Trail Running Uphill With Scott Jurek

Advice from a legend:

"While living I want to live well." - Geronimo

I find these types of visual comparisons to be very helpful. Especially being able to associate how well each runner is doing in the race with how high their stride is and how relaxed and efficient they run.

"While living I want to live well." - Geronimo

Sage - Abreast - Guru

Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University - Daniel Lieberman

"But ultimately, the debate isn't about Bare Soles vs. Shoes. It's  about learning to run gently. Master that, and you can wear — or not wear — anything you please."  - Christopher MacDougall ("Born to Run") 

"While living I want to live well." - Geronimo

"While living I want to live well." - Geronimo

Caveat- Dictum - Heed

Here is a segment from a Running Times article on minimalism. 

"But this running revolution is about much more than just shoes. Coinciding with new shoe designs is a growing movement from shoe brands, retailers, coaches, bloggers and technique gurus preaching the tenets of more efficient, natural running form. It's about continually developing core strength, being relentless about form drills and the notion that being a committed runner isn't merely about running miles and stretching.

Running in these new shoes requires stronger foot, ankle, lower leg and core muscle groups than traditionally cushioned trainers, and it takes time and effort to make the transition. Such a changeover will vary for every runner, but, even if you've been running and racing for years, if you don't conscientiously work on form and strength with minimal running, you could wind up with sore calf muscles, strained Achilles tendons, aching feet or more serious injuries, says Washington, D.C., podiatrist Stephen Pribut.

"The transition is very important, and it may take up to a few months to do that," says Pribut, who warns that numerous other factors, including a runner's weight, body composition, past injury patterns, level of fitness and running goals should be considered before making a drastic change in footwear styles."

Here is the link to this entire article. http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=22276

Here is another good article on making the transition: http://runnatural.org/running-shoes/transitioning-to-barefoot-style-running/

"While I live I want to live well." - Geronimo

9 year old from below...at 10 years old, from a year ago...

His mother is a great coach and it shows in his efficient light fast foot turnover and minimal bouncing. If you watch his nose in relation to the horizontal fence railing on the slow motion portion you can see how little he is bouncing vertically.

"While living I want to live well." - Geronimo

Embodiment

Paul Tergat and  Haile Gebrselassie have probably the most proven near-perfect running forms on Earth. This is a nice way to view what I think we should visualize to mimic when we run. Great form.  

Paul Kibii Tergat (born June 17, 1969) is a Kenyan professional long distance runner. He held the world record in the marathon from 2003 to 2007, with a time of 2:04:55, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished long-distance runners of all time.

"While living I want to live well." - Geronimo

I like his explanation of why you shouldn't stride past your hips!

"While living I want to live well." - Geronimo

These are great examples of proper mid foot/forefoot striking. 

 Notice even though he strides out in front of his body he doesn't weight his leading foot until it is almost directly underneath his body. 

He is also probably sprinting here so the stride may look a little exaggerated. 

I found this one helpful for myself due to seeing how neutral his foot lands here. The BOF (ball of foot) lands just a hair before the rest of his foot. Same as with the Kenyan runner.

They are forefoot/mid foot striking but you don't see the ,"pointing my toes like a bobsledder" that you see in many people trying to get away from heel striking. Make sure not to trade heel striking for black and blue toe nails of running too much on your toes.

Notice also that they are not gripping with their toes as they contact the ground. The toes naturally peel up off the ground as the foot rolls forward, but they aren't doing the "picking up a sock with your toes" scrunching of the toes at all.  This is something I've had to personally work to stop myself from doing because I was getting blisters on my toe pads.

Kick off your shoes and try and apply. It's hard to feel these little critiques when your foot is wrapped in a block of foam.

"While living I want to live well." - Geronimo