Some runners, on the other hand, love running a good hill because of the great cardio workout it offers, but they end up wasting so much energy blasting uphill that they can burn through a significant amount their fuel. The pushing and pulling and straining are the perfect ingredients for muscle strain. And, what seems like the easy part, relaxed running downhill, is where the most impact happens and has the greatest potential for injury. For those of us who live in hilly areas, we can’t just go out and run without encountering some hills.

I Love Hill Running
I can feel my body shift into the uphill and downhill Chi Running Focuses as my feet feel the changes underneath. As a matter of fact, I find flat running more difficult because the running is more repetitive and less challenging. I have spent a lot of time investigating how I can run hills more efficiently, have fun, and an make all of my hill running an asset when I’m racing. My number one secret is that I rest on the uphills and take full advantage of gravity on the downhills (while minimizing the impact, of course). 

To run hills well you first need the basic Form Focuses of Chi Running as part of your tool kit. Don’t try to learn Chi Running on hills. Learn the Form Focuses and the Chi Running natural running form on the flats and then use them to make hills easy. When running hills you’re going to modify the Form Focuses and break a few Chi Running rules. The trick is learning to rely more on your technique so that you can rely much less on muscle strength. It’s a great place to up the ante on your Chi Running skills; practice your gears, feel your lean and let your pelvis rotate.

Uphill Focuses:

• Shorten your stride and “shift” to a lower gear
• Use your upper body by swinging your arms forward and up (rather than rearward)
• Lean into the hill but don’t bend at the waist
• Don’t step ahead of your hips – avoid “pulling” yourself up the hill with your legs
• Relax – especially your lower legs – no pushing with your toes
• Keep your heels down to avoid overusing your calves
• Use the image of being a balloon floating up

Steep Uphill Focuses:

• The Lateral Stride (there’s a great lesson on this in the new Hills and Trails DVD)
• Use Granny gear – very, very short stride
• Lean into the hill with the uphill shoulder
• Walk when you need to

Downhill Focuses:

• Focus on the movement of your lower body
• Arms swing out the back
• Let your pelvis rotate – legs swing out the back
• Keep your cadence steady and let your stride length increase
• Use your lean to regulate your speed – lean more or straighten up to increase or decrease your speed

Steep Downhill Focuses:

• Arms relaxed at your side
• Lower yourself down the hill with a heel-to-toe footstrike, in the grounding stance
• Keep a short stride and allow your cadence to increase
• Zigzag to reduce impact

You can view all of these Focuses in the Chi Running DVD Hills Made Easy. If you love trail running, or are thinking of beginning running trails, the DVD Hills and Trails has all of the information about hill running along with lots of great information about trail running.

Next time you see a hill in the distance, rather than avoiding it, or letting it burn through your energy, you’ll feel a different kind of challenge. Use your skills and intelligence to get started running hills with ease and confidence.

Like my daughter and my dog, I love to play and I love to run through the woods and over hills and on winding, twisting paths because that is play to me (and to them). In terms of running, trail running is my truest love. When I’m out in nature, my senses come alive and I feel my body respond to every slope and turn, every new aspect, every new challenge. My mind drops away completely, no problems, no issues, just me and nature and the present moment.

If you love trail running, or want to, but are concerned about staying safe and injury-free, I’d love to teach you what I’ve learned from running thousands of miles of trails in the Rockies of Colorado, the Coastal Range of California and the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Eighty-five percent of the events I’ve raced have been trail races, usually of 30-50 miles, with a couple of hundred milers thrown in.

Chi Running was discovered while training for these events, as I melded my running with my T’ai Chi Master’s lessons to create “intelligent movement.”

Everything you learn in Chi Running (good posture, lean, a midfoot strike, pelvic rotation…and every other Form Focus) not only becomes more necessary, but requires more refinement on the trails. If you have studied your beginner running techniques, you’re ready to  get started running on hills and teaching your body to respond to the nuance of trails. On the trails you are forced to change the Form Focuses, sometimes moment to moment. Soon, all of those focuses will become the natural way you move, your body responding to every nuance underfoot, feeling the gentle rise, then steep rise, the abrupt downhill where you lean back to control your speed, and the gentle downhill (my favorite part) where you learn to lean forward and enjoy the free ride.

