Run Training
THE FOOTSTRIKE DEBATE
By Bobby McGee
Which is a better way for me to run, midfoot or heel striking? The answer is a definite and resounding, yes to either one.
Currently there is no research that proves either is better. All we know is that faster runners in shorter events, up to about 10k, tend to run with either their midfoot touching first and in most cases then lowering their heel like applying an L-shaped piece of carbon fiber onto the surface.
At slower speeds in distances over a mile, most runners heel strike first. Good runners also tend to heel strike when they run slow and long.
The only thing we know for certain is that runners who habitually run shod (with shoes) and then learn to run on their midfoot, reduce the shock around their knees and this shock shows up as increased stress in their plantar fasciae, Achilles’ tendons and calf muscles.
Even when looking at middle-distance runners, we notice that they are likely to start off running midfoot, and as they fatigue, they heel strike more.
Let’s try to get some clarity through considering some known quantities:
• Haile Gebrselassie, arguably the greatest distance runner of all time, altered his foot strike from midfoot to heel when he failed to transition from 10,000 meters to the marathon with the same degree of success; he now owns the official world marathon record and was the first person to break 2 hours, 4 minutes for the distance.
• Running on your actual toes is almost impossible.
• There is such a thing as poor midfoot striking and good midfoot striking.
• There is definitely such a thing as poor heel striking and good heel striking.
• Top triathletes succeed with either midfoot or heel striking, but the majority use heel/full-foot striking.
• Transitioning from heel to midfoot is precarious and seldom achieved without incident of injury.
• In those transitioning from heel to mid there are no scientifically supported reports of a decrease in injury. Quite the contrary in fact. Coach and author Matt Fitzgerald did a far-reaching inquiry into the incidence of injuries after the minimalist/barefoot craze began and found, not surprisingly, that there has been a significant increase in Achilles’ tendon and plantar fascia injuries reported by physical therapists and similar professionals.
So what’s the difference between full foot, midfoot and heel striking?
• Good heel strikers first contact the surface with the outside of the heel and roll inwards, slightly loading the arch and then forward to toe off somewhere between the big and middle toe.
• Effective midfoot strikers land with the outside of the foot just behind where the little toe attaches to the foot and then load or flex rearward until the heel touches briefly. Then the foot also rolls slightly inward, loads and comes off those first three toes.
• Decent full-foot strikers look like they apply the entire lateral part of the foot from behind the little toe to the heel at the same time, but there will be a winner in terms of first pressure (heel or mid) and the shoe evens that out.
Few top triathletes are able, or should even try, to keep the heel completely off the surface. Good runners come onto their midfoot to sprint, surge or run in shorter races. Of the six elite U.S. men in last year’s ITU World Championship Series Grand Final in Budapest, two were midfoot strikers and four were heel strikers.
66 USA TRIATHLON SUMMER 2011
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