The Catch

When coaching rowing I spent much time watching the athletes' oars interface with the water. The "catch" is the point where the blade enters the water, ending the "recovery" and beginning the "drive." The catch is a difficult and important part of the stroke. Catching too early sends water backward (backsplash), slowing the boat imperceptibly and annoying your crew-mate. At the extreme an early catch can translate the force of a moving shell into the oar, possibly going as far as ejecting the rower from the boat. Catching too late -- driving the legs before the oar enters the water -- pushes the boat backward while the oar flails in the air. When the oar does enter the water, the rower will have missed the crucial first two feet of the stroke -- crucial because the legs are the strongest part of your body. The surest sign of a fast crew is the ability to time the catch, avoiding backsplash while not missing any water on the drive.

I've since found analogs for the lessons from rowing in obvious places -- kayaking and swimming are two. What about running?

After seeing this video taken of me on the track, I've been adjusting my running stride. The "catch" is when my foot hits the ground. The video shows a heel strike, whereby I'm landing in a way that requires me to roll over the foot before getting any propulsion from it. If McDougall's Born to Run is right, that means I'm braking briefly before accelerating -- a little like the backsplash from an early catch in rowing.

My fix, for which I don't have a video, has been deliberately to land on the ball of my foot. It does a few things to me: I am more forward in my running, rather than upright or arched backward. My calves are getting more of a workout than they have before. And I feel like I'm constantly accelerating! I have to move the legs quickly to keep up with the pace of the foot encountering and leaving the ground. This change has caused more than a few blisters as I rub different parts of the foot against the shoe. There's also a danger of missing ground, which I suppose happens if I move too far forward on the foot. It's too early to say whether speed comes with less effort, but I sure hope so.