Let’s be honest — you don’t “forget how to run” halfway through a long run.
You just stop holding yourself together.
Your stride unravels, your arms start crossing your body like you’re auditioning for a street fight, and your brain is screaming, “I’m just tired.” But what’s really happening isn’t about endurance — it’s about structure.
When fatigue hits, your body stops prioritizing efficiency and starts defaulting to whatever it knows best. And most runners? Their default isn’t efficient.
When you’re fresh, you can fake good form. You can think about posture, cadence, or how your feet land. But when your energy tanks, your brain dials back to autopilot — and autopilot is whatever you’ve practiced most. If your “normal” running form is full of overstriding, tensing at the shoulders, or collapsing at the hips, that’s exactly what shows up when you’re gassed.
The solution isn’t to “try harder.” It’s to train smarter.
You need to make good mechanics your new baseline so that when things get ugly, your body defaults to better.
You’ve probably heard people say “run tall.” Cute, but not helpful. “Tall” usually means tense — shoulders up, neck tight, and a posture that looks great standing still but falls apart in motion.
What actually works is alignment: ears, shoulders, hips, and ankles stacked. That’s the Chi Running posture sweet spot. Add a slight forward fall from the ankles (not the waist), and suddenly gravity’s doing part of the work for you. You’re not fighting the ground anymore — you’re working with it.
It’s small, subtle, and absolutely game-changing.
Here’s the part most runners don’t want to hear: your core isn’t about abs. It’s your stabilizers — the quiet little muscles that hold your spine and pelvis steady so your stride stays smooth. When those give out, everything else goes off the rails.
That’s when your feet slap the ground, your cadence drops, and your posture caves.
The fix? Build stability, not just strength. Focus on planks, bird dogs, and side bridges. Sprinkle posture resets into long runs — a quick “stack and lean” check every mile.
And learn to feel when you’re falling apart. Awareness beats any fancy cue you’ll read on the internet.
Running “within your form” means knowing where your limits are and staying inside them. It’s not about holding back — it’s about holding together. When your shoulders start creeping up or your feet get loud, you’re outside your form window. Ease off, reset, and rebuild. You’ll go farther, recover faster, and ironically? You’ll end up faster too.
Your form doesn’t collapse because you’re weak — it collapses because your nervous system’s overwhelmed. So teach it what to do under stress.
Form intervals. Hill strides. Mid-run posture checks. Anything that makes you practice focus under fatigue.
The goal isn’t to look perfect. It’s to hold integrity when you’re deep in the hurt locker. That’s where progress lives.
Your form doesn’t need to be flawless. It just needs to be consistent.
Train it. Refine it. Repeat it until it’s automatic.
Then, when you’re tired, your body will still know exactly what to do.
Coach Croft’s Tip
If this hit home, grab my Micro-Form Mastery Guide.
It’s a deep dive into the small adjustments that make your stride feel stronger, smoother, and more efficient — especially when fatigue tries to take over.
Because running form isn’t something you “fix.” It’s something you train to keep.