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I have been in Asia recently, talking to keen runners in Hong Kong. After that I was joined in Japan by Ian Adamson, 7 Times Adventure World Champion, who has kindly provided these images to help me explain the concept of Natural Running.
So, what is natural running?
It is the way that we run when we take off our shoes and socks.
 Look at this family, running naturally on the sandy beach. Their feet land naturally underneath their centre of gravity, it is when we put shoes on we start to run unnaturally.
While it is good to run barefoot from time to time, this is totally unpractical for most of us.
 Even the great Zola Budd, who held the 5,000m World record, has fallen in love with Newton, making it her choice of running shoe. And why not? With about an 80% return of your natural energy, Newton's are reported to return almost double the energy of traditional shoes, and they also protect you from injury much better than barefoot running. In the western world in large cities it is often impractical find softer ground to run barefoot. It is virtually impossible in Tokyo!
I am not going to spend time promoting the benefits of Newton Running shoes here, there is plenty of information about their benefits in their website (www.newtonrunning.co.uk).
Here I want to talk about our natural running gait. (See below), Heather Fir, Ironman World Champion is running in one rolling movement, she keeps her centre of gravity forward, allowing the forefoot to strike the ground just before the heel makes contact. This is known as the loading phase. This is where the tendons in the leg are coiled up like a spring and the lugs on the shoe loaded. After loading, Heather levers forward, and then lifts her foot off the ground, thus maximising her return of energy. This natural running gait, has been termed, as a float, land, lever, lift.
If you land heel first with your foot in front of your centre of gravity, not only does this act as a brake that slows you down, as you can see from the stick man images below, but it also, sends shock waves through the joints, increasing the chances of serious injury.
See below, I think a picture paints a thousand words. Craig Alexander is caught on camera, overturning a 15 minute lead from Terenzo Bozzone. In my view, Craig is demonstrating perfect running form in contrast to his rival who is running very inefficiently.
It is natural for the heel to land and load the muscles and tendons, but I would like t stress it is not natural running to strike the ground with the heel first. Look at some more examples of perfect natural running below.
Natural running is not just relevant to fast runners, it is relevant to all of us.
It is just that those that who run very well, have a natural advantage over those who do not.
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