Hey RMA Crew! Sorry I missed you guys last week. Things got pretty hectic around here. I got stuck in the renovating whirlwind. It kind of chewed me up and spat me out! Didn’t know if I was going to make it for a few days there…I NEED to get out for a run! Will had a great time last weekend in Sydney with you all. Thanks for looking after him. Talking about Will, today I wanted to go through probably the single most helpful strategy to improve your running immediately.

I had one of our mums preparing for her first half marathon the other day. She had a couple of niggles and she was asking questions about improving running. Get me talking about running and I can kind of rave on forever. Anyway I think I was kind of confusing her with detail because she finally said ‘if there is one piece to start targeting, what would it be?’ I thought for a second, what is it? Easy, find your tipping point.

So what is your tipping point? It’s the body position you want to use for the most effortless running. So how do you find it? Can you remember as a kid when you played those trust games where you had to close your eyes and let yourself fall backwards for your friends to catch you. Quick way to find out who your real friends are! Anyway if you think of that game but instead of backwards, fall forwards. And you won’t let yourself fall on your face, as you fall there will be a tipping point where you need to take a step. That position is your ‘tipping point’ for running and you want to try to explore how to find it and optimise it.

You’ll find that when you do that, running basically becomes a bit like a controlled fall and it’s gravity propelling you forward, NOT pure grunt and muscle power. Wilson Kipsang who broke the marathon record is a master of this and if you analyse footage he actually runs with a lean forward of about six or seven degrees. Gravity is the runners friend. Elite runner use it intuitively but many of us make it our enemy and fight it the whole way which is always going to end in tears.

Check out this piece from Will to start finding your own tipping point. Bet you go further easier pretty much straight away! Congrats this week to running mum Shona Stephenson for her first in the mixed teams and third overall at Kokoda last week. Glad you dragged the boys up those hills. Next time try to not get lost and run an extra 12k and you’ll win it for sure! Big shout out to everyone involved in the Brisbane Running Festival this weekend and all the other events as well. Run hard guys!

Talk next week RMA crew!

Paul Trevethan Physio

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