Since runners, as a rule, are a bit more injury-prone than walkers, the simplest way to avoid knee pain or knee injury is not as simple as it is with walking. I’ve read that running can increase your body weight upon impact by 6-10 times depending on whether you’re running on flat ground or running downhill. That’s an incredible amount of weight for your knees and hips to bear with every foot strike. So, it behooves us all to do everything we can to lower that multiple. If I weight 145 lbs. that means I’m putting 870 lbs. of pressure on my knees every time my foot hits the ground.

There are two reasons for this increase in impact to your knees. Part of that increase in weight comes from the fact that you’re leaving the ground between strides and as you return to earth, your body is accelerated by the pull of gravity. The other part of that weight increase happens because of the braking effect created if your foot happens to land in front of your center of mass. For most runners I’d have to say that is the biggest culprit of increasing impact.

So what’s the simplest solution?

Don’t step in front of your hips when you run. You heard me right… and you’re also correct if you’re thinking, “That’s easier said than done.” It’s not really that difficult to do, but it does take some patience and practice. It all comes down to learning how to run with a midfoot strike because it’s the best way to prevent your foot from landing out in front of your body. You can further reduce the amount of impact to your knees by landing with your foot even slightly behind your center of mass. This will minimize any chance of braking as your feet hit the ground.

If you’ve read the ChiRunning book you already know about landing with a midfoot strike and how that’s accomplished. If you haven’t read the book, I highly suggest you check it out. Another part of this equation is keeping your hips loose and your pelvis rotating. This will keep you running level across the ground and prevent the impact that comes from excessive bouncing.

If you can change where your foot lands and minimize your bounce you can seriously reduce the impact to your knees. I was recently tested at the gait lab at the University of Virginia and found that my vertical GRF (ground reaction force) was only 2.4 times my body weight. That’s a far cry from 6-10 times mentioned earlier!

My long range goal is, of course, to get that number down to zero… so I can run on water.

Happy trails,
Danny

Brynn and I ran together… (just struck me that we should have taken a picture at the end of our run!) we were a good pair: she’s been ‘off’ for the last two weeks of long runs because of cruddy nose/throat issues and I have been more or less lazy, so it was good to have the motivation to run with someone else.

the weather was beautiful and we met at Bent Creek about 12, so it was warm enough to not feel to terribly cold. I wore a lot of clothes, but lately my heart rate hasn’t been skyrocketing so I haven’t been shedding layers as a result. Actually, I didn’t even pull the gloves off for the better part of an hour!

Anyway, the stats are: 1 hr 59 minutes, 9.7 miles. We walked almost 2 miles at the end, to let the lactic acid keep moving and cool down. It was a great thing to do. The route we ran we a bit different than what I have done before, and required that both of us have different maps to decipher where we had ended up… It was fun! We stopped a few times to get food/munchies from our coats/shed coats/look at the maps, so we weren’t actually running the whole time and then we walked a little bit after each stop just to get moving a little bit more, but even with the stops and with the terrain which was probably close to 60% flat, 40% trail hills, we did darn good.

I don’t have any complaints about my body during the run EXCEPT that my right hip muscle is starting to talk to me again. I can’t figure out why it started to ‘flare’ up again, but I think it might be the cold and some pretty shoddy stretching skills. it hasn’t bothered me too much on Sunday or today, which is a good sign, but I’d like to just do away with my lame leg.

On Saturday night, after a good leg drain and mini stretches and a hot shower, my right leg was achy achy achy… almost like growing pains. I think probably from running but I am not sure why, but it could be because my left occipital ‘tendon’ was tight all day Friday and Saturday morning, tender and sensitive, so that may have been why: I was compensating for it somehow. That’s was Brynn’s diagnosis, and I wouldn’t disagree with her on that.

Anyway, the run was a definite 10. The weather was amazing, the trails were beautiful, there weren’t a ton of people, I enjoyed running with Brynn and exploring some new territory. It was really great.

So after about 90 minutes of going through the basics, we decided to go out for a run in the pouring rain. It was fun and Joe did really well!

