Form Drill Session – with Mark Hadley

I don't know. Maybe it has been at least 5 or 10 years since I did any real form drills to improve my running and then it was just a couple of different drills – high knees and glut kicks. This is part of what sparked the idea of putting together a form drill session for our TrySports Running Team.

Being no expert myself, I knew we needed help so I reached out to Mark Hadley. Mark has a number of runners that he coaches and he uses these form drills to keep them injury free and running fast. Those are two areas of concern that every runner strives to achieve – stay injury free and run fast.

Through several email exchanges, Mark graciously volunteered to school us through a couple of sessions and we settled on some dates and times.

Any one that has seen me run knows that I am anything but the picture of grace while running. The mental image that comes to mind is a bull in a china shop. And, one is never too old to learn.

Our first session was last night at the Community House Middle School athletic field.

Mark and his daughter Alana came out and put us through a series of 8 different running form drills. Many of the drills Alana demonstrated before we tried them. I must say that she looked a lot more fluid than I did. But to her credit Mark has had Alana on this circuit for a while. I on the other hand, my brain was just trying to assimilate all of these movements. Some of the movement assimilated better than others. And some I don't think I assimilated at all so there is definitely more work for me to do.

I found myself not only breathing pretty hard through most of them but I was also working up a pretty good sweat.

Our session lasted about 50 minutes but that was mainly due to the instruction and illustrations that Mark and Alana provided. Normally, Mark says this set of routines takes about 20 minutes to complete.

Throughout the session Mark answered a ton of questions that left us walking with more information that we could have thought possible.

Now, I just need to find time in my weekly schedule to do these drills.

Before wrapping up, I would also like to thank Mark and Alana for sharing their time and knowledge with their fellow runners. I know I walked away having learned something new.

If you are interested in contacting Mark, click here. Additionally, Mark has posted a wealth of information online - elitemarathoning and his blog – Maximum Performance Running. Check both them out. Your time will be well spent.

 

Sharing one thought at time,

 

The Cool Down Runner