Pete gives his top 3 technique tips to get you running more efficiently. Posture, cadence(arm carry/swing), and foot fall.

But really there is a hundred tips in this podcast as each topic is explained in detail with many examples of drills, technique, cues, and much more to focus on. Including a fourth overriding cue that you must think about at all times.

Pete talks about what shoes he’s been wearing, what he likes in a shoe for different runs and situations.

Xero shoes are Pete’s “go to” training shoes, everyday sandals, and dress shoes too!

Don’t forget to give us feedback and questions you think of about running and shoes. We’d love to do a follow up podcast on these topics again soon if we get your questions 🙂

Check out www.liveyourownfit.com for more information about our health and performance coaching services

@liveyourownfit

@petejjacobs

www.petejacobs.com

Stay in touch, we love hearing from you about what you want to know more about, and what you find to be your major blockages to up-levelling your life!

Warning – transcript is unedited and will not read exactly as I spoke 😉 Probably an Aussie accent problem 🙂

00:00:00 – 00:05:32

Yeah Hi it’s me Tate and we’re here to talk about running today so I’m pretty excited because running is one of my favorite things to do and talk about and we’re going to talk about running shoes running technique barefoot, fore foot, changing, sticking with what you’ve got so many things . Let’s get into it so one of the main things that always comes up around running is technique and form how to be more efficient. And when I’m talking to the guys that I coach about sticking to math hot right that’s one key element but the next. I really need them to send me videos of how they look when they running. Because there’s such big time gains to be made by improving technique especially at a slow pace so when you’re running fast everybody runs. Sounds fairly similar. Why did easier to run? Just run faster than it is to run slow with good form efficiently so when the Ghazal asking the math and at the start they running maybe around that six minute case which is pretty slow running. It’s quite hard to hold good form at that at slow pace so it’s crucial that we get them on the track with good form and say they videos. which is this is a Ramada as wells to some of them to sending their videos so that we can give them good fade back and get that progression happening sooner? So they’re not running at six minute case so it doesn’t feel slow and painful handful running at math. We want to stick with the same hot right but improve your spayed with good technique and overtime that improvement will also be in the aerobic capacity. So that you’ll just get faster and faster so all the Times that I’ve spoken about running technique and taught running technique comes down to just has three things. The three main things that I recommend people focus on the first is pasta. The second is cadence or carrying swing thing and the next is footfall. How’s your foot connecting with the ground? And what position so the four I get into. It is WANNA stay that everybody is different different. Everybody will look different running. Everybody’s going to have different by mechanics. I longer limbs shorter torsos all that different stuff so these are just my recommendations for how you could improve your running. If it’s not for you then don’t worry about move on get some feedback on how you can improve your personal technique so first off. Let’s stick with posture posture is. It’s like running proud so a standing toll thing toll not only connects the mon- with good feedback but it also helps switch on muscles in the body that weren’t normally switched on so good. Posture posture run proud from Christmas Cormac. That was sort of the monster. The visualization that I had in twenty ten eleven twelve was run proud and picturing Chris McCormack running because he just ran with such a good hard chests carry. He never sort of been fullwood always he never looked like he was slouching. Hips never dropped backwards so pastas K.. Thing but what does posture log. When you’re running so you’re there at atn about now listening to this then stand tall as you can in one spot? So as if you’re doing a hot test stands really really really cool now. Most of the white at the moment is kind of in the heels or it’s spread between the heels and the forefoot ought to want you to know is lane four would would and put the majority of the white into the forefoot so as you slightly lane forward majority of the white in the full foot you should feel muscles in ankle in cool the inside of the leg the abductors and the gluts all switch on now as you rock back into the heel and all the whites back in the heel you might feel that those muscles kind of deactivate and they switch off and you’re no longer feeling as stable as you were lean back into the four foot again everything switches back on and so that position that slight lane from Hugh to head in a straight line. That’s what you want when you’re running so it’s good posture. But it’s in a straight line with slot lane forward so the last thing you WanNa do with posture in your if you’ve got posturing your mind what you don’t want to do is he’s ended up leaning backwards so that your chest is kind of opening up so much that you’ve got to curve and your back that your head is almost behind the white of your your chest and you’ve just taking all your momentum of your center of gravity back to so think about that you’ve got that slight lane always forward that your head is always slightly forward and that you just might want to just talk your stone and in just a tiny bit so you really proud and tall but more upwards in a straight rely on rather than just pushing the chest out forward creating that curve in the back and taking your head for backwards so posture.

