Heel vs Midfoot Landing — Same Runner, Same Speed

Same runner, same 10 km/h treadmill pace — a 30-minute 5K — and the same 165 steps a minute. The only thing that changes is the landing.

Heel first: toes up, the ankle lands 35 cm ahead of the hips, and the foot rolls through, heel to toe. Midfoot: flat, 25 cm ahead, and the foot settles. Shin angle at contact: 13° vs 6°.

No verdict in this one — nothing here says one landing is better. It shows what changes, measured.

How this is made: Fitlapse videos are 3D simulations, not motion capture. The runner is an anatomical model and the stride is generated from set parameters — cadence, ground-contact time, landing offset — then measured back off the rendered model to confirm it does what was asked. Treat it as a controlled experiment in software, not a recording of a real person.