- This form right here is pretty extreme.

He is very technical but almost over the top.

His legs are coming up so high that it's too high.

You're working against yourself at this point.

Hey, GQ, I'm Allyson Felix, and this is The Breakdown.

[upbeat music]

First up, Forrest Gump.

[serene music]

So, right off, this is not what you

really want to be wearing when you're running.

It's gonna be restrictive.

This is actually, obviously, street clothes.

Anytime you're gonna run for a really long period of time,

you wanna make sure that your shoe is comfortable,

has the right amount of cushion,

the right amount of support and is pretty light.

- [Forrest] That day, for no particular reason,

I decided to go for a little run.

- So this is actually not horrible running technique.

His arms are actually swinging very nicely.

Good arm form, when you're sprinting is really pumping hard.

You're really have a nice swing going

and it's very frequent.

Typically, you can't hold that type of form

for much more than 400 meters.

It's unrealistic that he would be able to be going

for any real distance with that form.

It is a bit unique 'cause it looks like

his chest is really poked out forward.

And so, there's not really much of an angle.

Typically, when you're running at that speed,

you want to kind of be angled

and have some momentum going forward.

If you are trying to go as fast as possible,

you want to have a forward lean.

You're sprinting.

You really wanna be on the ball of your foot.

It's hard to be able to sustain that over time.

So if you're running for a longer distance,

more into the middle of your foot is fine.

You do want to get up as much as you can.

But realizing that you need to be in a comfortable position

to be able to handle the mileage that you're putting in.

- [Forrest] When I got there, I thought,

maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County.

- So at this point, the form has really broken down.

And you see his arms are flailing around.

That's typical when you're tired

and when you've been running for quite some time.

When you're really formed up and everything is perfect,

you're typically sprinting,

and you're not able to do that for a long period of time.

- So you just ran? - Yeah.

- This is really typical, I guess,

of what you would see of someone who's been running

for a really, really long distance and time.

You're in a more relaxed position

and your arms aren't really pumping very much.

You're just doing what you can to get by

and to be as efficient as possible.

He's got a nice cadence going,

a nice swing going and he's moving nicely.

Next up, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

[dramatic music]

This form right here is pretty extreme.

He is very technical, but almost over the top.

His legs are coming up so high that it's too high.

You're working against yourself at this point.

Everything is just over-exaggerated.

His arms are almost pumping too fast and too quickly

where it's counterproductive.

This is also very unrealistic.

You wouldn't be able to hold this speed

and this form for this long.

100 meters, maybe 200 meters,

you could hold this type of speed,

but it would have completely broken down and fallen apart.

His head was extremely stable.

Everything seemed to be almost a bit exaggerated.

You can have some movement

but you just don't wanna be bobbling all over

because it's wasted energy.

So you really want to be efficient.

You really want to lock into a target

and really hold it there.

[tires squealing]

[horn honking]

Yeah, the conditions that he's running in are awful.

But you would not be able to keep up that speed,

that form with them, let alone, probably,

be able to see where you're going.

Weather definitely affects your running,

especially for sprinters.

The hotter the weather,

the better result you'll have.

It's easier for your muscles to warm up.

The longer distance you go,

athletes really like the cooler temperatures,

because you're really out in the elements,

you're feeling it more.

But I love running in the heat.

I love hot, humid weather.

For me, it just feels like

it's perfect conditions to run fast.

But everything affects running.

The wind, how much wind is at your back,

or if you're running into wind, if it's raining.

All these conditions, because we are competing outdoors,

it can all have an effect on your performance.

Typically, races don't get canceled

unless there is lightning, hard rain and powerful winds.

There might be a wind reading after the race.

And there are certain winds that are over the allowable

for record purposes or for times to count.

We run in rain, people have ran in snow.

It's just really, once it becomes dangerous

with lightning, where stuff is canceled.

[man speaking in a foreign language]

I'm really conscious of my breathing.

In sprints, it can be easy to hold your breath.

It's a really intense thing,

there are a lot of nerves going.

It can be easy to forget to breathe.

