A Passion for Running

Time: 2:29
Distance: 16.4 miles
Pace: 9:05 minutes per mile
Average Heart Rate: 159

Last week’s long run was absolutely brutal (no energy). The week before, hindsight tells me I pushed the pace a bit too much (8:52 min/mile). Today was just right. I am depleted but not completely exhausted. I think it will set me up well for the rest of the week.

In other news, I submitted the following video clip to the posetech forum. I got really excellent encouragement from some of the gurus (Jack is King there). Historically, I’ve been nervous about posting video there because the coaches can be perfectionists whose detailed comments can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. That said, the coaches there are really excellent and have the best of intentions - to help you achieve good Pose Method running form.

It turns out that today my nervousness was not warranted - all I got was positive praise. I am relieved. Before I posted the video, I thought my form was looking and feeling good but, I was not certain of it. Now I am. That’s a good feeling for someone who’s spent the better part of two years at this!

So, for those of you who are interested, here is a link to a full-sized video of me Pose Method running (QuickTime mov format). In case you don’t have QuickTime, I’ve also embedded a smaller, more universally viewable Google Video version below.

I often get questioned on what it feels like to run using the Pose Method. Here’s the simple answer that just moments ago occurred to me:

Do you know the feeling of lightly touching on stairs as you go down them? There is that fine line between going too slow — when your feet begin landing more heavy and flat-footed — and going that speed where they just tightly touch the stairs.

That’s what Pose Method runners try for — that kind of quickness and lightness.

It’s all about quick cadence (turnover) and lifting the foot up almost before it touches the ground. And that kind of lightness can only be accomplished on the balls of one’s feet.

Does that make sense to you?
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Oh! Remember I introducted you to Megin? Well, she’s now run her first 5k. Go congratulate her!

The shoe of choice for pose method runners is the minimalist puma h-street. Unfortunately, it’s being discontinued and there is only one color left at the Puma store.

So, it was off to ebay I went where I bought this cool silver and black pair for almost half the price of a new pair ($44 + $13 for shipping to Canada)!

I’m bidding on this pair too:

My first pair lasted me about 16 months (the upper part finally tore) so I should be good for at least a couple of years.

Prior to beginning my barefoot and pose method running journey, I associated a particular kind of language with running - a language that I believe is very common among North American runners.

But my journey has changed how I think about running and, at the heart of this change is language - the words I associate with running.

I want to share some lovely words penned by Ken Bob Saxton - the guru of barefoot running in North America. These words eloquently illustrate the message I’d like to pass on to you. What you are about to read can be found in its original state right here.

As long as we accept the terms “strike” and “impact” to describe the way we run, it will be nearly impossible to find a gentle landing approach.

The key is not to strike, not to “absorb” impact, but to decelerate the foot, as it approaches the ground, by lifting the foot, before the foot “TOUCHES” the ground…

…Impact, and it’s absorbtion becomes almost meaningless, as one gets close to perfecting (no one is ever perfect) this technique.

How often do we hear people say they can’t run because the “pounding” is too hard on their bodies?

What do you think about when you see or hear about barefoot runners, or people running in shoes like these?

Or these?

For many people, I am guessing the reaction would be along the lines of, “ouch” and “the impact must be damaging”.

And yet, people are running in shoes offering no more protection than they’d get from slippers. People are running in their bare feet. And they are doing it without injuring themselves. How is this possible? Is it, perhaps, because they approach running differently?

Do the words we associate with running dictate how we run, how we interact with the ground, and in the kind of footwear we can run in?

Is it possible to exchange words like “impact”, “strike” and “pound” for others like “touch”, “lightly contact” and “tap” and, if we change those words - that mindset - can we change how we run and leave the language of injury behind?
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Interested in exploring this idea? I recommend visiting posetech and barefootrunning.org.

Website-wise, this week sucked. Early in the week, I started noticing some problems around the completerunning domain. Weird problems with our blogs and, even weirder, not all of the blogs had the same problem.

To make a long story short, I finally deduced that our domain host changed some security settings without telling me. While I’m a little miffed at the “without telling me” part, it’s hard to be mad at dreamhost because they are always active in the fight against things like denial of service attacks instead of just blaming their customers for problems like my old host iPowerweb did.

So, I spent much of the week fixing stuff. ugg…not the way I like to spend my evenings. Oh well.

