It has been raining, so it’s been hot and sticky, ugh. My calves were a little tight, I felt okay at the end of the run, but I did feel like I was struggling a lot and needed to stop fairly frequently to get reconnected to my body. It was sort of annoying, but I also recognized that it’s just part of the process. Some days are easier than others… I got back in posture over and over again and it was better. I know it was a form run but I felt like my form was giving up on me! I ran a couple random loops around the trails at the lake, which really is beautiful and nicely ‘distracting’. I have no idea how far I ran, but right now the minutes are all that I am paying attention to.

My right calf is tight, so is my right hip flexor. Scale is about a 6 today, not so hot. I got home to stretch, and my next run LSD is going to be in Vail (we are leaving this afternoon)… that might be a little bit hard with the altitude, but we’ll see (from 2100′ elevation to close to 8000).

Whew.

Today’s track workout was quite good. I surprised myself. Ran a nice easy warm up pace for 15 minutes, really trying to focus on form… kept doing the focuses on keeping my ankles and calves loose (and I was trying all week to keep them loose every time I walk anywhere, so it seemed sort of easier, but strange still)

Danny came to the track as I was beginning my accelerations. The accelerations are designed to get my heart rate up by increasing my speed, but really focusing on maintaining my form… We did them together which was easier than doing it alone, I admit. I did 4 accelerations, starting at gear 1 going up to gear 3 during the distance of 200 m (and maybe the last couple yards kicking into gear 4) and jogged slowly between each 200 interval. He asked me to concentrate on smaller strides and I noticed it was much easier to run at this small stride with him next to me. He’s a bit shorter than I am and his stride is naturally and of course by ChiRunning, small and very quick. It was a real ah-hah moment for me to recognize how normal it CAN look to have a small stride. My hips and knees felt better at a smaller stride, almost immediately. All these steps of getting into form really do reinforce how great this stuff is. We closed the run with 15 minutes in gear two and then I stretched awhile…

On a scale of 1-10, it was an 8 run, definietly. I was ready to be done when we were done, and when I got in the car, realized I had a strange tightness in my back that was quite uncomfortable.

Felt good, ran the full 45 minutes, one big loop at Carrier Park, two at the French Park dog park, and 1/2 of Carrier Park again. Click here to see the approximate map.

I felt good. Tried to focus on keeping my calves loose, keeping my forehead forward, leading my body with my head. Tried to imagine not pushing with my toes at all, and that seemed to help. I felt like I was going at a pretty good, steady clip in 2nd gear.

Over all scale about an 8 (from 1-10)… Did body looseners before I went, which was good and really does loosen me up. I did a leg drain and stretched when I got home. I went about 8.45 am, not too hot (so nice!) and the park wasn’t busy at all…

So, Danny thought it would be a good idea to videotape me today. I am not sure how I feel about that, but what can I say?

Today was my 2nd run ever for this training, and we met at the track again. My Thursday runs are supposed to be a form workout. We met at the UNCA track, the weather was good and I started with the body looseners. I think they really help me a lot. Danny was late so I just got going: because I didn’t want to burn out too soon, I asked Danny if it was okay for me, for these first runs, to walk ever. He said, yes, but do it in increments of always less than 1 minute. “1 minute is plenty of time for your body to recoup.”

I did 20 mins around the track in gear 1/2, walked for 1 minute, 15 mins around the track gear 1/2 and then Danny met me as I was finishing up that lap. We ran together for another 30 minutes or so, with his critique of my form. (Ha, so funny, I later found out that Danny told Katherine, “Man, she’ll be a good runner but she’s very inefficient right now.”)

I wasn’t feeling great; my knees were a little achey and i felt like i was ‘back’ to my old running style of just barelling through it and hating every moment. After Danny filmed me (he put the camera and himself at about center of goal post and filmed me on the curve), he said my two focuses need to be keeping my chin down (crown up) and getting my ankles up… those are my only two focuses for the next couple weeks. He kept telling me to try to just really let go in my lower legs, let my calves feel like butter, like room-temp butter than just falls apart. He said not to focus on speed at all, but just on the focuses.

