Critic told me I was 'running with my arms locked' and it wrecked my time

I’ve been running 5k’s for about a year. My usual is 24 minutes. Last month a guy at a local 5k in Austin told me I looked stiff and my arms weren’t swinging right. He said I was holding my shoulders up near my ears. I thought he was just being annoying. But I tried loosening my arms on my next run and dropped to 23:15. Now I can’t tell if it’s just a fluke or if form actually matters that much. Anyone else had a small tweak like this blow up your numbers?

2 comments

2 Comments

jake_chen6d ago

Did you ever check your breathing pattern when you locked up? I had a similar thing where I was holding my breath on hills without realizing it. Fixing that dropped my 10k by almost a minute. Could be that loosening your arms just let your lungs fill up all the way.

terry_walker6d ago

Seventy two years old and I only figured this out last year - I was basically breathing like a panicked goldfish on the uphills. My wife actually recorded me gasping on a trail cam once and I looked like a fish out of water. Once I started forcing myself to exhale on every other step my pace picked up and my shoulders stopped trying to touch my ears. Funny how something so simple can make you feel like a whole new runner.