00:05:32 – 00:10:01

That’s the key thing and that is going to help to activate the K.. Muscles stability through your core three gluts and down Andrea legs. Good posture is going to happen. If you let your hips drop back for example and you’ve now got a kink in that straight lawn between your ankles winkles and your head. You’re going to lose all strength in your legs. Because now you’ve got to do a lot of work to keep that momentum him through the legs and I’ll cover that again wine a beat you’re also when heaps of further back you haven’t got any strengthen strengthen your gluts so your hips taught you gluts on activated and you’re losing a lot of effort. It might feel easier easier when you’re exhausted a really hot race because mentally. It’s really tough to Cape standing toll when you write high when it’s really hot but I can rest rest assured you that it is worth the mental effort to keep your hostile because that extra bit of mental F is going to make huge gains. Ain’t in your pace and so it won’t change your heart rate. It’s just more mental effort to Cape Good form and posture when it gets really tough So for example of posture differences and that that slight lean forward I is leaning back and the efficiency of it got great footage of two thousand and eleven of Rilo and are Michael Andreas Riley and are competing for the second place position behind Croatia that year. And he he co back up to me and we’ve sought on footage of win after he’d pass me. I sat behind him for about ten minutes back. And then hey started to slow when I started to maintain my face and as I passed in Assad on footage is really cool. Because you can say that I’ve just got a lane forward Itani Johnny B my head. He’s looking downwards. I’ve got fold my mental just from my body weight. Hey on the other hand has a really really opera position. So he’s role must working against his own momentum in at that time and as I come up on his shoulder you can say that mentally. He cracks any almost lanes things even further back as he cracks that little bit and then I was able to stay away from human finishing second place. But it’s really amazing footage and practice practice that many many times. All I knew on you that I just needed to Cape I forward lane but still at the same time be toll so the lane in wasn’t coming much for my maybe a little bit. You know. Thirty came to the Mouth Orion Hawaiian. Maybe I was falling a little bit at the hips but minimal but the the thing was that I had my menton because my head was forward looking a bit. Further down. Woods wasn’t looking up onto the horizon kilometers away and that may may is where I find. My mental and efficiency comes from from the pulse just side of things so I was working really hard on staying connected through posture but with a slight lane forward. Just do not lane back or you’re really GONNA be fighting against yourself the whole time and if you’re listening into this while you’re at running. He’s a little thing you can try right now running along squeeze your gluts tot as if you’re taunting your sync data uh-huh and it will push your hips forward. You’ll feel toll up because your legs will actually feel they grow longer. ’cause you hit so we’ll come forward and up and then hold that position and then create a slot lane fold from the heels while you’re still squeezing your gluts together once you’ve got that slot lane once you feel that my meant carrying you forward now with the hips in a straight position from he’ll to head now now relaxed the gluts and hold that position. That’s a really comfortable white Iran. It just takes practice and muscle memory to get into that position so so every now. And then when you’re out running squares you gluts push the hips forward. Get a slight lane from healed ahead and then you can get back into relaxing and and don’t need to hold. The gluts taught the entire town next. We WanNA get into cadence. The second part of the three. That’s that’s most important.

