What's your biggest running breakthrough?

Wanted to introduce myself, i'm new to this forum :smile:

I've been running for about a year and a half. In the early days I went from one injury to the next, and I put this down to my running shoes. I had runners knee, hip problems, back problems, tfl issues etc.

After trying several shoes and seeing no improvements, I started to look at running form. I took a slow motion video of myself by leaving my phone on a park bench, and ran past it. I was heel striking so hard, it was obvious my feet were landing in front of me. I watched a load of running form videos, and tried to adjust my running form (it's really difficult and feels unnatural to consciously adjust your running form!)

but one thing has worked for me... and I've not had any injuries since (touch wood). I've increased my cadence (steps per minute) and reduced my stride length. This was noticable most on a treadmill, i used to clomp along and now i'm quite quiet even with my almost 14 stone 6 ft 3 frame. This has allowed me to slowly up my distance without injury and many other posture problems have since corrected themselves.

So for me my breathrough is changing my running cadence.

Would love to hear yours.

Comments

  • GuarddogGuarddog ✭✭✭
    Welcome Jackbrownruns - good topic.

    For me the breakthrough was learning that training and following a plan pays off.

    When I did my first half marathon I had no idea what I was doing. I would go out for a run a couple of times a week without any real structure as to what the run should be about, the length of run, etc. I finished in 2hrs 22min, wasn't able to move without pain for a week and vowed never to do one again.

    By my third I'd managed to get hold of a training plan and followed it religiously. The confidence it gave me where by the end of my last long slow run I'd run a touch under the HM distance in the 2hrs (12.97 miles) and I'd only been at race pace for the last 30mins gave me so much confidence going into the actual race. I ended up finishing in 1hr 57mins with a very big smile on my face.
  • I realised that I was overpronating because of the way my shoes wore down on the outside faster than on the inside.
Sign In or Register to comment.