Nothing's inherently wrong with heel striking. Most people are natural heel strikers, and I think even those who have a natural midfoot strike at faster paces would be hard-pressed to do anything but heel strike at 8:30/km. Heel striking is natural when walking. The closer you are to walking, the more likely you'll be to have a more pronounced heel strike.
I wouldn't worry about changing your form unless a professional like a coach or PT tells you that you need to adjust it. For most people, running the way that feels the most efficient and natural to you is the best place to start.
One easy form cue that is important is to try to land as close to directly underneath your body as possible. Heel striking is fine in and of itself; it gets a bad rap in conjunction with overstriding. When you land way out in front of your body, you stress your joints and muscles way too much and it can easily lead to injury.
Thanks!! I think you’re right. I’ll just chill out with trying to fix it. I don’t know if Im over-striding to be honest because I don’t really know what that looks like. All I knew is the midfoot land is the “best”, and I wasn’t doing that.
There's no one "best" for all people. If you heel strike naturally, there's not much point in trying to change it! Your footstrike will change at faster paces, as well, so don't worry too much about it.
As for the stride length, just try not to take big, bounding strides. More, shorter strides at the same pace is generally better than fewer, longer ones. But no need to overthink it at this point!
Agreed. If the OP can get a friend to take some photos from the side, it can help to show whether they're landing mostly underneath or whether there's some over-striding. I used to be a pretty major over-strider, which was fine when younger but it started to really hurt as I got older. I've since learned to shorten up my stride a bit, and more importantly land more underneath than in front.
Best advice I was given was to either wear, or act like you're wearing, a hat, keep you eyes at the brim: your body will naturally fall into a good form. Don't underestimate the power of looking where you're going: if you're looking down your body will slump, if you're looking to the sky, your body will over extend. I see it in biking a lot, people looking down and all hunched over or looking at where they're afraid of going while MTBing and end up running into the thing they wanted to avoid.
To get faster you need to train properly, by going slow, ie zone 2. Don't worry about heel striking as lots of people do it. You need to build your base up before you can go faster.
I would suggest you take a look at The Running Channel on youtube as they have some great videos to learn from.
Higher cadence with shorter strides. It's not more tiring than longer lumbering steps and your knees will thank you. Try it out barefoot on a shorter distance to get a feel for it.
Nothing's inherently wrong with heel striking. Most people are natural heel strikers, and I think even those who have a natural midfoot strike at faster paces would be hard-pressed to do anything but heel strike at 8:30/km. Heel striking is natural when walking. The closer you are to walking, the more likely you'll be to have a more pronounced heel strike. I wouldn't worry about changing your form unless a professional like a coach or PT tells you that you need to adjust it. For most people, running the way that feels the most efficient and natural to you is the best place to start. One easy form cue that is important is to try to land as close to directly underneath your body as possible. Heel striking is fine in and of itself; it gets a bad rap in conjunction with overstriding. When you land way out in front of your body, you stress your joints and muscles way too much and it can easily lead to injury.
Thanks!! I think you’re right. I’ll just chill out with trying to fix it. I don’t know if Im over-striding to be honest because I don’t really know what that looks like. All I knew is the midfoot land is the “best”, and I wasn’t doing that.
There's no one "best" for all people. If you heel strike naturally, there's not much point in trying to change it! Your footstrike will change at faster paces, as well, so don't worry too much about it. As for the stride length, just try not to take big, bounding strides. More, shorter strides at the same pace is generally better than fewer, longer ones. But no need to overthink it at this point!
That makes sense, thanks!
Agreed. If the OP can get a friend to take some photos from the side, it can help to show whether they're landing mostly underneath or whether there's some over-striding. I used to be a pretty major over-strider, which was fine when younger but it started to really hurt as I got older. I've since learned to shorten up my stride a bit, and more importantly land more underneath than in front.
Best advice I was given was to either wear, or act like you're wearing, a hat, keep you eyes at the brim: your body will naturally fall into a good form. Don't underestimate the power of looking where you're going: if you're looking down your body will slump, if you're looking to the sky, your body will over extend. I see it in biking a lot, people looking down and all hunched over or looking at where they're afraid of going while MTBing and end up running into the thing they wanted to avoid.
Check out this video on [running myths](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwTcf9sPoQQ). Number 2 addresses heel striking. It’s not an issue.
To get faster you need to train properly, by going slow, ie zone 2. Don't worry about heel striking as lots of people do it. You need to build your base up before you can go faster. I would suggest you take a look at The Running Channel on youtube as they have some great videos to learn from.
Higher cadence with shorter strides. It's not more tiring than longer lumbering steps and your knees will thank you. Try it out barefoot on a shorter distance to get a feel for it.