Form question

In article <[email hidden]>, Fredric Altman

Quoted message said:

My wife and I were in a running shoe store a couple of
days ago where they had a video camera set up to do an
assessment of your running. Our two styles are markedly
different. She runs as though she is running on a
tightrope, with one foot falling directly in front of the
other. My feet fall as though they are running on two
parallel lines about a foot apart. Is there a "correct"
way or are both acceptable or is there a downside to
either form?

Fredric,

Think of the hips as 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock on a a
horizontal clock face and we're looking down above. We'll
set the 9 o'clock as the left hip and the 3 o'clock as the
right hit. Also remember that the hip joints are located
about a hand span apart. If you draw a line from the right
illiac crest to the left, and then from each of those points
draw a line to the pubic bone, you have an upside down
triangle. About half way between the two sides is where you
hip joints are.

If you run and don't move your hips, your legs would track
straight ahead. If you rotate the hips around the
horizontal, e.g. the left hip goes rotates to 10 o'clock and
equally and opposite the right hip rotates to 4 o'clock, the
distance between the legs narrows.

That's a piece of it. The other part is that women have
wider pelvis for child bearing. So with wider hips, there is
more of an inward angle from the hip joint to the foot.

With the use of the rotation of the hips in running, one can
easily add an an inch or two to each stride.

I'm sure someone is able to explain it more scientifically.
This is my folkloric approximation.

From the side were you able to see where your feet landed.
Flat/midsole, back of the heel. ball/heel?

In health and on the run, Ozzie Gontang Maintainer -
rec.running FAQ Director, San Diego Marathon Clinic, est.
1975

Mindful Running: mindfulness.commr.aspOpen ↗ faqs.orgrunningOpen ↗
faq/

In article <[email hidden]>,

Fredric Altman said:

My wife and I were in a running shoe store a couple of
days ago where they had a video camera set up to do an
assessment of your running. Our two styles are markedly
different. She runs as though she is running on a
tightrope, with one foot falling directly in front of the
other. My feet fall as though they are running on two
parallel lines about a foot apart. Is there a "correct"
way or are both acceptable or is there a downside to
either form?

Hm. To judge from some snow running I've done with other
runners, both men and women, it seems our norm is to run
so that the feet come down only a few (say 4 -- less than
the width of my shoes) inches off the tightrope line.
That's just an observation of what we do, not a
prescription of correctness.

The thing I'd be more concerned about is that when your
feet come down, they come down under your center of mass.
In other words, they come down underneath you, such that
if you froze in mid-stride, you'd be in a stable position.
Try, for example, standing on one foot with the supporting
knee slightly flexed and your other leg bent as it would
be when you pulled it through for a stride. This position
should be stable (I had to work to be able to hold it for
more than 5 seconds, due to balance and ankle issues). It
should also be a position you pass through on each stride
while running.

You'll find that your feet won't be exactly on the
tightrope, but
are probably close to it. Rather, that's how it works for
the people
I've seen try it. If your stable positions wind up having
your feet
a foot apart, then that's probably what's best for you to
run with too.

--
Robert Grumbine radix.net~bobgOpen ↗ Science faqs and
amateur activities notes and links. Sagredo (Galileo
Galilei) "You present these recondite matters with too much
evidence and ease; this great facility makes them less
appreciated than they would be had they been presented in a
more abstruse manner." Two New Sciences

Ozzie Gontang said:

Think of the hips as 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock on a a
horizontal clock face and we're looking down above. We'll
set the 9 o'clock as the left hip and the 3 o'clock as the
right hit. Also remember that the hip joints are located
about a hand span apart. If you draw a line from the right
illiac crest to the left, and then from each of those
points draw a line to the pubic bone, you have an upside
down triangle. About half way between the two sides is
where you hip joints are.

If you run and don't move your hips, your legs would track
straight ahead. If you rotate the hips around the
horizontal, e.g. the left hip goes rotates to 10 o'clock
and equally and opposite the right hip rotates to 4
o'clock, the distance between the legs narrows.

That's a piece of it. The other part is that women have
wider pelvis for child bearing. So with wider hips, there
is more of an inward angle from the hip joint to the foot.

With the use of the rotation of the hips in running, one
can easily add an an inch or two to each stride.

I'm sure someone is able to explain it more scientifically.
This is my folkloric approximation.

From the side were you able to see where your feet landed.
Flat/midsole, back of the heel. ball/heel?

Thanks, food for thought. I run with hips pretty much
square, I had never thought about rotating them. I tried it
for a few strides, but enough to decide if I want to try to
run that way. Seems like I land on my heel.

On Mon, 24 May 2004 01:51:30 -0000, [email hidden] (Robert Grumbine)

Quoted message said:

Hm. To judge from some snow running I've done with other
runners, both men and women, it seems our norm is to run
so that the feet come down only a few (say 4 -- less than
the width of my shoes) inches off the tightrope line.
That's just an observation of what we do, not a
prescription of correctness.

The thing I'd be more concerned about is that when your
feet come down, they come down under your center of mass.
In other words, they come down underneath you, such that
if you froze in mid-stride, you'd be in a stable
position. Try, for example, standing on one foot with the
supporting knee slightly flexed and your other leg bent
as it would be when you pulled it through for a stride.
This position should be stable (I had to work to be able
to hold it for more than 5 seconds, due to balance and
ankle issues). It should also be a position you pass
through on each stride while running.

You'll find that your feet won't be exactly on the
tightrope, but
are probably close to it. Rather, that's how it works for
the people
I've seen try it. If your stable positions wind up having
your feet
a foot apart, then that's probably what's best for you to
run with too.

Thanks.