ThinkRunning

Running in VFFs on a Wall

For me, it was a little disappointing due to not being able to run the Shakespeare Half Marathon that I have been training for these last ten or twelve weeks. I have  a cold the likes of which I haven’t experienced in years: it is quite horrid, normally I have a sniffle for a day or two, this one has lasted a week and seems to be getting worse! I decided against pushing my body too much in a race. I ran this weekend – only very easily though and not further than six miles at a time. Instead of racing I decided to use the time to get to know my Vibram Five Fingers a little more and hopefully learn something about running technique which I would then be able to pass on to the people I help in their running technique. I had a very successful weekend technique-wise! I managed to learn quite a lot and also helped a friend and her daughter to improve their technique and drastically reduce their chances of injury.

Running in Vibram Five Fingers

Although I have had these since Christmas I haven’t really worn them that much mainly because I found them far to slippery in freezing conditions and partly due to me getting used to the EVOs and being a creature of habit. This weekend I decided to wear them, Saturday morning was glorious weather and only a very sedate jog around the village with the local running group, I decided that I would be fine in the Vibrams and set off to meet the group. As I continued to run I could feel my feet starting to relax more and more until my foot strikes seemed to get very very quiet and soft. When we ran off road I was at first a little tentative, not knowing really what to expect as I had never run off road in the KSOs before or any Vibram for that matter! I was very pleasantly surprised and I found the run very enjoyable indeed. After a couple of miles I felt that I was really getting into it. The feedback from the ground is instant and you find yourself reacting almost automatically to the stimuli, it really is a case of throwing any preconceptions or assumptions out of your head and just going with it. I found relaxation to be key although this was confirmed much more strongly on the Sunday run…

Relax Dear, it’s only Running!

Sunday arrived promising yet another lovely day albeit with scattered showers. Heidi, Pauline and I headed off towards Beeley Moor for a more technical off road run which would test the Vibrams to the fullest. I admit to being slightly apprehensive as I knew that we would have steep wooded areas where mud and tree roots abound plus a stream to negotiate, a hard stony trail, some road and also some lovely grassed areas in Chatsworth. I needn’t have worried at all because within a few minutes of running I felt myself relax into it and my style noticeably changed again to a very quick, light pull of feet – quicker and lighter than I have got used to despite me thinking I had been running much more efficiently (which I have). This was a lovely experience though running down through the forest, I truly did feel at one with my surroundings. I noticed that even when you don’t see stones until the last split second you either manage to avoid them or end up treading on them and being completely surprised at how the foot reacts. No pain at all and the foot seems to spread over the stone, lessening any pressure by distributing out over the foot. At first when I was tense I was sort of striking quite hard still with the ball of foot and any small stones would come quite keen. When I got onto the stony track though, my stride seemed to shorten even more, my pull was a little quicker and my feet relaxed whereupon all pain disappeared. Every now and then I would feel a particularly big or sharp stone but it still didn’t hurt much at all – the rest I just didn’t feel really, I was quite amazed to be honest! All this and my pace seemed to quicken too which was nice. At one point running over grass I couldn’t quite believe how fast I was running given the heart rate and the fact that I still had a cold, it really did feel very easy running. All that being said I didn’t run fast too much at all because I was waiting for the girls and there were steep hills but I still managed some quick running in places. Yesterday I feel that I finally understood what Christopher McDougal meant in Born to Run when he described the running: “I’d be startled to discover that the ancient saying of Tao Te Ching – “The best runner leaves no tracks” wasn’t some gossamer koan, but real, concrete, how-to, training advice”. It is indeed quite startling. Despite me knowing and believing that my improved style would help I was still amazed at how my body suddenly started to react almost automatically and how lightly I seemed to be treading, it was a wonderful feeling though and I thoroughly enjoyed the run.

Prancing

I say prancing not because someone described my running like that but because someone on Postech mentioned how lots of Pose trained runners seem to prance. I don’t think they do but they do look different to the ‘old fashioned’ view of running that we seem to be taught in the Western world which is to hyper extend the stride, lower the cadence, bound and look like you are working really hard. My second run yesterday saw me showing a friend and her daughter how to run more efficiently. The mother I have helped now for a couple of weeks and she is showing marked improvements. The thirteen year old daughter has been taught at school and when she demonstrated her running to me she was bending at the waist leaning forwards, pushing off really hard, hyper extending the stride and with a cadence of something like 120 spm, very slow indeed, maybe 130 max. When her mother and I demonstrated our running she exclaimed that we “looked like fairies daintily floating along”. I didn’t know whether to take this as a compliment or an insult but the child was simply describing what she saw but we were only running at jogging pace, no more than 9 mins per mile for a short distance. After showing her and explaining that you lead with the hips she soon felt the tug from belt level as if being pulled along which I took as a very good sign and I believe she will pick it up very quickly. I think she was a little surprised when I demonstrated a sprint and I hope it encouraged her to persevere with the running, especially as I was informed that she already gets knee pain from running.

Summary

I think by now most people who read my blog will be aware of improved running technique and how to summarise the main points but I think it is probably worth going over them again, especially as running barefoot or in VFFs demands that you listen to your body and get the technique right. If you ever feel in pain at all through running barefoot then this is because your technique isn’t correct and sadly you have a very dulled sense in your feet no doubt due to them being stuffed in ill fitting shoes most of your life that desensitises them. Stop running and go back to walking around for a while; don’t run until all pain has gone and pay special attention to what I’m about to detail below.

• Alignment – this has to be spot on to allow you to be nimble and quick enough to react to changing terrain. Your body has to be teetering on the edge of a fall constantly so you can very quickly pull your feet from the ground and change support. If things slow down then it starts to hurt.
• Don’t stride ahead at all. I didn’t realise that I tend to do this a little still especially when going down hill. Instead, concentrate on pulling quick and taking your feet with you. The change in lightness will be noticeable as it was for me.
• Relax your feet – without relaxed feet they will not land properly. Landing tense when running barefoot or nearly barefoot will hurt! This of course then reinforces the misconception that actually, it’s bad for you to run without shoes! As always it isn’t the shoes, it’s you! Running badly without shoes is bad for you too!

Hopefully the video below will help some people understand basic concepts such as how to relax the feet and how to get body weight over the balls of the feet. Please understand that I’m certainly not demonstrating how to run and haven’t uploaded it for a critique on my style. The point of the video was to simply get the concepts across to certain people who may be struggling with them.