Running
Yes, just running. Recently I have been running quite well and have been fairly happy with the results thus far. Unfortunately last weekend I was at an all time low so didn’t run which prevented me from getting over 40 miles for the week. I continue to just run as I feel though and I’m finding it difficult to get any real enthusiasm for goals this year. I think I’m far too preoccupied with the job situation and focusing on anything really. I have a half marathon in April, other than that I haven’t committed to anything and I think it is because I’m still very wary of injury. This is of course despite the fact that I have suffered no aches, pains niggles or anything for some months now. Some days I want to aim for an Autumn marathon then other days I can’t really be bothered. I’m not sure what this means about my running. Maybe I’ll feel better when certain issues in my life are resolved? It’ll be few months at least before I’m out of the woods as they say though.
There has been a lot in the news lately about natural running or barefoot running versus shod running or running with highly cushioned training shoes. As some of you have seen, I have posted quite a lot of material on the subject because it is something I firmly believe in and support it because I have first hand knowledge of the benefits to any runner regardless of ability.
Some people probably think of me as an Evangelist for Pose technique, bare-footing or whatever. I am not though, I just keep an open mind, work hard to improve myself and tend to keep doing what works. I don’t try to force people into my way of thinking or indoctrinate. I do however spread the word when I think it is good and will encourage more people to run. My intention here is to leave information for my future reference and if it comes in useful for others then that is great. I do not pretend to be an authority on any subject, just an enthusiast.
I am a little concerned though. I don’t want people to think that they can just throw off their shoes and go for a ten mile run; this would hurt or injure most people. Similarly I don’t want people to think that if they aim to land on their forefoot while running then they are running Pose – then they wonder why their calves hurt so much. As with most things in life, if it’s something new then you have to get into it gradually and be careful about it. Your body has been adapting to shoes for many years don’t forget, therefore you need to give yourself and your feet time to adjust and adapt. There is as much a psychological effort as a physical one involved when you start barefoot running. If you run every step thinking it will be painful, then you run with great tension which in itself causes pain. Tension both also renders you much more likely to be injured by foreign objects in your path because you will not notice them and take evasive action plus the tense foot will not be pliable enough to absorb or spread the impact of objects. One of the major problems with adopting any new running technique is that if people decide to give it a try and end up with injuries or aches and pains, then they blame the method or technique when very often it is because they are doing something wrong: I’ve done this myself and didn’t believe I wasn’t running properly until I saw myself on video!
Just as important is to ensure that you actually have changed your running technique. Just as you aren’t actually running correctly by aiming to run on the balls of your feet, you can still run barefoot and heel strike. It happens a lot with people who have the heel striking habit well ingrained (most of us). Yes, running barefoot will let you know a lot earlier when things are wrong but if you keep trying to run barefoot with bad technique then you will not be running for long. As in the case of Pose, you cannot blame the method in cases like this, it is actually something you are doing wrong. This is not arrogance, it is simple fact. Pose isn’t just about running on the balls of your feet and running barefoot isn’t just about running with no shoes and socks on. There has to be an acknowledgment from the person doing it; an understanding of what they are doing and a will to change it along with the correct perceptions. Without the correct perception we cannot understand how to change because we see no difference if you see what I mean.
Vibrams
Recently I was wearing my Vibram KSOs and was wondering if my feet may be too cold, a worry that was later proven to be unfounded; my feet were quite warm within a mile or so of running. The running itself felt very easy which was unsurprising really as 8 minutes per mile is quite easy for me nowadays. What I did notice was how light it felt. Every now and then I would land on a sharp stone and it felt a little keen but these feelings happened less and less. I have noticed it before; your feet start relaxing into the run, you let go of the tension, the apprehension that something will hurt your feet and as soon as you do, then you get into the run and enjoy it even more.
Relieving Tension
As I have said many times before, it is very very important to run without tension. Unfortunately, very few people actually understand what this means. I think most people run with excess tension and this could well account for a lot of injuries. Now I am more aware of my body while I run I can tell when I am starting to tense up and to a certain extent can make myself relax. Until recently a problem area was my calves. I habitually went up on my toes whenever I was racing under pressure, running hard or sometimes when I was simply stressed out. I never used to realise until my calves were hurting. The way I deal with this now is to re-focus on floppy feet from knees down. I also make sure I’m not consciously trying to make my feet springy. Feet have a natural resilience created by our subconscious’ reaction to body weight when we land and that is enough. Any more and we introduce too much tension – yes, again the answer is to relax and in that sense, do nothing. If we concentrate on hips forward in a nice relaxed manner then we should land with everything in the right place. I have been experimenting with this quite a lot on recent runs and have been successful in relaxing and getting the pinging feeling that so many Pose and Chi folk talk about. You really do have to not think too much about it, just keep running. I lose the feeling when I fall out of alignment which is when I either start stooping forwards (K-bending) or stiffening up and being too upright. Either way results in a horrible jarring feel to the running and it becomes far too much like hard work. I just thought I’d describe that in case it resonates with anyone trying to improve their running technique.
Just noticed these: http://www.terraplana.com/vivobarefoot.php
I’ll be keeping an eye out for the EVO model, they look very promising indeed.