Alignment is a key element for running form efficiency and injury prevention. When you are aligned a higher level of relaxation is possible. These are the two primary concepts in ChiRunning® - Alignment and Relaxation and the balance between them. The more you are aligned, the less you need your muscles. The less you use your muscles, the easier it is to stay aligned. But too much alignment without relaxation and you may be too stiff to move. Or too much relaxation without alignment and you may be too loose to maintain your position.

Here are 4 Components of Running Form (more…)

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hosting and assisting Danny at two ChiRunning workshops in Seattle. It was a full weekend with lots of good energy and inspiration. Danny arrived Friday afternoon, and despite having been up since just after midnight our time, he agreed to go on a run. There were some trails near the workshop location I wanted to share, in case we needed them. I wore my Bikilas and Danny had on his Treks. (more…)

The heat was on this past weekend. The running club that I belong to (Tamalpa Runners) held its monthly club race on my home course on Sunday.  I had no excuse not to enter. The starting line wasn’t even half a mile from my house, I had no other plans for the morning, the course is part of my running route at least twice a week, the entry fee was just $3, and last but not least — it was the annual breakfast event. So you know what people say in such a situation?  “Hey, it’s your home turf, you should do well.” That’s what friends were saying and it started running through my mind like a nagging inner voice that wouldn’t stop. Talk about pressure. (more…)

As part of a recent trip to Florida to visit family and friends, my lady friend and I had scheduled in a Half Marathon run in Melbourne,  just south of Cape Canaveral.  Coming from winter weather in Oregon, we looked forward to a nice change from rainy skies and cool temperatures - running a Half in the sun would be a real treat.  But we had overlooked one thing  in our race strategy planning - the wind.

So, there we were, starting out at daybreak among a couple of thousand others at the second running of the Melbourne and Beaches Marathon and Half Marathon. As is my usual practice, I went through my looseners, scanned myself for tense or needy areas, thought through some of the form focuses I would be using during the run - and then I noticed the wind. People around me were discussing the likely impact of the wind on certain parts of this one loop Half Marathon course with its two long, elevated bridges where the wind would definitely come into play.  What should, and could, I do about it? (more…)

Recently there has been a lot of discussion on the concept of running barefoot. There are some purists who suggest we should all be running barefoot, period. Personally, I don’t care for the word ’should’ in any context. It implies someone else telling us what to do or be, when we all have to decide that for ourselves.

But can we just go run barefoot? To help you answer this, consider how long it has been since you ran barefoot. 20 years, 40 years, 60 years?; most of us have not been running barefoot since we first learned how to run as toddlers (*). How many years of shoes, dress shoes, high heeled shoes, perhaps periods of inactivity, or of modern running shoes do you have in you? These are just a few examples of all the stimulus the body is adapting to every minute of every day. This adaptation happens slowly and if we want to reverse the resulting changes in posture, muscle strength, flexibility, balance and confidence; then (more…)

Its week 13 of marathon training and I have managed to keep up with the marathon training plan more or less.  I’m not quite where I should be in terms of the length of my longer runs due to other demands on my time and as the long run is the most important part of marathon training, I will have to decide at some point if my April marathon is too soon.  

Running continues to get better and better.  I am running more often and for longer which gives me the opportunity to practise even more.  The habit of engaging my core and staying aligned has become deeply ingrained.  (more…)

In a previous post (Running Motion for a Midfoot Strike), the ChiRunning motion was described as a midfoot (full-foot) landing with a heel lift/knee bend. Along with this motion, it is also very important to keep the legs and feet relaxed.

Running with a relaxed midfoot (full-foot) strike allows a subtle forward lean (fall) from the ankles to propel you forward with no resistance. If the legs/feet/ankles are holding tension, then the hinge (ankle) is stiff which acts as a brake against your forward fall. Relaxation also removes a significant amount of stress from the lower legs and feet. The statistics indicate that 65-80% of all runners get injured each year in some way. And most of those injuries are at the knee and below. Could it be that we are asking a relatively small part of our body to do a very big job? If we can relax the lower legs and feet, then we can (more…)

With the start of the New Year I’ve got back into hill running. Some people love running hills; others avoid them like the plague. I’m one of those runners that normally enjoy running uphill more than downhill. Unfortunately I’ve slowed down and perhaps as a consequence my love of hills has waned a bit. A little voice has been talking to me though, with a gentle reminder that it’s time to improve my ChiRunning hill techniques. The race that I love — the Dipsea, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and I want to be in good shape for this extremely hilly race. (more…)

It is so easy to get caught up in being focused on everything we have to do and things we want to accomplish that sometimes we don’t allow ourselves the time, or space in our brain to just have fun. Even with our running and walking programs. While I am sure that most people reading this will say “I enjoy running … therefore I have fun” I just wonder — how much more fun could you be having? (more…)

In ChiRunning, the approach is to land midfoot (full-foot) under your column and create a wheel slightly behind your column with your heels/feet. Visually, this running motion is similar to the Road Runner cartoon.

To create this wheel, the focus is to allow the knee to bend and to not consciously lift the knee. Lifting the knee can bring the leg forward; and allow the foot to move horizontally and land in front of the body. Bending the knee creates an arc with the heel and keeps the heel/foot moving vertically. See the diagram below showing this orange arc. (more…)