Tag Archives: Fitness

The Running Man

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A good friend of mine asked me about my running and why I changed to minimalist.  Big mistake.  She had to sit through my bottom to top lecture.  I will take her at her word that she thought it was a great summary.  The real test will be if she converts this spring when she starts running again.

The more I research, the more I am convinced that we are natural distance runners.  I am also convinced that our bodies are built to work hard. We benefit from constant motion and being productive. So here is my view on why our bodies are so well adapted to distance running.  A lot of what I am saying has been investigated and codified by Dan Leiberman at Harvard. I won’t go into gory detail, but I’ll hit the hotspots so you know what I’m talking about. I will talk about each of these in terms of the evolutionary benefit they provide us as runners.

1) The Covering – Our skin has pores and not much hair. No other mammals have the extensive pore structure that we have. The benefit is that our bodies can cool down while we exert. Quadrupeds and other bipeds don’t have pores. They pant to cool down. That means they can’t exert themselves for a long time before they overheat.

2) The Tootsies – We have short toes. You can’t run with long toes. Period. Monkeys have long toes.

3) Sensitive Feet - There is a huge amount of nerve endings in our feet.  The densest in our whole body. That is why a smart man gives his wife or significant other a foot massage. It relaxes the whole body. It also provides a high degree of proprioception, or sensitivity. When we walk or run barefoot all those nerve endings tell us just how to adjust our bodies so that we have the most natural gate. Shoes cover all that up. We ran for millions of years before shoes on all kinds of terrain and in all kinds of weather.  Just saying.

4) Arch Friends – The arch of the foot is a masterpiece of evolutionary engineering. It is also a massive spring to absorb shock.  Funny thing is that it only does that when we run with a natural foot strike.  Meaning fore or mid foot, not on the heel. Other primates have flat feet. And they don’t run distances.

5) God of the Leg – Our Achillies tendon is another shock absorber. No other primate has one in their leg. Ours allows for a large amount of shock to be dissipated if you keep your knees bent and use a natural stride.

6) Nice Ass – Don’t get me wrong. Our leg muscles all play in running. Go run some hills and tell me how your Quads feel. What is most interesting along the legs is that glutes. They are purely running muscles. I now know why it is easy to find some nice buns to follow in every race I have run. Comparing to primates again, have you ever seen a chimp or gorilla with a big booty? Nope.  They don’t run distance. We do. We get the booty award.

7) Breathe Baby – More than anything we are the only biped or quadruped who can breath in a ratio different than our stride. All other running animals stretch and compress (think of a big cat running). That motion allows them to breath in and out. They have no muscles around their lungs to promote a big inhale and exhale during exertion. We have a powerful diaphragm that allows us to breath and take multiple steps. That happens when you run. Most people take two or three steps with each inhale and exhale. The real benefit is that it allows oxygen replenishment and respiration over a long period of time and at many different gates.

8) Open the Gate – We have a continuously variable gate control.  That means we can adjust our rate of step to just about any rate from a dead stop to our personal fastest rate. Other mammals are stuck with four gates.  When a horse moves from a trot to a gallop, they have just those speeds.  Yeah the gallop has a little play in it, but they have about four speeds and that is it.  If you are a running animal, being able to finely adjust your gate to the terrain or the prey you are tracking gives you a huge advantage in efficiency over long distance.

9) Knuckle Draggers – Well, we aren’t knuckle draggers. Other primates are. That is because we have a tendon in the back of our neck that goes up through the base of the skull.  It keep our head erect and shoulders back while we run. Only running animals have the tendon. If you look at a chimp run, they lean forward and use their hands to keep from falling over as they skuttle for the short distances that they can run. We run erect (go ahead, make the jokes!).

10) Art and Science – There is a large body of research that says we think better when we are in motion. It is a basic survival trait for humans who first ventured out of the trees and on to the hard packed and rocky surface of the savannah.  We had to be very aware so that we could find food or not be food.  There is more to it than that.

We were barefoot and weaponless. There were many predators out there, so why did we dominate? We were bipedal for at least two million years before we invented tools and weapons. How did we feed our big brains which take 20-30% of our energy? We needed meat and fat from big game. We scavenged a lot, but we also learned how to hunt in a very unique way.

We evolved to be persistence hunters. That means we ran our prey to death. We sweat through pores and run at a variety of gates with ease over long distance. We hunted the big game at the hottest part of the day and made them keep running.  They couldn’t cool down because they can’t pant and run at the same time, so after a few hours they overheated and were either easy to club to death or just fell over. Persistence hunting is very effective. In the 60′s there were still hunters in Africa who practiced persistence hunting. Four out of five hunts resulted in game being caught at the end of the run.  That is much more effective than spears or arrows. What is it about persistence hunting that makes us what we are today?

Persistence hunting required developing a skill for speculative tracking.  The ability to envision what the animal would do when there were no signs on the trail. That speculative tracking helped develop our imagination. Tracking was a learned skill and hunters taught other hunters the techniques for following different kinds of prey. It was the first use of the scientific method, albeit elementary.  From that sharing of knowledge came the ability to understand how the beast would react while being chased. Speculative tracking is the ability to put your mind into the head of the beast and to feel where it had gone. In a sense, we learned to think strategically. It is all because we were able to run long distances.  It is in our genetic code and in every element of our physical being.

Among all the creative activities we developed because we learned to be speculative, the most wonderful is love. So when I say I love running, I really mean it.  Without running there would be no love.

Get out there. Screw the weather. Screw the excuses. One foot in front of the other. Run 5 feet or 50 miles. Get in contact with what you really are – a running hunter. The most awesome predator that has ever lived on this planet.

Run Free. Dig Deep.

Tools of the Trade

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I’ve been trying out some new running tools and want to give you an update.  I’ll start with shoes/sandals and go into some other areas in future posts.

I’m not getting paid for any promotions here and these have all been purchased with money from my own pocket.  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be happy to get some product to test, but I just wanted you to know. Because of that, I have not made an exhaustive sampling of products, but am telling you about what is or isn’t working for me.

The Sandals

I’ve been wearing Luna Sandals for over 9 months now. They are my go-to running footwear.

