Have you ever thought about what type of runner you are? Are you a pronator, supinator, heel striker or forefoot striker? Read on as Chris Sharp of The Footbed Clinic explains how your foot motion can be identified and adapted to improve your running performance and reduce your risk of injury.
Lots of runners turn to running to either supplement or replace another sport such as football, rugby and hockey when that activity comes to an end. The difficulty for these types of runners is that all of their previous running has been short sharp dashes of varying directions. The main difference during the transition between sports is that road runners should land on the heels, whereas in their previous sport it was probably on the ball of the foot. The only time runners should run on the ball of the foot is at the end-of-race sprint to the line, or during speed and interval training sessions.
A good way to train yourself during any transition is not to think about your feet but to focus on something above eye-level a 100 yards ahead of you. This also applies to experienced road runners.
The other main considerations will be questions we are constantly asked at the Clinic - Do I pronate? Do I supinate? Do I have wide or narrow feet? These questions are all linked as the "perfect foot" should both pronate and supinate. It is when the foot doesn't pronate efficiently that the foot stays in its narrowest shape, and when the foot overpronates the foot gets longer and wider.
So, identifying how your individual foot motion develops is probably the most important piece of information to allow you to run. After all, how can you buy shoes for your feet when you don't know how your feet work?
