WFR #6: Quiet Feet (shhhh!, be sneaky) | Wed 10th Jun, 7:30pm | Prospect Park Weekly Form Run

[Alen Shapiro]

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

Where: Find The Big Red Pointer(TM) (center of the map, 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:  Right 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.

Where this week's topic fits in:

I dragged this week's bubble ("Quiet Feet") to the top of the topics hierarchy and gave it a good shake. The result was this diagram. "Quiet Feet" is supported by "Arm Swing", "Unplug", "Hips" and "Forward Tilt" while "Quiet Feet" supports "Ground Contact". "Quiet Feet" is supported by, and mutually supports, "Bended Knee", "Avoid Kneesles", and "Short Strides".

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: Quiet Feet (speed, efficiency, injury prevention)

TL;DR: This Ninja did not learn to be sneaky from us!

"...those who, for whatever reason, land especially hard tend to be highly injury prone." (A quote that has now vanished off the interweb! Did someone take offense?)

Imagine (like you should fairly regularly) that it's the end of the world and you need above average survival skills to persist in the every man/woman for himself/herself post-apocolypse wilds.

Well, loud footsteps (otherwise known as "stomping") are often an indicator of braking: where your joints are not flexing to carry the impact of each stride into the next one, but instead are redirecting forward momentum into shockwaves that move up through your body and down into the ground. And you don't want to brake (or even break)! If you land your foot in front of your knee (like the ninja in the picture above) some of that landing force will counter some of your forward momentum.

If you or your running partners can hear your footsteps clearly, you'd probably starve in our scenario - or more likely, you'd be food for something else. 

By running more silently, you can increase your speed and efficiency. Particularly on hard surfaces, quieter running requires less contact to the ground, and that is one idea most experts seem to agree on, that increases speed, efficiency and reduces injury. 

Tips for the hunt:

• Land on the front part of your foot, letting your calf muscle take the impact.
  
• Think foot "lift" instead of foot "strike"
  
• Reduce the amount of time each foot touches the ground per step (faster turnover, shorter stride, for the same running pace)
  
• The dreaded forefoot (see first tip)!
  
• Sink into your knees a little, keeping your hips level through the stride.
• Increase flexibility of ankles - work on flexing them when your feet hit
  
• Push the road backwards without any braking action (no scuff)
  
• Extend your stride behind you... reach out in front much less
  
• ***Remember you are sneaking up on your victim!
  
• Continuous motion, imagine you're a wheel (not really, but think “smooth”)
  
• Kung Fu (old TV show), walk (in our case, run) over rice paper without tearing it
  
• In the city, practice silent foot placement over metal basement entry doors, (shopfronts)
  

If you have loud footsteps, you could be overstriding, landing on your heel, and “slapping” the ground with your feet. In order to not do this, per some How2RunFast advice, you want to make sure that your ankles are relaxed and flex to accommodate your foot striking the ground. You should be "pushing the road backwards with the soles of your running shoes, like a giant treadmill." Still love that image. The author recommends minimalist shoes or barefoot running to try this. 

Here are more tips that incorporate a lot of the other forms: http://www.runningshoesguru.com/2013/03/learning-to-run-gently/

Related WFR Topics
"Bended Knee" #2 (bubbles), "Short Strides" #3 (bubbles), "Arm Swing" #4 (bubbles), "Ground Contact Time" #7 (bubbles), "Forward Tilt" #8 (bubbles), "Hips" #9 (bubbles), "Avoid Kneesles" #15 (bubbles), "Unplug!" #16 (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 📢

We’re looking for volunteers!! We need volunteers for the McCarren 5K (NBR is a title sponsor for this neighborhood event) this upcoming Saturday, June 13th as well as a few people on Thursday afternoon at Brooklyn Running Company! Signup here: https://shorturl.at/meGSu 

What races are you running? Let us know here!

NBR Night of Relays is happening the evening of Saturday, June 20! Find a team of four to run some fun, chill, and chaotic (!) short distance relays at the McCarren Park track. Tickets and details available in the gear store: https://northbrooklynrunners.org/store/p/track-meet-2026

Wed Nite Beginner Run (WNBR) is looking for new run leaders! WNBR is an easy pace run perfect for anyone (especially beginners) and typically does around 2 miles at 11-12 minutes per mile. No runner gets left behind! If you're interested in run leading for WNBR, please email the run coordinators at training at northbrooklynrunners.org with your run pace and a brief intro!

📱Join Heylo ✅

NBR moved 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 was completed February 1, 2026 so please be sure to sign up using this link.

📢 Weekly Daddy Joke 📢

Q: What did one ninja say to the other ninja?

A: ...Nothing, they were very very quiet.