00:10:01 – 00:15:10

So cadence is how many repetitions per minute your legs are turning Iva. So we’d this it’s it’s defined by your arms if your arms and moving very slowly you’ll kites he’s going to be very slow so this is as much about just arm Kerry as it is about focusing on cadence because they are intertwined so if your arms low or wide from your body your hands a hands carry really low. Then the distance they have to travel with each swing of your arms is much much greater than if you were keeping your hands closer to your body more in front of you and your elbows closer to your body. So it’s comes down to sort of the old theory the practice of looking at a record player and obviously the outside of the record player has to travel much much faster than the inside of the record plant. So they’re doing the same amount of revolutions and outsides. Traveling fast same with the wheel anything around that spinning. You get the picture the other thing that I’d like you to picture is a fig figure skater so the figure skater. When they’re doing a slow spin they’ll have their leg out wad and the arms outlawed as well and maybe an crouched position pointing pointing arms and legs outlawed as they come up toll and narrow and bring the arms and legs into a very thin lawn so they sent a lot of their body becomes becomes very very taught limbs they get very very fast so the centrifugal force of them spinning is much much quicker and easier when everything’s close to their body so these are also it’s really good to say? Look up on Youtube through the any African nation women’s running tame a marathon so watch them when they’re running the marathon where they carry arms. uh-huh it’s really interesting. They always carry them quiet high and close to their chest. And maybe you’re you’re not gonna be that Hawn that close to a different to them. That’s great but look at how taught to their body they carry the arms and and they’re running at a really really quick pace so then not swinging their arms visit us at a even at a quick pace. So why would you be swinging your arms low when a long distance at a slow pace so that brings me to the next point. Which is yes if you are sprinting? If you’re going up hill you do want to sue US your arms for force that is when you carry ons along way pictured you signed ball yes. He swings his arms a long way because he’s moving them very very fast with a lot of power and a lot of energy being used to do side. So imagine if you’re swinging your arms that far but not using the amount of force that he is your arms are going to move a lot slower therefore your legs GonNa move very very slowly so the closer you can keep your body to the salon of your spawn. Imagine that that your elbows aunt out wide. Oh I’d say quite relaxed and close to your body your hands kind of about ninety degree angle from your elbow. So hopefully that means that they’re sort of a little bit higher than Your Elber even a bit higher close to the chest and that they’re near the centerline of your body is will bill that they know out wad sort of running like the terminator outlawed everything comes in and closer to that settle onto the body really easy way to gain some efficiency and gain that improve your cadence so why does cadence matter. I guess that important to that simply really for you to test out. What cadence is going to work best for you but I guarantee you that whatever cadence you’re doing now if you went and tried to improve it just sort of two pm then you’re going to feel a bit larger on your fate so wherever you’re at just add to an easy way to do that if you’ve got a Gammon or watch the toes cadence? They’re very accurate. Because it’s just a simple thing of the fries but it’s take addicting the movement even in the watch it’s extremely accurate and it’s faultless so look at the cadence on your watch and safe you can just to from where is now and that is going to be a good target few to get to first and then see how you feel after practicing heating that for quite a wall. Then maybe you’ll we add to again but just to for whatever you’re adding to and you’re going to feel slightly larger on your feet and slightly better so that’s a really good start. Get your arms in the right position. Russian get your arm swing slightly quicker repetitions so as they moving less it should therefore become easier to move them faster like so.

00:15:10 – 00:20:07

I always think if if you’re running on the spot your hands and Bailey Bailey moving. It’s really just tap tap tap tap tap tap like it’s just that at little jiggling of your hands going up and down. There’s no swinging your arms. Nothing’s really moving. When you’re running on the spot so start at that like running very very slowly with your arms almost not moving and all of these is your hands going up and down just a tiny bit and then progress to increasing the spade and and not increasing the effort from the arms but just slow the swing will increase just a little bit there and try and keep that same NAS lot cadence? It’s so they can help with cadence you want to feel like everything’s jiggling so if you’re tense and controlling everything you’ll be slower so things don’t move fast when your tent and controlling them a lot so you have to be relaxed to get a better cadence so shoulders trapeze easiest obvious lats triceps biceps forearms hands. Everything needs to be relaxed to improve the ability for you to be efficient and move quickly. The same is for swimming recovery in the recovery portion of this swim. If you’re more relaxed you’ll be able to throw that hand over. Have a fast and not have a slow controlled tiring recovery so by keeping the body relaxed laxed. You’ll be able to move everything quicker so you WanNa feel all those muscles jiggling you WanNa feel everything moving about so. That’s a really good sort of as you run every now and then you can remind yourself off. Can I feel everything jiggling and we’ll see if you can own so that’s another sort of cue to help you check checking with how you going again anytime you come to a hill though. It’s great practice to connect the arm slow to work the arms on on that he’ll or on those days. If you do WanNa push harder on that. He’ll use the arms to do so. I feel that connection between that cross chain sort of right to left between the shoulder. The and the arm down to the left side of the hip and the left leg. So Rot can actually less connects as they’re twisting through the middle of your body. I feel that connection when you do WanNa do a sprint when you do when I go up hill and then that will help you connect. When you’re going slow you’ll feel that connection better so that’s a really important part of how to feel more efficient running? Feel that connection between arms and legs whether you’re running fossil slow just you the more you can practice that connection connection whether it’s the arms of being used as force to power the legs or whether it’s the arms of being used as relaxed to Cape a quick cadence the legs it’s still a connection so practice that connection now. The third part is footfall. Where’s your foot landing on the eighth? You is it landing on the heel of the foot so those things. So how does it land on. I recommend that people aimed towards wherever you’re at just slowly land if you’re a bit of a hill striker just landing less and less on the heel overtime. That’s your goal so don’t suddenly become a four foot runner And I’ll explain how what forefoot could actually mean or doesn’t mean and so I recommend people land flat-footed so pretty much the full foot and the heel land at the same time on the ground but but the majority of the white is in the full foot now if you’ll running in built-up shoes that have a big. He’ll so let’s say the he’ll is anywhere from Seven to twelve or how big it goes. The Healy seven to twelve meal higher than the four. It’s going to be very difficult for you to land land flat-footed with the white in the foot so first of all for those people running those shoes. This is not going to be applicable to you unless you want to start to change to using your landing on your heel less over time gradually as I gradually change and for those of you that are already a bit more progress with running naturally and landing and putting some white through the four foot your foot is built to take the the. Absorption through the arch the Achilles tendons that do not fatigue requiring huge amounts of blood flow like muscles not requiring a fatigue like muscles to when you can build up a running technique that he’s taking advantage of tendons and then adapt those tendons doing that amount of work running totally takes on a different feeling.

