Health (Running): Hitting a Fast, Big Stride + "In-and-Outs" for Maximum Effect, Minimum Time and Injury
The forward foot should land beneath you. If you stretch your forward leg forward so much that it lands in front of the body, you are effectively pushing the body back; n.g. Landing in front of the body also enlists the “hamstrings” to pull you forward, for which they are not meant; tight hamstrings can result; most common with landing on your heel in front of you.
Preferably, you land on the front of the foot beneath you, letting the heel come down to take pressure off the shins (avoiding shin splints), and giving your calf muscles more room with which to push off again. Alternately, you can land on the full of the foot beneath you.
The more you can lean forward from the hips/”gluts”/rear end, the more gravity will help and the more the back-foot push-off works through the body to drive you forward, instead of up. The gluts keep the body from falling forward. For me, the “feel” is pushing my rear end back relative to the body, causing me to lean from the rear end. Stomach muscles pull the body forward, but bending from the stomach doesn’t produce a useful “runners lean.”
Landing on the heel can be done safely and effectively if you need the extra cushioning supplied by many running shoes, and if you are not trying to run too fast. Even so, it’s still best to land beneath you, with as much lean as you can muster, and employ the back-foot push-off. And try to run lightly instead of falling heavily on your front/landing foot. The shoe’s cushioning works to protect you only when you don’t count on it to absorb all the energy of your landing; when you don’t fall heavily onto the front foot.
“In and Outs”
My high school coaches told us to run the quarter-mile track’s straightaways at 90% and jog the turns, or run half a lap at 90% and jog the other half; for eight laps (2 miles) in total. The purpose is to get somewhat winded and train the body to recover; while doing it at a high speed so your legs adapt too. It conditioned me far better than the workouts I was given on Penn’s track team. (I was a “walk on;” no scholarship; probably impossible under college administrative implementations of Title IX.)
Anyone can adapt in-and-outs to personal conditions, starting more easily and gradually building up over time. Again, the purpose is simply to do enough to get winded, then recover partly, then repeat. You can gain from this while spending much less time per day than jogging or running long and slow; and your legs will suffer much less pounding because you will be running fewer miles. You can even use light, brief versions of this in your warmups and cooldowns.
You can—and should—plan to have some weeks or days be more intense, and some less intense; even over months and years. Having sufficient recovery and rest allows the body to gradually build up to meet the stresses you are putting on it. No one can maintain in top-conditioned form indefinitely without breaking down; without going “stale.” And, of course, take it easier on days you have lost sleep, are tired, or have some other type of physical or emotional stress.
Things to Avoid
Never push to the point of feeling out of control; that way lies injury and discouragement. Done right, over time, you get a new sense of vitality and self worth. I contrast this with two misconceptions I notice:
1. ‘No Pain, No Gain” is Wrong. It leads to injury. In contrast, you gain from discomfort and recovering from it. What’s the difference?
Discomfort goes away after mere seconds to minutes of taking it easy, after which you can start again without discomfort returning immediately.
Pain however does not go away like that. Starting again leads to pain immediately. The one partial exception I know of is with shin splints—pains in the shins. They go away in the middle of the workout as your shins warm up, but recur when you stop.
2. “High Intensity Interval Training” in at least some versions calls for maximum effort followed by brief rests, repeated any number of times. The maximum efforts get too close to breaking down the body without allowing enough recovery for the body to rebuild, causing failure in the longer run.
P.S.
I’ve written this post this way because I don’t have the time to give all the background I would give for explaining why I come to these recommendations, which are things I have learned from personal experience and observation of other runners. If you want to begin running, look at my post for beginners, which also has some evergreens such as for using light to medium weights, diet, and the staircase pattern of progress.
Good Health to You!