I was reading through my April 2013 Issue of Triathlete Magazine the other day and came across an article about running form named “Run Like Pete.” As a disciple and practitioner of the Chirunning method, I was pretty eager to read the article. The article was written by Aaron Hersh and it outlined 3 key forms that Ironman World Champion Pete Jacobs identified as the key techniques for proper running form. I totally agree all three of these techniques are the very important things to emphasize in your running practice. The problem I had with this article is that the picture they chose to use to demonstrate these 3 forms. The image shows Pete doing anything but what is defined in the article.
The article outlines the following 3 techniques for proper running form…
- Posture – The article says “stand tall, run proud with your chest up…” While this is great advice, Pete has his head looking down and looks anything but tall or proud here. One of the techniques in Chirunning is to keep your head up looking straight ahead and your posture will follow. I am sure Pete Jacobs typically runs in a correct posture, but could they really not find an image that portrays this?
- Foot strike – In the image above, Petes’ foot is extending way out in front of him. This would almost guarantee a solid heel strike unless he pulls it back in at the last minute. His foot is not even close to landing underneath him.
- Cadence – Petes’ left arm is extending so far back here and looking anything but relaxed. Short and choppy motion? Not even close again!
Maybe they should have used an image more like this…
Being a Chirunning advocate, I find myself constantly analyzing others running styles. This becomes easy to do once you know how it is supposed to look. This picture just screamed to me as soon as I flipped the page. Granted I am always working on my own technique which is much harder for me to see than other people. I am really surprised that no one at Triathlete Magazine saw this conflict, especially the author, Aaron Hersh, who wrote it. For people not familiar with proper running technique this could really confuse them. I am pretty sure that Pete Jacobs does not typically run this way since I saw him at Ironman Lake Placid last year. I am sure he would not want people thinking he runs like this.
UPDATE: Received tweet from the articles author, Aaron Hersh, and he indicated that Pete is actually doing a “stride-out” in that image. A “stride-out” is one of the drills that are mentioned at the end of the article. I still find this to be a bit confusing to people as they would read the article on the first page. Maybe putting a caption under the image indicating this would be helpful.
