Running is a simple sport, right? After all, we grow up running around on the playground and never worry about form, technique or efficiency. The truth is that many competitive adult runners can improve their run times by making subtle changes in form and as in many things, we can derive ideas and concepts from studies done on elite athletes.

Foot strike placement has been viewed as a key indicator of running speed and success and clearly shows that elite runners tend to have more of a mid-foot strike (MFS) dominance. In a study completed in Japan (Hasegawa et Al, Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan) at a half marathon comprised of many elite runners of international and Olympic caliber, four hundred fifteen runners (415) were filmed by a camera placed at the 15.0 km point to take images of foot landing and take-off.

The study demonstrated that the faster elite runners, those capable of running at a pace of approximately 15 minutes, 17 seconds per 5K, had a higher percentage of mid-foot strikers (MFS) as compared to slower runners in the field (36% to 23.7%, respectively). Furthermore, rearfoot striking (RFS) was noted in 74.9% of the slower runners and in only 62% of the faster runners with a very small percentage of both groups (1.4 and 2% respectively) preferring a forefoot strike (FFS).

Another point of interest was that foot to ground contact time (CT), whereby shorter CT equates to faster running time, was greater in rear foot striking runners as compared to the faster mid-foot striking runners.

If could be concluded from this study that adult competitive runners hoping to improve their running economy and speed should attempt to develop more of a mid-foot strike bias and work to reduce their foot to ground contact time.

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