The Balanced Runner - Paul Mackinnon

The Balanced Runner - Paul Mackinnon Paul Mackinnon is running technique coach, who helps athletes of all levels improve their running for performance, injury prevention and enjoyment.

The Balanced Runner philosophy focuses on key cues and small changes to technique over time to get you running faster and further, while using less energy. The focus is on making sure the whole body is in balance and alignment to get the most forward propulsion with the least amount of excess movement. This is achieved through a series of easy to understand cues which give immediate benefit, and c

an be further refined and worked on over time. The best way to understand the benefits of this approach is to give it a try. Sessions are one-on-one, with cues and techniques adapted specifically for your running style.

31/07/2026

Was great to meet Cortney Berling | Dietitian & Running Coach last week and make some tweaks before her next marathon build.

Working on upper body only, the effect it had on knee drive, foot recovery height and symmetry of leg movements were really positive. Cortney did get a little carried away with the pace on the new way but the outcome positives were still the same.

25/07/2026

Two blokes sharing war stories and complaining about how the youngins are taking gels on easy runs under an hour

Didn’t love the hike. Loved the view. Bookend 📷 Hannah
19/07/2026

Didn’t love the hike. Loved the view.

Bookend 📷 Hannah

Snippets from Bowerman Track Club camp
17/07/2026

Snippets from Bowerman Track Club camp

Some absolutely wild (and dangerous) suggestions floating around at the moment. Somehow the spine, with 24 vertebrae, is...
15/07/2026

Some absolutely wild (and dangerous) suggestions floating around at the moment.

Somehow the spine, with 24 vertebrae, is supposed to act like a bow (bow and arrow) which is a singular object that compresses and returns to shape… no, no it doesn’t.

04/07/2026

We keep chipping away.

Plenty of 800s
Some 200s
Mile

Good to see the fella building confidence in his body.

01/07/2026

Morning work and sounds around Holister with Bowerman Athlete Members 🚂🚩

29/06/2026

Yin Yoga for Runners

For runners that continually feel tight I often suggest yin yoga. It focuses on longer holds that targets the fascia which can often be the culprit if feeling so tight.

We spend so much time making movements in a reduced range of motion that the fascia starts to adapt to that range. Ryan Mannix is someone I always look to and refer to as he is not only exceptional as a yoga teacher he is also a life long runner/athlete and knows what to target in his classes.

01/06/2026

Archie is heavily involved in both football and cricket for Xavier and is in the Giants academy for football. Given the importance of running and in particular acceleration for both sports last week we spent some time working on it.

Whilst there is a very clear change in landing pattern to his running, at no point was it a focus of change. The focus was more on the force we want to create, the direction of the force and the timing of the movements.

The old pattern is the classic lower leg driven movement of trying to reach forward with a big movement and pull forward. The new way is about driving out of the ground, focusing on using the upper leg to push up and out, this creates a better knee drive and resultant landing.

Like anything this requires practice and repetition but the ability to implement the cue and feel when it goes wrong is critical in creating new habits.

When the lower leg is the dominant movement it will result in what is commonly described as an overstride. This places t...
15/05/2026

When the lower leg is the dominant movement it will result in what is commonly described as an overstride. This places the foot in front of the knee at landing creating a braking force.

When this occurs there will be a more prolonged sound at landing, sometimes presenting as a double sound as the heel hits then the mid foot. In extreme cases there will be a slapping sound as the midfoot hits the ground after the heel. The landing itself isn’t necessarily the problem but impact that the body has to absorb from the braking force and ground contact time.

With the reaching forward movement occurring the leg pulls backwards and on toe off it can create a scraping or ripping sound to create propulsion in order to maintain momentum. This flatter pull movement will put a lot of load into hamstrings and calf Achilles. When we are trying to create flight and get off the ground this direction of force isn’t as helpful as it could be.

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Hawthorn, VIC

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