The photo flash washes out the deep color, but you can see how the suede conforms to your foot after a while.  I have also worn them as regular sandals through the summer. Once you get the tension on the straps set right they become second nature on your feet.  I was never much of a sandal wearer because the always seemed so bulky and uncomfortable. These are great.

I use the ATS strap version. My older pair has the elasticized straps, which are nice, but ATS seem to stay in place a bit better. Over time I’ve trimmed them down to be a bit more custom to my foot. I wear an 8D in regular shoes and these are size 8, so they fit to size for men’s shoes.

I have several hundred miles logged on these (probably 400 or more) and the soles and straps don’t show any major wear. Yes, they are wearing, but I can easily see another 500+ miles in them.  That is a lot longer than I ever got with regular running shoes. Since minimalist design doesn’t have cushioning to worry about, you can run the shoes until they literally wear out.

I would suggest anyone wanting to go minimal get a pair of sandals (there are a number of good options out there).  They take a little getting used to, but tie back to man’s first effort at foot covering, so our feet actually feel normal in them. I love not having my toes rub against a shoe box. The downside is that you will build up a callous where the strap goes between your toes. In running, there is always a price to pay.

You will also find that every little pebble or sharp edge is transferred to your foot bottom.  That is important because it is that sensitivity that immediately makes you run lighter. Listen to your body and adjust your knee bend and cadence and stride and you will feel an immediate change in how the foot fall feels.  THAT is the key difference between sandals and running shoes. The amount of dampening in sandals is almost nothing. That encourages good form.

Minimal Shoes

I have started to run some more trails.  Around here they are strewn with sharp edged rocks and boulders or all shapes and sizes. I attribute it to this area having been at the tail end of ice age glaciers. We have a lot of stones and rocks!  My sandals tend to shift a little too much on these ankle twisting routes, so I looked around for some minimalist, trail specific shoes.

Trail Shoes

The New Balance Minimus10′s came to the top of the list when I ran in them at Road Runner Sports. They are light, have a toe box that was comfortable for me and a slight heel lift (4mm). For some reason I wanted a bit of a heel in my trail shoes.

After logging my first trail in them as part of a 9 mile run, I was quite happy. I still felt the rocks and stones, but they were a bit dampened compared to sandals.  It is a slight difference, but there is a difference. You want to have the feel.  I also noticed that after any run I did in these, my achilles tendons felt pretty normal.  That is the last physical adjustment my feet and legs are making.  The 4mm lift seems to make it easier.  They also help grip the rocks and wet areas nicely.

One note. I do find that I run about 15-25 seconds faster per mile in these compared to sandals.  I’ve concentrated on my form to make sure I’m still on. It must be the dampening. I’ll see how that plays out over time as I start to do more speed work in sandals.

Minimal Shoes

One of my first minimal shoes were from Stem Footwear.  They have since changed their name to Leming Footwear, but the shoes are the same.  These are not running shoes, per se, but I have logged running miles in them. They are very comfortable walking and general footwear shoes.  They look good, wear nicely and just feel easy.  The soles are very responsive and flexible, so they will naturally help you strengthen your feet.

The Lemings are made of natural fibers with a flexible sole. You can throw them in the wash (air dry, do not put in the dryer) and it refreshes them. The insides are nice enough to wear without socks although I wear socks for longer runs.  For trail runs they don’t give much buffer. They are on par with the sandals for road feel. Maybe when my feet have adapted more to that experience I’ll be able to use these.  They are also zero lift, so absolute minimal.

Socks

I’ve used running socks for a long time. I like socks that are just at ankle height, but that is personal preference.  Since I transitioned to minimal, I’ve wanted less wrapping on my feet and have found that regular socks are too constricting in the toes. I used to crave the containment, but no longer.

When I do wear socks for distance running I wear ToeSox. It took me a little while to get good at putting them on.  It is easier than putting on FiveFingers! The great thing is they can be worn with shoes or sandals. Admittedly, walking around in them while wearing sandals does look a little like you should be retired in Florida. They do a great job of adding warmth on cool days and for added protection on more wet venues. I like the lightweight ones. They make a series with a non-slip sole that are great for when I do TRX, P90x or yoga strength training.

Isn’t this a much better photo than my feet in a pair? There are several manufacturers of these type of socks. I have only tried ToeSox and liked them from the start, so haven’t felt the need to experiment.

So there you have it.  I’ll get into hydration options and phone apps I can’t live without in the next couple of posts.

The bottom line is that anything you use should enhance your running experience.  These are what have made it fun for me.  Always listen to your feet and legs, not what is in the popular press.  It really is all about the form, not the footwear.

Until then, Dig Deep, Run Free, Have Fun!

Sixty on Sixty

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I’ve been thinking about this next challenge for a while and decided it was time to put it out there and commit.  Let me get right to the point.

On June 23, 2013 I will turn 60. That day I will run 60 miles in celebration of life in general. I am calling the event 60 on 60. My planning is still in its infancy, but I have about 11 months to go and I will need most of that to get ready.

Here are the weapons of choice.  They may be modified and updated as time goes on, but these are the go to items.

Why?

There are a number of reasons, but first is that I want to run an ultramarathon next year. It has been part of my goal ever since I transitioned to minimalist style. I’ve run two marathons and have another planned in October of this year. After reading so much about the human as distance runner, I decided that I wanted to see just how far I can go. It is as much about curiosity as it is about running.  Curiosity about the pain and running through it.

The second reason is that I want to give something back. I’ve never been big at running for donations, although I often contribute to those who do so. It is time to change that.  I will be doing this on behalf of The Hole in the Wall Gang.  This organization was started by Paul Newman and is dedicated to giving kids with debilitating and life threatening diseases some time to just be kids. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my ability to run than to support helping kids have fun.

Why a Year Away?

I has taken me about 9 months to get to a feel of comfort in minimalist form.  Not just the running form, but the muscles relaxed and adapted so that I can run in the double digits in comfort. Remember, I’ve been running since 1967 when I was a freshman in high school. For those first years it was in flats and basketball shoes, then I converted to elevated, heel cushioned, high tech shoes and ran in those for 30+ years. My muscles need time to adapt and I figure it will take about another 9 months to really get there.  Once that happens, I’ll be staged to make the big run.

