Lately I have been focusing more on pelvic rotation.  This is an advanced Chi Running focus and not something to concern yourself with too much as you get started running in the early weeks and months of your running practise.  All the basic Chi Running technique focuses should be in place before you move forward with this particular focus.  On this morning’s run, I started out at a nice slow pace warming up for 10 minutes or so, body sensing and settling into the run.  Once I felt aligned and centred, I started to pick up the pace. I put my attention on my upper abdominals just below my ribs and tried to relax everything from that point down.  With an engaged core and a little lean, I allowed my hips to go back with my legs and let the ground pick my feet up.  The benefits of muscular elasticity and recoil add to the feeling of effortless running as I silently make my way around the park.

I periodically check that my upper body is relatively stationary apart from my arm swing.  I turn on my metronome to check that my cadence hasn’t increased or even dropped as I allow my stride to open out behind me.  The more relaxed I can be the faster and more fluidly I can run.

I am not yet conditioned enough to be able to sustain the speed which this gives me for a long time but I hope this will change as I begin to focus my training later in the year.  Right now I’m having a lot of fun playing around with it though!

Happy running.
Michelle

My Race-specific Marathon Training Program
Asheville is a hilly place. Dayton, Ohio (relatively speaking) is not. So, in the weeks leading up to the marathon I ran at least two of my weekly runs on the only flat road in town to get my body used to running for long periods on a flat surface. These runs helped to increase my aerobic capacity. The rest of my runs were my typical daily hour-long trail runs with my dog. These very hilly runs maintain my cardio conditioning. I ran 5-6 days a week and my average weekly mileage topped out at about 30 miles per week. My two longest training runs before the race were 13 miles and 14.7 miles… two weeks out and 3 weeks out respectively. It works for me, but I definitely don’t recommend this approach for others. On these long runs I spent the entire time working on my running technique, specifically my pelvic rotation and on totally resting my legs whenever my feet were off the ground. I also spent considerable time matching my cadence (90 spm) with my breath rate (3 steps out-breath and 2 steps in-breath) with a rhythmical gathering and issuing technique I’ve been testing lately with great success. It’s an energetic   blend of armswing and pelvic rotational focuses. All of this technique training worked wonders to improve my efficiency which allowed me to sustain an 8:24 mpm marathon pace without having to run tons of miles in training. The week before the race I practiced my starting pace (8:45min./mi.) during every run.

Days 6, 5 and 4 before the race I ran easy and ate meals heavy on protein which helped my muscles to rest, recover and rebuild from training. On Days 3, 2 and 1 before the race I ate only carbohydrates…no protein. This helped my muscles tank up on glycogen stores for use in the race. After the race I ate a couple of heavy protein meals accompanied by colorful salads rich in minerals.

My Chi Running Focuses During the Marathon:
• Breathing only through my nose, which kept me very relaxed (I wore a Breathe-rite strip).
• Not letting myself get boxed in by runners in front of me. I would position myself running off to either side. I run best with no one in front of me.
• Lengthening my spine and leading with my forehead (I’d hit my “refresh button” every time I passed a mile marker.)
• Dropping my arms once every mile to let my shoulders relax and rest. I also leaned into the downhills and allowed my legs to totally rest on every downhill section.
• Shortening my stride on every uphill section, and whenever I felt the slightest bit of fatigue creeping in.
• Drinking 1-2 oz. of water at every aid station (There were 21 in this race …which was fabulous!)
• Thanking as many volunteers and roadside supporters as possible.
• Taking a teaspoon-sized slug of honey/maple syrup mixture every two miles after mile 10.
• Taking a Succeed! cap every hour (and one after finishing) for electrolyte replacement.
• Varying the usage of my muscle groups throughout the race for maximum efficiency (I alternated between predominantly upper-body running and lower-body running).
• In the second half I frequently used my y’chi on the open sections of the course. I also focused on maintaining a perpetual sense of falling forward with each stride.

My Running Shoes
For the marathon I wore Mizuno Wave Musha 2′s which are racing flats but not as minimal as the Wave Universe 3′s. They worked great for me. They are a very fast, light-weight shoe and extremely comfortable at the marathon distance because of their flat ride.

The Mizuno Musha 2… fast and flat.

Vital statistics for number crunchers:

Overall time: 3:39:44
Age Group placement: 2nd in 60-64
½ Marathon split: 1:48:29 (8:17 pace!) I’ll take full responsibility for this. Every time Pacer Dave and I would start talking with each other, the pace got faster. By the half we were 1:30 too fast…whoops! We should have come across at 1:50:00 or a bit slower. I’ll keep my mouth shut next time;-)
2nd Half split: 1:51:15 (2:46 slower than first half)
Overall pace: 8:24
Qualified for Boston!

