Written By Rich Saxton
I think rule number one of training to run a marathon is to tell everyone about it.
I’m not normally one for self-advertisement, but in this instance I’ve decided to come clean. Hopefully, telling everyone about my marathon plans will add an extra bit of motivation when the training inevitably gets tough!
While I understand the mechanics and demands of running from a rehabilitation and training perspective, applying that knowledge to myself is a very different story. It’s much easier to analyse someone else’s running technique than it is to look objectively at your own.
That got me thinking: what would happen if I put my own running under the microscope?
Analysing my running with Ochy
At Run Serve Health, we’ve recently introduced some new technology that uses AI to analyse running technique called Ochy.
We’re already experienced in videoing runners, analysing their running style and providing contextualised feedback where we feel it can make a difference, whether that’s to improve performance, reduce potential risk factors or support injury rehabilitation.
Ochy has enabled us to take this process to the next level.
The technology allows us to capture a short video of someone running and analyse a range of aspects of their running technique. Rather than relying solely on what we can see with the naked eye, it gives us another layer of information that can help inform our assessment.
So, what better way to put it to the test than by analysing my own running?
What did it find?
The process itself is surprisingly simple.
After a warm-up, you need around 10–15 seconds of running recorded from the side and from behind. The footage is then uploaded to the software, which analyses your running style and produces the results.
I had a few suspicions about my running technique before I started, and interestingly, the analysis picked up some of them.
One of the first things it identified was my tendency to look down when I run. It also highlighted a slight overstride, as well as the fact that I tend to keep my arms relatively locked and bent inwards.
None of these findings automatically mean that there is a problem.
And this is an important point when it comes to running analysis: just because something looks different from an 'ideal' running pattern doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be changed.
Running technique is highly individual. What matters is the context around what we find, including symptoms, training load, previous injuries, performance goals and how a particular running pattern responds to changes.
Does it actually matter?
Luckily, I’m currently injury-free, so there isn’t a specific injury that I’m trying to use the analysis to fix.
However, I do sometimes experience a bit of upper shoulder discomfort when I run longer distances. With that in mind, the analysis has given me something practical to work on.
For now, my first challenge is going to be relatively simple: relax my arms and try to look further ahead when I run.
Rather than completely changing my running style, the aim is to make small, potentially useful adjustments and see what happens.
That’s one of the things I find particularly interesting about running analysis. It isn’t about trying to make everyone run in exactly the same way. It’s about understanding an individual's running pattern and deciding whether there is anything worth changing based on the bigger picture.
The experiment begins
Now I’ve got a baseline, I can start to see whether these small changes make any difference.
Does relaxing my arms reduce the shoulder discomfort? Does looking further ahead change my running mechanics? And, perhaps most importantly, can I actually remember to do it when I’m several kilometres into a long run and wondering why I ever decided that running a marathon was a good idea?
I’ll be keeping an eye on my running as the training progresses and, hopefully, repeating the analysis along the way.
So, I’ve told everyone I’m running a marathon, analysed my running technique and identified a couple of things to work on.
Now I just need to do the training.
Keep checking back to see how I get on.