00:20:07 – 00:25:08

So as you transition from Tom sort of more he’ll to more or even if you’re sort of made foot NABET WANNA go a little bit more white in the forefoot your carbs Mai Tai. Not but that that will not last if you can just consistently do a little bit of a time and then when you become a really good natural Rana so you could save run barefoot for quite a long long-time several kilometers and you’re not going to get any tightness in your carbs from running in that way so it’s a great feeling where your cards no longer get tight when you’ve done the work when you’ve actually done the training to have the body react like that it’s a great feeling. So where does it land back to landing landing flat-footed more majority of the white in the full foot to allow arch and the Achilles to do what they’re going to do which is take load Rhode absorbed the energy and then release the energy back so if your landing on the ground and you have a slow cadence agents. Then it’s very difficult to get their energy back because it’s basically by the time your foot landed on the ground and stayed there for quite a wall you don’t have that bounce bounce back from the Achilles anymore and the arch so the less time you can be on the ground the better and a really good exercise that you could try right now. He’s he’s jumping on the spot. So standard stole as you can again and then just relax and now I want you to jump on the spot. Five five times quickly really lightly and quickly and as you’ve jumping on the spot. What part of the foot are you using the full foot? And how hard is that. Not Very hard. You could probably do it quite a few times nephew. Land if you now jump and land on. He’ll urinated only needed do it twice. Jump Up. Jump Down Pudding landing in the heel and then pushing off from your. He’ll how many times could you do that in Iraq. How much more for energy intensive is that to push on and off the hill to get off the ground? It’s crazy like you moderately be able to do it about ten times before you absolutely exhausted whereas the jumping in the full is like skipping and you could do it for minutes and minutes right now if you trained you do it for hours but the landing in the heel and pushing off from the heal without energy return from the tendons of the option. The Achilles is a massive amount of energy required in the muscles to do so. You can feel that you were using the quads more. That’s the main muscle. You’ve got a larger legs you stand on your leg for longer. ‘CAUSE you’re in contact with the ground for longer than you have to reload the muscle push through push off the ground and get off the ground again so imagine doing that thousands of times as you run in training or rice. How much more energy are you using? When you’re landing in the hugh over doing that? Simple little foot jump so when you’re running like it is different to jumping. I’m not saying it’s exactly the same but but that’s just to give you A. Id of the energy that can be returned naturally and easily when you run more for because when you’re just jumping on the spot you’re he’ll he’s not landing at the same time as the forefoot. You really really quite a lot more for it. And I don’t recommend anybody runs purely forefoot for longer runs you don’t want to be So the point of running I guess how would work. Is that the the most amount of flex that you can get in your Achilles an art shrew that ankle join to load and then return. The energy is best best hence wife your in high heels for example. How quick can you run in high heels not very quick because you’ve got zero spring coming back because that ankle is not able to load because it’s not able to drop the he’ll so that’s why you know minimalist shoes? I’m such a big fan of because was it allows you to drop the here which allows you to load the forefoot so it doesn’t mean that you WanNa Cape the ankles stiff. You don’t WanNa keep the ankle locked. And not not let that. He’ll drop you want to let the he’ll drop his fires at Cam which means it is in contact with the ground but then what happens is it’s just maximum load maximum amount of movement and loading this spring but minimal amount of whites Heating the heel and and slowing you down and making you push on the hill so try to get that picture. I love thinking of a kangaroo and how a kangaroo moves and when they running it’s just pure were spring loaded energy through the tendons.