So just really being conscious that I'm taking

enough breaths and really getting that air in.

Next up, Race.

[crowd cheering]

[man speaking indistinctly over loudspeaker]

So, at this point, he's just entering the stadium,

really taking in that enormous crowd.

And all of those external circumstances

can definitely really affect performance, for sure.

It is incredible walking into an Olympic event.

I always recall the flashes of the lights from the cameras.

Pops and flashes everywhere.

It's a feeling like no other.

It's a stage like no other.

I always get nervous, really,

no matter how small or big the race is.

But on the Olympic stage,

there's no doubt that there's some butterflies.

It's all about channeling that energy in the correct way.

I like to visualize leading up to a race.

My coach definitely puts us through different exercises

and training and just switching things up

and dealing with outside circumstances and distractions.

Making sure that we're ready for any scenario.

And I think experience also just really helps

with that mental toughness.

[dramatic music]

He's actually digging into the ground.

This is a time period

where they didn't have starting blocks.

He's making little divots in the actual dirt

where he's running, to essentially make starting blocks,

something for his feet to be able to push off of

and to be able to get out.

Today, we don't have to worry about things like this.

But that's what he's doing,

is giving his feet something to be anchored on.

So you see here when they're starting

and they get in the starting position

and their head is completely focused forward.

This is actually not how you start.

So when you start, you want to have your head down.

You're not looking forward.

A lot of times you'll see this in film because

you can't see someone's face if it's completely down.

[crowd cheering]

For me, the start is always a challenge.

It's often that I don't get a good start.

I am strongest in the latter points of my races.

I'm always looking for that perfect start.

[crowd cheering]

His form is great.

It's very authentic to the way that Jesse Owens ran.

You can tell that the form was studied.

It's very much that classic way that he ran.

Obviously, it was a very effective and really great form.

In some of the distance races,

there is really that strategic planning.

Are you a front runner

or do you like to sit back and make your move at the end?

In the sprints that I participate in,

it's all about the entire race.

And so you really wanna jump on it from the front.

You want to get a good start.

You want to execute that and you want to all out sprint

and get to that finish line first.

You're not playing around with it.

You want to take it from the gun.

- [Announcer] Mariani hands off to Menchkap.

- Black Americans,

there's such a rich heritage in track and field.

I think about it all the time and just the representation.

When I go out there that

young girls and young boys are watching.

And whether they're inspired to run or to do whatever,

anything, I hope that they're inspired to be great at it.

I really feel like there are so many people

who have paved the way in order for me to have success

and for those after me.

It's a very rich history.

Next up, Get Out.

[dramatic music]

So first off, in this clip, we see it's pitch dark.

And that's challenge number one.

Running in the dark with no apparent lights around

would be really hard and really scary to me.

[dramatic music]

So far, the form is pretty good.

It's very powerful.

You see, the knees are really coming up high,

arms are really moving.

It's like a very quick sprint and it looks very intense.

It really depends on your leg length and the ratio

with your torso, but you want to have high knees.

So whatever's to a comfort level, but almost hip height.

If you can really get them up that high,

that's really gonna be most beneficial.

The turn is really unrealistic.

You couldn't be going at that speed

and make that sharp of a turn.

If you think about athletes running on a track,

it's a gradual turn, it's for a reason.

Your body cannot just maneuver in that way

without getting hurt or something happening.

So it's unrealistic, but looks pretty cool.

Next up, Rocky II.

[dramatic music]

I really love his form here.

It's very authentic to a runner

who's going to be running for some distance.

Obviously, he's a boxer.

And so he's out for a longer run.

I think it's like very suited for his body and very natural.

Here, you can see he starts to pick up speed

and he's jerking a little bit.

And that can happen sometimes when you go

from a slower speed into a sprint.

And especially after you've been running for a while.

So, technique is a little unstable.

But it makes sense for what's happening.

[dramatic music]

So he just took some hurdles over these benches.

And the first one was pretty,

it's a little sloppy, a little unstable.

But, actually, the second one looked okay.