Many of you who do not live in the cities we have visited have been curious about what exactly goes on in our Natural Running clinics. This clinic shown in this video was not put on by us, but it is taught by Dr. Mark who makes frequent appearances at our events and will give you a pretty good idea about how to get started changing to a more natural form. It took place in Hagerstown, MD at Ruff Fitness.
Dr. Mark Cucuzzella just passed us along a document outlining foot anatomy and biomechanics, barefoot motion, the effects of heel lift, shoe design flaws and myths, and proper toe alignment. It makes for an interesting read—especially for any science nerds out there. Click the link to download the full document. The most interesting part is that it lays out the facts about how a foot works and is not Newton marketing material, but comes to the same conclusions that we believe in when it comes to proper footwear.
Next week we are holding two Natural Running Symposia in Florida. (Click on images for full details)
Wednesday, July 7th at Runner’s Depot in Davie, FL we are holding a Natural Running Presentation and Discussion from 6:30-8:30 PM.
Thursday, July 8th at the Western High School Track in Davie, FL there will be a Natural Running form clinic from 6:30-7:30 AM.
Thursday, July 8th at Footworks in South Miami there is a Natural Running Presentation and Discussion from 6:30-8:30 PM and on Friday, July 9th from 6:30-7:30 AM there is a Natural Running Form Clinic from 6:30-7:30 AM also at Footworks.
Interested in knowing if Newton is coming to your town? Our event page is constantly being updated, so check in often!
Have a happy 4th!
Sir Isaac
By Danny Abshire, co-founder, Newton Running
No one has perfect running form, but everyone can improve their running mechanics. Doing so can make you a more efficient runner, which means you’ll use less energy in every stride and boost your running economy (the ability to process oxygen efficiently while running). Ultimately, improved form can make you faster and less prone to overuse injuries. 
One of the primary ways to improve your running technique is through form drills. Form drills are easy to do and don’t take a lot of time, but they’re often overlooked, forgotten or ignored when a workout is completed. Taking an extra 5 to 15 minutes to do form drills a several times per week can make you more fluid, more efficient and even faster for both short and long distances.
Most drills take the aspects of good form — a compact arm swing, soft footstrikes with the midfoot under your center of mass, quick leg turnover, an upright posture with a slight forward lean at the ankles — and accentuate it in a repetitive motion that trains the body to be comfortable with that movement during your regular running mechanics. Some drills are aimed at building smaller muscles (such as the intrinsic group and lumbrical group in the foot), while others help your neuromuscular system fire quicker.
Do one set of each drill three to five times per week. You can do the drills before or after your regular workout, but doing them after a workout can be especially helpful in loosening muscular tightness brought on during your run.
1) Run in Place
This sounds simple, and it is, but it requires an adherence to good form in a semi-stationary setting while varying your cadence from high to very high. If you’re following the aspects of good form, you should be moving forward slightly because your momentum and a slight lean from the ankles will carry you forward. While you’re doing this drill, think about each element individually — a compact and consistent arm swing, light, mostly flat, midfoot/forefoot footstrikes, a steady but relaxed head, jaw, neck, shoulders and torso — and how each plays into the bigger picture of your running form. This drill is especially effective in teaching your body to increase leg cadence (optimally to 180 steps per minute) and learning how to lift your leg to start a stride instead of pushing off. Do three 15-second sessions per set.
2) Jump Rope
Jumping rope is simple, but as a drill it’s not going to help your running unless you’re doing it right. Jumping rope can instill the soft, midfoot/forefoot landings we aim for while running. Your body will naturally not let you land on your heel — especially if you’re jumping rope barefoot — because landing on your heels would inflict too much force on the bones, muscles and other tissue in your heels, ankles and legs. It can also emphasize elastic recoil, as your heel settles on the ground before a new stride begins. Jumping rope also reinforces the notion that a new stride should begin by lifting your leg instead of pushing off. As you jump off the ground, focus on lightly lifting your feet off the ground instead of forcefully pushing off the ground. Alter your tempo between slow, medium and fast speeds, all while concentrating on the tenets of good running form. Each set should be 15-20 seconds in duration.
3) High Knees
Running in place with high knees is another drill that accentuates lifting your foot off the ground instead forcefully pushing off to begin a new stride. This is essentially jogging in place, alternately lifting your knees to a 90-degree angle with your thighs parallel to the ground. As with the jog in place drill, your slight forward lean and the momentum gained in this drill will gradually move you forward. Be sure to focus on soft, run midfoot and forefoot footstrikes, using your core to lower your leg down slowly instead of letting it crash to the ground. This drill requires and also helps instill a compact and consistent arm swing, even though your arms might cycle slightly slower to coincide with the longer hang time of your legs. The motion of your arms will actually help you lift a foot off the ground to start a new stride and keep you balanced. (Briefly try this drill with your arms stationary at your sides and you’ll find yourself forcefully pushing your feet off the ground and you’ll have a more difficult time keeping balanced.) Keep your torso, head and shoulders relaxed and fairly still during this drill and avoid too much vertical oscillation with your center of mass. Each set should consist of 20 high-knee thrusts or 10 elevations of each knee.
