Forefoot Running Is Good For Health
I have always wondered what the right style of running was.When you are a kid you tend to run almost freely and you really don’t worry about what posture you run with.I have observed that Kids run naturally and their style is almost close to being called ‘perfect’.When you grow into an adult you have to deal with different constraints.Your body parts behave differently and it’s not the same feeling running if you had a wide gap between runs.Your age and your weight impacts the style that you run with.
When I first started to run, the way I landed my feet was far more different then when I was a kid.I used to land on my heel but sooner I realized that it was not the right way of doing it as I had a lot of pain in my calf muscles and lower legs.I then decided to use my toes effectively.However that was quite pounding on my knees.I had almost decided to quit running considering that it was not my cup of tea.However then one of my marathon freak friends told me that I was not running right.To be natural and put the least pressure on my body I had to run my forefeet.
My style of running had been a mix of the usage of heels and toes.In Mumbai the roads are a mix of tar and concrete.There are places where there would be sand and mud as well.So my style was more tuned to such conditions.I found using toes better on tar roads and on concrete or mud I found that heels were more suited.Using this strategy I could generate better pace.However pace is not of much importance if you can’t continue for longer duration.
I decided to use the forefoot for one of my trials.I literally strolled for 5 kilometers and for the first time I felt light after running.The pace was acceptably less as I was doing this for the first time but my legs felt really good after the run.I felt I could run for another 5 kilometers without any drain.I had never experienced such a thing when I was using my heel or toe.Switching to forefoot running looked like a great reliever instead of retiring completely from my runs.