Hills and Trails, our newest training DVD, offers you the fundamentals of running hills – up and down, easy and steep – easily, which is an essential aspect of trail running. It then takes you to the trails to learn what I’ve been practicing over the years and miles.

Yes, trails do present some challenges; rocks and roots, mud and gravel, getting lost, and my real nemesis – poison oak or ivy. The challenges have kept me alert and my instincts fine-tuned. Trail running is my play, my inner work and one of my greatest joys. I return from a road run feeling great. I come back from a trail run a different and happier person. Get started running those Hills and Trails today.

In running terms, “grade school” can be thought of as the time spent improving your running technique. Once your running technique is more efficient and comfortable, you can begin to build distance – the “middle school” phase. With good running technique under your belt - minimal style, natural form running with a midfoot strike - and a solid conditioning base, you are fully prepared to graduate to “college,” or half marathon and full marathon distances.

Every year, the number of runners choosing “college” continues to climb. Endurance running is a challenging way to reach physical and mental goals, and it can be a life-changing and joyful experience. Unfortunately, just as an unprepared student struggles when they move up to the next level too quickly, so does a running beginner who takes on too much with an unprepared body and mind. Injury, disappointment, and an unfinished race are just a few consequences of inadequate training.

If you’re a beginner runner ready to get started running with a half or full marathon in mind, a seasoned distance runner, or a performance athlete looking to improve your race times, Chi Running offers an effective way to train for longer distances. Traditional training strategy is to run, run and run some more – it’s only about increasing mileage so you can finish your race. Simply completing the distance is a great goal, but Chi Running believes you can do a lot more than just cross the finish line. You can set a new PR, and spend little to no time recovering, and do it all with a smile.

This is why “grade school,” or the preparation phases of your training, is even more important than running endless miles. As you train for your next distance event, follow these seven manageable phases laid out in Chi Marathon: The Breakthrough Natural Running Program for a Pain-free Half Marathon and Marathon, Chi Running’s course curriculum for mindful, productive training:

• Visioning and Planning: Take time to plan your goals for training and the race itself. Ask yourself why you want to take on the half or full marathon distance. Real purpose helps motivate us and makes training and racing more fulfilling.  
• Technique Training: Learn the Chi Running technique and practice specific Form Focuses on every run. You’ll begin to sense Chi (energy) in your body and learn that tension (and pain) is where chi is not flowing, where injury might occur, and how to relax and make the right adjustments.
• Conditioning: Increase your mental focus and hone your running and energy management skills. Do specific workouts, such as time trials, form and speed intervals, tempo runs, and surges to build your lung and heart capacity and practice running at your projected race pace.
• Mastery: Mimic the specific terrain and conditions of your event and apply the Form Focuses that best suit those conditions.Research the race course, aid station locations, parking, and all other race logistics.
• Taper Time: Don’t over-train. Scale back on your mileage the last two weeks before your race, but don’t reduce the intensity or pace of your runs. This allows you to stay mentally and physically sharp without depleting your energy stores.
• The Event: Make sure you have enough time to prepare yourself on race morning.Stay focused and relaxed. Soak up the positive energy around you at the start line, but don’t get distracted. And don’t start out too fast!
• Rest and Renewal: Relish in your accomplishments and review your race experience. It’s important to keep moving after your race, so spend this week doing light runs and easy cross-training workouts.

Here’s a sample of what Chi Marathon offers:

Ask me the single most important aspect of what raining for a marathon is and I’d answer you in a heartbeat: It’s having your technique perfected while being as relaxed as possible. This is arguably more important, in the long term, than conditioning. Here’s why: the more relaxed and efficient your running form is, the more easily you’ll be able to run any distance and any speed and to enjoy running for as many years as you choose to do so. Whether you’re running for an hour, six hours, or all day, it’s never as much fun if your body is hurting or working harder than it needs to.

