Currently 68 going up to 93 today. Eee-gad. Glad I don't have a run today, but MOB and I are planning on hitting the Silver Comet Trail with our bikes today. Hope he gets up soon.

Yesterday I found out something very important during a conversation with a professional triatholan trainer. The subject of my tricky knee came up. He asked if it was worse on uphills. Yes. He then mentioned something about how some runners strike with their heel more on uphills and that the shock of the heel hitting the ground is carried up to the knee and causes damage.

Me: Wait - you mean you're not supposed to land on your heel???

Centuries ago, when I tried joining the cross-country team in high school (lasted two weeks, different story), the only running tip that stuck with me was that a runner should land on their heel and transfer weight to the ball of the foot for efficiency.

He said that runners were told this in ancient times, but that the wisdom has changed with the realization that this form causes damages the legs.

This is huge news for me. Especially since my knee injury, I have been consciously trying to land on my heel more, thinking that it was the proper form! In all my research over knee injuries, I never came across this information regarding heel-striking. I am very excited to get out for my next run to work on changing this.

Here are some links I found related to this topic. It was good to find out that I'm not the only person that this has been a revelation to. And that there is actually a wee bit of controversy over this.

http://forums.runnersworld.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/609106477/m/4631057151

http://www.yourrunning.com/forum-how_not_to_heel_strike

http://runners-corner.com/heelstrike.php