LIFESTYLE

Bristol’s pioneering Running School reckons anyone can run – perfectly. Anna Britten is put through her paces.

No one ever teaches you how to run, do they? You just do it. As a toddler, your parents are too busy fumbling for the camera, and clapping, to fine-tune your technique. At school, as long as you return from cross country in one piece by the time your PE teacher has finished her third Lambert and Butler, you’re considered capable. And then you grow up, either never run again except for the bus, or take up running and contentedly place one foot in front of the other until age/hip trouble stops you. And, unless someone spots your athletic potential, no one ever tells you whether you’re doing it right or not.

Until now. Bristol Running School, based at Bristol Lawn Tennis Club in Redland, is the latest offshoot of a busy, Premiership footballer-chocked Chiswick version set up 11 years ago by veteran professional coach and rehabilitation specialist Mike Antoniades.

Claiming all injuries are caused by bad technique, BRS uses a treadmill and a video camera to examine and correct your biomechanical technique. Where a running store might study your gait from the knee down, The Running School is interested in everything from the shoulders down.

“Shin splints, runner’s knee, achilles tendon, hip, knee, lower back problems…” lists coach Amy Hiller. “Physio only offers short-term solutions. We strip your running right down, and balance your biomechanics so you can run forever – it’s a skill for life.

“We have names for different types of runners,” she explains. There’s the ‘shuffler’ (slow, don’t kick their heels up much), the ‘twister’ (rotates the top half of their body so they run as if on a tightrope), the ‘weekend warrior’ (nothing for five days then whoosh), the ‘octopus’ (like Phoebe from ‘Friends’), amongst others.

She shows me ‘before’ and ‘after’ videos of some of the school’s clients. One man – a heel-striker suffering with shin splints and labouring with an attendant painful-looking plod – is so much taller, faster and fitter-looking in his ‘after’ vid I initially think it is a different, younger person.

Videos of their youngest clients are also illuminating – the school teaches children from the age of seven, achieving particularly impressive results with those with dyspraxia and autism who may have been dismissed as “just not sporty” by their teachers and parents. Some of them look well on their way to giving Usain Bolt a run for his money.

And then it’s my turn. First, Amy asks me about my running. I tell her I’ve been doing it for about five years, with the occasional half marathon, and enjoy it so much I plan to run until my legs stop working. Sometimes I worry that day may come sooner than I thought because I have apparently buggered up my big toes by – and this is embarrassing - trying to run like a Ethiopian.

Thankfully, Amy is kind enough not to laugh, or lecture me on the idiocy of attempting to fast-track your way to an entire nation’s ingrained running culture, work ethic and endless legs – but insists I alter my front-footed technique to prevent further injury. “We had another woman who did that,” she says sternly. “All her toes went black.”

Next I hop on the treadmill and start running at a medium pace, with Amy filming me from behind and the side.

“You are very front-footed,” she confirms afterwards. Sadly, when we play back my video, I can see that’s not all. Amy checks my centre of gravity against my front foot and points out I am landing in front of myself, effectively applying the brakes. Then there’s my heel height – not enough. My right glute is “not playing the game” (“very common in people who work at a computer”), I need to stand taller, I’m wastefully rotating my shoulders, not pumping my arms enough, have an unstable pelvis and spend too much time bouncing up and down rather than going forward. “Story of my life,” I ruefully think.

Were I a client, I’d follow up this analysis session with five more, all one-to-one, working on technique and strength both on the treadmill and out of doors. I’d also get a handbook and limitless telephone support from Amy whenever I had a running query or niggle. “Even if you’re out on a run and something weird happens,” she says, “you could call me.”

Many runners secretly weigh up others when out and about. This must apply doubly for you, I say. She is, she admits, a little obsessed: “It’s hard to focus on driving when I am out and about especially around the downs I am looking more at how people on the pavement run rather than on the road! It’s constant for us coaches – but I suppose it’s a good thing, as we notice and pick up on every different variation of running that there is out there.”

I leave resolving from now on to think less in terms of Haile Gebrselassie and more in terms of a 70-year-old me still managing the odd 10k.

SIX SESSIONS AT BRISTOL RUNNING SCHOOL COST £260. FFI: 0117 973 8319; WWW.RUNNINGSCHOOL.CO.UK/LOCATIONS/BRISTOL/ABOUT-US

Top five winter running gizmos

All available from Moti (Whiteladies Rd, Bristol BS8 2LS. Ffi: 0117 973 7000; www.mymoti.com)

Nike+ Sportswatch

Powered by TomTom GPS, this sports watch tracks heart rate, distance, speed, calories burnt and stores your run history. £179.

Gore Pulse beany

A stretchy, comfortable beany perfect for winter training with reflective print on front and back and moisture wicking. £20.42.

Sennheiser headphones

Sweat- and waterproof earphones for use during exercise. Unique twist-to-fit design. £37.62.

Nike shoe wallet

Lightweight shoe wallet to clip to your laces for keys, ID, money or other small essentials. £7.50.

OMM Finch Vest

Ultra warm, lightweight, goose-down gilet for those freezing runs in the snow. £150.

Copyright Anna Britten 2012