Holy Cucuzzella, thanks a million!!

SI barefoot

Barefooters
Jul 15, 2014
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Carbondale, Il
This is a big thanks to Dr Cucuzzella for posting what I find to be the most comprehensive 8.5 minute video on how to improve your running efficiency. His recommendation to lean slightly forward from the ankle has changed me as a runner forever. Before it would take me about 32-34 minutes to run 4.1 miles (3/10s of a mile shy of 2 full laps around the lake in my town, each lap is 2.2 miles -- you get the point, anyway), but I just easily did that distance in 27:39! I kind of pushed it the first lap (2.2 miles) and did that in 14:30, a 6:30 mile! Then I slowed my pace to what felt like a snail pace and finished the last 1.9 miles in 13:09, a 6:50ish pace! I figured I had slowed to an 8-9 minute mile that last 1.9 miles. Who'd ah thunk! Thanks so much again, Dr Cucuzzella.
 
The hard part isn't looking like him while you run. It's what's happening under his skin that's hard to get. There are a lot of subtleties going on in his brain and physiology that no camera can capture What muscle groups are activating at various portions of his stride, how does he maintain his relaxed poise, how hard is he really striking the ground with downward force? These are things to figure out to be able to safely sustain what he is doing for 26.2 mile and beyond, but I can say, several hours after my little run, I still feel pretty darn good.
 
An oldie but a goodie. Thanks for keeping it fresh!
 
I can see that my cadence is way too slow. My posture seems to be about right, I'm more or less using the right muscles, but I sure don't look as good as he does.

For those who have used this video, how do you translate watching the video into the way you run?

And if this is an "oldie but goodie", what basics would you point people to if they haven't seen what's on the Internet?
 
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Can someone help me out on this?
Looking at the video, I notice he lifts his leg fairly high with his heel almost touching buttcheeks. On the other hand, looking at a video of Ken Bob, he "barely" lifts his feet from the ground.

Am I missing something here?


 
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What I seem to be lacking most, and maybe this is nonessential, or will come with time, is the lack of recoil or flexion in my leg after my foot leaves the ground (the way his leg "hyperflexes" behind him. I think he has unbelievably compliant hips and hip extensor muscles. His form is as silky smooth as I have ever seen. When my leg recoils I don't think it flexes any more than to the point of being parallel to the ground (90 degrees flexed compared to his 140-160 degrees of flexion), unless I am sprinting. Maybe as time goes on and my hip compliance improves, the fluidity of my stride will too. His drills are really good too. I played around with all of them and felt very comfortable. My feet and ankles are compliant, I seem to move well with my glutes and my core is stable enough to stand on 1 foot and do mini squats without dropping my hip side opposite of the foot I'm standing on. I get a little shaky standing on my left foot for 30 seconds but the shakiness is limited to my foot. My hips stay put.

I don't think most people have as much recoil as Dr Cucuzzella, not even the Tarahumara. Maybe doc is unusually flexible in his hips, thus likely rendering that aspect of his form less essential. I'd love to hear his input on the matter.

My cadence wasn't up to snuff until I leaned slightly, and I mean just a tad, forward from my ankle. Then things really locked into place naturally and I just went autopilot. I had no idea I was moving so fast! A guide I used to determine how far to lean was to lean until my weight felt like it was focused over my arch. A tad further felt like my weight shifted to over the balls of my feet, too much (who needs extra stress on the balls of their feet?).

Some things I'd like to work on . . .

Sit less.

Monitor my heart rate as I run, I think my target heart rate shouldn't exceed 138 - 143.

Push myself just hard enough, which proper form will make much much easier:).
 
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Can someone help me out on this?
Looking at the video, I notice he lifts his leg fairly high with his heel almost touching buttcheeks. On the other hand, looking at a video of Ken Bob, he "barely" lifts his feet from the ground.

Am I missing something here?

Speed/pace!!
 
P
Can someone help me out on this?
Looking at the video, I notice he lifts his leg fairly high with his heel almost touching buttcheeks. On the other hand, looking at a video of Ken Bob, he "barely" lifts his feet from the ground.

Am I missing something here?




Plus, in this video Ken Bob is on a tread mill which does some of the work for him. Its motion will augment anybodies gait.
 