4) Butt Kicks
Butt Kicks accentuate the recovery portion of the running gait phase. Instead of using your hamstring to lift your leg off the ground, think about alternately flicking your lower leg backward with the use of your quadriceps and hamstring muscles then dropping it back down to the ground under the center of your mass. The movement should be quick and pronounced but relaxed so that you’re able to return your foot to the ground softly at the midfoot. As with High Knees, a compact and consistent arm swing is crucial to keeping your balance and maintaining a high cadence. Each set should consist of 20 butt kick strides or 10 elevations of each leg.
5) Skipping 1 – Quick Skip
The goal of this drill is to quicken the timing of your neuromuscular system so you can increase your running cadence to 180 steps per minute or slightly faster. As you quickly pick up one leg off the ground with the start of a stride, the other foot skips off the ground with two small and quick hops before the legs alternate. There is a staccato sensation to this drill when it’s done correctly, but the more you practice it the easier you’ll fall into a consistent rhythm. A compact and very quick arm swing is crucial to keeping your balance and maintaining a high cadence. Each set should consist of about 15 to 20 seconds of skipping.
6) Skipping 2 – Slow Skip
Unlike the previous drill, this is a slow-action skipping drill that accentuates the high knee action of the lifted leg during a running stride. With this drill, you’ll practice lifting your leg off the ground to being a new stride instead of pushing off the ground. To extend the duration of the lifted leg in the air, you’ll skip with the opposite foot. The rhythm of this drill will also have a staccato effect, but it will be much slower in nature. A compact, slow arm swing will keep your balance and allow you to maintain a high cadence. Each set should consist of about 15 to 20 seconds of skipping.
7) Donkey Kicks
It seems like a silly name, but it looks just like it sounds like. Begin with a straight, slightly forward-leaning posture, a compact arm swing, level hips and flexed ankles and knees of the athletic “ready” position. Pull one leg backwards as if you’re kicking something behind you. While balancing on the midfoot area of the stationary leg, repeatedly pull the kicking leg backward, then allowing it to recoil forward. This drill accentuates good hip extension and teaches your body to make footstrikes under your center of mass. Do 10 kicks with each leg per set.
8 ) Arm Pull Backs
This drill accentuates the proper motion of the arms during the gait cycle by highlighting the posterior portion of the compact arm swing. Begin with a level head and shoulders, keeping a straight spine with a slightly forward-leaning posture between the chin and hips. Alternate pushing your arms backwards as they are held at 90 degrees (or less). The key is keeping your arms swinging in a plane parallel to your torso and not rotating your body to assist the movement. Do a total of 20 alternating pull backs per set, 10 with each side.
Danny Abshire is the co-founder of Newton Running, a Boulder, Colo.-based company that makes shoes that promote an efficient midfoot/forefoot running gait. He has been making advanced footwear solutions for runners and triathletes for more than 20 years.
Dr. Mark Cucuzzella (center) outside his storefront with business partners Tom Shantz and James Munnis
Loyal readers of this blog recognize the name Dr. Mark Cucuzzella. He’s a family physician who has completed over 60 marathons and ultras, and continues to compete as a National level Masters runner. His marathon best is 2:24 and he has run under 2:35 for a marathon 22 of the last 24 years including a 2:34 in the 2010 Boston Marathon at age 43. He’s also an expert on running biomechanics and a big fan of Newton (but not on our payroll). We’re excited to share the news that Dr. Mark’s new store, Two Rivers Treads in Shepherdstown, WV is having its grand opening event this Saturday, June 26. If you live in the area you should definitely check it out.
Two Rivers Treads should be of interest even to those of you who live far away because of its unique approach to the business of selling shoes. Dr. Mark and his team have carefully selected only shoes that work with the foot. Instead of carrying the entire product range of popular brands, they’ve choosen individual models that facilitate natural running and walking styles. If you visit the website, you’ll see that they provide detailed information on each shoe, including the heel height and toe height in millimeters so that you can determine each shoe’s ramp angle.
Two Rivers Treads is the first shop of its kind – a shoe store that promotes spending as much time barefoot as possible and provides products and education that help people realize an efficient and injury-free style of running. It’s an exciting experiment in the otherwise stale world of running retail and we’re proud to be a part of it.. The store is also the headquarters for Freedom’s Run, an event that Dr. Mark started in 2009 that winds through four separate national parks, and serves as a center of confluence for the outdoors, arts, and healthy-living local communities.
In addition to the grand opening event this Saturday, Boston Marathon winner Amby Burfoot will be speaking Tuesday evening (June 29). The talk is titled “100,000 Miles and Going Strong: How to Run Smart and Healthy for Life.” Check it out!
by Danny Abshire, co-founder, Newton Running
People have been experimenting with barefoot running for a long time, but in recent years the activity has gained mainstream notoriety and science-based credibility. Most coaches, elite athletes, physiologists and other medical experts agree that running barefoot in very small doses on soft surfaces can help improve your running mechanics and teach your body to land lightly at your midfoot, but they also agree that you should wear some kind of running shoes most of the time.
