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…)

I haven’t blogged for a while, very sadly my Mum passed away a month ago from breast cancer, she was too young to go and still had a lot of living left to do.  My family and I are devastated but we have to get used to learning to live without her.  I was in two minds whether to blog about it but it would be difficult to blog and not mention something so life changing.  Needless to say the stress of dealing with a terminal illness takes its toll and that stress crept into my body and my running without me noticing.

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Running is not usually known as an aid to flexibility, in fact it is notoriously known for tightening us up: tight hamstrings, tight calves, tight hip flexors and a tight back.  Well the good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way.  (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…)

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…)

In my last post the plan was to follow a pain free marathon training program from ChiRunning in order to prepare for the Nashville Marathon on April 24th, 2010, and I have started that training which is now into the fourth week of base training, with a slight twist.

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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…)

A student said to me during the week, when we were talking about their running form, “I don’t think I can change.”  I just want to say to anyone out there learning ChiRunning that you absolutely can change. You have it within your power.  If you are diligent about practising the form focuses as often as you can, integrating them into your daily life and your running at every opportunity, you will form new movement habits that will allow you to enjoy running more and be able to run injury free for the rest of your life.  It takes discipline and effort to improve though.  (more…)