I’d like to clear up a bit of confusion about #ChiRunning that seems to crop up every now and then. Some runners have come to ChiRunning workshops expecting their running to feel effortless by the end of the class. Then they write us afterwards and complain that they didn’t feel as though they got their money’s worth from the class.

I feel unequivocally confident in stating that ChiRunning can be effortless and injury-free, BUT the process of learning is distinctly not effortless. If it were, it wouldn’t be called a mindful practice. If anything in your life feels effortless, it means that you have already attained some level of mastery with it. And, it follows that if you want to master anything you must take the time to put a lot of practice and concentration into all aspects of it…mind, body and feelings…everything in your power to do the best with it that you can. We are all surrounded by a result-oriented, instant gratification society. But, if someone wants effortless running to come easy they’re missing the whole point of what we’re trying to teach.

Everyone’s body responds to learning something new in a very individual way. Some folks find it easy to feel the correct leg swing, while others find it easier to feel what good posture feels like. Are all of my runs effortless? Hardly. But the more I use the ChiRunning focuses the higher the odds are that my runs will feel effortless.

Mindful work takes immersion, concentration, surrender…and sometimes even a good dose of “suspended disbelief.” It’s not a path for lazy people and nothing that is truly life-changing happens overnight. There are exceptions to every rule, but we’re not marketing exceptions.

“The Practice becomes the goal.”

Danny

I had the great pleasure of being surrounded by three men who are legends in the sport of running. I was invited to teach ChiRunning at a running camp organized by Marshal Ulrich and Ray Zahab. It was the first in what they hope to become an annual event. Bart Yasso (of Runner’s World) was also invited to do a presentation. In case these names aren’t familiar to you I’ll give a condensed version of their accomplishments in the world of endurance sports.

Ray is a remarkable human being. I remember him calling me back in 2004, when the ChiRunning book first came out. He had just started running after being a pack-a-day smoker and was totally excited that the book was helping him enjoy his new-found sport. Since then he has: run the 1130km to the South Pole, run 4300 miles across the Sahara desert, and founded an interactive educational program which allows school kids to track the progress of his adventures in their classrooms as a way to spread awareness of some of the countries he travels through. He has helped us immensely by helping to spread the word about ChiRunning and injury-free running all over the world.

Marshall Ulrich is equally remarkable. He’s the only person to run four laps on the infamous 135 mile crossing of Death Valley from the lowest point in the U.S. (282′ below sea level) at Badwater to the highest point in the contiguous United States (Mt. Whitney - 14,505′) in one effort. He’s climbed the highest peaks on all seven continents, and he most recently ran across the U.S. in a record-setting 55 days (that’s about 60 miles every day for 55 days!). He’s also a formidable expedition-length adventure racer and has run 121 races over 100 miles. He also raises money for various charities that help to spread peace and justice in the world.

Bart Yasso is a household name when it comes to running. He’s been on the staff of Runner’s World since paper was invented. He has been inducted into the Running USA Hall of Champions. He invented the Yasso 800’s, an ingenious way of predicting your finish time for a marathon by averaging your times for ten consecutive 800m intervals and then converting minutes to miles and seconds to minutes (i.e. a 3:15 average for all 800’s would mean that you could expect to run a 3:15 marathon). He is one of the few people to have completed races on all seven continents from the Antarctica marathon to the Mt. Kilimanjaro marathon. In 1987, Yasso won the U.S. National Biathlon Long Course Championship and in 1998 won the Smoky Mountain Marathon. He has also completed five Ironmen and the Badwater 146 through Death Valley, as well as cycled, unsupported and by himself, across the country twice.

Needless to say, it was very exciting to be surrounded by three of the “big guns” in the world of endurance running. The workshop was held at Stovepipe Wells in the middle of Death Valley…a place that could be quite easily mistaken for the surface of Mars. In fact, there are still rumors that the Mars Rover was really just driving around somewhere in Death Valley. For as stark as the landscape is, it is equally beautiful and stunning to behold. On the last day I was there we did a run up a canyon that was sensuously sculpted and polished by millions of years of erosion (average rainfall is 2″ a year!) through solid marble, if you can imagine that. It was truly magical. The humidity hovered around 3%, so it was a welcome change from the high humidity of the North Carolina tropics.

If I were to pick a high point of my trip I’d have to say that it was something Bart Yasso said to me at the top of our run up Marble Canyon. After being led through a full morning of ChiRunning classes and an afternoon of trail running, he smiled and said to me, “I’ve learned more about running today than I have in my 33 years of running.”

