Bound for Speed

[Nick]

Drills like hopping, skipping, and other bounding exercises can improve your running form and increase leg strength and power


Do you run with correct form? Most runners don't. Do you assume that as long as you do your prescribed training, you don't have to pay attention to running form?

Unfortunately, most runners do.

One prominent exception is Bob Kennedy, a former national high school mile and cross-country champion who has become America's best 5000-meter runner and a medal contender for the Atlanta Olympics. Guess what Kennedy includes in his workouts: hopping, skipping and other bounding drills to improve form.

They're all part of the highly successful program created b? coach Sam Bell of the University of Indiana. Kennedy is an Indiana graduate still coached by Bell, who has guided numerous world-class athletes in his 38 years on the job and is a member of the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame.

"Just as there's a good and bad way to shoot a jump shot," says Bell, "there's a good and bad way to run." Bell adds that most of the high school runners he observes have poor mechanics, slowing them down.

In the good way to run, the body is in alignment. Keep your head high and focus your gaze straight in front of you, not downward. Your arms and legs should move entirely in a forward motion, with no wasteful sideways slack. In the bad way, precious time is lost; your form is inefficient (like a car in need of a tune-up), and you don't run up to your potential. This is true in every event, from the sprints through the distances.

As a simple self-test, position yourself behind a straight line, such as a marker on a track, and stand the way you normally do. Chances are, says Bell, one or both of your feet will point outward. That shows that your feet point outward when you run, too.
Now, rock on your heels and bring your toes forward so they point straight ahead. You should gain 1 to 4 inches on the ground simply by straightening your toes in that standing position.

Translate that gain to your running stride, says Bell, emphasizing that stride length is a key factor in running speed. "If you gain only 1 inch per stride, do you know what that would mean for a 5000?"

It would be a gain of roughly 15 seconds. Four inches per stride would gain you a full minute! You could progress from a midpacker to one of the best.

All it takes is some hopping and skipping. To understand the concept of alignment, imagine yourself pedaling a bicycle. The feet and legs move as one smooth unit.
While running, your arms and hands should also be part of that unit. "You run not only with your legs but with your upper body, which has a bearing on direction," says Bell.
Do you have "chicken wings"? This is Bell's label for those who run with their elbows flared, causing the arms to swing across the body. It's a big time-waster. Your arms should move up and back (with elbows bent), not side to side.

To get rid of chicken wings and other lapses in form, try some of the following drills:  


Arm Movement
While jogging slowly in place, move your arms forward and back as though you were running at race pace. Keep your elbows close to your body. Your hands should be relaxed, with thumbs up and resting comfortably on your index fingers. (Never run with clenched fists; it only tightens you up.)



Moving Stride
Do this with a partner who's jogging forward very slowly. Position yourself behind your partner with both your hands on his shoulders and jog forward slowly yourself. As you move forward, exaggerate your running motion so that you: (a) bring your front leg up until the upper leg is perpendicular to the ground, and (B) kick your trailing leg backward far enough for your foot to just touch your buttocks. Work on both legs. Emphasize the push-off of your foot. The idea is to shorten the angle between your upper and lower leg. The shorter the angle, the faster you'll run.  

High Knee

Run at an average pace with a slight forward lean, bringing your heels all the way to your buttocks so your knees are high. Keep your hips forward so they're in front of your feet when you push off the ground. Don't extend your leg; again, work on the push-off. If you don't keep your hips forward, you'll look as if you're "sitting?in a saddle."  


Fast Leg
Same as High Knee, except this is done at top speed. Whenever you feel your form breaking down, slow your pace. Try for a distance of roughly 50 meters.  


Heel to Glute
"Glute" refers to the gluteus maximus, one of the muscles in your rear. Running slowly, move down the track, kicking your heel up so it just about touches the glute with each stride. Work on coordinating arms and legs in a rhythmic motion, placing the heel in the middle of your glute and keeping the heel straight.  


Skipping
This motion we learned as children helps teach body balance and rhythm. As you skip, push forward with your arm, keeping your elbow locked. Make sure your hips stay in front of the support leg, and your knees are high. Get good height.  


Double-Arm Skip
Skip for distance, not height, by extending both arms forward on each skip.  
Athletes should work with coaches and teammates on these drills[/size]. When you start, tackle a couple of drills at a time and do four to six repetitions. Eventually, you can do all the drills, but do only a couple of reps of each. Do them two or three times a week.
Before doing the drills, suggests Bell, do your warmup and stretching, plus an acceleration lap around the track in which you gradually build speed to about 75 percent of maximum at the finish. Then go into your regular workout.

These high-impact movements, also known as plyometric training, pose a risk [/size]of injury. To minimize the risk, Skip Stolley, a former high school coach and coauthor of a track-and-field manual for young runners, recommends the following precautions:  


Start with the exercises you find the easiest.

Maintain proper technique.

Use a soft, level surface, such as grass as opposed to concrete.

Wear supportive training shoes.

Never add extra weight with a vest or ankle weights.


Drills like these not only improve running form but increase leg strength and power. As many high school coaches are finding out, drills can also improve hill running and help you develop a kick.

One coach whose team does drills on a daily basis is Bill Preston of Council Rock High School in Newtown, Pennsylvania. "Our drills are done three times at a distance of 30 meters," he says. "One thing we emphasize is running "tall," which helps you maintain good form. I talk about running 2 inches taller than you are."

The drills seem to work for Council Rock. The boys' cross-country team has won eight of the last nine state 3A titles and was ranked number five in the nation in 1995.

Don't chicken out. Run tall, run smart, run fast.