Running Coaching Doesn't Work
Most runners could do with improving technique, despite the fact that we would assume that it is just something that we should be able to do well naturally.
Yet the reason that we don’t, is the same reason that we also can’t teach somebody to run better.
And that is because your body, doesn’t always move the way we think it should, want it to, or tell it to.
Every-body tells a story. The ankle sprain when you were 5. The bad knee from the bike fall as a teenager, etc etc. While you may well think that whatever injures you had in the past are well rehabbed, we need to remember one thing.
The body heals for efficiency, not perfection.
Any injuries or niggles you have had, you healed up just to the point where things were good enough to do the things that you wanted. And that doesn’t mean things returned to normal (for want of a better word). It means things returned just to the point where you could get in wth life and the things that you wanted to do.
Even if you are one of the hens teeth walking around who had never had an injury of any kind, stuff that you have done, has made other stuff move in a way that makes it easier to do your stuff.
All of these things impact our ability to run efficiently and pain free. As it stands, our body well generally always find the path of least resistance through movements we command of it, working as efficiently as it possibly can. The goal of running technique is not to force our body into optimal positions, but to help it find it’s own efficient and pain free path.
Watch me squint through the sun and talk about this topic here (video)
Forcing running cues on a body that doesn’t naturally perform these movements well results in a few potential outcomes;
-not being able to do them
-being able to do them while the coach is cueing (with little carry over into actual running)
-other areas either moving too much or too little to carry out the non natural movement resulting in pain or poorer long term performance.
If you are a running coach, and abated your anger long enough to get this far, then let me calm the waters. Running coaching works, but not to fix technique issues that are the result of poor movement patterns and biomechanics issues. For the athlete that has found the ability to move well, but needs a few tweaks on positioning, that they can access, running coaching is the key to finding the athletes strongest performance.
So what’s the solution?
A good screening process allows the coach to understand if the athlete first needs to address inherent biomechanics issues before attempting to cue a runner into optimal technique. Jumping this stage will often see frustration from both the coach and athlete, and with the knowledge gained here, often point the coach in the direction of finding underlying reasons anyway. But starting with looking at the potential for good movement will not only allow you to know where to start, it will also begin to paint the picture of what needs to be addressed.