My legs recovered very quickly after the race and I was able to hike the day after (Sunday) and do a nice 6-mile trail run on Monday.

I’d say that a huge contributing factor to the race going so well for me was the total lack of pre-race worries and logistics. The Air Force Marathon is so well organized that it created the ideal conditions for energy to flow… for the entire 26.2 miles.

This way of training and running a marathon, ½ marathon, 10k or 5k is the basis of how the Chi Running training programs are set up. They’re race-specific training programs that train your body, as well as your mind, to run a successful event by matching your training to the race you’re about to run and paying attention to every detail of your technique, fueling, and race strategy…before, during and after your race.

Train smart, run smarter.
Danny

The Asheville Half Marathon went extremely well on Saturday: the weather was incredible, the fans were loud and the course was challenging. Shelly, her friend Emily and I all started running together across the start line. I was very adamant on staying happy, focused and slow at the beginning. I felt a little silly as loads of people went barreling past us, but I knew in my body that if I didn't start running at an easy pace, I’d pay for it later.

So I held myself back, running at a nice easy clip and Body Sensed my way very carefully through the first two miles. At about mile 3, there begins a fun series of undulating hills. I really let my body go with the flow and crept up the uphills and sped quickly running down the downhills. It’s pretty fun to go cruising down the hills, knowing that I am going to feel fine, watching other people curiously turn their heads as I pass. I saw many people using their quads and holding themselves back. As Danny says in the book and in our training programs, “Surrender to the speed, Grasshopper!”

From mile 4-8, I had the biggest grin of a lifetime on my face. I really think the spectators must have wondered what I was so thrilled about. I simply felt wonderful: prepared, familiar with the course, full of positive self-talk and plenty of Form Focuses up my sleeve to keep me motivated and safe through the race.

Mile 9 – 10 is an entire 1 mile climb up a fairly steep road, Lookout Mtn. I did well on it by using my upper body to get me up the hill and focused on taking small, reasonable steps. I breathed out 5 and in 3 counts, and used my y’chi to focus my energy up the hill rather than down. I saw my friend Heather on the hill and I was so impressed with her performance that I myself got re-inspired.

I knew my running time was faster than my typical 10 min/mile pace when I reached the top of Lookout and was under 100 minutes. But I wasn’t concerned with my finishing time; as you read in my pre-race post, I just wanted to finish running injury-free.

When I rounded the bend at the beginning of Broadway, which is somewhere between mile 11 – 12, I recognized that I had probably been running a little too fast during my elated miles 4-8, but knew I could keep it together, and just backed off my lean, shortened my stride, and turned on my metronome to keep me in good rhythm. That last 1.5 miles were challenging, but I kept smilling, thanking the volunteers, and imagining how great I would feel about 10 minutes after the race. I dug deep and finished strong. The photo below pretty much says it all as I crossed the finish line: triumphant success.

I think the most important take-away message from running a successful race, for myself and for anyone, is that anything is possible: whether it be pain and injury-free training, a PR on a difficult course (yes, I did PR!), or anything performance-related in your personal or professional life, the most important thing you can do is “set up the conditions for energy to flow” (thanks, Danny). The Chi Running technique and Chi Walking technique can help you figure out what those conditions are for running and walking, and those skills transfer into the rest of my life, helping me identify what steps I can take to create the conditions for energy to flow in the rest of my life as well.

For those of you interested in stats, there were 1,288 Half Marathon runners, and this is where I stacked up:

555th.
9.19 min/mile pace.
final time: 2:00:53.

(I ran Houston in 2:05… and Houston is a flat course!)

Many thanks to Danny and Katherine for providing me (and the world) with the techniques for success, thanks to Shelly and Bob for being my running buddies, to Kristin, Edgar and Miguel for cheering me into the finish, and for Ivan and Oliver, who have very patiently and supportively been there the whole way. And thanks to my readers who read this and make comments; it’s wonderful to know you’re out there, too.

The Air Force Marathon folks gave us a booth at the Expo so we gathered a team of Chi Runners and made a full running weekend of it. We had a very successful Expo and introduced the Chi Running tehcnique to lots of runners.

I’d have to say that it is one of the most well-organized and well-supported marathons I’ve ever been to. I also loved running the course. At first I was afraid that the course would be too flat for me, since I’d much rather be running hills than flats. But it had just the right mix of hills and flats to keep my legs very happy. Surprisingly, there were many nice shaded sections of the course and the temperature was perfect (as long as you finished before 11:00am) with a light, cool breeze constantly wiping the sweat from my face.