Most people think that running long miles is the hardest part of marathon training. We’d like you to disbelief you might have that running a marathon can be easy, fun, and healthy. In my mind, the hardest part of a marathon is the effort it takes you to train your mind to stay focused and maintain good running technique for the whole distance.

As Catherina McKiernan, world class runner and Chi Running Master Instructor, says in the Forward of the Chi Marathon book, “Running is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.”  The same holds true for running a half or full marathon. It can be fully enjoyed by your body, mind and spirit.

To find out how to successfully run a half or full marathon, check out Chi Marathon: The Breakthrough Natural Running Program for a Pain-free Half Marathon and Marathon by Danny and Katherine Dreyer.

Creating a seasonal race schedule and planning your running goals is exciting, but it’s especially important to make staying injury-free a top priority. If you’ve spent more time in your slippers than your running shoes this winter, remember these three words: Take it slowly.

Follow Chi Running’s three-step formula for successful, pain-free Spring training: 

Step 1: Improve Technique. Take the first six weeks of training to work on technique. For starters, practice leaning slightly forward from your ankles, landing midfoot, and engaging your core muscles. On every run, pick two Form Focuses from the Chi Running book or DVD to work on, and practice each focus with as much precision as possible. Do Form Intervals to instill the technique in your body.

Step 2: Increase Distance. Increase your mileage slowly so your body can adapt to longer distances. Don’t increase your total weekly mileage by more than 10% per week, and remember to refuel and rehydrate more often on your longer runs.

Step 3: Gain Speed. Speed will come easily if you lay a good aerobic base first. For the first six weeks of training, never run faster than your maximum aerobic heart rate. This will build your aerobic capacity so that when/if you add speed workouts to your training, your body will be able to easily handle the increased oxygen demand.

Running faster than your maximum aerobic heart rate actually inhibits the production of capillary beds in the lining of your lungs and in your muscles, so resist the temptation to run speedy workouts at first.

While a heart rate monitor will give you the most accurate reading, here’s how to roughly calculate your heart rate on your own:

• Go out for a run and, after a good warm-up, take your pulse (at your wrist or at your carotid artery on your neck) by counting your heart rate for 15 seconds and multiplying by four. This will give you your current heart rate.

To determine your maximum aerobic heart rate, follow this simple “180 Formula” created by running coach Phil Maffetone:

• Subtract your age from 180.
• If you are recovering from a major illness, surgery or on any medication, subtract 10.
•  If you have not exercised before, or have been injured, regressing in your running,  often get colds, or you have allergies, subtract 5.
• If you have been exercising for up to two years with no real problems and have not had colds or flu more than once or twice a year, subtract 0.
• If you have been exercising for more than two years without any problems, making progress in competition without injury, add 5.

If you let your heart rate get close to, but does not exceed, your maximum aerobic heart rate, you'll find that your speed will gradually increase, but your effort level will remain the same. You’ll be able to run longer distances faster and without pain or injury - that’s quality Spring training.

• Lack of regular exercise – disallows the free flow of oxygen in your bloodstream which can compromise your immune system.
• Eating processed foods high in trans fats and hydrogenated oils – can thicken your blood, leaving plaque on the walls of veins and arteries, which in turn makes your heart work harder than it needs to.
• Stress and anxiety – increased levels of epinephrine which increases muscle tension, inhibits fat burning, raises blood pressure and increases your heart rate.
• Excessive consumption of alcohol and refined sugars – can compromise the immune system and inhibit the body’s production of dopamine (the sleep regulating neurochemical).

I am guilty of every one of these … at various periods during the year. But I make it a point to not make any of these culprits a regular part of my lifestyle. I do my best to avoid processed foods and refined sugar at all costs, but I still slip during holidays and festive events. I try instead to be mindful of how I’d like to experience life when I’m 80 years old, and it helps keep me on track with my moment-to-moment choices. Use whatever incentive works for you, but it will have more “bite” when you can tie it to quality of life and a real experience of how good you can feel.