What do you need from us?

See how I cleverly got you volunteered! Sure, I would definitely appreciate any donations to the cause.  I am working with the Hole in the Wall organization to set up a website.  Since it is a year away, I’ll be reminding people more after the new tax year, but I wanted to put a stake in the ground now.

Donations are only part of it.

I want you to run with me.  Make it a virtual run.  I’ve started to outline some rules and will formalize them and post them as part of this blog.  Here are some of the key rules for right now:

1) Have Fun.  This is not a workout or a race. The run on this day can be as fast as you want, but has to be done with a light heart and a smile. I want you all to celebrate the fact that you can run.  Remember what it was like to be a kid and just take off and have fun? Do something unusual. Drag your kids along with you and re-discover how to have fun with them.  Exercise, but enjoy it.

2) Keep to the Numbers.  6-23 is my birth date.  All of your runs should be a distance that is related to 6, 2,or 3.  You can run 6 miles, .2 miles, .3 kilometers, 300 feet, or 18 miles (3 times 6).  Plot it out. Try something new. Make it as hard or easy as you want, but keep rule #1 in play at all times.

3) Carpe Diem. The weather in New England can be pretty fickle that time of year. I will run the 60 miles in one 24 hour day, but it may not actually be on 6/23 because of weather.  I will finalize the day a week or so ahead of the run. I’m looking for lower heat and humidity. This is not part of an organized run, so I have the luxury of being able to adjust as needed.  It would be great if you could all hit your run on the same day, but I understand how life can be. You have plus or minus 1 week to be able to meet your commitment.  I am going to set up a chart for you to register in and we can track the number of miles that get run that day.

4) Test Yourself. I am realizing that our bodies can take a lot more than we think. There are some trains of thought that think we lose health benefits if we don’t task ourselves. We evolved to work hard. It was all survival.  That work included distance running.  Use this as a chance to do something you haven’t tried to do.  I’m not asking anyone to do go off the deep end.  Have a serious look inside and set a goal that might be a stretch for you.  Keep it to yourself or broadcast it here, but find your inner runner.  BUT, have fun while you do it. I’d rather you back off and enjoy than stretch and hate every step.

5) Beer. Yes, beer is good food and in keeping with the celebratory mode I will drink a six pack during the run. It will have good carbs and the alcohol will burn off in a few minutes of running.  I’ll probably need the anesthetic effect by mile 40 anyway!

More to Come

I have a number of tasks and todo’s that I am working on.  A good friend has offered to help me come up with a logo.  I’ll use that to create badges for your web pages if you commit to the fun run.

In the town I live, there are a number of loops I will run.  There are 3, 6 and 18 miles versions, and some others that I will have to manage.  I’m not going to be anal about the exact mileage of a loop, but they will be close to the 2, 3, 6 format. I may throw in some  trails, but most of my routes are on road surfaces. My home will be the anchor so I can eat and refresh between loops.

Web pages, twitter accounts, FB pages.  All of that will be coming. It’s just me doing this, which is how I want it, but it will take a while.  I do have a day job and I need to keep u with my writing.

Speaking of writing. One of the reasons I am making this announcement now is that I  signed up with Booktrope to publish my current book, SYN:FIN, and its follow on novel, that is in first edit.  Booktrope focuses on indie authors and has developed a unique business model that will be the future of publication.  I am honored and excited about the opportunity to be part of the Booktrope team.

When I thought of doing this run I told myself that if I got the contract with Booktrope, then I would make the announcement.  Well, I can’t back out now.  That is also one go the other reasons for making the announcement now. There is no backing out.

Going forward this journal will still cover my ongoing transition and discovery.  I will also add updates on the 60 on 60.

Thanks, in advance, for your fantastic support and commitment.

Run always!  Run free!

 

Fairfield Half Marathon is History!

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On Sunday I gave myself a birthday present.  I turned 59 on the 23rd and ran the Fairfield Half Marathon on the 24th.  It is a race I’ve run several times in the past, but this was a milestone run for me.  It was the first time I’ve run it in minimalist style.

A year ago a 10+ mile run was not a big deal.  I was putting those out on a regular basis all through the summer.  Then in late fall I started the transition to minimal style and my mileage and milestones all changed drastically.  Back in May I hit a plateau where I felt my form was good and I was going to slowly add miles.  The form has stayed and miles have been added.  It has not been without pain and adjustment.  It has been enlightening and exhilarating.

What’s Changed?

Well, first off, my times aren’t that much different.  I went back to the records and in 2002,  10 years ago, I ran Fairfield in 1:52:28.  My personal best was somewhere around 1:51, but I can’t remember where I ran that.  I know, I’m not much of a record keeper for running.  As you can tell, world class does not describe my times.

This year I finished in 1:54:52, 968 out of 3522 and #30 in my age group.  And I ran it in my Luna Sandals

scary looking picture

BTW, my feet aren’t purple, but I couldn’t find a place where the light was decent for the shot.

NOTE:  The right sandal is a little bigger.  I was trimming them down for a more custom fit and screwed up the the right one.  Luna sold me a separate sandal and I am waiting for the imprint to finalize before I do the last trim. That is what is great about sandals – you can cut them to fit.  They guys at Luna are just great to deal with. To be fair, the guys at Invisible Shoes and Bedrock Sandals have always been easy to deal with, too.  I think it is part of the mental framework that comes from this style of running.

What About The Race, Already?!

The Fairfield Half course is not flat.  There are five of six good climbs and a number of rollers along the way.  The last climb hits at about 10 miles and is a sharp uphill for .2 of a mile followed by steady upward grade for a just under a half mile.  That doesn’t sound long, but when it is hot and you’ve already run 10 miles, it is taxing.  I was looking forward to that last climb because I know it had stopped my on my second run of the course in 2003.

Before the race I did the wait-in-the Port-A-John line routine and then some walking around to kind of loosen up.  A man walked passed me and asked if I was going to change into shoes when the race started.  I smiled and said I was running in the sandals.  The two women with him almost gasped and did the “Really?  You’re running in those?” response.  That made me smile as I told them they were pretty comfortable.