00:25:09 – 00:30:02

It’s just so oh so graceful to watch and try to get that feeling when I’m running the legs on actually doing any work. It’s just the tendons and when you’ve got to a point have training which might be you might need to be doing eighty K.. A week or one hundred K.. A week or whatever it is for you to feel that if it looseness of four foot running without the legs muscles actually doing the work. It’s an amazing feeling so you you need to have that slight. Lean forward to Cape my mental. Naturally you need to have great awareness of the connection to cadence so that you’re only on the ground for a very short time and then you need to have good awareness of where the forty landing onto your body and in what part of the foot or you’re loading up so that’s the next bit. Where’s it landing onto your body? Obviously it’s landing out in front of your body. It’s almost like a bit of a break like a little bit in front of your body’s okay. You move over that. By the time you’re body actually puts the white through the foot it’ll be under uh-huh hip and behind you but if you’re landing on the heel and the whiteys in the foot before gets underneath your hips you’re really slowing slowing yourself down and costing yourself a lot of time and energy. So that he’ll striking and it is going to happen. You can avoid if you are running in built ulta shoes with a heavy heel and even for that matter a heavy heavy shoe in itself can change the way that you feel. Also so that’s it’s the recovery is also important of how you will land with your foot so if you tense the whole time you’re running you’re going to land and tents on the ground so it’s a bit like the jumping on the spot. Will you tense when you win the air. No you weren’t tense. You went prepping for that. Knicks Push off the ground. What you were doing was you were relaxed in the ground in the EH? And that’s how you want that recovery to feel in between H.. Straw you you want the recovery to be relaxed and fairly close to the ground. So you’ll drive it through with sort of thinking about pulling through from the hip leading when the knee and in the lower leg is just being dragged along by the hip and a again just like swimming is what I recommend people. You’re bringing your own through the recovery. The shoulder is lifting the arm up the elbows leading the way and then the lower is super relaxed. And just following where it’s being told to go by the show and Elba the lowell part of the leg should feel the same thing. It’s just following where it’s being told to go by the HIP and the nays leading the way forward. So that’s the main way to have a great recovery because when you contact the ground boom everything. Everything connects naturally as fort is loaded up as you did in that standing exercise where you put your white more into the full foot the muscles naturally file when you light up the full foot if you load up the hill I nothing will file. Everything will feel hot and and wake and you’ve got to really work every muscle that you can you quads and every back and all these muscles. That don’t need to be worked hard when you’re running. But you’ll need them because your muscles aren’t naturally switching onto stabiliser. Your attendance. Aren’t there to stabilize you. So I’ve gone on off about switching being on an activation to build up that stability in your legs and that feeling that you’re not even doing anything because everything becomes. He comes natural as part of the push off the ground as well. You don’t want to be pushing off the ground you don’t I want to feel like I’ve got a push with my toes off the ground or even with your he’ll or your cord whatever part of the legged. He’s that you were using using to push off the ground. It should be just like walking. Your foot naturally peels off the ground. That energy will naturally come back out of the ankle joint. And through those tendons as you move forward over the leg if you’ve got a quick cadence if you’ve got us locate and then you know what I’m talking about than that feels like you do have to push off the ground with every Straw just to get the leg forward just to get momentum to move forward for that next step but it should feel like walking. It should feel like you just step on the ground you move over you. Pick it up gently at peels off the ground and then at gently carries forward NAS and relaxed. So it’s a good thing even to practice walking super relaxed and then try to carry that into how you run okay that brings us who then the next pop which is shoes.