After wishing everyone safe travels Ray and I took off, half running and half dancing our way back down the canyon for a mile and a half to the parking lot. I drove directly from there to Las Vegas for my flight to NYC to teach a ChiRunning class to forty five wonderful New Yorkers in Central Park. I’ve been through some abrupt changes in scenery before, but none have topped this week’s ChiRunning classes which were only two days (and worlds!) apart.

Happy trails,
Danny

Thought I’d fill you in on my training progress for the National 10k Trail Championships. I’ve got just over a month left to train and I’ve just finished my conditioning phase which meant lots of slow aerobic distance running (mostly 1-hour runs at a comfortable pace … 120-125 heart rate).

I decided to test myself with a set of six ½-mile intervals on the track to see how well my breathing would hold up. All of that aerobic training is paying off, because I was able to run the entire set without getting winded.

Here are my splits for the set in the order I ran them. My main goal with the workout was to progressively run each interval faster without increasing my perceived rate of exertion (which I wanted to keep at a constant 6-7 on a scale of 1-10). This is the perceived rate of exertion I plan to use on race day.

Six ½-mile intervals
Resting heart rate: 41
Max heart rate during exercise: 155
Resting heart rate during 200m jog breaks: 114

1. 4:09
2. 3:45
3. 3:35
4. 3:24
5. 3:21
6. 3:10
Average of the six: 3:34

According to “Yasso’s Rule” I should be able to run a 3:34 marathon if I take the average of my 6 intervals and convert the split time from minutes to hours and seconds to minutes. This not only tells me that I’m ready to run a marathon at a Boston qualifying pace, but that I’m now ready to safely add speed work into my workouts without overtaxing my lungs or starving my legs of oxygen.

My current training plan from now until race day:
I plan to change my daily running workouts to include sets of 10 x 3-minute hill intervals twice weekly for the next two weeks. I’ll then increase the length of the intervals to 4 or 5 minutes each and do six of these intervals twice weekly. One run per week will be a 6 mile run at race pace and one run per week will be a Long Slow Distance run of 10-12 miles. ALL of my weekly runs will be on trails up to race day and I plan to do a 4-day taper before the race.

Within all of these various workouts I will always be working to perfect both my uphill and my downhill running technique so that on race day I can run efficiently and fast. Let’s hope my plan works.

Cheers,
Danny

Well, I finally did it. After 38 years of running I finally bought myself a heart rate monitor. Why now? After that many years of running you’d think by now I would be able to Body Sense everything I needed to know to run injury-free and run long distances without burning myself out. The truth is, I can do that. But what I’m currently in the midst of is developing specific training programs for beginner, intermediate and advanced runners for everything from a 5k to a marathon…and beyond.

The key to training and conditioning oneself properly for long distance running and walking (and the most sane way), is aerobic training which was used quite effectively by Arthur Lydiard, one of the best running coaches ever. Training in your “aerobic zone” means that you do the vast majority of your workouts at a pace where you’re not gasping for breath or feeling like your heart is trying to jump out of your chest. So, if I’m going to be giving advice I need to make sure it’s good, accurate advice and not just theory.

There have been volumes of books written about how to train for all of the distances I mentioned, but what is needed today more than ever is a system that helps runners and walkers to realize their fitness goals in the safest and most energy-efficient way. To me that means not just putting out another training manual that tells you how many minutes or miles to run during each workout. That’s easy. But if you’re training for a 10k race, you’ll get a lot more bang for your training buck if you add great running technique onto all of that great conditioning. My goal is to offer training programs for running and walking that not only help you too increase your conditioning level by training within your aerobic zone, but actually help you to master your technique at the same time. As long as you’re going to be out there, why not kill two birds with one stone?

So, to make a long story (what could be an entire book, in fact) short, I bought a heart rate monitor so I can measure the effect that any of the ChiRunning form focuses might have on my performance and efficiency…measured in heartbeats per minute. For me it’s a biofeedback tool for measuring whether or not my efficiency is effected by making slight adjustments in how I run or walk. I’ll let you know how it goes.

My first use of the heart rate monitor was to measure my resting heart rate as soon as I opened my eyes… it was 41. I’m going out for a hilly trail run this morning, so we’ll see if I can get this thing to help me run hills more easily.

