Running – Or Not

Running – Or Not

Long time no blog. I have been very busy what with one thing or another but also I haven’t had the heart to blog much about running to be honest, since I am still injured. Progress is slow but sure however and although I have no idea when I can return to proper training, I remain hopeful that it will be in the next few weeks maybe. We shall see.

I have been able to walk without any pain now for a few weeks so yesterday I decided to have a little run and see if I am healing.

The running felt very awkward, weird and heavy to start with. I wondered if I had forgotten how to run! I did a few Pose drills beforehand and I kept stopping, refocussing and setting off again trying to remember these things:

1. Focus only on light pulling of ankle up towards backside
2. Run lightly on spot to start with, keeping the feeling of point one above
3. Gradually lean with an upright posture from the ankles NOT waist
4. Keep the feeling of leading with solar plexus
5. Relax
6. Think of nothing in front of my centre line
7. Do not think about how my feet are landing (very hard but it stops you from striding out)

Gradually as I warmed up I began to feel lighter and like I was running nice and fluidly.

The only problem I had was the calves felt tight as bowstrings, despite me stopping and checking to ensure I wasn’t running on my toes or pushing off. Later I discovered my calves were knotted up terribly from several hundred miles of hard hilly cycling over the last few weeks. It pays to have your own personal masseur!

Here are the statistics from the run…

I enjoyed it and for the last few hundred metres I had a bit of a blast just to remind myself I can in fact run sub six minute miling when I want to. Then I made myself walk the last two hundred metres home. I shall be careful and I may not run again for a week, or a month, whatever it takes…

Running Robots

This fascinates me. I think Toyota have a better idea of how humans run. Let’s not forget that in order to make a robot run like a human then we need to understand how humans run. Asimo (or his makers) still only know how to walk fast. That is not running.

Toyota astounded me the other day when I saw this video…

For comparison look at the Asimo running…

Asimo definitely runs like he walks and when running attempts to push himself along. The Toyota robot actually changes support and does this very well when running on the spot. It all falls down when he/it too pushes itself along rather than leans and uses gravity to run. The great thing is that the Toyota machine has a two part foot so it can run properly on its forefoot. What does it need to do to run better/faster?

In my opinion…

1. Start off running on the spot as seen in video then get the robot to lean forwards slightly
2. Make sure it pulls each foot off the ground as soon as it senses a drop in weight pressure on the ball of its foot (it looks like it does this running on the spot)
3. Don’t let it think about where to land with each foot, let it just pull straight up towards hip and let go back to floor, tensing leg ‘muscles’ when it senses bodyweight back on support foot

I will continue to watch with interest.

I don’t think it will be long before we have robots that can run faster than any human, maybe faster than any animal! Both of the robots seem to be able to control their bodyweight well. This is crucial to being able to run properly. They both need to learn how to lean and control that lean thus using gravity to run.

Cycling – The New Running

I am really enjoying my cycling though which is a blessing in disguise to be honest. I never realised quite how much fun you can have buying kit and getting out on the open road having comedy moments at traffic lights clipping and unclipping oneself from the bike. I am actually enthused enough to be considering time trials and joining a local club. Cycling is in me now, it is something I shall always do even when I return to running. I believe it is of great benefit because it is good cross training and it stops me from getting completely obsessed with one discipline such is my personality.

Today’s ride was good. Calves still a little toght but I took it nice and easy.

Ensure You Have the Right Gear!

I have ordered myself a cassette with an eleven tooth sprocket. I realised that this was the best compromise rather than looking to get a 53, 39 tooth chainset.
This would not have been the best solution in view of all the hills around here!  I now undertstand that the compact chainset – 50, 34 will be fine with a better cassette. I have ordered a Campagnolo one that is better than my standard Miche, Campag compatible setup. I will have one more higher gear when I want to cruise on flats and long down hill stretches. I still have all the other gears to play with too and I think this will be a solution that will suit me just fine.