About 10 minutes before the start I was sitting on the side of the road people watching.  )(It is an occupational hazard for a writer who is also a slight introvert.)  As I watched, a man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties walked by me.  He was barefoot.  I got off my butt and asked him if he was running barefoot.  His name was Adam and he confirmed his barefoot intention.  Then he asked if I was wearing Luna’s and we talked a while.  It turned out he was almost two years into minimal style and it had saved his knees and lower legs.  He told me that it took a long time for his calves and achilles to adjust. That made me feel better about the ongoing muscle adjustment I was experiencing.

The gun went off and we did the shuffle for a minute or so until we got passed the start line. I set off Sportstracker on my iPhone and got ready for the first mile warmup.

You can tell from the picture that it was a very accurate monitor for the run.  I kept the audio alerts off and put my iPhone into sleep mode and only used about 10% of the charge during the run.  Not bad.  I could – will – do a marathon with it.

About 5 miles into the run, a young man pulled up next to me and asked how I liked my sandals.  I told him that it took adjustment to the new style, but I loved the feel.  He was wearing some minimal shoes and agreed on the adjustment.  He asked me what brand and I told him “Luna” and spelled it for him because he thought I said “Muna”.  We chatted for a little while and then he moved off to the side to join up with a young woman.  As we hit a downhill and I started to pull away (more on that later), I heard him saying “No, Luna. L-U-N-A.” to his friend.  I smiled.  It’s funny to witness when people are shy about talking to someone. At least she had a boyfriend to help satisfy her curiosity.

After the turnaround, somewhere around mile 8, I was coming off another downhill when I heard a male voice over my shoulder. “True minimalist running!”

“I love it,” was my response.  That led to a nice conversation while we ran side by side for a mile.  He was wearing a pair of Merrel’s that he really liked.  We talked about how long the adjustment took and how nice it felt to have the feel of the road under your feet.  And, more important, how much more fun running had become. He said he was disappointed that he couldn’t get any of his friends to take up the style.  I agreed since most of my running friends think I’m crazy or that I’m doing something so herculean that they can’t imagine taking on the effort.  I guess that making running easier is hard work in their minds!

All along the way people made a comment here or there.  I had no problem with that and I tried to be a good representative of minimal running and barefoot style.  The great thing was every time I got asked a question or someone commented to me, I found myself smiling.

One of the male things to do on the race course is what I refer to as Tail Watching.  Not very clever, but descriptive, so you figure out what it means!  Post a comment if you need more details.  During the race there was one female GenY’r who seemed to have a pace about the same as mine.  I would gain some distance on the ascents and decents and she would catch and pass me on the flats.  She had on bright orange shoes and a black kneeband on her left knee and, with my admiration, was running for the Whole in the Wall Gang, a charity started by Paul Newman for kids with terminal and chronic illness.

About a mile from the finish, after I had gained on the last long climb of the day, she pulled up next to me, said “Good run”, then proceeded to pull away to finish ahead of me.  Maybe she had been watching my ass?  It’s my story and I can believe what I want!

Listen.  I am way passed worrying about people beat me in a race, so I don’t get all macho in the last 500 yards and try to run people into the ground.  There is always someone ahead or behind me.  I did pick up my pace thanks to her wake up call and finished in a time faster than I had expected.  I was shooting for 2 hours.

Reflections on the Day

I had a great time.  The weather was clear and sunny and the course was just beautiful.  It was usually shaded by tall trees and it meandered through some wonderful New England residential areas.  People were out in front of their houses cheering us on.  Bands were playing great music every few miles.  The volunteers at the aid stations were fantastic and the local police represented for all peace officers. It was a well coordinated, well appointed race that was a pleasure to participate in.  My only complaint is that is should have started an hour earlier because it was over 85 degrees when I finished.

As I crossed the finish I got a pretty cool medallion, too.

The Downhills Were Awesome!

I have put on close to 400 miles in minimal style over the past 7 months.  If you’ve been following this blog, then you have read about the adjustments I’ve made in style.  The biggest difference in running in sandals is going downhill.  In regular shoes, you just clomp down the hills and let your feet get squished a bit in the toe area.  When you wear sandals you have a little part of the strap between you first and second toes and if you land and push forward, you’ll screw yourself up.

What I discovered over the miles is that going downhill means a faster cadence while keeping the stride pretty short and landing on your forefoot or midfoot to keep the impact minimal.  It feel very unfamiliar.  I was going to say uncomfortable, but that is wrong.  Running downhill that way in sandals is comfortable, it just feels strange.

For months I’ve had no one to compare against on the hills.  Flats are just time, but hills are different.  Quite frankly, I knew I was tearing up the hills and this run proved it.  I get into this nice smooth forefoot strike mode and I move up the hill, I don’t run it.  Shorter stride, higher cadence and smooth.  I gained on just about everyone on every hill I ran in Fairfield.  A couple of times some guys tried to keep up with me and I watched them blow up near the top. Just to be clear, I wasn’t sprinting.  I was maintaining the rhythm and the hills didn’t kill me.  I killed them.

Going downhill was an eye opener.  I thought I’d get womped because the style I had developed seemed slow when I was out by myself.  The opposite happened. When I got to the first real descent I had to find a clear path otherwise I was going to run over people.  The form turned out to be efficient as hell and so smooth I even surprised myself. All of a sudden, it felt very familiar.  It was so much fun that I smiled like a kid on every descent.

Post Race

I walked around and ate watermelon and bananas and drank a lot of water.  People asked about my sandals and I continued to represent in as positive a manner as I could considering I was hot and tired (I had gotten up a 4am to be able to drive to the race in time).

When I got home I noticed my calves were very stiff and my right knee was hurting.  That was new.  It only got more tight as the day went on.  I didn’t take any aspirin of Advil because I wanted to keep an eye out in case it was an injury and not just post race shock.

To make the story short, the pain in both areas dissipated the next day.  I made sure I ate Omega rich foods and took some Omega oil blend that I had gotten as a sample.  That, I believe, helped the recovery. On Tuesday, I was back to normal.

I have now hit the third phase of my transition.

Running the half was the longest distance I have gone since my transition.  I’ve hit 10 miles several times but had to back down to let recovery happen. I crossed a bridge this weekend and now realize that I am at the same point in mileage buildup as I would be if I were wearing shoes. I am back to where I was last year, except I feel like I have a lot more headroom in my running.