Diet and exercise seem to be the two key factors in maintaining a healthy heart. I’m going to focus on exercise and which workouts will do the most to insure your heart stays healthy for years to come.

Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise is important for building your body’s oxygen transport system, so that you can provide more oxygen to your muscles and organs with each breath. In Chi Running, the pain-free running and walking workouts that build this high-efficiency oxygen-transport system are aerobic workouts, done at a low-to-medium intensity level for relatively long periods of time. A good example would be the LSD (Long Slow Distance) run or walk, where you’re moving along at a sustained effort level and elevated (but doable) heart rate for an extended period. This trains your body to burn a higher ratio of fat and conserve glycogen in order to remain mobile for extended periods. In the process, your body produces increased levels of serotonin (the “feel good” neurochemical) and dopamine (the sleep-regulating neurochemical). Increased amounts of the former help to calm the nerves; and increased levels of the latter help you sleep better. So, you can see why these two “anti-anxiety” neurochemicals can keep your life more calm and your heart healthy.

BUT, if you run or walk your aerobic workouts too fast, your body produces more epinephrine (the “fight or flight” neurochemical) which increases your heart rate and blood pressure (both of which overwork your heart) while inhibiting the production of serotonin and dopamine. Epinephrine also inhibits the burning of fat, and instead, increases the burning of glycogen as the primary fuel.

Another thing that happens when you do your longer pain-free running and walking workouts too fast is that your body produces endorphins which are a natural pain-killer. In one way, it’s good that your body has a way of managing the input from your pain sensors because, who likes to feel pain? But the downside is that when you can’t feel pain, you might have a tendency to over-work your muscles or over-train, which is very hard on your heart, and can lower levels of dopamine in your system. One of the signs of over-training is having poor sleep habits.

The Cardio Workout
What is commonly called a Cardio Workout, shorter, faster bursts of speed, also helps to strengthen muscles and increase your range of motion. This is the workout to do if you aspire to be a faster runner or walker. Once a week the cardio workout of short fast intervals with a resting jog break in between is a great idea for the heart, but for the long haul (figuratively and literally) it is the aerobic workouts that are most important.

The American Heart Association recommends we do a minimum of 30 - 60 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise 3 - 4 days each week. If you’re walking, we recommend 5 times a week. One of your weekly workouts should be a 30-minute Cardio workout. The rest of your shorter runs can be 30-45 minutes of nice, comfortable running or walking. Then, do a weekly 60+ minute workout at a long slow distance pace.

A Healthy Heart
Here are some “healthy heart” numbers to shoot for:
RHR – Resting heart rate < 65 bpm
Blood pressure < 120/80
HDL > 40mg/dl (good cholesterol – the higher the better)
LDL < 100mg/d (bad cholesterol)
Heart Rate Recovery of at least X beats per minute

Here’s what these numbers mean:
Poor: less than 12 bpm recovery 
Fair: 12-20 bpm recovery
Good: 20-30 bpm recovery
Excellent: 30-40 bpm recovery
Outstanding: > 40 bpm recovery

(Note: Any recovery rate greater than 35 bpm means you have almost zero chance of sudden death by heart disease!)

Here are the at-home tests that you can use to check:
A.) your Resting Heart Rate and
To measure your RHR, take your pulse for 15 seconds, first thing in the morning (before getting out of bed) and multiply by 4. Log that information and check your RHR monthly. Your RHR should be 60-100 bpm depending on your age and physical condition (lower is better). If you have a RHR higher than 100 bpm you should consult your doctor.

