I was talking to an old runner friend this past weekend about a few different topics, but one of them of course, was about running. Aside from the actual discussion about racing and times, we also reminisced about our experience visiting a running clinic while we were runners in high school. Things may have changed since I ran in high school, but when we were runners, the only thing we worried about were how far we had to run and how fast. We lived in a poor neighborhood, so running shoes were not necessarily worn based off each individual runner’s needs, but more about how much they would be able to afford. The problem I had while attending the clinic was that I had no idea what the speakers were talking about! They were using language like ‘pronation’, ‘gait’, ‘vo2 max’, etc. (to be honest, I barely get what they mean now..) Hopefully, my running coach was able to gain some insightful information from the clinic to share with the rest of the team.
One thing I wish I had and still do is a perfect running form. One teammate had what we jokingly called, ‘t-rex’ arms in that their arms almost never moved (but he was still fast). I have a strange form where my right hand makes a light grip, while my left is more loose. But similarly to my teammate, my arms did not swing as much as I’d like them to. The good thing is that you can find a good running form clinic almost anywhere. Although I’ve never attended one before, I would assume it’s a great way to have someone analyze your current form, give some constructive criticism and hopefully give some tips to help improve upon it to become a more efficient runner.