Does that make sense to you? After talking to the minimalist runners on the course, I think they would understand. My transition isn’t over and an idea occurred to me on my drive home on Sunday that I will share with you in my next post.

Right now I just want to celebrate regaining my running legs.  More than ever I am convinced that your body can take a lot more than you give it.  I am also convinced that if you give it the test in a form that matches what the body was built to do, you can maximize the benefit and push further than you ever thought you could go.

Keep Running.  Dig Deep.  Run Free.

Run for the Hell of It!

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It was a cool, Sunday morning.  A thunderstorm had woken me a few times during the night.  There is something about thunder and lightening at night that is both awesome and scary.  After some morning caffeine infusion I donned my sandals and shorts and went out into the overcast morning for a few miles of pleasure.

I usually take my iPhone so I can track the mileage and snap pictures as I go.  About three miles out I looked over and saw this.

View from Rt37

The grass had been matted by the rain.  Colors were deep and rich under the overcast light.  It was a moment to stop and enjoy the scenery.  I felt my muscles keyed up from the effort and listened to my even but accelerated breath.  My glasses started to fog up a little because the heat of my body warmed the frames and caused the cool, moist air to condense on the glass.  A little breeze cooled me through evaporation of my damp jersey.  All of my senses were engaged and I’m pretty sure I was smiling.  Could there be a better reason to run?

Listen, I’m all about working out and challenging yourself physically, but it has to be fun if you are going to do it long term.  If you have read any of my posts on running then you know I am a believer in the adage that we are natural long distance runners.  It’s more and less than that.  It took someone like Micah True to bring it home to me.  We didn’t evolve as runners to work out.  We evolved as runners because it helped us survive.  Our brains grew, our bodies became running machines engineered through evolution to be better at distance across land than any living creature.  We run and generate endorphins – how cool is that!  Who needs drugs when the best are already in your system.  What a gift!!

NOTE:  After I wrote that last paragraph, I looked out at the rainy morning facing me today and said  “WTF” and did a short 3 miler.  Nice to run in the rain.

The aftermath of rain.

Running is an all weather sport, day or night.  I don’t think of it as a “must do” to keep in condition any more.  I think of it as a release of my primal being.  Something I share with ancestors I don’t even know I had.  They all knew the aches and pains, joy and revelation that I feel.  Its a continuity that makes me feel part of something much, much greater.

It’s funny how this post didn’t go anywhere that I had originally intended.  Kind of like a lot of my runs these days.  I’ll see something and head down a path because it looks interesting.  What is rewarding is that I almost always discover something new or find an image that is there for only that moment in time crafted by light and atmosphere.  Like this scene.  It is a little blurry, but I was breathing hard.

A hiking trail off of Haviland Hollow

Get out.  Have fun.  Make each run different by stopping and looking around, even on a busy street.  And always – Run easy.  Run light.  Run for the hell of it!

PS: A Twitter running mate of mine, named Jenn, said she had lost the fun in her run.  I hope this helps her rediscover the pleasure.

Mid-course Checkpoint

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When I first decided to transform my running to a more natural style, I moaned that I had timed the work right as winter started to rear its head.  In late October, when I made the commitment, we had a huge, wet snowstorm that left us without power for 7.5 days.

Early Snow

I looked for the positive in the timing and figured that the cold weather would be a governor to keep me from running too far while my feet and legs adapted after forty years in running shoes.  It looked like another winter where I’d be doing a lot of aerobic shoveling.

Well, since then we have had a whopping eight inches of snow, total, and temperatures have been the most mild I remember in January and February in New England.

There’s good and bad to that.  Twice I’ve over extended myself despite knowing better.  And twice I’ve had to let my body recover.

Then it happened.

On Sunday January 29, 2012 I hit a runner’s plateau.  You know what I mean.  That point in your training where something changes and you know you’ve stepped it up a notch.
On that Sunday I ran a four miler and it felt normal.  There were no twitches in foot muscles.  There were hot spots on my feet.  My calves felt normal.  The tops of my feet didn’t have that last bit of soarness that I had been listening to for about two weeks.

Unless you’ve been there, you may not understand.  The signal was that I could start to build up now. Slow, progressive mileage.  Since that run I’ve added a mile a week and just finished a 7.5M run this past Sunday and everything feels great.

It was frustrating for me to hear about people who just started to run in natural style and never looked back. I was ready to actually start to develop my running.  My feet were going to support me now. It had taken longer than I had expected.  I guess I had the legacy of decades in running shoes to overcome.  My foot muscles had plenty of time to atrophy during that time.  Yes, the reconditioning took longer but, it has happened.

You know what else I’ve noticed?  Well, a few of things.

First, I find myself walking barefoot a lot.  Even strolling out onto the deck during twenty degree weather. In some ways my feet are more sensitive and responsive and in others they seem more tolerant. I’ve grown accustomed to the sensation.

Second, I can stand on one foot for a much longer period of time. Just a few months ago if I put on a sock while standing I usually needed to lean against a wall or door jamb to keep my balance.  Now, I go free form and can stay on a single foot for minutes without an issue. I also feel the strength in my forefoot and arches.  Especially when going up or down stairs.  It is amazing how that bit of strength informs the rest of my leg muscles and posture.  Good posture makes me feel confident.  That makes me smile.  Its all a good thing.

Third, my bare feet in sandals can take a pretty cold temperature outside, as long as it is dry.  I wear my Luna Sandals solo in temperatures of 30 degrees or higher.  Sure, the first bit is cold, but less than half a mile into the run the blood circulation equalizes everything.  This is true for shorter runs.  Much more than 5-6 miles and the feet do start to get cold, so be careful.  It may have been a mild winter, but it has had its moments.

On those cold days I either put on a pair of Toesox or I wear my Stem Primal Origins.