B.) your Heart Rate Recovery. But, make sure you know and keep an eye on your blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well. All of these numbers should be recorded in your training log, so you can watch your progress week by week and track the effectiveness of your work.
Your Heart Rate Recovery is how fast your heart rate decreases after exercise.
Do a 5-10 minute warm-up and then increase your heart rate by running or walking at a fast rate for 30 – 60 seconds.
Drop to a slow walk and immediately take your pulse (count for 15 seconds and multiple by 4). Immediately after your brief, high intensity run/walk, take your heart rate. Then, take it again 2 minutes after. Add these two heartrates and divide by 2, and that is your average heartbeat recovery per minute.

We highly encourage you to monitor your progress in a fitness journal so you can verify the effectiveness of your pain-free running or walking fitness program. Tracking your progress also helps you to stay on track if you’re looking for long-term results like a lower cholesterol ratio, lower triglyceride levels, lower resting heart rate and lower BMI (Body Mass Index). Begin by getting a physical with all the accompanying blood work. This will give you your beginning benchmark to enter into your journal.

Follow every aspect of your fitness progress with the Chi Running/Chi Walking Daily Fitness Journal. Get a week-by-week workout plan with any of our Training Programs, from 5K to a Marathon. You’ll get specific technique and training directions for each week and each workout, whether you Chi Walk, Chi Run, or Chi Walk-Run.

The health of your heart is in your hands. And by improving the health of your heart you will improve the quality of your whole life.

The Chi Running technique teaches runners to use their legs only for momentary support between strides, not for propulsion. Postural alignment plays an important "support" role whenever your foot hits the ground. If your muscles have to support your body weight with each step, you'll tire more quickly. If you're bent at the waist, your lower back, quadriceps and neck muscles will be carrying your weight, which makes for inefficient running and post-workout soreness.

If you have poor posture (as many of us do), you can overcome it! It takes practice, but the effort is worth your while.

Teach Yourself Good Posture

• Focus your attention on the line your spine makesas it runs from the top of your head to the end of your tailbone. Return your attention to your spine as often as possible all day long, no matter what you're doing. Let it become a daily practice.
• Don't run bent at the waist.Finishing a run with soreness in your lower back usually indicates you’ve been running bent at the waist. Instead, Chi Running encourages you to allow gravity to pull you forward by leaning slightly from the ankles, not the waist. Throughout your runs, make sure you’re leaning from the ankles and not stressing your lower back muscles.
• Engage your core by leveling your pelvis.Start by standing with your feet parallel and hip width apart. Imagine you have a string attached to the top of your head that is pulling you up, making you tall and straight. Drop your chin slightly and look straight ahead. Next, pull up on your pubic bone with your lower abdominal muscles while relaxing your glutes. Hold this position for 30 seconds. Doing this exercise throughout your day will strengthen your abs, allowing you to hold your posture straighter while running, swimming, sitting, standing, or even driving your car.
•  Practice initiating all movement from your core,the largest muscle group in your body, rather than the smaller muscles of your extremities. In T’ai Chi, this is called the “needle in cotton.” The needle represents your center line (the top of your spine to the bottom of your tailbone). It is strong and stable, while the cotton (your peripherals)is soft and relaxed.

The benefits of good posture are endless, and you can practice it anywhere, anytime. Whether you’re running, sitting, or even sleeping, your whole body will thank you!

People often ask Katherine and I, “Why did you move to Asheville?” The answer is easy - quality of life. For us, that meant: friendly, open-minded people, a reasonable cost of living, easy access to gorgeous nature, a great school for our daughter, a slower pace of life and, most of all, a place with which our family could personally and energetically resonate.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but it was a necessary decision, because, bottom line, we wanted a higher quality of life.

How do you define quality of life for yourself? I recently heard a lecturer say that the choices we make represent what we value most. What do you value most? And, if you had more of what you value, would you have a higher quality of life?

The Chi Living message is to create the highest quality results from your efforts, all your activities, everything you do, whether you’re running a half marathon, mall walking to keep active in cold winter months or cooking dinner for your family. Chi Running and Chi Walking focus on quality movement in a relaxed running technique and relaxed walking technique. As you learn to be mindful in these physical activities, the lessons learned permeate body, mind and spirit and transfer into the quality of your whole life.

