New Year New NURVV Training Guide: Week 6

Week 6: Looking at balance and symmetry in running

For the final week of your six-week training guide, we’re investigating imbalances in the body. We’ll focus on Pronation and the NURVV Run Balance metric to help you identify differences between the left and right side of your body as you run.

Having good symmetry and balance is crucial for any sport as it ensures there’s an even distribution of load across your body, allows for proper movement biomechanics, and helps reduce the risk of acute and overuse injuries.

Week 6 training

Managing your mileage

This week you’re going to use NURVV’s Daily Run Allowance and Training Load features to determine your mileage.

Following the recommendations on the app will ensure you’re training in the optimal zone to get the most out of your running without increasing your injury risk. Complete your runs at a preferred pace in either Indoor or Outdoor mode.

To get the most accurate daily and weekly mileage recommendations, make sure your NURVV Run app is up to date and manually add any runs you’ve completed without NURVV in the past 28 days.

After each run, hit the Health tab in the app to analyse your Running Health.

Check out the radar plot and your Running Health Score to see your current overall Balance and Pronation metrics. Have a look which category they fall into – are they Great, Good, OK or Bad?

Next, scroll down to Breakdown for more insights into Pronation and Balance and see how they vary on your left and right side. You’ll see detailed graphs over time – based on a 28-day trend – as well as percentage data for each foot and side of the body.

Analysing your pronation

For Pronation, you’ll see percentages of Over, Under and Neutral Pronation for both your left and right foot. Over and Under Pronation have been associated with increased injury risk, so use this information to see if either foot needs more attention to help you achieve a greater percentage of neutral pronation.

What to look out for

• What is your typical pronation distribution for each foot?
• Do you exhibit high levels of neutral pronation or are your percentage levels for over- or under pronation higher?
• Does your pronation data differ between the two feet?
• If suffering from any running-related injuries, does it seem to match the higher levels of Under or Over Pronation on either or both feet?

Analysing your balance

In the Balance section of the app, you’ll see mini charts representing percentage imbalance for each of the four key form metrics – Pronation, Footstrike, Cadence and Step Length.

Use these mini charts to see which of your metrics show minor or no imbalance,and which areas you can work on to improve your running form. The app will also identify the running aspect showing the most imbalance and recommend strategies to improve it.

What to look out for

• Overall, how good is your Balance (check the radar plot for your specific score)
• Which metrics show the largest imbalance?
• Is the percentage imbalance between the two sides of the body significant (over 5%)
• Do you tend to experience pain or discomfort on the side of the body that seems to be doing more work?

Once you’ve identified any imbalances in your running form, use the targeted exercise plans below to help you improve.

Targeted exercise plans and drills to improve balance

Single leg exercises for balance

Drills to improve your running form

Exercises to improve imbalances in footstrike

Exercises to improve imbalances in cadence

Exercises to improve imbalances in step length

Exercises to improve imbalances in pronation

What’s next?

Congratulations, you’ve completed NURVV’s six-week training guide, discovered how to use NURVV Run to monitor your training, and learned more about who you are as a runner. So now what?

Recovery

First, it’s time to put your feet up! Rest is a vital part of your training and just as important for improving your running as including a variety of different runs and strength and conditioning exercises in your training.

Recovery gives your body time to repair and adapt to the stresses of exercise so you can progress your running fitness.

Aim for eight to nine hours of sleep a night, fuel your body for recovery with good nutrition and take rest days when your body doesn’t feel quite ready to smash another session.

Going forwards

Over the past six weeks, you’ve identified the areas of your running form you’ve already mastered, and those you can work on to boost your running efficiency and reduce injury risk. Now’s a good time to take a step back and look at what you’ve achieved.

Take a look at the data from your week one runs and compare it to the following weeks. Give yourself a pat on the back for any progress you’ve made, then ask yourself the following questions so you can keep on improving in the weeks to come:

• Which aspect of technique do you still need to work on?
• Is there a lot of variability in your data across different types of runs – short vs long distance, fast vs slow?
• Do you show a lot of imbalance in your metrics?
• Does your performance improve at a certain speed or with a certain pair of running shoes?

Happy running!