See ya later,
Danny

Here’s something fun to do to spice up your winter running. I was out running today with my daughter (who was on roller blades) when I came upon a patch of ice on the side of the street that was about 30 feet long and just wide enough to run on. We’ve had a number of windy, single-digit days here in Asheville so the ice was a smooth, solid glassy surface on which to test my running form. As expected I ran across it without a hitch…no slipping or sliding in any direction. In fact if someone had been watching me from a distance, they might not have noticed that I was running on glare ice. The only way I was able to do this was to land with a midfoot strike and only use my feet for momentary support between strides. If I would have been trying to push myself forward with my feet, they would have slipped out from under me as I pushed off with my toes. Had I been landing with a heel strike, I’m sure I would have been running home with a bruised behind.

I’d never tried this before, but I knew it was entirely possible because a reader had written me an enthusiastic email about something that had happened to him on a winter run in Wisconsin. It seems he had been out trying to keep his footing on some refrozen slush in the road, when he spotted a lake full of ice fishermen. The ice looked clear and smooth (and much more appealing than the crap he was trying to negotiate on the road) so he jumped the fence and headed out onto the ice. He had been practicing his ChiRunning focuses that morning and working on not pushing off with his legs, so the first thing he did when he got onto the ice was just pick up his feet and lean forward a little. To his great relief, he began to run across the frozen lake like it was a parking lot… accompanied by a very distinct feeling of what it means to run with a true midfoot strike. The only thing he had to do was pick up his feet as he fell forward. He told me that it was the biggest “aha!” moment of his life and from that day on, whenever he felt that he was overusing his legs, all he had to do was run as if he were running on an icy lake and all of his leg effort would instantly disappear.

I don’t know how many of you ever get the chance to run on ice in your street shoes, but I highly recommend it for learning how to not use your legs for propulsion when you run. If you live in a warm climate and have a local ice rink, you might try bribing the manager to let you give it a shot. When you do it right, it’s all gain and no pain.

Danny

In my previous blog I talked about the simplest and most effective way for walkers to reduce impact to their knees and hips. So, in all fairness to you runners, this post is for you.

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

In a recent NY Times article I read a quote that states, “Training a little bit beyond your capabilities is the only way to get better…”.

For now, I want to comment on that one statement. As an overarching theory, I agree, but what I don’t agree with is what the article and that statement implies. Most running coaches believe that more training is the only way to become a better runner. So what do they mean by better and what do they mean by training?

I’ll start with the question about training. When most people talk about training for running they are usually either talking about running more miles or doing some sort of strength training for their legs. So, when you “train a bit beyond your capabilities” it generally means you run farther or faster. I do agree that you need to train beyond your current capability to get better, but I think the focus should be on improving your running form and technique, not just running faster and farther. If you focus only on running faster and further, you are setting yourself up for injury.

If you focus on improving your running form, you are setting yourself up to run faster and/or longer distances with greater proficiency and efficiency.

This brings up the question of what it actually means to be “better.” In most cases I think most people define “better” as becoming faster, which is somewhat of a limited vision of improving your sport.

The ChiRunning approach takes on a much more holistic view. Getting better means running more efficiently so that you can run with less perceived effort no matter what speed or distance you run. It means working on your running technique so you can run injury-free and there’s no down side to your running. It means not working so hard that you have to recover after every run. It means finding long-lasting joy in your running so your relationship with it doesn’t fade with the years. And, it can mean, if you so desire, to use running as an internal practice to improve your mind and body as well as your spirit.

So, the next time you think of “training” to “get better” with your running take the time to include the whole picture or you could be missing out on something much more valuable than speed and distance.

I was recently asked, for the umpteenth time, a question that deserves a good answer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Trails,
Danny

There seems to be much debate in the running community today on what is the best footstrike for running. Runners of all levels divide themselves into three basic camps: the midfoot strikers, the forefoot strikers and the heel strikers. So, here is my attempt to put forward my best understanding of the three basic types of foot strike and what each one does for a runner.

The Midfoot Strike
The midfoot strike is characterized as having your heel and the ball of your foot touching the ground simultaneously with each foot strike. You can see this very clearly when you watch young children run. They always land with their whole foot on the ground. I would say that at least 95% of all people run this way as kids.

In the ChiRunning technique, we promote the midfoot strike because it is, for most runners, the most injury-preventive way to run. Our emphasis is on preventing the lower legs (including the knees) from over-working, because this area of the body is where, conservatively speaking, 90% of all running injuries occur. Plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, shin splints, calf pulls, knee pain, IT band problems, over-pronation, bunions, metatarsal and tibial stress fractures, and hammer toes lead the list of the most common running injuries. This list is immense compared to everything that can go wrong above the knees.