As you think about what you want from the New Year, know that every choice you make affects the quality of your life. There are three categories of choices (or responses) we all make every day:

1. Choices that degrade our quality of life, that lead to imbalance or stagnation (downward spiral of chi)
2. Choices that sustain our quality of life, that maintain a healthy balance (natural flow of chi)
3. Choices that improve our quality of life, move us to a higher level of energy and self awareness (upward spiral of chi)

Fire…Aim…Ready…
There is a lot of information about how to make your goals a reality but what is often missing is how to choose the goals that are really going to improve the quality of your life. You may complete your marathon but did it improve the quality of how you feel on a daily basis? You may get a fast food bargain meal, but did the food give you good energy?

Many people shoot themselves in the foot by forgetting that the best way to hit a target is:
Ready (make a wise choice)
Aim (get aligned with your intention)
Fire (move forward with mindful certainty)

Fire…Aim…Ready is all backwards and it’s the reason most resolutions and goals are not fulfilled or accomplished.

Thought and intention in any one of the following areas could have a big impact on your quality of life in the coming year. Write down examples of what your options may be in each area and then choose your goals for the year:

Quality in your physical exercise – too little, harmful, excessive or health sustaining and health promoting
Quality in the food you eat – processed, low nutrient, disease-producing, or fresh, slow, healthy, energy building
Quality in the use of your mind – negative thoughts, attitudes and emotions vs. productive, positive thoughts and feelings
Quality in relationships – isolation and confrontation or seeing yourself as part of something greater
Quality of your intentions – reacting to life or knowing what you are doing, why, and acting in full integrity

Knowing that more, faster, bigger is not always the most enriching outcome, begs the question, “What can I aim for and achieve that will give me a deep sense of satisfaction?” The answer is not what, but how. How you move, how you listen, how you think. It is the quality of energy that you put into what you do that determines the quality of your life.

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

• Posture– Before you press the start button, establish your posture from the feet up - feet pointing forward and hip-width apart, spine lengthened, and pelvis level. In order to maintain biomechanical efficiency, keep returning your focus to your posture throughout your session. If there is a mirror nearby, use it to confirm your body alignment.
• Lean– Because movement on the treadmill is stationary, there is no engaging gravity for propulsion. Increase the machine’s incline by one or two degrees and lean into the incline slightly from your ankles. To prevent overworking your lower back, be sure not to bend at the waist. Keep your ankles relaxed and make sure you can get your heels comfortably down on your landing.
• Short stride and heel lift– Keeping your stride quick and short will minimize the impact transferred to your legs by the moving belt. Don’t let your feet swing forward into the oncoming belt. Instead, your feet should move in a rearward direction as you make contact with the treadmill. Make sure you land with a mid-foot strike to reduce impact to your lower legs, knees, and hips. 
• Pelvic Rotation- Practice pelvic rotation with each stride. Every time your leg swings out behind you, let your hip be pulled back with it. This will cause your pelvis to rotate along your vertical axis and absorb much of the shock of your feet hitting the treadmill.

How to get the most out of your treadmill runs:

• Don’t go too fast.Begin by setting the speed at a pace you can comfortably jog while practicing these Chi Running Form Focuses: posture, lean, picking up your feet and maintaining a quick cadence. The treadmill’s moving belt introduces more impact which is magnified by speed.
• Maintain a cadence of 85-90 strides per minute.Use the seconds counter on your treadmill for setting up your cadence. Every three steps another second should elapse. If you can do that, your cadence is exactly 90 strides per minute with each leg, which helps keep your stride short.
• Keep the impact low.Exaggerate your heel lift, picking up your feet a little bit higher than you would when running outdoors.
• Switch it up.We often hear from runners who feel discouraged when they switch from the treadmill to outdoor running, complaining that they become winded quickly and can’t go as far or as fast as they perceived on the treadmill. This is perfectly normal, as the moving belt does a lot of the work for you. Avoid doing all your runs on the machine if possible so you don’t become treadmill-dependent. This will ease the adjustment to the outdoors when the time comes.
• Think of treadmill running as “maintenance running.”Don’t do prolonged speed work (intervals, tempo runs, etc.) on the treadmill. If you want a little more workout, slowly increase the amount of incline and use your arms more to simulate running uphill.