Fourth, and this is probably pure ego, but my calves look better.  The muscles seem more elongated than before and I’d swear that the muscle is bigger even at rest.  It could just be the amount of running at this time of year.  I never did a before and after measurement, but I think barefoot running has changed the shape of the muscle.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Fifth, I don’t feel tapped at the end of a run.  When I was in the early season running wearing running shoes I would always feel my whole body kind of worn when I increased mileage.  Kind of the general, worn out feeling like just before you come down with a cold.  Well, each time I have upped my mileage in minimal shoes I have only felt any tenderness in the muscles of my feet or calves.  As I am writing this I just completed a 4.9 mile run and feel like I could go back out and do it again.

I waited a few weeks to file this update because I wanted to get several runs and more mileage under my feet to see if the comfort continued.  It has.  A couple of times I ran twice a day to get mileage (3 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon).   I’m doing hills with more consistent form.  I’m running more comfortably and not thinking about my form constatnly.  One of the big indicators for me is that my mind is beginning to get into its meditational mode on my runs again.  I love it because that is when I work out all of the issues facing me.  Too bad not everyone agrees with what I’ve worked out, but that is their problem.

The next plateau is in my sights.  I have a half-marathon scheduled for April 1st.  I’m not looking for a fast time.  To finish feeling comfortable and like I can run more is my goal.

Everything I have said about keeping form is still holding true.  I’ll do a tune up on that in my next entry.  Until then, I’ll leave you with the famous quote from Jack Kirk, the Dipsea Demon:

You don’t stop running because you get old. You get old because you stop running.

What are those on your feet?

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When I committed to minimalist/barefoot running I didn’t realize that footwear would be such a big deal.  I actually thought the transition would save me some money and not be as agonizing as finding the right pair of traditional running shoes.

Once again I have been surprised on my journey.  The number of minimalist shoes offered to the public has grown by an order of magnitude in just one year. Every major shoe manufacturer has developed or is developing a response to the new craze.  It’s great to see the support, but now it is just as hard to figure out what to wear as when I was wearing standard running shoes.

There are some great sites out there, like toesalad.com, with a lot of good reviews.  I don’t have the disposable income or the inclination to test and report on a ton of shoes.  I find one that works for me and keep with it until it stops working for me.

What is my selection process?  It is a two phase approach.  Phase One is based on pure instinct and some intrinsic appeal of the shoe.  Phase Two is experiential.  I get a failure or two and figure out why I don’t like them and try to find something that compensates for that failure.

For Phase Two, here is the selection criteria I came up with:

1)  Whatever went on my feet needed to transmit the feel of the road as close to barefoot as possible.
2)  My feet needed to feel unhindered by the footwear.  That really means no friction spots and no sense of enclosure and room to let my toes splay during normal footfall.
3)  They need to be durable enough to take some mileage.
4)  They need to be easy to get on and get off.

The selection criteria is simpler in minimal.  You aren’t looking for cushion or support.  Actually, you are looking for the removal of both of those.  It is your posture, stride and form that give you all the cushion you need.  Here is what I discovered about minimalist footwear.

A Round Robin of Shoes

Good footwear disappears under and around your feet.  You develop a cushioned, garceful run by letting your feet hitting the ground tell you when you are screwing up.  Listen to your foot (too many funny lines spawn from that one!) and you’ll get it.

To get to this cosmic realization I have done some trials. Here is what I’ve been through so far:

Running in circles

Let me explain the dress shoes.  Last week I went into the City (we all know that means New York City, right?).  I got stuck behind a school bus on the way to the local train station and had to run the .3 mile length of the parking lot at the station to get to the train.  I know is was .3 mile because when I got back in the evening I measured it.  About 200 yards into my train sprint I realized I was running with with barefoot form!

I also show my classic Nike Vermero’s.  They aren’t used in minimalist, but I’ve logged so many miles in regular shoes, I feel I have to show a pair. As I proved with my dress shoes, I can run barefoot style with these if I need to.

Socks were the easiest and simplest covering to wear.  They do need to be expendable because running on the road with all the sludge makes them pretty gross after a few miles.

A Mile in My Socks

If you’ve been reading this from the start, you know my first minimal shoe were the Vibram 5-Fingers.  I call them “monkey shoes” because of how they look when you wear them.  I put some good miles on them and took them on the road when I traveled.  It took me a bit to figure out how to get them on and off smoothly and I’m still not that good at it.  My toes are stiff.  That’s probably TMI.   BTW, the more you do barefoot the looser those piggies get. Anyway, the 5-fingers lost points on ease of ingress and egress.

Monkey Feet

I tried the Merrell Trail Runners and found them to be stiff. That made me think friction burn so I sent them back before I took them on the road.

Then I bumped into Luna Sandals while searching websites on barefoot running.  There was an immediate appeal to me.  These were patterned after the huarachis worn for millennium.  That was the intrinsic value that caught my eye.

I’ve never been a sandal wearer.  For the most part my casual shoes have always been my running shoes. My feet have been trapped for decades.

The Luna’s looked cool.  Plus, they had a leather sole on top of a Vibram bottom which gave them a very finished look.  The lacing was pretty simple and straight foward to use.  I looked at them and thought I could wear these around all summer.

I opted for the easiest of the lacing options and have been putting miles on these puppies ever since.  They quickly became molded to my feet and they disappear when I put them on they are so comfortable.

Here’s what I like about sandals.

  • They don’t hinder my toe splay.
  • They are comfortable.
  • They DO NOT flop around like flip flops
  • The laces DO NOT chafe or bind or rub.

You have to adjust them a little at first to figure out just how tight and what angles for the laces work best for you. What you’ll notice is they don’t need to be as tight as you would tie a shoe. Just a bit snug.  That is the same with all the other sandals I have tried.

I had worried that the lace between my toes would be on issue, but after a minute or two I got used to it. Even running down steep hills I don’t feel any pressure or rubbing. The same for the lace as it goes around the heel.  I keep it snug, not tight, and have had no issues with heel movement or with flopping.

To round out my collection I have a pair of Bedrock Sandals and a pair of Invisible Shoe Sandals.  Both have slightly different souls and lacing, but are basically the same huarachi design.  I haven’t put much time in either of them, so I will hold on the evaluation.  In both cases, the laces are comfortable.

