A Passion for Running

Welcome to the home of Mark aka The Running Blogfather – a 40 year-old dad, husband and marathon runner who's beaten injury and is on the comeback trail!

easy 8k working on form

passion for running category: pose running method,running on Friday, March 25 2005

ahhhh…what a beautiful day it was for a run yesterday – especially beautiful after that long, unbelievably snowy week we just went through.

During the run I continued fooling around with my form. Since I STILL don’t have my POSE book and DVD, I’m left to concentrate on ChiRunning. I suppose that is OK. It really IS a great book. It’s just that I am, for various reasons, much more excited about the POSE method.

That aside, the run was a good one, and one where I felt I made progress with what the Chi dude calls bodysensing. As I played with my forward lean, and leading with knees instead of feet/toes, I could feel variations on my form which naturally felt easier and/or involved less pounding on my lanky 6′ frame. There were even one or two moments during the run when things felt TOO easy, if you can believe it. It’s hard to describe but there were a couple of moments were I felt SO balanced and where the effort it took to run was a lot easier than I’ve ever experienced. I guess the only thing about those moments were that they were fleeting. I hope eventually I am able to key in on the specifics of those moments so they become longer and longer.

I realize I’m being a bit cryptic with all this form stuff so here’s a tip I’ve read in both the ChiRunning book, and on the POSE forums: You’ve probably heard me say that leaning forward can help you run easier and faster but do you know WHERE the lean is supposed to be from? Answer: The lean is NOT from the waist. The lean is from the ankles.

Try it and let me know how it feels ok?

Happy Easter weekend everyone!




5 Comments

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Comment by Reba

Saturday March 26, 2005 @

from the ankles?! Wow, you know form is extremely important as well when carrying a pack and I absolutely must lean forward to carry the weight properly…I’m thinking I may do much better if I think of the lean as coming from the ankles rather than the pelvis! I start pack runs again in April, I’ll give it a try and let you know…if I can even make that happen of course. :)

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Comment by Jon in Michigan

Saturday March 26, 2005 @

Did you try the “two fingers under the chin and hand on the belly” method for straightening the column? I found that helpful even when running to see if I was straight or not.

And I know wht you mean about that “perfect” feeling being so fleeting. You feel it for about 5 or six steps and then its gone. But when you have it, you know it for certain.

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Comment by David

Saturday March 26, 2005 @

I love your sense of running self; especially when you know you’re in balance and leaning from the ankles forward. I will try and replicate that tomorrow.

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Comment by Deene

Monday March 28, 2005 @

Getting the right form sounds difficult. I’m afraid I’ll tip over attempting the leaning from ankles but I’ll give it a try.

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Comment by jank

Monday March 28, 2005 @

Bend at the ankles – love it. I’ll have to hit it tomorrow morning…

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