We did the same route I did on Tuesday, but we didn’t go into the forest. I was talking throughout the run, saying out-loud focuses for both Joe and myself:

• Ankles up, imagine the feet never dropping below the ankle until the last moment, this will help keep the ankles up and knees down.
• Remember the volleyball image in front of your body to keep the arm swing accurate.
• The shoulders are like headlights in a car: steady and forward.
• Remember to hold the core steady: that’s what will keep everything together. That’s what lets your upper body engage with gravity and your lower body to cooperate with the road coming at you.
• Head up Head up, imagine yourself (myself) as a puppet being held just above the ground by a string coming from my head.

It was a good run for both of us. I have confirmation from Joe that he was sore the day after, but it’s been a long time since he last ran, so we can give him a break 

I enjoyed teaching, and believe me, it helps to learn it myself. If any of you is thinking about ever wanting to teach ChiRunning, you should.

That, for me, was the 2 consecutive days of running, and now that it’s Friday afternoon, I wonder about going for a run tomorrow instead of Sunday so I don’t wait too long before my LSD. I am going to do my best to run the full 2 hours on Sunday. do my best.

Happy Friday, all!

it was about 4.30 by the time out the door to go run, and it’s getting dark early these days, so I figured I had an hour max to get home. that gave me enough time to do the run from last Fri that Danny and I ran, plus a little extra. I was feeling like I needed to be around some trees and earth and the forest was on my route, so it worked well.

It had been overcast and raining all day, but not cold. By the time I went out, it wasn’t that dreary dark, but it was like the sun was feigning presence at the last minute… so the light was this cool, eery orange color and the rain had basically ceased so I wasn’t fighting the weather. That was a blessing.

I did the body looseners before I started, and I am grateful for that, too. I swear by those funny little warm-up exercises, but it really does get my body back into itself and help my runs. I can honestly say that everytime I do the body looseners after not having done them, I am convinced again that they have mystic properties to aid in a good run.

I just felt good when I started and I felt strong and quick. I was working on keeping my head high and my ankles high. I am still totally nuts about keeping my 790s with good tread (I can already see some heel wear, how annoying!), so I was paying attention to getting my ankles up, but not thinking necessarily where my feet were hitting. I think it’s a little bit of a double-edged sword for me:

• when I think about my foot strike, or arms swing or whatever, my concentration goes there and I kind of veer off path a little bit cause I think I sometimes fixate… you know, it’s like driving during the evening and the drivers ed people always tell you not to look at the oncoming car’s headlights because that’s where you’ll go… but at the same time, when you’re turning, they always tell you to look where you’re going and that will guide the car where it’s supposed to go…

1. So my point is this: when I start thinking about something I am doing incorrectly, I keep doing it incorrectly, perhaps. And when I focus on the things I am doing right, I go there and do them right, which is not something to complain about.

But seriously, do you see what I am saying? It makes sense, it’s like this crazy balancing act to make sure my brain is going the right direction so that my poor ol’ body can keep up.   this is a good problem to have, I like to problem solve.

Focuses/impressions for this run:

