And I Will Run 100 Miles
That’s how far I have run so far this year. I’m really pleased that I am starting to get some reasonable training at last and with no signs of old injuries. I did manage to whack my knee so hard I nearly passed out on the fire surround in the living room earlier though! That hurt considerably and now it’s painful to walk on. I’m hoping it will recover quickly though.
It has been so very cold and slippy these past few weeks as depicted above – what an amazing view of our country! At first I was quite enjoying the wintry conditions; however, after several weeks of not actually being able to run without every footstep slipping does get rather boring! Good training it is though because every run becomes a strength and balance training exercise.
I haven’t worn my Vibram ‘shoes’ though because they tend to keep the cold in and they do not grip at all in wet, slippy conditions. I need some Treks for better grip really and may well invest in some shortly.
Running Wild
This efficient running lark intrigues me; just the other night I was talking to a running club friend about it saying that I don’t think you ever really stop learning and that technique can always be improved. I’d like to extend that to perceptions too. We all have bad habits that we need to remain vigilant over. Mine is that I can end up pulling my legs behind me after a while, especially when the going gets tough and I get tired. Of course this is undesirable because when this happens you throw yourself off timing, start landing too early in front of yourself before your body has caught up with your new support point. If not careful you can then slip into the old reaching forwards with the foot and then it all goes to pot. Back to square one almost. I was reading on the Posetech forums and it occurred to me that I could use the knee forwards feeling as a cue. Quite a while ago I mentioned that if you get the pull right and the knees are folding correctly with relaxed quads (see fig 4, Pose stance in link), it actually starts to feel like you are doing the quads stretch as you are running: interestingly the bloke in the link demonstrates the exactly wrong leg position with foot behind bum! I noticed that I hadn’t been aware of this for a little while and sure enough my form had started to slip – due in no small part to the slippy conditions I reckon! Anyway, I made myself a mental image of the deadleg thing where someone knocks the back of your knees and the knee folds up, letting the kneecap travel forwards and your ankle progress straight up under the bum. When doing this in the house I noticed that if I started by tapping the back of my knee I got the proper perception back. Then I started doing the Pony (about 1:40 into the video) in the living room – lo and behold I was pulling correctly once more, knees coming forwards and ankles going straight up. I was once more taking my feet with me as I call it! Then WHACK!!!! I banged my knee on the fire surround and ended up in agony for a few minutes while I composed myself. Managed to cut my knee and my jeans too!
One issue to be aware of is that you need to make sure the knees forwards perception (video link demonstrates how to do it properly) doesn’t end up as a knees upwards movement because knees upwards wastes energy, uses the hip flexors which in turn makes you reach the foot out forwards, run with too much tension and yes, you are back to square one, running with the laboured effort of a muscle power runner rather than the guile and agility of an elite distance runner (nothing wrong with good imagery).
A Cushy Number
Another nail in the coffin lid of highly cushioned shoes! The article speaks for itself – read on!
Anyone who knows me will know by now that I ditched the cushioned shoes a year ago now and feel so much better for it. Some will be quick to point out that I was also injured last Summer but that was down to my silliness, determination to complete events and running with wrong technique! I was running in Nike Marathoners at the time. I still use them too because I simply like the shoe!
How on earth mankind expects to be able to compete with over four million years of evolution by using a bit of foam cushioning is both arrogant and silly in my humblest of opinions naturally!