00:30:03 – 00:35:18

I get caught a Lotta questions over social media and things about what shoes I’m using and everything else I’m an off the shoes. I’m just going to quickly cover a bit about must time spent training barefoot. Why still do it and the benefits of that? So shoes news first of all. I’ve been running mostly in training in Zeros X. E. R. Owes full disclosure. They have been sending me shoes news since last year and they a full minimalist shoot. It’s basically a think it’s four and a half mil of rubber sole role and that’s the shoe over the top there’s arch. There’s no he’ll rise. There’s nothing it’s four and a half mil the hallway along and support any way through the arch or anything like that so it took may on always already a full foot run. I was already doing all my training and racing fights but to go fool minimalist with a very thin shoe that allowed and it was wat- at the box that allowed my foot to spread out. Still you know six months from May to get really comfortable with with granted. I wasn’t doing a hey per running last year but it still took quite a while to get really comfortable with running or the Lusa rocks rocky ground on even ground because your foot joints have to start to move again. It’s a totally different experience to your foot. Molding over rocks as to what it was before which is much more like it stays flat. And the shoe just absorbs the points of the rocks and things so that was. That’s been great. I’ve been loving running in them. They even did did a bit of Tom Running in their sandals. And that’s great because they’re Santa Cilacap White and I really enjoyed that. I just haven’t running the sandals for a while now but it’s the sandal that I still wear all the time out and about so I’m still in a minimalist sandal so it’s the genesis Sandals so if you look that up it’s very maybe even I think it’s less than Full meal of rubber and very very lot white feels like you’ve got nothing on your fate and that is just all the time. It’s pretty much my shoes that I will sandal that away the most as a shoe because it’s so minimalist so I’m always walking around feeling which I love and now though I am actually spending more and more time Pure barefoot so I’m actually not even putting those sandals on when I used to let Sam walking the dogs down the road into the Bush to the creek on now not wearing wearing shoes and I’ll walk around the streets nap barefoot all Stran- hit the grass a bit more and then the road but still I’m just changing more and more towards more time barefoot which feels great and I’ll explain it more about that at the end and but they didn’t have a zero didn’t have a racing shoe you before a lot of white prio that have been running in training is slightly heavier very comfortable because it’s got all that padding slightly heavier but they’ve just released a new shoe. which is they spayed force and the name speaks for itself? I have not tried that yet but I’m really looking forward to testing that act. Because that’s that’s what I’ve been craving a pure middlemiss shoe but with a lot of weight so that’s what I’m that’s that’s the key elements of what shooter you want. You want something very lot. And if you’ve listened to anything will read from film. Matheson Bang Lot white and minimalist and basically barefoot. Hey believes is the absolute absolute K.. To someone running the sub two hours in a race the next fastest Maryland thinks if someone could at one on the faints paints they say yes. Someone should run marathon on a road barefoot if they trained for then potentially it is quicker but is the advantages to some of the shoes out there. I think there is obviously the the Nacchio have putting the carbon plights. The heavier there too heavy awesome me like I tried them but the first couple of races that I wore them in felt good because I was running well and that may not always running sort of flight. Three thirty pace for the half marathons in an argument and at that pace. They felt good but they didn’t feel amazing. My leg wasn’t able to switch on and as much as it does went on running a mental must show and that really bothered me could saints that even though we gave me speed. It didn’t give me the activation in my muscles that I was used to anytime. I hit a little bit of a hill a little bit of an uphill. I would almost trip over my fate because I wasn’t triggering triggering those muscles and that appropriate -ception of the terrain changing almost so. That was where I noticed first and then I also noticed that if I was getting something out of the pocket of my Jersey on almost my legs would almost just collapse underneath me if if I lost a little bit of that momentum and didn’t hit the ground perfectly because I wasn’t getting that proprio exception of what my faded doing.

00:35:18 – 00:40:07

It’s a bit like if you’ve seen funny videos. Have dogs of I on someone puts shoe covers shoe boots on them or potentially for very very hot weather as well then the dogs have no idea how to walk. They taking their fate out wide. And it’s very very funny. Look it up on Youtube. And it’s that’s appropriate exception. If you I can’t feel what’s going on then it’s very difficult to control your muscles or have a natural response in your muscles to what’s going on around you. I I have heard of a one one situation of a God that had a disease where he actually had no feeling anyway on his skin so he had zero ability to saints when he was moving what he was touching if something was hot if it was called actually if he was if he actually was touching something he couldn’t tell if he was actually touching it. So you would think Oh. That’s easy for us like you. Just you can just see if you’re touching it but it doesn’t work like that if if you’ve all had numb hands in one time or another from the cold how easy is it to move your hands when you can’t actually feel if you’re touching the rope that you’re wanting to touch and that’s not just because they called and they fall hard to move it’s because you can’t sense if you’re touching something so the same goes for fate if you can’t sense what your body’s doing if your landing on hard ground soft ground rocky ground As I said in that example standing toll and leaning fold which. I should have told you to do barefoot. Actually all the jumping exercise. I should’ve told you everything that we did did. Do it barefoot if you go back and do it all again barefoot and so think about that. That’s what I was feeling. In at the half marathons wearing the knock full percents where yes. It was running quick. But I knew that it wasn’t optimum and so I’ve been on the search for what shoes lose what shoes feel good and it was when Joe’s skip it was he in earlier in the and he got sent some hocus and and one of the prototypes at the time was the carbon rocket and they sent him the wrong sought. It was too small for him so he gave it to me. And I’ve actually gone to that on days as where on running in the Noosa National Park where there’s some sections in name which literally just like pointy rocks in very hod ground because they’ve done a weed thing compacting the ground but there’s some real pointy sections and I find that if my feet if I’ve been doing a few kilometers that we can running and then if I way minimalist shoes through that section just that particular section which is highly maybe a couple of kilometers long but if I tread in the wrong spot on those really pointy rocks with hard ground. All around it I can just feel like a bruise. Mine metatarsal a little bit and it just doesn’t feel oh great so that’s when I started using EVO carbon rocket for those sort of runs where annoyed it’s particularly painful for my fate if my fatal tired invulnerable from a from a big awake running and they’ve been great. I do recommend those two other people that want something with more cushioning than like Kaziro shoe and but it’s minimalist. It’s like a one mill drop. I think and it’s pretty lot has to Cobb and plight in there. I believe and I’ve been using those swapping them out in some of my training runs. And it’s like I say that’s been another option in races. The last couple of races of war some old pays of Essex Peron which they do not make any more but they were a super super lightweight racing flat and Baynes searching around for super lightweight racing using flat. The last couple of months and the only thing that I’ve found is the REBAC run fast pro and ordered to pay from a website that I thought looked very legitimate had a logging and had everything sorted and the price was just a little bit better than other places but that’s turned turned out to not be the case. I got sent a very cheap pair of knock off Ray box from China so that was a bit disappointing. So I’m sorting that with the bank at the the moment but the robot run fast pro looks like a very lightweight shoe. Good Eva Foam. If that’s what it is I believe so. You’re getting a NAS cushioned tioned feel and getting rid of spring back tested a few other shoes. That just didn’t love tested. Those so carney’s this is a nonsol- something and they just didn’t feel like they had any spring in the forefoot like flexible.

