WFR #8: Forward Tilt | Wed 21st Jan, 7:30pm | Prospect Park Weekly Form Run

[sof...@gmail.com]

When: Every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. (run leaves at 7:37 abouts).

Where: Find The Big Red Pointer(TM) (center of the page, click here).

Distance: A single figure 8 lap of Prospect Park, ~4.6139 miles.

Optional Distance Sub-group: 3 miles or less if that's helpful (please let Run Leaders know).

Today's Direction: Left as you face the park at startup.

Pace: Welcome to all. Fun.

AQI: We're monitoring Air Quality Index here and have been asked to not run if the local index exceeds 125.

New Stuff:

I dragged this week's bubble ("Forward Tilt") to the top of the topics hierarchy and gave it a good shake. The result was this diagram. "Forward Tilt" enhances "Passive Stride Recovery", "Quiet Feet", "Head Bob" and "Ground Contact". "Run Tall" aids "Forward Tilt" while "Arm Swing", "Bended Knee", and "Short Strides" mutually support, and are aided by, "Forward Tilt".

Just in case you'd like to explore, here's a pretty QR Code for Week #19:

Towards the end of Week #19 Notes (below "The Mantra"TM) there are links to all the WFR weekly topics.

This week's focus: Forward Tilt (injury prevention, economy/efficiency, dance moves (really... see the link here))

TL;DR: Ankle Angle

Like this (it's a subtle ankle-angle change):

Not abdominal (or abominable), like this):

 (if he runs in November '28 he'll fall on his face!)

There is much to be gained during medium paced and long-distance runs from tilting forward to use the pull of gravity and work less. 

Like a cartoon character who persists forward while on the verge of falling while keeping his body straight (but less exaggerated) your center of gravity is shifted ahead, but not from bending at your middle. Make a very slight forward angle at your ankles.

Magically, by allowing gravity to pull you forward, your running will no longer be solely based on your leg strength. Your tilt will act as a gas pedal where the more you tilt the faster you go (I dont recommend flooring it). As you lean forward use your abs to keep your body straight - yet somehow still relax, gaze forward and use your glutes while running silently and floating. Trust me, it will all come together. One thing at a time. 

Think about it this way: don't think too hard about it. Just tilt forward at ankles like MJ (not at windmills though) but then start to run.

It's very much a self-fulfilling prophecy thing. In the words of Misha (our former running Guru):  "I like to think of runners as optimists, a tilting pessimist would fall on their face."

Related WFR Topics

Head Bob #1 (bubbles), Bended Knee #2 (bubbles), Short Strides #3 (bubbles), Arm Swing #4 (bubbles), Quiet Feet #6 (bubbles), Ground Contact #7 (bubbles), Passive Stride Recovery #12 (bubbles), Run Tall #14 (bubbles).

Reading Bubble Diagrams:

Bubbles in the pictures are individually linked to the most recent notes. They are now no longer pictures (hooray), they're scalable vector displays.

Topics are related to each other. Some more or less directly than others. Bubble Diagrams (e.g. this week's topic bubble diagram) illustrate how they are related. Bubbles nearest the top are more directly related to this week's topic. The path to the top illustrates a chain of related topics. Topic bubbles are expanded once in their highest position (most closely related to this week's topic) and are colored blue (or colored black if this is a topic's only appearance). Duplicated bubbles are colored green, which is no less important than a blue colored bubble at the same vertical distance from the root.

Lines that join topic bubbles have been colored. Blue connecting lines illustrate a child topic (lower) supported by its parent topic (upper... think waterfall). Purple connecting lines illustrate the child topic supporting its parent topic. Black connecting lines indicate bi-directional (mutual) topic support. Lightly colored connecting lines indicate topics that are pulled out of the way, as the level they occupy is too crowded. One day 3D (AV) will allow us to walk through bubble diagrams (like tinkling mobiles hanging from your ceilings) and currently lightly-connected bubbles will just be viewable at a different angle (by spinning the view) and not colored differently. One Day... ahhh... One Day.

📢 ANNOUNCEMENTS 📢

📱Join Heylo before Feb 1 ✅

NBR is moving to a new communication platform that’s purpose-built for running clubs.

Heylo makes it easy to find weekly runs, see upcoming races and events, stay on top of club announcements and socials, and chat with your teammates—all in one place.The transition will be completed by February 1, 2026 so please be sure to sign up before then using this link.

📢 Weekly Daddy Joke 📢

Everything was great until gravity was invented...

...Things went downhill after that!