Back to Basics

I think I have allowed my running form to get sloppy over the past few months and that may be partly to blame for the knee pain I have been suffering from for the past week.

The knee is improving. I ran in a 3 mile “fun run” sponsored by Front Running Sports to celebrate their anniversary on Saturday. Most of the run was pain free and when the pain did start to emerge I was able to control it by focusing on my form, particularly shortening my stride and increasing the turnover. That worked well and I was able to keep the pain in check.

I employed the same strategy this morning for a 4 mile run and didn’t experience any pain during the run, although I could tell that my knee still did not feel “right.” Unfortunately, after the run I had some fairly intense sharp pain when I attempted a quads stretch that severely bends the knee.

I’ve got the photographic evidence of my sloppy form right here from a 5k earlier this month.

You can see the obvious over striding and heel striking. I made excuses for this picture because it was right at the finish line and I was in the midst of my finishing kick.


However in this picture from the fun run on Saturday, you can see the same over striding and heel striking, although not quite as pronounced. There were no excuses this time, this photo was taken at the very beginning of the run.

Just for kicks, here’s my finishing photo from Saturday.  It’s too bad this was just a fun run with no official time. The field was so small I might have had a shot at an age group medal.

My plan over the next few weeks is to focus on the Chi Running basics and see if I can get back to pain free running. I’m even considering some barefoot running to jump start the correction.

I’ll keep you posted.