• The weather was lovely. I am such a sucker for perfect weather when I run. I don’t mind walking in any kind of weather, but running? It’s so much more fun when it’s lovely weather.
• I was keeping my head up and my ankles up and working my arm swing at 90 on the flats and 45 on the uphills.
• Because I was sore from the elliptical, I focused on basically ‘no legs’ on the flats and the hills and it seems to have served me well… not sore yet.
• I felt fast today. I realized this morning that I have sort of abandoned Danny’s guided runs for me (Tue surges, Ths hills, Sun LSD) but I also feel like I have a better understanding of my own body now and what I can accomplish, and there’s no doubt in my mind that I can finish the run, so that’s awesome… but Danny is the expert so maybe I ought to follow his advice a bit more closely until this race is actually in completion…
• Anyway, the point is that I felt fast and that’s what I was supposed to work on today and that is great, so I let myself go fast most of the time and then pulled back occasionally when I wanted to create the ‘surge’… the crazy thing is that I didn’t want to slow down and felt like junk after I did slow down. So I just kind of went fast for the run…
• I don’t know what mileage I actually did, but I was in the forest for about 20 minutes and the whole run was 48 minutes and I think I probably did close to 5 miles and I had to stop at 3 lights, so my total running time was maybe close to 46 or 45 minutes, which makes that a fast run! And here’s the craziest thing about this, people: I wasn’t really trying or efforting to go faster, it just happened. it really does just happen. the whole Form-Distance-Speed thing isn’t hocus pocus, it’s real. I know a lot of you agree with me, and for those of you who aren’t there yet, keep at it. It’ll happen.
• In the forest, there were plenty of leaves on the ground, so I wasn’t going super fast or super slow, but there are some flat areas and some hilly areas, and although my heart rate for this run was up higher on ave (179 or so), my PRE was probably about the same as my most recent runs, and that’s a great feeling for my head (ie ego).
• Some of the hills I really was going creepy slow, but I didn’t care and my HR recovery was amazingly fast and I just felt darn good this whole run.
• When I got out of the forest, I ended up going like a jack rabbit through this crazy non-path that I blazed for myself and cut out of the forest at a non-entry, back onto my route (absolutely pure luck, I had no idea where I was exiting the forest) and when I got back on the pavement, the rest of the way is basically a false-flat and I just took it easy and used my arms and didn’t worry about the time of day or the sunlight, since I was out of the forest and back into the visible world again.

I was really happy when I finished tonight, and someone was certainly watching out for me with the weather. This was totally a 10 run, and I am grateful. I feel like I am having more and more great runs, and I hope I can keep this up.

I’ll be out of the country (Ecuador) for two weeks pretty soon and my running will probably take a hiatus, but I’m committed to doing some form of exercise and hopefully meeting up with some other ChiRunners in the city!

Thanks to all of you, over and over again for your support. I know a lot of you read this and don’t comment, but I appreciate all eyes reading this… I can feel it! got another week of runs to blog about and then I’m outta here!

needless to say, i chickened and ran on the treadmill at the Y. Again, it was crazy busy and did a good 30 minutes (3 miles) and then did a little bit on the elliptical… my lower legs are sore from the elliptical… it’s been almost a year since I was on one of those machines… and now I remember why. I used to like them, but not so much anymore…

i wore more appropriate clothing indoors on Sunday and didn’t die of heat, but was still plenty sweaty. definitely felt like i was ‘efforting’ more than usual… probably the way it goes

anyway, it was a decent workout, and although i only ‘ran’ about 1/4 of what I was supposed to run, I did something. Hope I’m not damaging my progress by not having done two long runs two weeks in a row… having a hard time with the cold…

I didn’t really have any aches or pains while running, but I have GOT to do the body looseners. I feel like a slacker cause I haven’t been doing them lately. Bad Liz, bad Liz!

today is overcast and supposed to rain, but i am determined to run, so i’ll have something good to write about tonight.

So Danny came with me, and we only did a short little run (he was running home and I was running back to the office, so we ran together for a little while with Mei Ling, and then parted ways.) It really was a short route, but so bitterly cold with the wind, I headed back a little early because I wasn’t wearing and ear or hand protection and no windbreaker. Duh, Liz.

I ran just short of 4 miles, 1/2 with Danny, 1/2 without. He and I ran pretty quickly to get off Broadway and into a more secluded area, so the first part of the run was quick and then I slowed down a little bit for the remainder. Either way, averaged around an 8.5 min mile pace: the cold is a good incentive to put a little umph in the stride.

