This past week, with the help of a metronome, we dipped into the archives to participate in a rhythm drill. From a bystanders perspective, the exercise appears as a mechanized routine for cattle, but when combined with other drills, the dividends can be very rewarding.
The activity starts with a metronome. I use an app to sync with our speaker that is brought to the corner of the track so runners can hear it for longer durations, usually ~60 meters in distance. Runners begin their trot from the traditional starting line, then once within earshot of the metronome beats, they’ll aim to sync their stride by raising their landing foot at the sound of each tone.
When I first began using this drill, I had runners focus on the landing of the foot at the sound of the tone, but on one chilly evening during our Winter Training session, one of our coaches, Kyle Leif, a local Physical Therapist, suggested the kids raise their foot from the ground at the sound of the tone, rather than strike the ground. When asking him about this, he said the raising versus landing is to focus on lift, rather than an abrupt or unintentionally prolonged (and hard) stomp, which makes complete sense.
The goal of performing and mastering such drills is to improve mechanical efficiency so runners can run at greater intensities with lower heart rates for longer distances. Drills that improve (by decreasing) vertical oscillation, stride length (by increasing), and stride frequency (by increasing), amongst other things, are continuously practiced, not to necessarily build machines, but to, again, improve efficiency, better self-control, and increase poise.
Click here to watch a moment of the drill, where we performed this during the warm-up phase of practice. We began with 174 beats, and with every 120m stride, increased the metronome cadence by three beats, until we reached somewhere in the 190’s. The next goal is to take this drill and blend it in with intervals, tempos, or threshold training, where we can execute the drill for longer durations, well beyond 120 meters.
Admittedly, the metronome can only be tolerated for so long before it begins to drive you bonkers. However, the key to running well is to be consistently intentional with effective actions that become regular. Like penmanship, if it is taught and practiced well at the onset, then it continues being pretty for the rest of ones life. However, if ones penmanship looks like a physicians scribble, then as runners, we have a lot of work do to. Another part of the equation, unlike penmanship however, is that there is a genetic predisposition to how a child runs - their patterns will mimic how their parents run or ran, for better or worse.
Keeping the focus on the lower body, two drills you can take on the road, minus the metronome, are the following:
Sidewalk Training: it’s not difficult to find long stretches of sidewalk, where you can find a rhythm that balances the cracks in the sidewalks (aka, expansion joints) and your gate. When your left toe lands at the next crack (expansion joint) in the sidewalk, count the number of strides before it lands in the next crack. Then, aim to stay in the rhythm of X-number of strides per X-number of sidewalk cracks. If you find that you are 1-2 inches behind the expansion joint on your fourth stride, aim to increase the “push” from your big toe on each stride to increase stride length by a single centimeter (or two). It is important, that while executing this drill, the focus be on pushing off the toe rather than reaching on each stride. Reaching can lead to heal striking, which is a force sending energy into the opposite direction of where we aim to go.
Find a good runner, one who runs slightly faster than you on a typical run, and run to their cadence. Running off their shoulder or just behind them, aim to sync the landing phase of your stride with theirs, so each time their left foot strikes the ground, your left foot strikes the ground. If you find yourself getting progressively closer to them, then your stride is slightly longer than theirs. If you fall further behind, then your stride is slightly shorter, in which case you’ll need to push off slightly more with each step to lengthen your stride, being sure to push horizontally, rather than vertically. When this drill was brought to the attention of one of our runners last week, she fell off pace (behind) quickly. This is the same runner whose stride frequency is higher than average, but her stride length is very short. This drill helped her internalize and feel what we’ve been discussing for so long.
One morning while on a run with Micah, I asked him what drills he performs when focusing on rhythm. Funny enough, immediately he said his hands. When I thought back to who his coaches throughout his career, I couldn’t help but remember Bob Williams, the Clark College XC/TF coach in the mid 2010’s. Bob was sharp as a tack, always studying and learning about gate, energy systems, drills, etc., even at his ripe young age (mid-60s’s???). Coach Bob taught running from the top down, while I teach running from the ground up. Both can be effective, but it is interesting how two philosophies can be used in an effort to attain similar results.
