In this second part of the series on gait, I examine the importance of nutrition. Good form requires the right kind of fuel. For Part 1, click here.
You’d be surprised at how rapidly one’s gait begins to fall apart when the gas tank is low. Often, a runner has a fluid motion in the gait when he starts out; the form is swift and efficient, but even after 20 to 30 minutes or maybe not until mile 20 of the marathon, that person looks as if he ran through a minefield, dragging one leg, swinging one arm out to the other side, scuffing the heels, head drooping. And at the finish line, it looks even worse with the athlete leaning to one side or hunched over, holding their lower back. Was an injury involved? In a way, yes.
When the body is stressed due to dehydration and glycogen depletion, the muscles no longer have the correct nutrients to keep them functioning as well as they should, so they fatigue. The glucose isn’t there to keep the muscles firing, or maybe electrolytes are so depleted that the muscles can’t contract well.
Hydration is much more than just taking in water. The body has to absorb it to use it. The major organs of the body that deal with stress are the adrenal glands. This is where hormones such as adrenaline (the fight-or-flight hormone), cortisol (controls blood sugar and inflammation), aldosterone (regulates electrolytes), and DHEA (makes testosterone and estrogen) come from. Fatigued adrenal glands from too much physical, nutritional, or emotional stress cause the body to lose excess sodium so it cannot hold onto the water. This makes sense to the person who drinks and drinks and drinks, but always feels thirsty or urinates often. They are dehydrated, and their gait and running performance suffer.
Improper carbohydrate metabolism is another big factor that can affect gait. Carbohydrate intolerance can alter gait mechanics through a process known as insulin resistance. This occurs when a person consumes too many carbohydrates, often refined sugars and flours, but it can also be from too many carbohydrates in general. The pancreas must manufacture more and more insulin to process the same amount of glucose. Over time, the pancreas becomes less efficient in metabolizing carbohydrates, so too much insulin is produced, and the person winds up with signs and symptoms of blood sugar handling problems. These include irritability, cravings for sweets, excessive appetite, afternoon drowsiness or headaches, getting the shakes, and trouble sleeping, just to mention a few. They also have irregular gait patterns, which explain why most, if not all, of these individuals have some chronic ache, pain, or injury. Essentially, insulin levels affect gait.
Many people who go off their high-carbohydrate diet resolve most of the aches and pains for this very reason. Adjusting your diet away from pre-race carbo meals and bagel breakfasts may make dramatic changes in your health and performance. The double-edged sword is seen when you add the fact that under high-stress situations, such as overtraining, the body makes too much cortisol as a result, which in turn raises insulin levels. So the high insulin levels need to be dealt with, along with the chronic adrenal stress, which leads to weakened ligaments, muscle breakdown, and inflammation.
Gait is affected by insulin levels so much that it is also important to know not only what to eat or drink, but also when to do so. One major mistake that many endurance athletes make is that they drink a carbohydrate solution right up until the start of a race. I have seen people at the start of a half-marathon or Ironman race packing in the fluid replacement drinks, or even worse, consuming gel packs. They have quickly increased their blood sugar and insulin levels and begun the sugar-burning process when the race demands that the majority of energy come from the body’s plentiful fat stores, as in any aerobic activity. An improper gait usually follows. The proper thing to do is to stop all carbohydrate consumption one hour before the event. Then, do not consume any carbohydrates until at least 15 to 30 minutes into the race. After 15 minutes, the body’s cells will respond to glucose without the insulin surge from the carbohydrate consumption. At the end of the event, especially those lasting well over an hour, try to consume the majority of carbohydrates within 60 minutes after, as well as some protein. A 4:1 carbohydrate-to-protein ratio is best. Shoot for around 80–100 grams of carbohydrates and 20–25 grams of protein. Great protein sources are whey protein, eggs, and meats.
Following these guidelines will help ward off erratic blood sugar spikes while keeping the nervous system functioning better, as it is under a high amount of stress already from training and racing. In addition, your gait will benefit, delaying muscle fatigue, increasing power output, and improving performance.
The point of all of this is simple: Gait is important, yet the only thing runners often hear about gait is how to practice it. “Work on your form,” is what we are told. Gait typically cannot be fixed with a coach. Common advice to runners, such as relaxing the hands and focusing on relaxed, controlled breathing, is all beneficial. Video analysis may help to some degree, but often it just identifies the problem but not the reason. In other words, a video might show the athlete the imbalance in foot strike from right to left, but it won’t show why it is there and how to address it. You can’t force yourself into a normal gait.
Now, one might develop better techniques with a coach, and that can influence gait. For example, consider the runner who is leaning too far forward when he runs. This could be because of improper footwear, muscle imbalances, or the way he learned to run. If it’s the footwear, then proper shoes are the answer. Often, the runner is having a problem from overly supportive shoes, which won’t let his feet function normally. If it’s muscle imbalances, then those need to be identified and corrected by a qualified physician or therapist. If the bad form is a result of old habits, a coach may be able to adjust the athlete to get him out of that faulty position and lessen the chance of injury. A combination of all three is very common. If a runner wore the typical, thick-heeled running shoes for a long time, he created a gait problem, and subsequently, muscles in the pelvis, calves, and feet developed some muscle and tendon trauma. So he needs to be fitted for proper shoes and have those muscles and tendons treated accordingly, and he may also need to learn how to run properly and break the old habit of how his body was used to running in improper footwear.
The truth is that an athlete’s form is subpar because there is something throwing it off. Trying to push through and alter the gait to make it look better is like painting over rust. The rust (the problem) always wins. This is not at all to say that you shouldn’t work on form; it is necessary to some degree. It is to say that your gait is a significant reflection of your overall health and fitness, more than anything else except for perhaps improper equipment, such as poor running shoes. The wonderful thing about gait is that when it’s all working correctly, performance really takes off.
