Steve Scott (137 Sub 4min Miles) – 5 Technical Running Tips
Steve Scott was one of the USA’s most consistent middle-distance runners ever, recording an astounding 137 sub-4 minute Miles, the most by any athlete in history.
He set the outdoor U.S. Mile record three times, all in Oslo, Norway, all sub-3:50 (3:49.68 – the first U.S. sub-3:50, 3:48.53 and 3:47.69) and all within a one year period and Scott also broke the indoor U.S. Mile record three times (his last mark 3:51.8 lasted nearly 24 years before Bernard Lagat broke it in 2005).
He also ran under 3:50 for the mile eight times and was the USA 1500 meter champion six times as well as the USA Indoor Mile champion four times.
In this article, Steve Scott shares 5 technical running tips for people wishing to improve their running over any distance.
1. Stretch – Do not forget about it. Make stretching routine part of your daily program and don’t get lazy with it.
Scott used to stretch for 20 minutes after aerobic runs, at least 15 minutes before interval/tempo sessions (after a jogging warm up) and at least 15 minutes after interval/tempo sessions. Scott also used to complete Pilates/yoga sessions from time to time to increase his flexibility.
“Every one of us runners can agree it’s tough to run with stiff, tight muscles. Not only that, but you could be setting yourself up for injury if you make it a habit. Sostretching regularly to maintain or improve your muscles’ flexibility and range of motion, and avoid getting sidelined, is extremely important.”
2. Do your drills. Work on running mechanics, even if you think they’re boring. Creating bad running technique habits when you’re young can stay with you forever.
Scott would do drills 2-3 times per week, before interval/tempo sessions and never skip them. Butt kicks, power skips, A-skips (skips with high knees), B-skips (knee extensions) were common in his routine.
“Running drills can be an excellent way to learn and develop efficient movement patterns that your body will then be able to adopt when running. Weekly running drills can strengthen specific muscle groups needed for running, especially the muscles of the feet, calves, shins, thighs and hips.”
3. Learn to race the competition and not the clock. If you keep winning every race, eventually fast times will come. You’ll find it’s much more fun this way.
If you had planned to run at a certain speed, or at specific splits and the race doesn’t pan out that way, it can have significant effects on your thoughts and reactions during the race and can often lead you to feeling very negative in the final stages of the race. Young jun Julien Wanders has expressed his opinion about this topic many times in interviews and on his social media and choses to race without a watch and without looking at the splits.
“If you keep winning (or placing high up) in races, you will eventually (provided you’re proactive about it) find yourself in a race that forces you to run fast to win. The times come when you focus on racing the competition.”
4. Do activities that will build other muscle groups and support your running muscles and give your running muscles a rest.
At least once or ideally twice a week, hit the gym, do cycling or swim to activate other muscle groups that will support your main running muscles. These activities often have a positive aerobic effect as well.
“Cross-training helps strengthen your non-running muscles and rests your running muscles. You can focus on specific muscles, such as your inner thighs, that don’t get worked as much while running and may be weaker than your running muscles. Many cross-training activities are great cardiovascular workouts, so they build on those similar benefits of running. By balancing your weaker muscles with your stronger ones, you’ll help reduce your chance of injury. Participating in low-impact cross-training activities, such as swimming or water running, will also lessen the stress on your joints, which are often a sore spot for runners.”
5. Focus on how your feet are striking the ground and do exercises to become a forefoot striker rather than a heal striker.
Although, most recreational runners are rearfoot strikers, most studies have found the majority of elite distance runners are forefoot or midfoot strikers. Is it genetics? Is it just that they run faster? Are they more efficient? Well, yes, yes and yes. Muscle strength and structure is probably a factor as is running speed and just pure athleticism. It is hard to ignore that the countries of the world that produce the best distance runners (i.e Kenya) also have a high percentage of barefoot running.
“Back to an earlier tip, drills will help with forefoot striking. So will practising sprints in training, ideally before or after aerobic runs. Don’t try to make any changes too fast though, or you’ll risk getting injured. Chip away at it slowly, like improving any other skill.”
