I’m certainly not a running expert, but I always feel the need to pass along advice to others that don’t appear to know what they are doing. I don’t know if I have an innate need to help, or if I just think I’m smarter than them.
Case in point—the other day at the gym, a young woman got on the treadmill next to me. She put the treadmill on 3.8 mph and proceeded to “run”. Now, “run” is in quotes, because what she was doing can’t really be called running. She was bouncing and hopping around. Her head was literally bounding up and down at least 12 inches. I can’t imagine the amount of impact her joints were absorbing with that much vertical change during her run.
As a minimalist runner, the goal is to land as lightly as possible with each step since you don’t have the cushion of shock absorbing Nike soles. We typically have shorter strides and bend our knees more than traditional runners to minimize the bounce in our steps. So now I notice runners that are on the other end of the spectrum and worry about them injuring themselves.
Ultimately I decided not to counsel the “runner” next to me at the gym. I’m guessing the pain she felt the next day was enough to tell her she had done something wrong.
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