Thoughts/observations:

• Didn’t do body looseners. Should have… I felt a little heavy and think the looseners would have helped me get a little energy moving through my body. I really should really try to do that before I go out for a run, no matter how short.
• Didn’t stretch very well. Again, should have. In the book, Danny dedicates a great deal of time outlining the importance of the pre/post run exercises, both mental and physical that will help create a good running practice. I have been a bad example of that lately. I think on the long runs I really do dedicate adequate mental preparation and body loosening and after-run stretching, but I could work on doing the same thing when I go for short runs, too. It would probably help me feel better about each run, no matter the time/length.
• My arm swing is back to normal, according to Danny, but I have as always room to improve my head position and ankle circles. I mean, before Danny even said anything to me, I knew that’s what it was going to be! I felt like I had pretty good form, but of course there is always room to improve. My long neck thing is just about being lazy, and I need to be conscious of it every time I take a step. It can be sort of exhausting and I know when I am tired, I start to slouch. Good thing to practice…. And with the lower leg position/movement, here are a few good tips from Danny about foot placement and ankle circles:

1. Every time your foot hits the ground, be aware of where it is in relation to the rest of your body: it should always be behind your hips every time it makes contact with the ground. If you were to look down and see your foot hit, it would always be behind your hips. With correct posture, this is absolutely possible at any degree of lean/speed.
2. Your legs should never be ‘coming forward’… instead, imagine that as your ankles come high (even in slower speeds), all the have to do is drop down vertically to touch the ground. If you visualize your foot this way, then it’s more difficult to be taking strides forward, and instead it forces your legs to always swing to the rear which is what they should be doing anyway….

I liked this last point, that the ankles (feet) can just come straight down after they’ve reached the top of their arc: no need to swing them forward. What I found when Danny was describing this to me is that my upper body really started to lean forward and lead my body. It felt a little strange, but I imagine it looked pretty good. This business of keeping my feet always behind my hips is what I know to be true, but what I have a hard time feeling in my body. I should videotape myself to see how it really looks. I should probably also watch the DVD again to get a good visualization. I have a hard time with this because my legs are long, but especially from hip to knee. My lower legs are pretty short compared to the rest of my leg, so in theory, it should be easy for me to get these circles correct and just let my ankles fall gently to the ground. I just need to practice practice practice.

On another note, I feel like I have hit a plateau in my running. I will probably take music with me today on the long run, and will hopefully enjoy it but it’s been a bit of a difficult task to get my legs out the door lately. Danny said it’s normal, and I know it’s normal, but I don’t want to be normal. I want to be better than normal. Who doesn’t? It’s just learning how to take things as they come, I guess, and be happy with the now instead of pining for the future or past.

Either way, I AM at a plateau and I am learning to just be gentle with my expectations. I know I can’t just not run because I don’t feel like it… I’ll fall off the wagon and then my race could be a disaster…  I mean, even with this Chi stuff, it’s okay to plateau. The point is to enjoy where I am. It’s been a cool ride so far.. it’s only 5 weeks away… WOW! Who else is running in the Houston 1/2? I’ll be wearing ChiGear, so if you see me, let’s run together for a spell!

Scale: 7.

The Pool Running Drill
Here's a fun exercise to give you a sense of what it feels like to rotate your pelvis. Think back to a summer long ago when you were a kid playing with your friends at your local swimming pool.  Remember getting out of the pool at the shallow end and racing your friends to be first in line for the diving board or slide?  What did you do? If you were like me, you ran to the diving board but was always foiled by the lifeguard yelling….  “Hey you, WALK!”  So what you did was try to walk as fast as you possibly could without actually breaking into a run.

So here's what to do: A friend can help or just use your imagination. Go outside and find a spot about 25 yards away that you can run to. Then tell your friend to play the part of the lifeguard and, at some point after you begin running, have them yell, “Hey you, WALK!” At which point you should drop into the fastest walk you can possibly do. Hopefully, one of the first things you'll notice is that your pelvis is rotating and moving with your legs as they swing.
 
We have discovered that it is easier to learn pelvic rotation while walking than while running. Once you can feel this sensation in your walking you’ll be able to integrate it into your running. While running you want to allow your hips to rotate as fully as they do during this exercise. For some advanced work get a Chubby Checkers record and do the twist!
 
By developing the ability to rotate your level pelvis around the vertical axis of your spine, you can open up a new avenue of Chi Walking and Chi Running for yourself that will give you a longer, smoother, more fluid stride.
 