I ran with a pace group, which I highly recommend. Our pacer, Dave, was fabulous and did a great job of cheering everyone on…especially during the difficult sections. We were shooting for a 3:40 marathon time and I was able to run a 3:39:44 (2nd in my AG) with some energy still left in the tank. Thank you Dave and the rest of the pace group for the great jokes, the conversation, and your encouraging company.

I also participated in a couple of panel discussions with a few folks you might recognize… Amby Burfoot (editor-at-large for Runner’s World), Bill Rodgers (4-time Boston winner, 4-time NYC winner) and Dr. Mark Cucuzzella (Chi Running technique instructor-in-training, family doc, USAF Lt. Colonel, owner of the first-ever minimal-running-shoe-only running store and 2:35 marathoner). It was a pleasure to finally meet Amby after hearing his name for the past 30 years.

If you’re looking for a great marathon to qualify for Boston, I’d highly recommend the Air Force Marathon. Everything about it was top-notch and it’s the fastest growing marathon in the U.S.

Many thanks to all the volunteers, staff that made it such a wonderful weekend for the 12,000 happy runners that ran the 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon.

I must also say that it was quite an amazing experience to start a marathon with the fly-by of a B-52!

There are many ways to practice the focuses of the Chi Running technique while you are not running. The body learns best by repetition, so the more practice it gets, the easier these focuses are when you start running. Your posture is better and your movement is more efficient. During sitting, I practice my posture by sitting tall in my chair, balanced on the two sitz bones, right in the middle, with my upper body balanced over my hips. I really feel my deep core muscles working to hold me in this position while my arms, shoulders, and upper body feel relaxed.

While standing, good posture helps you feel comfortable on your feet. Remember that you want to balance the upper body over the lower body, with a nice straight column running from your shoulders to your hips to your ankle, and relaxed feet at the bottom. I find that if I do my posture focuses – aligning the feet and legs, lengthening my spine, leveling my pelvis (there go those deep core muscles again!), and creating that balance, I can stand for a very long time without getting tired. It’s great when you have a sore toe and you want to take any unnecessary weight off of it! If the bottoms of my feet are balanced in the sweet spot, then it feels like that toe gets a break – the good kind! The body sense I feel is when someone does the pull-down exercise, found on page 77-78 of the Chi Running book. If I’m solid in my center, I can relax everywhere else.

Walking with good posture, upper body slightly forward, and lower legs loose and relaxed, striding to the rear, is the key to comfortable walking when your pinky toe hurts. In fact, the discomfort of a cracked toe and inflamed soft tissue served as a good signal for me if I was out of alignment. Engaging those deep core muscles and lengthening the spine helped lighten my step as I walked along. I did have a little homemade splint taped to my shoe under the pinky toe and part of the fifth metatarsal to provide support and limit the mobility when my toe was at its worst. But being mindful that my lower legs and ankles were loose helped keep me comfortable in all phases of my recovery.

I’m back to running now and building mileage gradually to where I was before. Soft tissue takes a while to heal, but by adhering to the principle of gradual progress, and backing off when it tells me, I have confidence I’ll be back running on the trails soon. Now if it would only stop raining!

 What makes the race interesting, aside from having three parts to it, is the contrast that exists between these three individual runs and the challenges that result. And that’s where Chi Running and Chi Walking come in, big time!  As I ran the first half of the winding uphill 7K, I was doing quite well – playing with usual ChiRunning uphill techniqes and looking forward to the downhill that was to follow. On the downhill, I focused on my lower body, working with the force of the trail coming at me by instituting more pelvic rotation while enjoying gravity’s helping hand as I increased my speed little by little and crossed the finish line solidly in second place in my age group and feeling good. Little did I know what awaited me in part two of this novel race.

The next phase was described as “an uphill 1K, time trial” – what was this, the Tour de France!? Well, yes, I soon found out  that it was much like a difficult climb in the mountains as I geared down, switched to the Chi Walking technique and tried to will myself up a very, very steep, dirt fire trail. With each competitor starting individually at 15 second intervals, I couldn’t be sure how I was doing relative to my age group competitors but I could see that I was gaining on a younger man who was trying to run, or walk when he had to (although inefficiently, I noted), up this monster steep hill. Thank goodness for my training and prior experience Chi Walking such hills ; my upper body form focus with quick and short step turnover were keys to my making  it to the top in one piece, with a respectable time (7:33) and ready for whatever the race organizers had in store for part three of this unique trail race.