My body started to talk while we were running and then again at the end of the run/through the day. I have this weirdness in my hip on the right side (i fell while camping last weekend, hard on my right butt). My hip/sciatica was a little tender, but not too bad. My body is sore after the workout, though, so I think I need to try to stretch.

I have been assigned to three runs per week, and today was the first in a long set of 3 runs per week for 10+ weeks. I headed to the UNC Asheville track to do my first workout, which for this Tuesday and every Tuesday to follow, involves a 15 min warm up, a series of ‘accelerations’, broken up by easy jogs, and a nice 15 min run in ~ gear 2.

Being a Colorado native, the hot weather makes me feel like a fish out of water. I was grateful this morning for the cool weather.

I felt very slow for the first 15 min start, approx. 5 laps… I can’t keep track (ha! no pun intended…) but really, I just can’t keep track of how many laps I do. So whatever, I got out there and did a nice easy gear 1 pace of a warm up. I found myself trying to hold back from going out too hard, as that’s what I’ve always done. It was hard, but it saved me by the end of the run.

I liked the accelerations, which are a series of 6 intervals of a 200 m stretch separated by 100 m stretch. I was to begin the 200 m at gear 1 and by the end of that 200 m be in “my gear 4.” (I say ‘my gear’ because I didn’t want to push it to hard at the get go, and it was my first run and I wasn’t trying to break records, so, you know…). After that 200 m, I backed off my gear 4 lean and went back to a nice gear 1 pace until the next 200 m stretch, and so on.

The last 15 minutes, supposed to be in gear 2, were alright. My knees were a little bit achey, felt like I was going at a healthy ’2′ but realized that I probably was going really slowly. (Which I know is okay, but some of my ego was a little bit put-out).

On a scale of 1-10 (low to high) I would say the entire run was about a 6 in terms of my feeling afterward. PRE (perceived rate of exertion) on the same scale was probably higher, maybe 6-7…

I am going to try to be really good about stretching after each run and try to do the leg drains. I get so much lactic acid build-up, even with this, that I know my body needs the drain. I have done it a few times in the past and it really does make me feel better. Also doing the Body Looseners before beginning is immensely helpful, and I could feel it this am when I began and my ankles didn’t wince and my spine didn’t pop.

“When I concentrate on striking mid-foot and keeping my
lower legs very relaxed, it feels and sounds like my feet are slapping the pavement much harder than before.  Is this normal, or does my form still need correcting?”

For many first-timers to ChiRunning, learning to run with a midfoot strike is a very new experience. The new way your feet touch the ground, along with a distinctive full-bodied tilt can take a little time to get used to. What happens for some folks who are working on a midfoot strike, is that they notice their feet tend to slap the pavement more then they used to. If this happens to you it’s a sign that you’re on the right path to getting a midfoot strike, but it’s also a sign that there’s more work to do in other areas of your stride.

Here’s what I mean. Most people are used to swinging their legs forward when they take a stride…whether they’re walking or running. What this does is create a heel strike where your heel then becomes a fulcrum and your foot slaps down onto the pavement with each step. Not only is a heel strike unhealthy for your knees, the slapping can bruise the metatarsal heads and make your feet feel like they’re on fire.

In the ChiRunning and ChiWalking techniques, the foot strikes under your center of mass in a midfoot strike. This eliminates a heel strike and shortens your support time. The legs are always swinging to the rear, which noticeably reduces the amount of impact to the knees. When many people first try the midfoot strike they tend to focus more on the landing than on what the rest of their body is doing. The way to get rid of the slapping is to work on your pelvic rotation, which is mentioned on pages 179-180 of the ChiRunning book, and also mentioned at the top of page 82. In the ChiWalking book it is explained and illustrated on page 87.

As your foot hits the ground under you, your leg begins its rearward swing. Your leg then extends out behind you and when your foot returns to its original support position, it’s underneath you again…not landing out in front of you. As long as your foot never lands in front of your body, the slapping will go away.

Here’s the trick. Every time your leg swings out the back, let your hip swing back with it. This will force your hips and pelvis to rotate in the direction your rear leg is swinging, creating a healthy twisting motion along your spine. Your stride will open up behind you, as it should, and you’ll experience a new sense of smoothness in your gait because your legs will no longer be swinging forward which causes foot slapping.

Happy Trails,
Danny