Give it a try and don’t forget to stop by the Chi Running and Chi Walking forums if you have any questions.

Resources to help you master the Chi Running basics:

• Chi Running Book: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running
• Chi Running DVD: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running

Danny wrote a good article about running on the treadmill… you can look at it here. Good tips for those of you approacing bitter cold running seasons…

It was getting dark before I got out of the office, and the Y is right across the street, so I went there and ran on the treadmill. Because it is CRAZY busy after work (honestly, they have to man the sign-in board and for about 3 hours, have a full-time person calling out names of next-in-line for the exercise equipment!) I only ran for 30 minutes, since they have a time limit during peak hours. Understood why they have the rule, but man, it’s crazy. In the reflection of the glass, I could see people lurking around the sign-in board like vultures ready to drop for some carcasses.

I was a carcass when I finished: had planned to run outside, so I didn’t have the best clothes: cotton tank, long sleeve tech shirt and loose over pants. I was sweaty when I was done, and felt like I had run much farther/faster than I in fact had. 3 miles in 30 minutes… again, nothing if not consistent!

I focused on the following things on the treadmill:

• leaning. I had to stand a little farther back from the controls than I was used to from my previous treadmill experiences, but it was fine because the lean kept me from going off the back end (I started imagining those hilarious commercials when someone flies off the back of treadmill and gets spit onto the ground… I didn’t want to become one of those laughing stocks. Have you ever actually done that?) This is a funny little YouTube video some of you may have seen… good little laugh to pick up your day.
• arm swing down. a couple of times i caught my hands floating up near my shoulders, and i could watch in the reflection of the glass to make sure that my hands didn’t come above the reflection of the treadmill.
• quick cadence. I set the machine to do a ‘random’ course which meant some ‘hills’… but I tried to just keep the cadence the same the whole time, even with the little bit of hills. It’s hard to keep a good cadence when you’re at the gym next to 10 other treadmills and loud music. I thought I had about 85 but then actually counted and I was only at 77! that was alarming and enlightening!
• heels up! I could see in the reflection that I had pretty good little circles going around with my ankles and feet. that was very satisfying…

I was surprised at how sweaty I got: sure it’s being indoors and having too much clothing on, but I wonder if the treadmill running was that much more difficult for me because I felt like I had run closer to 45/60 minutes rather than 30. Something to work on if I go over there again, eh?

Didn’t have any aches and pains and I stretched decently well afterwards, so no tightness or soreness today or yesterday.

Scale: 7

When I watch people walk I’d conservatively estimate that over 90% of all walkers lock their leading knee as their heel touches the ground in front of them. The problem with this (and most people don’t know this) is that when your heel strikes the ground ahead of your center of mass, it creates a braking effect on your forward motion. So you’re essentially pushing yourself forward with your rear leg while you’re simultaneously stopping yourself with your leading leg. We call it “driving with the brakes on” and it’s not only an inefficient way to move down the road, but it can create long-term impact damage to your feet, knees, hips and lower back.

According to the Joint Implant and Surgery Foundation there are over 200,000 hip replacements performed in the U.S. every year! I was totally shocked at this number. Here’s a small section of an article on hip replacements that I’ve borrowed from the JISF.org website:

“Hip joint load is a function of body weight, activity level, muscular force, and the distance from the body’s center of gravity to the center of the femoral head. Publications have stated that the hip joint force increases up to 2.5 times body weight with speed in level walking.”

Let’s see… two and a half times my body weight is 290 lbs. That means that when I walk at any kind of speed on a level surface there’s a force of 290 lbs. going to each of my hip joints with every step I take. Now, if I’m reaching forward with my stride and locking my knee, that means that that same amount of force is also going into my heels (plantar fasciitis & ankle problems), my knees (300,000 total knee replacements each year according to the NIH), my hips (you’ve seen the numbers), and lower back (The U.S. spends $50 billion each year on lower back pain). You’d think that here in the 21st century we could come up with a way to prevent some of this. Well, there is something remarkably simple that you can do the next time you find yourself walking somewhere. Are you ready for this earth-shattering piece of inside information? OK, here it is….