The propulsion in ChiRunning comes from allowing your body to fall forward with the pull of gravity, not from pushing yourself forward with your feet and legs. For this reason it is more energy-efficient because your legs are not required for propulsion. When your feet come down onto the ground, they land either under or slightly behind your center of mass, in a midfoot strike. The only work required of your legs is to provide momentary support for your body between strides. Landing on your midfoot, in most cases, either reduces or eliminates the work done by A.) the lower leg muscles…especially the shins and calves, and B.) the two tendons that are most commonly injured… the plantar tendon and the achilles tendon.

The ChiRunning technique is primarily focused on energy efficiency and injury-prevention with speed being a secondary focus.

The Forefoot Strike
The forefoot is basically the part of the foot between the forward-most part of the arch and the end of the toes… generally speaking, the balls of the feet. If your heels don’t touch the ground when you run, you’re a forefoot striker.

Sprinters, middle-distance runners, and some triathletes tend to prefer running on the forefoot because of the extra speed obtained by “paw-back” and “toeing off.” This way of running is great if you want lots of speed, but it puts the responsibility for most of the body’s propulsion squarely onto the legs…especially the lower legs. Some of the faster elite middle-distance runners (i.e. Kenyans, Moroccans, Ethiopians, Mexicans) run with a forward lean added in combination with a forefoot strike. This takes some but not all of the burden off the lower legs.

Because forefoot running is primarily used for running at faster speeds, energy efficiency tends to take a distant back seat. As far as being injury-preventive, forefoot striking helps prevent knee injuries because it lowers the impact to the knees. This is a good thing. But the problem with it is that running on the balls of your feet increases the workload on your calves, shins, achilles tendons, and plantar tendons, so you risk either overworking a muscle or pulling a tendon if you go too far or too fast while running on your forefeet.

The Heel Strike
Heel striking is when your heel strikes the ground in front of your body. At least 75% of all runners run with a heel strike. The interesting thing about this fact is that, although it is by far the most common of all the footstrike patterns, it is not done by choice, but by default. The vast majority of all runners are not elite runners or competitors, they’re just regular folks like you and me, who like to run and like to stay fit.

Most recreational runners tend to run with their body in an upright position… with no lean at all. This forces them to have to reach forward with their legs when they run…and when you run upright and reach with your legs, your feet will always land in front of your body and your heels will come down first. When you run this way, you’re basically putting on the brakes with each stride, which sends a lot of impact to your lower legs and knees. For this reason, many heel strikers complain of knee pain at some point in their running career. This is the group that keeps orthopedists and physical therapists in business.

But, just because you might be a heel striker, it doesn’t mean you’re doomed to be a heel striker for the rest of your life. Work on improving your running technique. If you can learn to run safely and efficiently, you’ll be eliminating the causes of running injuries and you won’t have to worry about ending up in a doctor’s office getting fixed.

The midfoot strike works for most runners…the forefoot strike works for some runners…but, the heel strike doesn’t seem to work well for anybody. Try all three and see which one works the best for you.

With the ChiRunning book, DVD or audio CD you can easily learn the midfoot strike. We offer you an alternative way to approach your running so that you can learn the midfoot strike and spend many more years enjoying one of the world’s best and most natural sports.

Happy trails,

Danny

Whenever I’ve been asked to be interviewed by the media, I’ve been asked this question…and then been given about 45 seconds to answer. So I challenged myself to come up with a brief description of how ChiRunning and ChiWalking combine the principles of t’ai chi with running and walking, and how that can improve your movement. So here goes… (I’m starting my stopwatch.)

“T’ai chi is the mother of all martial arts, based on the premise that all movement and power originates from your center, not your arms and legs.
For centuries, the Chinese have studied animal movement and found that all movement in the body revolves around a central axis (along the spine) while the arms and legs remain as relaxed as possible and act only as conduits for the force generated by your core.

When these principles of alignment and relaxation are applied in ChiRunning and ChiWalking, efficiency increases and impact with the ground decreases. You can run farther, faster or more often without increasing your risk of injury. Your body no longer breaks down because you’re practicing to run and walk with more fluidity with every step, while using the pull of gravity for propulsion.”

There… 41 seconds flat.

Have a great day,
Danny