GFR Review

GFR? What the heck is that? Good Form Running, and it's one of the latest trends in running, that's all. Note: this is my own commentary on GFR, and I'm new to it -- if you have corrections or input, please leave them in the comments.

Have you ever watched yourself run? No? Have you ever watched someone else run? The mechanics of running are actually very interesting. Next time you're driving down the road and you see a runner doing his thing, take a look at his form. Is he leaning forward? Is his head up? Down? All these things, and more, are elements of your running form, and can make all the difference.

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in the Good Form Running clinic offered by Runners Den here in Phoenix. I have to tell you up front that I was a little hesitant about going to this clinic, since my half-marathon is coming up in about a month, and I didn't want to change my running form for fear of aggravating my hip injury. I decided that I should participate in the clinic even if I decide not to change anything right away. It can't hurt to learn the material, right?

So, I showed up (a couple of minutes late) to find a small group gathered in a room at the back of the store. Friendly enough people, and the instructor was very enthusiastic. He gave us an overview of what GFR is and is not, and how it can help runners improve. We then went outside for the "meat" of the clinic -- the running.

We were lined up outside of the store in single file and took turns running past a video camera. Now, this is was my ONLY problem with the class. We were given about 6 ft of room to "warm up" before we crossed the starting line. After that point, we were in the hot zone in front of the camera. We had only 15 ft or so before we crossed the finish line and were out of the hot zone. I don't know about the other runners there, but that was not enough time or distance in order to get into my usual running form -- it felt very unnatural. So, what was recorded on video was NOT how I normally run.

Incidentally, after the run, I asked the instructor about the setup. He told me it was intentionally setup that way. That way, he could easily point out problems with our form. So, it wasn't meant to be an accurate assessment? How does that help? This clearly needs to change, if the GFR AZ folks want to be as helpful as possible.

After running the 15ft, we circled back, removed our shoes and ran again. This gave us an opportunity to see how we run barefoot, which results in a more natural form. This was a useful exercise, but again we were not provided enough room to get into form.

We ran through a couple of additional drills which showed us how establish good posture, proper cadence and correct stride length. This included a couple of short runs (100 yds, or so) in which we ran to a cadence of 180 bpm in order to get a feel for optimal cadence.

After all this, we went back inside to view and receive our running analysis. This was very useful. It's one thing to think you know how you're running. It's another thing to see it in slow motion in front of a classroom of other participants. I wasn't as bad as I thought I would be, but there was definitely room for improvement.

GFR - Instructional Video

Today, I planned my first GFR run. Mostly just to see if I could do it the "right" way. This was a treadmill run, and I decided to start slow. It felt very awkward to try to keep the feet moving at 180 bpm when the treadmill was only going 2 mph. Until the treadmill hit 6 mph, I almost felt like I was shuffling my feet, landing on the ball of my foot, and feeling as though I was constantly trying to keep myself from tripping. After 6 mph, the treadmill was moving just fast enough that I had to really concentrate to keep the cadence up and keep my feet in the proper position.

I had to cut my run short at only 4 miles, but it actually felt pretty good. My calves were a bit sore, but the run didn't seem to aggravate my hip at all. As I write this, more than 12 hours later, I'm nursing two small blisters ...one on each of my big toes. Time for more practice.