Don’t lock your knees when you take a step forward. That’s right. It’s pretty simple. Just make sure your knees are always bent as your foot comes down onto the ground ahead of you. Here’s how you’ll be helping your hip joint specifically. When you lock your knee the impact of your footstrike travels in a direct line from your heel to your hip because all of your bones are lined up in a straight line. On the other hand, if you bend your knees, that impact is dispersed through your feet, ankles, and knees before it reaches your hip…and the resulting impact to your hip becomes almost negligible.

Of course, if you’re used to walking with your knees locked, this means a change in what is probably a longstanding habit. Remembering to do it is the hardest part, but it is much easier to do if you can remember to always work on walking with your posture well-aligned with your shoulders and head slightly forward of where you are used to carrying them. It’s just a very slight forward tilt of your upper body whenever you’re walking.

Another way to accomplish the knee bend when you walk is to shorten your stride and quicken your cadence. You’ll sense that you’re taking smaller, quicker steps, but your legs will feel very different as will the impact on your hips and knees. It might feel a bit strange at first, but if you go back and read the statistics about knee and hip replacements and think of the alternatives…you might be more willing to watch your step.

For more information on injury-free walking and fitness walking please visit the ChiWalking website.

It was a good run, but man it was cold, and there was this slgihtly angled wet snow that poked my eyes so strongly a few times, I felt like pencil had been flicked at me! Really, I was running along and my eyes were just watering buckets. Some from the cold, some from the snow, and I literally had tears streaming down my face.

I took Kleenex to prevent my snot problem, and fortunately the few that I brought held up the test of runny eyes and nose.

I wasn’t sure how the roads were going to be because of the wet and the cold, but fortunately, it wasn’t slippery, just a little 1/2″ – 1/4″ dusting of snow which wasn’t difficult to run on at all.

The snow actually provided a great incentive for me to imagine the perfect foot fall and ankle circles. I felt like I had a really great form the whole time. No one can learn to run with their chin down and forehead in front better than when a flurry of wet snow is thrusting itself into your face. Talk about an incentive to keep your head down!

I felt steady and strong and pretty darn good. I had a quick pace, and there was one longish uphill/downhill and that was a good test for my legs… At about minute 45 I had a little slump, which generally happens to me. It’s good to know, because at the race I’ll be taking gels at minute 45 and probably again at 90 minutes and then finish the race strong. Does anybody think it’s cheating to eat gels on a 1/2 marathon? Be honest…

When I started to kind of feel tired, I just shortened my stride and increased my breath exhalation as much as possible, kept my arms moving quickly and just focused on being satisfied. When I was feeling good, I was feeling full of breath, and my heart rate seemed to stick right around 170 bpm, which I was very happy with. I was really trying to use my arms most efficiently, and remember that crazy foot thing that I have going on…

I am happy to report my knees didn’t ache until the end and I am certain that it was the cold, not my form. My heart rate, as I said, was good. My brain was clear: I think the cold helped keep me alert and focuses, esp. with the chance of slipping very much on my brain

two slight aches; my strange right hip thing was back momentarily, and I believe it was the lack of stretching, the cold, hurrying around after the run with no leg drain and then sitting on plane/in car for about 6 hours… AND my poor calves are sore today. Again, tight from the same reasons, and also because of the snow. I think I had a good foot fall, but I was probably tensing a little because of the road conditions. Lesson learned.

The cold was kind of a strange thing to deal with. I get so hot when I run that it was a nice way to balance my body heat, but the wet snow stuck to my hat and my coat and towards the end I got a little chilly. I suppose that’s okay cause I was sweaty, too and slowing down.

My poor shins were bright red when I finished (3/4 pants, no full lengths) but it was okay after a little time in the car with the heat blasting.

Scale: 8… I ran 6.32 miles in 58.30 minutes. Not bad… about 9.15 pace? Ha!