Add a Little Bounce to my Step

This morning at training I was lucky enough to get some one-on-one regarding my form (or lack thereof). I did 100m strides with my coach running behind me. At the end of every rep, he would give me feedback on what I was doing wrong. I'll give you a hint: there was a LOT! But how amazing to get such individual feedback. As I have - praise God! - run injury free most of my life, and as no one had made any specific criticism about my technique, it has never been something I've thought strongly about, other than to believe I was "naturally good".
But that doesn't mean I'm not keen to hear about ways to improve! My coach simplified everything into 3 key areas for me to focus on. With luck, fixing these 3 areas will have a positive ripple effect on the rest of my running technique.

Key Area #1: keep my elbows bent to 90 degrees. Apparently, my hands are still too low. This causes my shoulders to enter the fray, throwing my body weight around and using up more precious energy during my runs. If I get the arms up I can keep the shoulders relaxed rather than engaged, and my speed & energy should improve.

Key Area #2: higher knees. I always thought keeping low to the ground would be more energy efficient, but I was apparently wrong. My coach has encouraged me to add a little bounce to my step, by bringing my knees up higher and landing with my foot flat under me rather than stretching out in front of my hips. The goal is to feel like I'm running light on my feet, not plodding heavily.

Key Area #3: Butt-kicks. To add to the principle of light on my feet I need to start adding more of a butt kick right before the high knees action. When I do both (high knees + butt-kick) this makes my legs go more in a circular bicycle pattern. It feels like I'm prancing rather than running.

Two fellow runners joined me in the 100m reps. Towards the end of our 10 reps, I felt like I was starting to get it.  Although I wasn't actually running any faster, I felt lighter and faster on my feet. I can feel that there will be lots of potential - once I get used to it.
Of course, the session didn't end there! My coach pointed out to me that I should be using this technique even in a slow jog. To prove his point, he sent me and my fellow 100m buddies on a 3k jog at the end of the session. It felt weird.
Or rather, I felt WEIRD. I felt like I was bouncing more than running. My companions assured me I didn't look weird at all, which made me feel a bit better. Around the 1k mark, I started to get a strange sensation... my butt was getting tired! Clearly, I've never used these muscles before if they were fatiguing so quickly.
I tried to keep my form up during the jog, but without my coach giving me constant feedback it was easy to give in to fatigue. I'd like to think I made it the entire 3k while keeping decent form, but I wouldn't bet on it. I "pranced" back to the main group and told my coach about this newly discovered muscle weakness. He's given me some great strengthening exercises to try to whip my poor butt into shape.

I guess I have some homework to do for the next few months!

Butt-kicks will make me into a superhero runner in no time!