Whether you're maintaining your aerobic base or training for a marathon, remember to keep it easy on the treadmill. Use those runs as opportunities to strengthen your technique so you’ll be ready for Spring. It always arrives before we know it!

Here is a general guide for creating the best conditions to keep yourself running, walking and moving until springtime shows its face again:

Make Time for You
Holiday events, shopping and end of year business planning, as well as sick kids and a need for more rest may make exercise the lowest item on your to do list. Move it back to the top right away and do everything in your power to keep it #1. You’ll be no good to others if you’re not taking care of yourself first.

Reduce the time and intensity of your exercise if you can’t get in a full workout, but keep your chi flowing with regular, gentle movement. If you don’t feel like running, walk-run or just walk. If you don’t even feel like a walk, do the Body Looseners or light stretches. Make it a priority to put on your exercise clothes and get moving. Once you start, you may find you want to do more than you thought. and you’ll be glad you made the effort.

Do get outdoors as much as possible. Fresh air will do you good, and you’ll warm up as soon as you get moving.

Practice Your Walking and Running Technique
You’ve gotten out the door or to a treadmill or a mall. GOOD FOR YOU! Now remember: Winter training is not about intensity. Your body does not need to be pushed to the max. It needs consistent, gentle, mindful movement. This is the perfect time to deepen your Body Sensing and technique skills. It’s good to maintain your aerobic conditioning, but it is not necessary to do any strength training or speed work. Save that for springtime.

Specific Walking and Running Technique Practices for Wintry Conditions:

• If the terrain is tricky, cut back your time by 30-50% and cut way back on speed.
• Don’t use the metronome when walking or running on snow or ice…trying to keep the perfect cadence will distract you from keeping good footing.
• Shorten your stride more than EVER. For many people, wintry conditions may help you find just how short your stride really should be. A shorter stride will help you keep your balance in slippery conditions.
• Pick up your feet, keep your lower legs limp and use a midfoot strike. Most people have a tendency to tense up their lower legs when it’s slippery, which is the worst thing you can do. This is a great time to practice picking up your feet while relaxing your lower legs. Just let your feet dangle as they come up and place them back down in a midfoot strike.
• Use your core muscles to create balance. We’ve gotten lots of letters saying that running or walking in snow or ice has helped people find the true meaning of engaging their core and finding their balance point. Feel your C shape working, especially when it’s slippery.

Injury-free running includes BEING SAFE

• Don’t go on icy roads where cars may swerve out of control.
• Make sure someone knows where you are and have good identification on you.
• BE SEEN. Short days and wintry weather means you won’t be as visible to traffic. Wear lots of reflective patches on your clothes and bright colors. Cars need to see you clearly.

Wear Appropriate Clothes and Gear

When you have the right clothes, you’ll have no excuses not to get out. Have lots of layering choices for different temperatures. My cold weather running outfit consists of:

• Wool hat with flaps to really cover my ears
• Zip turtle neck (Smart Wool) so I can unzip to regulate my body heat as I warm up
• Nylon wind breaker over the wool layer
• Fleece or nylon vest over the nylon jacket if it’s really cold. These have pockets for either warming my hands or carrying gloves I’ve taken off.
• Running tights for moderate cold weather
• For extreme cold:
  • Disposable hand warmers in gloves
  • Duct tape over the toe area of my socks provides a great wind block for my toes.
  • Two layers of pants: long underwear and a top layer. Keep your legs warm - cold muscles are vulnerable to injury.
  • Trail running shoes are a good option for winter conditions. If you run in snow a lot, consider wearing gaitors to keep the snow out of your shoes.