Just finished a short 2 miler. Went into it feeling a little fatigued. I had planned on taking it easy today and then taking the next 2-3 days off while I work. Found a comfortable pace and leaned a hair forward. I could tell my feet and muscles need a break. In spite of all of my malladies going into the run I still averaged a 6:48 mile. My heart rate upon completion was 148bpm. A little high but not too shabby. I wonder if my heart rate would have been lower if I didn't feel a little down?

Still gotta run about a mile later today with a friend who is new to the game. That, thankfully, will be much slower.
 
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Thats pretty good... we're about the same age but at that pace my heartrate is oh say 20 beats or more higher than yours! Though I havent measured it at those speeds in the last two years where I've made the most progress in my training, so maybe its better now.
 
i'm taking Dr Mark's and Jay Dicharry's healthy running seminar this weekend. worth it. if the skipping drills are in the video do them. if you're missing something still i'd venture to say you're not using your glutes. use them to propel you forward by pushing off. yup. he said it. push off with your glutes and let your hammies pull up your heel. the elastic recoil of your psoas will pull your legs forward. he doesn't recommend anyone runs until they have the mobility and stability to do it.

also if you have to think about which muscles to activate then your doing it wrong already.
 
Just finished a short 2 miler. Went into it feeling a little fatigued. I had planned on taking it easy today and then taking the next 2-3 days off while I work. Found a comfortable pace and leaned a hair forward. I could tell my feet and muscles need a break. In spite of all of my malladies going into the run I still averaged a 6:48 mile. My heart rate upon completion was 148bpm. A little high but not too shabby. I wonder if my heart rate would have been lower if I didn't feel a little down?

Still gotta run about a mile later today with a friend who is new to the game. That, thankfully, will be much slower.

Heart rate of 148 at 6:48 would be pretty good for a young guy... your an outlier with real low heart rate overall or you are older in good shape and/or you run really high mileage...I'm no slouch and i'm in decent shape and my heartrate for that speed would be around 165 close to my half marathon pace.
 
Heart rate of 148 at 6:48 would be pretty good for a young guy... your an outlier with real low heart rate overall or you are older in good shape and/or you run really high mileage...I'm no slouch and i'm in decent shape and my heartrate for that speed would be around 165 close to my half marathon pace.

He's one year older than me (just click on avatar) though my HR is a little higher I assume partly hereditary or also from being out of shape in my 20's. Maybe my crazy shift schedule stress too. As an aside, wow Moko if thats about your 1/2 pace thats great! My last half that I raced was over 30 seconds slower, I can only maintain in the 6's for 5-10k.
 
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He's one year older than me (just click on avatar) though my HR is a little higher I assume partly hereditary or also from being out of shape in my 20's. Maybe my crazy shift schedule stress too. As an aside, wow Moko if thats about your 1/2 pace thats great! My last half that I raced was over 30 seconds slower, I can only maintain in the 6's for 5-10k.

I think runners max heart rate varies widely by at least 10+beats for the same age and doesn't really mean much for relating fitness levels....so its really hard to compare to other runners based on HR.

As far as speeds go I think the course you race is a big factor on the times... I'm way slower on some courses.

You have it worse than me on the shift work...I work random shifts on the weekends but mostly stable day shifts on the weekdays coming off working over nite shifts most of last year...it makes a difference if you can get away from the changing shifts and/or the over nite work...less stress.
 
I think runners max heart rate varies widely by at least 10+beats for the same age and doesn't really mean much for relating fitness levels....so its really hard to compare to other runners based on HR.

As far as speeds go I think the course you race is a big factor on the times... I'm way slower on some courses.

You have it worse than me on the shift work...I work random shifts on the weekends but mostly stable day shifts on the weekdays coming off working over nite shifts most of last year...it makes a difference if you can get away from the changing shifts and/or the over nite work...less stress.

One thing I noticed about HR that was very surprising was how much the temperature affects mine. It seems like temperature has a greater bearing on my heart rate than my effort does. I'd have to check it a few more times to be sure, but it seems like on the really hot/humid days just my warmup has me hitting my MAF HR, on a cool day and I'm running to the point of exhaustion and not hitting my MAF HR... I just recently starting using HRM again, but having problems with the sensor chaffing me on longer runs especially hot runs where I'm sweating. Don't know if my skin will toughen up or if its just not going to work.

Good point on different courses. One thing I should mention, pretty much every single race I've ever run has been flat. I read a lot of the race reports where someone talks about hilly courses and such, I'm sure I'd be a lot slower. Pretty much all mine are ideal conditions.