After reviewing  the results of parts one and two, off we went, 40 strong, headed out on a LEVEL  3K bark path (one of Eugene’s many such running paths originally developed to honor famous local running legend, the late Steve Prefontaine).  I scannned the group looking for my other two age group competitors knowing that I stood second at that time and wanting to be sure I didn’t drop to third if I tried too hard to catch the first place individual. Into second Chi Running gear I went, adding a little lean to my starting line first gear and hoping that I could soon move into a steady third gear for the majority of the run.  I soon realized that I was not going to catch the first place runner ahead of me so I zoned in on a younger runner just ahead whom I did think I could catch – having a goal like that sometimes helps keep me focused – and sure enough, it wasn’t long before I passed him by having found my comfortable, level-ground running pace. A nice, smooth and efficient running form with relaxed lower legs, a comfortable lean with mid-foot landing that could have kept me going for many miles – and with no concerns about being caught by the third place competitior behind me.

And that was it. The combined results were tallied. Everyone was thrilled to have met the challenge of the Tri Trails and age group awards to almost everyone helped make our day. A unique and special model of a running race, a great training experience and a terrific opportunity to apply a wide range of the principles of the Chi Running technique and Chi Walking technique, all in the same race. Keep your eyes open for such an event. It’s well worth the effort – and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the journey.

The reasons are twofold.  At this time, I simply do not think I can fit in the training for a marathon without putting undue pressure on myself and my family and secondly, I feel my form has improved enough to consider adding some variety to my running such as tempos, intervals and hill repeats and I want to do these with shorter distances in mind.  So I have entered a half marathon on 20 February 2011 and I intend to follow the Chi Running Intermediate Half Marathon Training Plan which is a 12 week training program.  Training will begin in earnest at the end of November.

In the meantime, I am going to try to get my regular training back on track.  I normally run 5 days a week but the summer holidays have played havoc with my running plans and I have lost some of my fitness.  In general my form feels good and I’m looking forward to a period of highly focused running come November.  Hopefully the winter weather will not be as harsh as last year in the UK and I can get all my training in!

The marathon can wait.  I know that with Chi Running it will always be an option for me when the timing is right.

Happy running!
Michelle

To answer such a simple question takes a few moments of thought.

My goals for running the Asheville Half Marathon are:

• To finish running the race
• To feel not-exhausted 10 minutes after running the race, rather invigorated
• To keep my knee and hip loose, without tension or pain
• To stay positive and not bad-talk myself ever
• To feel like I still have energy in my tank when I turn south on Broadway

What are your goals? Would anyone like to share these goals with me? I can’t wait to write about my race experience this weekend. Thank you to everyone for being so supportive and positive.

But Foot “Landing” is still only one component of foot strike. A second important component is Foot “Loading” or more generally how you load the body’s weight during each step’s point of support. This is likely where most of the repetitive impact or stress can occur which results in inefficiency and injury.

So let’s review the “Landing” options first, again making it clear these are choices we all get to make:

Landing Location

Heel Strike: There are numerous running studies tainting the dreaded full heel strike with or without a locked knee. This Landing Location is highly related to Landing Position (see below); it is likely a heel strike is combined with the foot landing in front of the body.

Front of the Heel: This is when while running you land in between the heel and landing completely flat or Fullfoot (midfoot). This is how many people land when they run and many more when they walk. The ChiWalking technique suggests a very slight front of heel to toe roll for a subtle forward momentum.

Fullfoot (Midfoot): This landing allows your lower leg, ankle and foot to be as relaxed as possible. The entire foot touches down at the same relative time which distributes the load and permits the structure of the lower leg to do most of the work. This is a key component of the ChiRunning tehcnique as it reduces muscular effort in the lower legs and limits any resistance to your forward fall.

Forefoot: This is when while running  you land up on the balls of your feet. This engages the lower leg, ankle and foot; and potentially asks a small part of the body to do a very big (repetitive) job under tension. Note: There is advice that suggests the foot’s elastic recoil provides a higher level of efficiency; but these statements rarely consider overall efficiency, risk to injury or objective (sprinting vs. endurance running).

Toes: This landing is right up on the front of the foot, between the metatarsals and the tips of the toes. This also engages the lower leg, ankle and foot; and puts a lot of pressure on a very small surface area under tension.

Landing Position

In Front of the Body: According to physics, landing in front of the body results in a brake or resistance to your forward running motion as you oppose a very big force of nature – the Force of the Approaching Ground. How much resistance is likely related to the level of tension in the foot, ankle and lower leg; and also the Landing Direction (see below). Combining this landing position with a locked knee can add pressure on the knee joint.

