Running Form and Training
101 flashcards by MentisLibrary
Running for beginners through club runners: gait and cadence, easy days and threshold and interval work, the physiology behind pace, common overuse injuries, shoe choice, and pacing and preparation for race day.
- What is running cadence?
- The number of steps taken per minute, counting both feet. Most recreational runners sit between 155 and 175 at easy pace.
- Where does the figure of 180 steps per minute come from?
- Coach Jack Daniels counted stride rates of distance runners at the 1984 Olympics and found almost all were at or above 180.
- What usually happens when a runner raises cadence by 5 to 10 percent?
- Stride length shortens, the foot lands closer to the body, and biomechanics studies show lower peak loads at the hip and knee.
- What is overstriding?
- Landing with the foot well ahead of the body, usually with a nearly straight knee, so the leg brakes on every step.
- What are the three foot strike patterns?
- Rearfoot, where the heel touches first; midfoot, where heel and forefoot land together; and forefoot, where the ball of the foot lands first.
- How does switching from a rearfoot to a forefoot strike change loading?
- It generally reduces load at the knee and increases load at the ankle, calf and Achilles tendon.
- What is vertical oscillation in running?
- How far the body's center of mass rises and falls on each stride.
- What is ground contact time?
- The time each foot spends on the ground per step, typically around 200 to 300 milliseconds at easy running pace.
- What should the arms do during distance running?
- Swing mostly forward and back from the shoulder with elbows near 90 degrees, hands relaxed and roughly at waist height.
- What does a good running posture look like?
- Tall through the spine with a slight whole-body lean from the ankles, ribs stacked over the pelvis, head level.
- What is contralateral pelvic drop?
- The pelvis on the swing-leg side dropping while the other leg is in stance, often called hip drop.
- What is dynamic knee valgus in running?
- The knee falling inward toward the midline during stance while the hip adducts and rotates in.
- What is a cross-over gait?
- Landing with each foot across the body's midline, so footprints fall in a single line or cross it.
- What is running economy?
- The oxygen cost of running at a given submaximal speed. A more economical runner uses less oxygen at the same pace.
- How does the Achilles tendon contribute to running?
- It stretches on landing and recoils on push-off, returning stored elastic energy so the muscles do less work.
- What is an easy run?
- A conversational effort that makes up the bulk of most training weeks, run comfortably below threshold.
- What is the purpose of the long run?
- To extend the duration your body can sustain steady effort, improving fat use, muscular endurance and confidence over distance.
- What is a tempo run?
- A sustained effort at or near lactate threshold, often described as comfortably hard, typically 20 to 40 minutes for trained runners.
- What is interval training?
- Repeated hard efforts separated by recovery periods, for example six repetitions of three minutes with two minutes jogging.
- What is fartlek training?
- Swedish for speed play. Unstructured or loosely structured surges within a continuous run.
- What is a recovery run?
- A short, deliberately slow run the day after a hard session, run at an effort that leaves you fresher, not more tired.
- What is a progression run?
- A run that starts easy and finishes faster, sometimes ending near threshold pace.
- What are strides?
- Short accelerations of roughly 15 to 25 seconds at near-sprint speed with relaxed form and full recovery between.
- Why do runners do hill repeats?
- They combine strength and high aerobic demand while limiting impact, because uphill running has lower landing forces than flat running.
- What is polarized training?
- A distribution where most training is easy and a small share is genuinely hard, with little time spent in the middle.
- What is the 10 percent rule of mileage?
- A guideline that weekly mileage should not rise by more than about 10 percent.
- What are the phases of a typical training block?
- Base building, a build phase with race-specific work, a peak, then a taper.
- What is a taper?
- A planned reduction in training volume before a race, usually 1 to 3 weeks, with intensity largely kept.
- What is a down week or deload?
- A week with reduced volume, usually every third or fourth week, to let adaptation catch up with training.
- What is RPE and why do runners use it?
- Rating of perceived exertion, a subjective scale of how hard an effort feels, commonly 1 to 10 or the 6 to 20 Borg scale.