What the Luna’s have going for them is the way the laces I have selected are attached at the toe to the sole.  That is the traditional weak point of the huarachi.  The lace starts at the toe and is a knot on the base of the sandal.  That knot typically protrudes and will eventually wear through.  If you have enough lace you can restring otherwise you need to get replacement lace or new sandals.  The guys at Luna have found a way to fuse that knot to the sole so it has a minimal chance of wearing out.

What About the Weather?

As you know, I live in New England.  I have had a fortunate run of weather so I am able to keep some outdoor mileage going when I would normally be getting my cardio work from shoveling snow.

In the early part of the fall, I got a pair of Toesox and ran with them and my Luna’s.  That was great for cold weather even down to the low 20′s.

Maybe These are Monkey Feet

The only trouble with this combination is when it is very wet outside.  Not so much rain, but slushy snow and icy puddles.

I started looking around for a very flexilble minimalist shoe and found two of them.  The one in the picture are a pair of Stem Footwear Primal Origins.  They are about the most comfortable shoe I’ve ever worn, period.  They are also a totally flat shoe, meaning no heel rise, and so flexible you can roll them into a ball.

It was cold when I took the shot, so I had socks on, but I usually wear this without socks. I will say that the sole is very responsive and when I do run in them I feel all the texture of the surface of the road.  They are so comfortable, I wear them most of the time now instead of old running shoes.

The other shoes I am eyeing are Kigo Drives.  They have a similar look to the Stems, but a slightly different sole.  Haven’t gotten a pair, but may try them out when I am ready to rotate.

In none of the cases have I had the shoes or sandals long enough to give feedback on durability and mileage.  That will be something to report later this year.

For the time being, I am enjoying the running weather while I can and keeping my mileage in the 3-6 mile range for the next month or so.  The reason is to give my feet some time to adjust.  Remember, I’ve been in shoes for over forty years, so my foot muscles are going to take a little time to loosen up.  They feel good now and I’ll start doing speed work and hill repeats this week, but still in the 6 or less miles.  Come March I will start to ramp up slowly since I signed up for a half-marathon on April 1st – no joke!

Next up – You eat what?

The UP’s and Down’s of Barefoot

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Let me start with my mantra for anyone transitioning to minimal or barefoot from shod running.  Be Patient.  Let your all important feet adjust and build strength.  The distances and speed will come.  Along with that big freakin’ smile ’cause you feel so good on the road.

I live in a hilly area.  As a matter of fact, there is one particular hill about .4 of a mile from my home.  It is not too long, but steep.  I can put it at the beginning and/or end of a run.  I have a number of routes that I take that get me anywhere from 1 mile to 20+ miles and I can end them on this hill or on an easier access.  The pictures don’t show the angle very well, but it is over 10% grade at the steepest part of the incline.

Going Down

On the way out, which is downhill, I use it to test new brands or models of running shoes. If I felt the foot strikes in my jaw, then the shoes didn’t have the right heel cushion for me. I look back on that criteria now and smile because I listen/feel for the heel strike now, but for totally different reasons.

Back Up

Going up, on the way back, it is a test of my state of condition. If at the end of a long run I can romp up the hill and not be gasping for breath, then I am in shape.  That is a nice feel at the end of 15+ miles.

I avoided the hill for a few weeks after going to minimalist running. Something about going down a steep hill made me think I needed some practice first. I had only hit this hill with heel strikes and I knew that wasn’t going to work.

I read what I could about running hills barefoot style and came up short on good advice.  That forced me to pay attention to what I was doing, what felt right, what felt wrong and what felt just plain weird.

The good news is that I have figured it out – at least for me.

The UP’s

Before I get to downhill, let me start with the uphill.  Uphill is pretty easy.  If anything, a slight incline actually helps accentuate correct form since it helps with the forefoot strike.   You keep the same form going up the hill, but slow your cadence.  I do have one caution. 

* Do not run up a hill on tip toe *

Make sure that when your foot strikes you let the heel drop.  It doesn’t have to hit the surface you are running up, but let your leg extend normally.  This is a general recommendation and you need to find your comfort zone.  I ran up a half mile long hill when I first started and I was on my toes the whole time.  My calves were pretty sore for a couple of weeks afterward.  I’ve done the same hill many times since letting my heels drop normally and have had no issue.

The DOWN’s

Here is where it gets tricky.  In all of my reading, and it is not exhaustive, I haven’t seen a good recommendation for how to go downhill.  I’ve done a lot of downhills now and I’ve paid attention to what seems comfortable.

First, it will feel weird the first time you do it right.  Weird in the sense that you are just on the edge of out of control.  The reason is that you are accelerating downhill but you have to keep your center of gravity over your stride.  When you go downhill with shoes, the heel strike breaks your speed. Barefoot, you want to move fast and let gravity do the work.

Second, a slight hip rotation is critical for keeping in balance.  This is a matter of slight adjustments.  I have found the most natural movement is keeping the feet hitting on that centerline and making sure you keep your knees up while making the runway model movement consistent.  I have tried downhill with my feet spread apart and splayed out to varying degrees and that is not very comfortable.

Third, strike softly.  Don’t try to break your speed, just let the cadence adjust to the slope so it can carry you.  If you need to slow it down, then shorten your stride and up your cadence, but keep your forefoot strike in play.  And keep the strike soft. The soft strike means a quick pace as you are running down the hills.

* Here’s a trick* To keep the soft strike while you speed downhill, bend your knees a little more.  Again, we are talking a fraction of an inch in what you sense, but it makes a big difference.  All I can figure is the extra bend does more shock absorption.  Now you will feel even weirder, but you will sail down the hill.  I’ll take the speed.  You’ll get used to the weird.

Fourth, keep you upper body straight.  It is easy to find yourself leaning backward or forward on a decent.  There is a natural urge to break by leaning back on your heels.  You’ll feel the thump in your jaws if you do this, so lean forward and straighten up until your hitting on the forefoot again.  You don’t want to lean too far forward since that will shift your center of gravity ahead of your stride and then you’ll be trying not to do an end over.

Listen, it sounds a lot harder than it is.  The good thing is that I’ve experimented with the options and am sharing what seems to work best.  Think of it as a starting point.

