By Dr. Aaron Case BSc, DC (October 2008)
Treadmill Drill #1: Turn OFF excessive muscle activity
Most people waste energy when they run, slowing them down and increasing muscle soreness/damage. Besides simply trying to relax while running, self-analysis on the treadmill is an excellent way to smooth out your running stride and improve efficiency:
- Set the treadmill on a speed at which you can maintain an easy pace for some time. Increase the incline to 1-2% to better simulate outdoor conditions.
- Watch yourself in the mirror and look for any excessive body movements i.e. head bobbing, excessive arm swing, excessive forward/backward lean, knees too high, over striding, heavy landing, arms crossing the midline of the body, neck/shoulder tension, etc.
- Try to minimize the above movements to see if your heart rate (ideally monitored) or exertion level moves up or down.
- Try this at your chosen speed until you find what changes in your form produce the lowest heart rate (exertion level). This represents the best biomechanics/form for you.
Treadmill Drill #2: Practise your leg turnover with no change in speed
The off/pre-season is also the best time to start taking advantage of the springs in your legs. This translates into running 170-180 steps per minute (cadence) regardless of your running speed or your height. Increasing your stride rate is probably the easiest way to make major breakthroughs in your running speed, efficiency and form.
- Set the treadmill on a relatively easy pace at which you can maintain for some time. Increase the incline to 1-2% to better simulate outdoor conditions.
- Count your steps each minute and slowly work on increasing your rate up to the desired 170-180 steps/minute in increments of 3-4 steps/minute.
- Progress gradually over 1-3 months so that your body can adapt. At first, it may feel harder to maintain the same speed until the body adapts away from the more familiar, but inefficient, lower stride rate.
- Practise increasing your cadence up to 170-180 steps/minute on the treadmill at various speeds. In other words, try to maintain this same cadence regardless of the speed changes.
Treadmill Drill #3: Toe off correctly
One thing I often see when doing gait analysis on a patient is the inability of long distance runners to toe off properly, especially once fatigue accumulates. Running, especially over longer distances, causes the muscles on the inside of the calf, shin, ankle and arch of the foot to tighten, shorten and adhere to one another. This tightening in combination with running fatigue accentuates rolling off the outside of our foot and reducing our stride length, power and speed. Running efficiency is created when the big toe extends during toe-off because this creates a stiffening in the arch of the foot (“windlass effect”) allowing the foot to become a rigid/locked level from which to push off. Conversely, improper toe-off (from outer foot/toes) leads to pushing off a floppy foot resulting in weakness, muscle strain, and potential injury. As odd as it sounds, elite sprinters, and long distance runners to a lesser extent, often have large and hypertrophied big toe muscles and joints because any energy leak in this area would drastically slow them down. How do we practise this?
- Set the treadmill on a relatively easy pace at which you can maintain for some time. Increase the incline to 1-2% to better simulate outdoor conditions. In the mirror (in front of the treadmill) watch and feel which toe(s) leaves the treadmill last. This occurs when your foot is behind you so you won’t see it properly without a mirror.
- Try to make sure the last thing that leaves the ground is your big toe (or big and second toe). This is the goal.
- If you don’t feel some pressure through the big toe as your foot leaves the treadmill, try to make any subtle change that redirects your toe-off to being from the big toe.
To make rolling off the big toe more natural stretch your inner ankle by pressing your toes up against a wall or curb and bend you knee forward towards your toe. The key is to keep your weight on the inside of your heel and especially through your big toe. You should feel this stretch either in the big toes joints, inner arch of the foot, inner ankle/achilles area or inner calf, wherever it happens to be the tightest. Hold for 15-30 seconds 1-2x/day. Lessen or stop the stretch if you feel discomfort.
