finding the sweet spot
Every day, I get closer to the shuga. Closer to the new low impact, efficient running form I’ve fantasized about since October, and further away from the old, injury causing form I used to run with. In other words, I’m getting close to 100% adoption of the pose method. That’s not to say I’m doing it perfectly because I imagine attaining pose method perfection is like attaining other forms of perfection – it will likely be a lifelong pursuit. That said, here’s the good stuff:
- I’m now proficiently tapping along on the balls of my feet instead of braking and pounding away at my heels.
- I’m landing, for the most part, under my center of gravity instead of ahead of it.
- The ankle injury finally feels completely healed.
- My feet and arches are growing stronger due to practicing the pose and running barefoot.
- My endurance is slowly, steadily getting better.
- I feel zero impact when I run now and that, let me tell ya, is WAY cool.
- I have virtually no tension or soreness when I run. No tension anywhere except…
I still occasionally get tension and soreness in my calves. It usually happens each time I run further or faster – especially when I run barefoot. The good news is the intensity of this seems to be decreasing with each succesive run. That said, the possible causes for the tension are:
1-I’m landing slightly ahead of my center of gravity.
2-I’m pushing off with my toes instead of lifting my heel directly off the ground with my hamstring.
3-I’m not relaxing my ankles and this is causing my heels to stay too high off the ground (this last one comes from concentrating too hard on landing on the balls of the feet and staying off the heels).
So, with each run, I think, “land under the body, don’t push off, relax the heel and ankle” even though I think the last thought is the one I need to focus on most.
Curiously (although I’m sure it wouldn’t be to Dr. Romanov) as I’ve experimented with all three possible causes, I’ve noticed something else – if I increase my lean ever so slightly, I can find a ‘sweet spot’ where the tension dissappears and where I feel more relaxed. The added benefit which is of course due to gravity, is that I end up running faster. So the net effect ends up being that I run faster, more relaxed and with less effort.
As I become more experienced with all this, my sweet spot seems to be getting easier to find and that’s gotta be good.
Have you got a ‘sweet spot’? Can you get there easily? Do tell!
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I almost forgot to talk about today’s run which is what got me thinking about the ‘sweet spot’! Aaron and I did 6k today for my fourth day in a row running. I was tired but it felt pretty good. It was also the second or third run where I’ve been developing a greater sense of awareness for my ‘sweet spot’.
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Friday June 10, 2005 @
Ok, first, congrats on moving ahead by leaps and bounds on your running form. You were making me worry a bit because you were kinda quiet about it, and not giving many details.
Second, I’m glad to hear there are some difficulties too. Not only because misery loves company
but also it means you are being realistic about your progress and not ignoring soreness or injury. Tells me that you have a very active role in your recovery and not just a ok-I’m-all-better-lets-pick-up-where-we-left-off kind of attitude. I don’t think I said this right at all, but this is very good, Mark.
The calves. Are you doing any of the running on any kind of hill at all? I noticed for me, that going up hill was the hardest for trying to land right, since the leading foot is landing higher than the back foot did. That’s when I notice the calf stretch (and soreness later).
Lastly, I couldn’t help but chuckled when you said “Have you got a sweet spot?”.
Let the rude Google searches begin!