Under the Body: Landing under the body allows cooperation with that big force of nature. This reduces resistance to your forward momentum; and allows the Landing Direction and other factors to enhance this cooperation. This is a key ChiRunning technique and ChiWalking technique concept; “never step passed your hip”. In general your knee will not be locked if your foot lands under the body.

Landing Direction

Moving Forward: If your foot lands when it is moving forward, it further opposes that very big force of nature. This can lead to more impact via a horizontal force in the feet, legs, knees, etc.

Moving Rearward: If your foot lands when it is moving rearward, the motion further enhances cooperation with that very big force of nature. This is a key Chi Running concept to move with an external force.

So these are a few concepts to consider when you decide how to land your foot. Note that some are related and in cases one concept might reduce the effect of another concept. For example, you might be able land on the ball of your foot in front of your body – and reduce the potential impact (braking) by running relaxed or having your foot move rearward as it lands.

~~~

And now let’s review the “Loading” options. These are similar to landing with two distinctions below. Loading is likely where much of the potential stress exists since this is when the body is managing the other very big force of nature – Gravity.

“Loading”

Via Structure and Soft Joints: If you load your aligned structure you use the strongest material in your body, your skeleton, which can be very efficient. This postural alignment also allows higher levels of relaxation which can result in less resistance to your motion. A soft joint can result in less stress; a locked or stiff joint can be easily stressed. Alignment (Posture), Relaxation and loose joints are all key components of Chi Running and Chi Walking.

Via Muscle: If you load your body using muscle, this is generally less efficient. The isometric contraction (or tension) will also likely create some resistance to your motion. Examples are any deviation from aligned posture but also things like knee ‘sag’ – overly loading your quads or supporting your body weight with muscles in lower legs, ankles and feet.

The effects of Loading can be greatly affected by other factors such as Cadence and Focus. A higher cadence means you are in the air more; a lower cadence means you are on the ground supporting your body weight more. Looking/thinking down can make you heavy; looking out and thinking up can make light. So again there are additional factors that make a ‘purist’ position shortsighted in my opinion. And we have not even discussed how your running goal (ie. speed) at a given moment can affect your choice of landing and loading.

Now let’s look at this visually. Here is a graph of my choices for landing and loading. My running “objective” focuses on endurance mainly at the Marathon and Ultra level. I focus on form first, then distance, and then speed indirectly – as a result of technique.

As you can see, I have decided to land and load almost exclusively fullfoot (midfoot). If I am going to load fullfoot, I also want to land fullfoot to support the highest possible level of relaxation.

There is a case where I might land on the front of my heel. This is when I am going down a very steep hill. The Chi Running technique in this case is to use a subtle front of heel to toe roll under the body at a very high cadence to reduce any impact. There are also cases where I might land on my forefoot. This is when I am on a technical trail and need to dance along a few roots or rocks. The forefoot landing under the body is short in duration and as soon as possible I go back to fullfoot (midfoot) and a focus on relaxing the lower leg, ankle and foot. Another case for forefoot landing is outright speed, perhaps at the end of an event – or if I ever find myself be chased by a saber-toothed tiger (a true “fight or flight” scenario).

But these are ONLY my choices. The point here is … decide. The suggestion is – be informed and be conscious of how you are using your ‘vehicle’. Apply your scenario, your objectives and weight the risks.

“It is not running that is hard on your body, it is perhaps the way you run that can be very hard on your body”. – Danny Dreyer, Author of ChiRunning®

Please share your thoughts and any questions in a comment below.

Enjoy,
David Stretanski
ChiRunning®/ChiWalking® Certified Instructor
NJ/Northeast USA

I always do these before I go out running but after all the driving I had been doing, I spent more time than usual on them. I started out my run very slowly so I could listen to my body and give it time to warm up. Lately one of the questions I continually ask myself while out running is “Am I using my legs to run?”  It is a great way to get feedback on my form.  In other words, I might feel tension in my lower legs or maybe I’m pushing off or maybe I’m just working harder than I need to. If the answer is yes, then I need to make some adjustments.  I start with my running posture and focus on the ‘C’ shape. I may have lost my lean, so I body sense feeling balanced in the window of lean.  Perhaps I need to shorten my stride so I turn on my metronome and check my running cadence. Ideally I don’t want to feel that my legs are doing any work, merely supporting me between strides.  When I’m aligned and leaning from the ankle, and everything is really relaxed, then the ground takes my feet up. There is no effort involved in getting them off the ground, they are just keeping up with my forward fall.  I return from my run refreshed, relaxed and lot less stiffer then when I left.

Happy running!

Michelle