Onto to the positive stuff - running! This week has been tremendous. I had a smokin’ 90 minute run on Monday, followed by a terrific 51 minute ass-spankin’ trounce over my four sisters (sisters=hills) route, and a nice 50 minute trail run yesterday that ended with a 7 minute mile. I’m thinking a nice light run is in order for today.

And everything feels good. My ankle feels good. My feet feel good. My calves feel good and there are absolutely no signs of my shin splint nemesis returning.

Transitioning to Pose took a year. A year of no racing. A year that began with running 100 feet at a time. A year of trial and error. A year that included an injury incurred because of a stupid mistake I made, and a year of watching other people progress while I sucked up my pride and learned to run again.

But it’s been so worth it.

Man-oh-man, I’m havin’ such a good time. Today marked my fourth hard run in as many days, and my third week of consistent running since the renovation. The bonus for today is that it was a trail run. Yeah!

And the body feels fantastic - the Pose Method is being good to me. It now feels really natural and I’m noticing my timing on the pull part of pose-fall-pull is getting better and better. What exactly does that mean? It means that the better my timing is on the pull, the less time I spend on the ground and the less impact there is to my body. The outcome of that last sentence is that with all the hard running I’m doing, I’ve had virtually no soreness. And that’s from running on pavement in shoes that offer no more protection than bedroom slippers.

See my sidebar welcome over there at top right? I’m thinking it might be time to change it to reflect the fact that I’m 99% done reengineering my form. I hope it doesn’t anger the running gods to make that declaration, but I feel that I need to move on from learning mode, ramp up my confidence and just run.

A shout out to Jeanne from Not Born to Run. Jeanne’s having some bunion problems. I have two runner friends with major bunions. I’ve never had them. Have you?

Well, the vibram fivefingers shoe continues to create a buzz. Even Dr. Romanov - founder of the Pose Method of Running has endorsed it!

Vibram: Are you listening? I can’t get your shoes in Canada!

I’ve picked on Nike and Oprah Winfrey and Adidas in previous posts so it only seems fair to pick on New Balance today.

I could not imagine a better illustration of how not to run. Unfortunately, in this commercial (view the one titled Abzorb EX/891) New Balance is not trying to do that. Instead, they are trying to tell you about a shoe that will protect you from the pounding often associated with running.

For those of you who are new my world, what’s wrong with this picture is the terrible heel-striking this runner is demonstrating. Ouch.

Do yourself a favour and become a mid/forefoot runner so you can save yourself some pain and the need to buy shoes like the one’s New Balance is peddling in this commercial.

Say it with me folks. Heel striking is B-A-D.

Yup. I’ve got that whole ankle/leg/shin-splint issue figured out. It was definitely the pronating on my right foot that was the problem. Ran again tonight with Aaron keeping the focus (again) on making proper contact with the ground. The pose felt good and the pain I had is all but gone.

The only discomfort I have is some muscle soreness in my right foot - undoubtedley because I’m working “rightey” in a different way than it is used to.

I’m thinking this latest tweak to my form is going to take a couple of weeks. I’m way happy and looking forward to a winter of fine tuning followed by a spring and summer of rockin’ racing.

Woohoo!

So, after about a week off, I got back to running. Aaron and I went out for a 20 minute test run - just to see how things would feel. It went well but my leg, foot and ankle still have some…discomfort.

The really valuable thing about today’s run came from having Aaron along for the ride. After I concentrated for a few minutes on correct foot placement, Aaron asked me to follow him to see if I could spot his “knee coming in” - a troublesome thing for him. While I could not see his knee doing funny stuff, I was able to clearly see the toes on his right foot turning outward as they left the ground. His left side was fine. This left Aaron wondering if this might be the reason/part of the reason for his knee hurting/having some discomfort so he worked on it for the rest of the run.

Then Aaron returned the favor and ran behind me. The first thing he mentioned was that my right heel wasn’t coming anywhere close to touching the ground. Hmmm…I concentrated on letting that heel come closer to the ground. It didn’t want to. It was work. It became obvious to me that’s part of my problem. If my heel/ankle is not sufficiently relaxed, it’s going to cause tension in my calves and achilles tendon and that’s going to cause all kinds of other problems. I wonder why my right leg is doing that? Perhaps it is shorter than the left one? Maybe, as I discussed in a previous post, I have a problem with hip alignment? I have to figure that out. Are there any experts out there that would like to chime in?

At any rate, I learned a lot today. And I’ve (still) got much to work on form-wise.

But I’m patient. I’m in this for the long haul.