You’ve most likely heard lots about tempo, diet and race-day ways, however have you ever ever thought-about the influence of your floor contact time? Matt Fitzgerald, a famend working coach and writer, believes this often-overlooked element could possibly be the sport changer in your coaching. Floor contact time (GCT) is all about working effectivity, and Fitzgerald has 4 sensible methods that can assist you grasp it.
GCT refers back to the period of time your foot spends on the bottom throughout every stride, and analysis reveals that lessening it could result in sooner and extra environment friendly working.
The key to boosting pace
Fitzgerald highlights a crucial level: the much less time your foot is in touch with the bottom, the sooner you progress. Elite runners usually have the shortest GCT, as a result of they’re capable of apply power to the bottom rapidly and effectively, preserving them airborne longer. A Finnish research on working mechanics and economic system discovered that shorter GCT was strongly correlated with improved working effectivity and pace. In easier phrases, when your foot is on the bottom, you’re not shifting ahead—so spending much less time there’s a key to getting sooner.
3 methods to reduce your GTC
Increase your energy with pace coaching
Fitzgerald suggests incorporating quick working into your routine to assist cut back your GCT. Including just a few sprints at max pace, or longer intervals at 5K tempo, can practice your legs to provide faster, extra highly effective strides. This helps enhance your potential to use power quickly, which in flip reduces your GCT.
Strengthen with plyometrics
Plyometric workout routines like leaping drills and heavy weightlifting can enhance leg stiffness–one other essential consider minimizing GCT. Research have proven that stronger, “stiffer” legs can take in and return power extra effectively, contributing to a faster stride and improved working economic system.
Change to midfoot-striking
Analysis has additionally linked midfoot-striking with shorter GCT. Transitioning from heel-striking to midfoot-striking can naturally lower the period of time your foot is on the bottom. In a single research, midfoot strikers had a floor contact time of 183 milliseconds, in comparison with 199 milliseconds for heel strikers. Fitzgerald suggests being attentive to what a part of your foot is taking the best influence if you run, and work in your stride to shift that space barely ahead. Mimicking working downhill by tilting very gently ahead from the ankles will assist your foot land beneath your hips.