00:40:07 – 00:45:01

Like if I put on a racing flat I wanted to feel like it has has got a bit of stiffness through that four foot so it may not have a carbon played in it. I want it to feel like it’s GonNa give a little bit of bounce back As I move over as landfall foot bends the shoe and I wanted to give me a little bit of a spring back as well so I’ve moved on for an Inaki. He’s the Essex Peron on my end up racing in those again. ’cause I found a spay brand new pair of those that I had in the Colza night like I said they haven’t don’t mean making them for many years and so don’t lock you lack of funding those but they’re just super lightweight with Dr Soft five underneath and just just try out some different versions. Try and find a shoe. That is a little bit lower in the. He’ll then what you’ve currently running in. That’s a good. If you want to swap out from a heavy shoe and landing. He’ll just a little bit less in the heel a little bit lot. Shoot to help give you that pro perception and I’m not a huge fan of the big hawkers that are really built up. A you know people end up being about an inch off the ground I think all pro-peres appear section at that point is gone. And you’re not gonNA feel any forefoot connection but paper who land in the. He’ll people who find that they’ve got sore knee joints eh older. That are not going to particularly have the ability to change their running technique or the desire all the belief that they can which is probably the biggest part of the belief that they can change their running technique all age. That is yet. They enjoy that shoe and fine but the rest of the time that you don’t need to be wearing airing a built up xu just goes you wear built up shoe for running in go a minimalist shoe the rest of the time. I’ve got some really nice casual pays that I way when I actually do wear a shoe out anyway. Would Janes or any even even smaller than that. I do some Zeros and I can’t remember the name of those ones but they’ve really really nice casual shoes so I think zero is a got lots of options for you to test out. They made in Boulder Colorado so they might be a few listing the river that way support a local company. They’re really cool Local family run company. And but there’s plenty of other minimum shoe brands out there as well so just fond something that you comfortable running and go a little bit more towards minimalist. I now to get to the barefoot. What is so important about running barefoot? Well where do I start. Well first of all you should start with a very very very small amount of barefoot running on a grass track which. I’m lucky enough to have one just a kilometer from home and it’s Nice Cross. It’s you you know appropriate four hundred meter track all run around the more towards the ad elapse adelines and it’s running barefoot. Yes you need to approach this slowly. Because you’re cavs will get taught in your first few attempts. You WanNa try not running like you normally run with shoes on you wanted lane more towards bang landing flat-footed majority white and the full foot so imagine let’s say well you could even try it. Go Run on concrete a few steps tips. How does that feel with your all technique so I just running barefoot on concrete? Feel horrible. Well that’s a good time for you to you. Think about how to improve your technique so your body is doing what it was my to do. Naturally the natural efficient mechanics of a human human running. So now you go into the grass. Now you go and let’s let’s run a little bit less like I did on the concrete and improve it a little bit and and you might just do at the end of your run like if you’ve done it all with shoes then you go to the grass track and maybe at the start. You’re just GONNA do a minute on off therefore and you only do that for ten minutes. That might be as much as you want to do. And recommend you only do a little bit the first I go all. Let’s keep keep running until I get sore because you’re not going to know how soil you get until tomorrow so that do not just go. Let’s go let’s approach sweet time with with patients and just do a little bit at a time and so you’ll get better at running barefoot afoot. You’ll get better at running on the road or on trials because you’ll gradually get your shoe. That’s a little bit lower in the hill. A little bit closer to the ground around and things will appropriate sexually more connected and then you come back to the tracking. So now I’ll I’ll run to the track can can I might do a few K..

