Chi Discussion Forum

I’ve been chirunning for a few weeks now and the pain in my knees is disappeared!
  I am still puzzled though, about the relationship between my stride opening up “behind me and increasing speed.  When I increase my lean, my speed does indeed increase, but it seems it does so because my cadence picked up in order to keep me from “falling over”.  When I reduce my cadence back to about 85 rpm, I switch my awareness to my hips and relax them.  My stride feels like it opens up behind me but then my speed seems to decrease.  Any help or comments appreciated!

The trick to maintaining a steady cadence at higher speeds is to allow your pelvis to rotate more as you increase your lean. This will allow your stride to open up behind you without increasing your cadence as you accelerate. when you’re working on running at higher speeds, it works great to run with a metronome. Set your cadence at 85-90 depending on what your most comfortable with. Then keep your footstrike in time with the metronome when you start off your run. Don’t let your cadence vary from what the metronome is doing. If you can stay with the metronome through all your “gears” it will force you to relax your hips, rotate your pelvis and open up your stride behind you.