Pain-free running and walking, on a treadmill
When the outdoors is no place to be, get on a treadmill and practice your technique as if your health depends on it, because it does!!

• Before you get started running or walking, set the treadmill at a slight uphill ramp.
• Speed is NOT the focus on the treadmill - maintaining aerobic conditioning is the name of the game.
• Practice your pelvic rotation. Start by warming up at a walk and feel your pelvic rotation. Mitigate potential injury by allowing your legs to swing rearward as your pelvis rotates. This will significantly reduce the impact the treadmill can have on your legs.
• If a mirror is available, use it to check all your form focuses: feet pointing forward, good alignment, arm swing. Watch for and try to reduce side-to-side (Rocky-like) movements in your upper body.

Gentle, consistent movement is the key to good health in the winter. Make an agreement with yourself right now to take good care of yourself so you can enjoy all the season has to offer.

Additional winter running tips from past articles and blogs:
http://www.chirunning.com/search/results/d2ludGVyIHJ1bm5pbmc/
http://www.chirunning.com/community/blog-entry/more-winter-running-tips/
http://www.chirunning.com/chi-library/article/winter-running/

While many people who begin practicing Chi Running experience a natural increase in their speed right away, we de-emphasize speed as an immediate goal. True mastery lies in the ability to set up the conditions for speed through proper technique. That means cooperating with the force of gravity by leaning more while simultaneously holding your alignment and relaxing your hips, legs, shoulders and arms. Think of it in terms of physics: as you offer less and less resistance to the force pulling you forward, the faster you’ll go.

Technique First, Then Distance, Then Speed

Technique

To run effortlessly with good technique, whether fast, slow or in-between, is a goal we all share. Applying these Chi Running Form Focuses will improve your efficiency and allow you to build distance gradually:

• Posture – Create a straight line from the crown of your head to your feet. When you’re properly aligned, your body is supported by your structure, not your muscles.
• Lean from the ankles – Leaning slightly from the ankles allows gravity to pull you along as you fall forward.
• Mid-foot strike – Land with a mid-foot strike rather than a heel strike to decrease impact to your lower legs, knees, and hips.
• Stride length – Keep your stride short to avoid pulling yourself forward with your legs.
• Pelvic Rotation – As your legs swing out behind you, allow your hips to rotate around their central axis with each step. Make sure your core is engaged and that your pelvis isn’t moving laterally (side to side).
• Cadence – Maintaining a constant cadence, the rate at which your feet strike the ground measured in strides per minute, prevents your legs from spending too much time supporting your body weight with each step. We recommend running at a 170-180 spm (or 85-90 spm for each leg).

Distance

As your technique improves, you’ll be able to run farther with less effort. The way to determine when to increase your distance is by observing how long you can successfully hold your running technique. When you’re ready to add distance or time to your runs, do it in small increments. Even a couple of minutes or a few tenths of a mile extra will improve your conditioning over time. The key is to be mindful of how your body feels while you’re running this additional distance and after. The same stresses that, in moderation, help our bodies adapt and grow stronger can also cause injury if overdone. When your body can’t keep up with the adaptations, you may stop improving, become overtired, or even injured. Steadily build your distance through persistence and patience, and enjoy the process.

Speed

Finally, what you’ve been waiting for! As you are able to hold your running technique for longer periods of time over greater distances, you will develop increased speed at a lower exertion rate. As you get faster, you’ll notice that your strides automatically lengthen. To prevent yourself from over-striding, make sure your feet stay under your center of mass with each step. Also, make sure your cadence remains between 170-180 spm, even as your stride length increases. Again, this limits the time each leg has to spend supporting your body weight when you take a step. The metronome is a very useful tool that will help you keep a sustainable pace as you increase your speed – we don’t recommend many gadgets for running, but this one can benefit you enormously.

The second title to the Chi Running book says: "A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-free Running", which is a bold statement. But, turning your running into a "practice" with the goal of becoming effortless means that every time you go out for a run, you're working on what you can do to create better results by doing less. That's the real work!