00:45:01 – 00:50:06

Walmart beforehand with shoes on to get there the long way and then I might run Annella six okay. The moment there and then I’m not doing just another another kilometer or two by moment about sixty percent of one of my runs on the grass track barefoot and ideally so if you can buy a hack and yes I said by Hack you’ll circadian rhythms a little bit so if you need to get away from police acadian rhythms which driven by saying blue light at not TV phone computer or even just house. Lots if you’re up well past you bet if you’re going to bed just as you’ve seen all these other lots and then you jump straight bed that blue. Lots really affecting circadian rhythm so to try rides and mitigate that a little bit if you can say the sunrise within a half an hour of waking up you see the sun rise when it’s rising so if you can go to a track that’s gross early in the morning when there’s a bit of Ju on the chew on the grass and so let’s say you’re also getting the grounding effect and yes grounding. I didn’t fully understand much about anymore. Yeah well if you believe that you believe it and it might work it might not now. Yeah I’ve learned a lot more back grounding and the positive negative charges that the The electrons within our cells ’cause energy is electrons it is negative positive charges within our body that combined to create energy and lost everything with life has negative and positive ions. So you want to definitely try and get some grounding in so you know. Swimming in the ocean is great. But you know running barefoot around across tracked practice jewelry is absolutely perfect so you can connect a combined running barefoot to get the grounding effect. You’re GONNA run barefoot what to get the beneficial by mechanic adaptations to to be able to run more efficiently. And if you do it early in the morning first thing you’re going going to get great sunlight into your eyes which is going to help trigger circadian rhythm and and also Vitamin D. You’re also GONNA get more sunlight on your skin. So if it’s warm enough ron without a shirt get more sunlight on your skin to help. Vitamin D production to help not trick oxide production and to help you get more benefit from the UV rays early in the morning. So that’s my little health buyer hack offshoot route now back to the running. I think that’s pretty much everything that last thing. Okay you need to L. Those three things the three things cadence and I’m Kerri posture. And you’ll footfall and the full thing if we want to add in number four for you you to cycle through your Brian Wall you’ll running. It lacks so you need to be aware of tension is building up in your body and where it is building up so building up tension in pays and showed is if your shoulders coming anywhere woods towards is that’s giving negative feedback into your body and you don’t want your muscle memory to have that feedback of fodder flight mode of hormones being raised while you’re doing a relaxing beneficial official healthy activity which is exercise so any you have to be away. So that’s the key thing of body body tension is going to be your shoulders and neck area. The other one is breathing. Are you breathing into your upper chest and therefore not relaxed in into into your belly so I want you to try and breathe into your belly to help relax your entire body. The other part of it is that I want you to relax your mind. So if you’re you’re getting tents in your mind while you’re running then that’s going to have the same hormonal effect and everything will be tense as well so mind body connection of relaxing passing releasing tension. And there’s no like actually recommend to everybody that you do take little breaks rat. You’ll run so that you can actually do a little systems check like Oh was I actually holding my was actually breathing really short and shallow. But I didn’t even notice it so when you stop you release tension and go if you actually stop and fond. You’ve just done that you’ve been running with action so you WanNa have that feeling of that. You’ve already finished that you’ve already got that That release of tension while you’re running. Not just when you finish you WANNA run wall feeling that same thing mentally and physically and the the other part of tension is feeling on your arm muscles jiggle so you Wanna all your muscles to be jiggling and relaxed and if you can do all of that wall noise braiding for the ultimate aerobic experience and controlled breathing and relaxation.

00:50:06 – 00:51:57

TRY TO CAPE noise breathing while you’re doing your NAS eighty jug. So that’s about everything combined. Those first three points with the fourth point. Overriding everything. And you’re going to have a great right Ron and you’re going to slow the improve running remedy. This is not over not changes these things that will take time and you will get better at all of them over time and try to get out there. Do a little bit of walking. If that’s all you can do walk in the ocean for great benefits of Grounding Walk Barefoot as many times throughout the day is you can kickoff those shoes that have any sort of a heel on them way minimalist shoes and enjoy running. Enjoy your body. Get to know it. And I’d I’d love to hear any feedback from you about this with more questions about running and shoes thanks for listening. Everybody have a great day. And don’t forget that this was brought to you by live. Yarn fit health and performance company. That Jamie and I founded and we offer all sorts of solutions to pay wanting to get more out of the body whether it’s mentally physically optimum performance in racing or just died. I lost lots of options. And we’d love up to hear from you and save Wake Bay the fit for you so reach out to us through Social Media Olivia and fit dot com where we have all the information about what we can offer and the key aspects of health that could help you get untouchable made directly if you’d like me to give you a video analysis of your run technique to get you running faster and more efficiently and so you can enjoy running more more so I have a great day in Gioia running and never stop learning and that’s everything. Thanks for listening.

Running PODCAST – Technique & Shoes