“Throw your shoes away for good? Sure, if you have perfect mechanics and you’ve been living barefoot all of your life,” says Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, a West Virginia University professor and 2:25 marathoner who has studied barefoot and minimalist runners in relation to running injuries. “But that’s not the majority of runners. Most runners absolutely need to wear shoes when they run.”
If you’re used to running in a traditional training shoe with a built-up heel, running barefoot can be a fascinating experience of freedom and can be the first step in developing natural running mechanics. Running unshod your foot naturally seeks out the ground by landing at the midfoot/forefoot, where it receives sensory interaction, or afferent feedback. This sensory input immediately tells the rest of the body how to move efficiently with light footsteps, a high leg cadence, a relaxed but consistent arm swing, an upright posture and a slight forward lean from the ankles. This same feedback can be gained while wearing some types of lightweight shoes, but traditional trainers with thick levels of foam dampen the sensory interaction and make it much harder to interpret the ground, especially with the heel-striking gait those shoes promote. (more…)
If you live in the LA area, please come join us for our next Natural Running Symposium at Runnergy in Sherman Oaks on Wednesday, June 2. Newton Running’s Director of Education, Ian Adamson (who is also a 7-time adventure racing world champ), will lead a discussion on how to run faster, stronger, more efficiently and with less injury. Immediately following the Symposium, Ian will take the group outside for a running form clinic, offering individualized advice and feedback to participants.
Oh, and a bag o’ Newton bling to the first 30 people at the Symposium plus a free shoe raffle! Hope to see you there!
And here’s a quick look at some of our upcoming Natural Running Symposia (had to look up the plural of symposium) around the country. More details here.
June 12th: Newton Running Symposium, Newton Running Lab, Boulder, CO 5:30-7:30pm
June 13th: Running Form Clinic, Newton Running Lab, Boulder, CO 9am-10am
June 15th: Newton Running Form Clinic, Central Park, NY Meet at the Boathouse 6:30pm
June 16th: Newton Running Symposium, The Track and Field Store (997 Madison Avenue, NYC) 6:30-8:30pm Symposium, Q and A
June 17th: Runner’s Edge, Farmington, NY 6:30-7:30pm Symposium, Q and A 7:30-8:30pm Form Clinic
First of all, for those of you running in the 114th Boston Marathon next Monday, congratulations on qualifying! There are enough pre-race guides and preparation materials out there that I get butterflies in my stomach just skimming them, but we’ve got one more terrific resource you should really check out before Monday. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve heard us talk about Dr. Mark Cucuzzella before. He’s an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at West Virginia University and an expert in exercise physiology and running biomechanics (to be clear, he is not on the Newton Running payroll). He has run over 50 marathons and competed at Boston 16 times, finishing 5 times under 2:30.
The good doctor just sent us a detailed and thoughtful document entitled “How to Run the Boston Marathon.” Whether you’re running Boston on Monday, a marathon later this year, or even just a local 5K sometime soon, Dr. Mark’s guide is a very insightful tool you shouldn’t miss. Click the following link to download the pdf guide and by all means, pass this along to anyone you know racing on Monday: How to Run the Boston Marathon.
The team from Newton is on it’s way to Boston right now. If you’re in the area, please come by and say hello at the race expo. It’s free and open to the public. Also, don’t miss Dr. Mark, Dr. Dan Lieberman, Warren Green and Amby Burfoot from Runner’s World leading a seminar called “Shoes, Barefoot, Pose, Chi: How Should You Run?” on Saturday at 3pm presented by Runner’s World. Details here.
Otherwise, good luck to everyone at Boston. We’ll be cheering you on!
Danny, Ian and Dr. Mark continue the coast-to-coast Natural Running tour with their next stop in San Diego Thursday and Friday. Here are the deets:
Natural Running Symposium: Thursday, March 25, 6pm at Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel. Map and directions here.
Running Form Clinic: Friday, March 26, 7am meet at Nytro Multisports in Encinitas. Directions here.
Thanks to all our partners for this stop on the tour: Running Skirts, Nytro Multiport and RoadRunners Sports. All events are free and there will be door prizes! We’d love to see you there.
It’s a busy weekend for the crew at Newton Running with events and expos on both the left and right coasts. First up, is the expo at the LA Marathon on Friday and Saturday at Dodger Stadium – please come say hello to our team (Steve, Yo, Erin and Erica) at the brand new Newton booth. On the other side of the country, we’re teaming up with All3Sports.com to host a booth at the ING Georgia Marathon expo at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Timmy and Tory will be in Atlanta to answer all your Newton needs.
The expos in LA and Atlanta will be the first opportunity see (and/or purchase) our new Performance Trainers. In fact, if you come by our booth and try on a pair of new shoes, and say the code words “level platform,” we’ll give you a free gift (while they last).
Finally Danny, Ian and Dr. Mark are hosting our second Natural Running Symposium on Friday and Saturday in Boston, where we’ll also have our new shoes to try on.
We hope to see you out this weekend!
Our brand new expo booth will be at the LA Marathon
