah, form, spectacular, all day, yeah, that's it...



 

Coach Patrick

yep. that's a mid-foot strike and that's what you are essentially looking for when you talk of a "forward" lean or landing on your forefoot...it's really just the midfoot, but b/c it's so far from the heel it seems really far.

In the past I have illustrated the proper footstrike by noting that you should only be able to slide a credit card under your heel, and thats it. If your feet resemble a ballerina doing a pirouette, you are too high up!

jamison.gaddy

She looks like she is still reaching with her front foot and not letting it drop in front of her, but she is moving!  Just an observation that I've seen a few hamstring strains related to.  It eccentrically loads your hamstring more than some can take.  After concentrically contracting your hamstring while cycling this can set you up for an injury coming off the bike.  Another reason to follow RnP pacing off the bike.  Give them 3 minutes.  Just my 2 cents

Nate Parady

@Keith, I'll find that video for sure and check it out
@coach P, credit card under the heel is a good thought for me to focus on.
I now know I was a little too high up on the ball of my foot.

Look out, 2012 Nate is gonna speed past 2011 Nate,

chris malone

I'm glad this was posted. I feel less alone now.
I love to watch her strut.

Dave Campbell

@ Chris, do we need to have some "Bob Seger" added to the audio?

chris malone

Yes. Hollywood Nights might fit her cadence better though.

Nate Parady

Run Breakthrough for me. Since IMLP I have focused mostly on running since it is the easiest for me to do in terms of Administrative cost. With the exception of some foot issues that I have worked through and I am about 99% healthy at this point. I have been running hard 4 times a week working on form and cadence. keeping it around 5 miles each time. This video was part of the inspiration to focus on my form and find some "free" speed just by tweaking my stride. The other night on the TM I felt my knee driving forward and slightly up allowing me to run faster at the same effort and keeping that mid strike cadence. My pace times have been coming down. 9:30s were easy pace for me on the TD but now that is just more like "stupid Easy"...Running 8:45s as Easy now and 7:30s as pushing harder for my 45 minute TM runs..

Also hugely inspired by what I saw Miranda do at Kona this year...At like mike 24 of the run flying down the road trying to catch chrissie..holly cow that was impressive.

Having said all that, i'm not officially training for anything right now..looking for a January OS start for IMFL 2012 and I'm super pumped at getting faster during what will be my 2nd OS.

I also wanted to post a comment based on this video that the coaches posted to the wiki since there are a lot of new members in the hause...little simple video + hard work=get faster=huge value!!

chris malone

Nice. It's pretty cool when it kicks in and easier is also faster, as when swimming form/technique improves. Not quite effortless, but less effort-full.

Coach Patrick

Thanks for the update Nate!!!