Your Turn

Start with some short hills of low inclination.  Don’t try for speed, but go as fast as your form will allow you. Start with the form I’ve outlined.  If it feels right, then just keep doing it until it feels natural.  If it doesn’t quite gel, then play with how far from center you place your footfalls.  Alter your foot splay to see if it makes a difference in control.  Don’t be drastic with any change and listen to your body.  If you can feel your foot strike in your bones, then you are not in good form.

Easy hill work

Most of all.  Don’t force it.  If it doesn’t feel right and you are getting frustrated.  Stop.  Walk on home and do that last hundred yards or so in correct form so you stop on a good note.

I do the hill now.  I even do a much longer hill that goes for a mile down and up.  You’ll get the rhythm going and it’ll become natural.

Be patient.

Next up.  What are those on your feet?

Getting In Tune

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“Be patient.  Take it Slow.”

I have to tell myself that almost every day.  If you are like me doing this transition, you are way too anxious to get to the end game and run all day long.  Impatience has taught me a few things.

First, you push too fast too soon and you’ll delay your transition because of overuse stress or injury.  I did it on my first run and then about 3 weeks into it.

Second, your feet get used all the time!  I have been doing a lot more barefoot walking and standing around to help strengthen the muscles. Without the masking of shoes, your feet are working all the time except when sitting. And you can stretch and exercise them then.

Third, I need to put me feet up at night for a little while.  Makes sense.  The muscles are developing so blood flow is greater.  Let gravity help your heart.  Once again men, your lovely lady would appreciate your helping gravity with a massage of those sore feet.  (That will be my last hint on the ‘foot massage as start of foreplay’ topic!)

Cautions now administered, just be aware that your feet are going to hurt while you make this adaptation.  I mean the muscles in your feet.  And I am surprised by how many muscles these puppies have.

The topic of conversation.

The new acronym I discovered is TOFP – Top of Foot Pain.  I didn’t realize we had muscles on the top of our feet!  They notified me of their existence a week or so ago after I did a stupid 10+ mile run too soon.

This, too, shall pass, but don’t push it.

NOTE:  There is a difference between pain from use and exercise versus pain from injury.  I learned my body’s language over time and can tell the difference.  You need to do the same.

Before I cover some new hints, let me recap the big two.

1) Thumbs forward. This keeps your elbows in and helps maintain an upright posture for your run.

2) Knees up. Don’t push off with your foot, lift up with your knees.  Lifting means you aren’t kicking out and your knees stay bent.

Now, we start “Getting in Tune with the Straight and Narrow”.  As you can see, I’m into trying to find the simple rules that make everything else work right.

Corollary #1 – Get in Line  When you run barefoot you’ll find that the most comfort happens with a slight hip rotation to help keep your feet running along a straight line.  It isn’t a pronounced rotation.  Everything in barefoot is subtle.

Try this:

Follow the line

If there is a line on the side of the road, run so that you feel your heels (not your forefoot) touching the line.  The line will be perceptible to your feet, so you’ll know if you are hitting it.  Heels in line will lead to the right hip rotation.

Corollary #2 – Watch Your Speed  Here’s the deal.  To run barefoot, you have to shorten your stride because your aren’t kicking your feet out, but lifting them up.  Shorter strides means more strides covering the same distance as traditional running.  Normal shod running hits around 120-140 steps per minute (counting both feet).  Barefoot running moves that up around 180 steps per minute, or 90 steps per foot.

Got a chronometer on your watch?

Who needs a watch when you have an iPhone?

Count the number of footfalls on one or the other of your feet for six seconds.  Then multiply by 10 and that will give you a relative cadence.  There are 10 six second groups in a minute.  After a while, as you continue to check the cadence, you’ll feel when you are at the right cadence.  You can go faster, it is a matter of what’s right for you.

Side Benefit Alert – You do that little hip twist 180 times a minute and you end up working your core a bit.  Which leads to “Honey, are you losing weight?”

Corollary #3 – Get Hippy  You are running more erect (go ahead, make your puns) and you are taking shorter strides while not pushing off with your feet. So where the hell does the forward motion come from?  I mean, this sounds like running in place.

It’s all in the hips.  You need to keep you hips over your stride area.  If you push them forward a bit, the stride moves forward with them.  This may feel a little weird, like you are making yourself fall forward.  Wait!  Isn’t that what running really is?

This is the key.  You’ve got the position and the technique, now we need smooth.  Smooth comes from having the hips feel like they are being pulled forward by a rope anchored on your naval.  Not a bowed back kind of pull, but just enough to keep you hips a bit forward with a straight back.

Try different amounts of extension.  You’ll find that when you have hips forward just right you start to run smoother.  And lighter.  And faster.

We have all the pieces.  Now it is a matter of putting them together to make the run a cohesive movement.

Take a look at this and use it to help you visualize good technique:

Barefoot Running Technique

Or the beginning of this one:

Barefoot Ted with Awesome Form

BTW: Barefoot Ted is featured in Born to Run

Notice how everything I’ve mentioned is being done with subtle movements.

Take it slow, but get out and feel the run.

Next up – How the hell do I go downhill with nothing on my feet?

Finding Your Barefoot Form, Part one

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Learning to run barefoot is like learning a new technique on the guitar.  Even the most experienced guitarists have to take it slow when starting something new.  They follow a few simple rules.

- Go slow.
- Keep the practice short.
- End the practice on good form.

My Les Paul - the other relaxer

You play slow to focus on technique and getting each note clear.  Your muscles have to adjust to the new fingering, so keep the practice short.  As the time of the practice nears the end make sure the last fingering is done correctly then stop.  Your mind will remember that last instance.

All of these rules apply to learning to run barefoot.

As I mentioned, I opted for the “just eff’in run” mode and spent the next two weeks working my calves back to normal.  Plus, my first barefoot run was not barefoot.  I wore a pair of 5 Fingers.  That wasn’t the problem, but it did allow me to run 4 miles along the rolling hills of Connecticut.

Had I been barefoot, I would have only gone a mile or so.  That would have been just the right distance to let my calves feel the strain of the new mode while not debilitating me.

Two days later I had done a lot more reading on technique.  It was cold and a bit damp outside, so I opted to wear some old socks.  That was actually a nice transition feel.

One caution.  Be prepared to throw the socks away. My 1 mile trek trashed the ones I wore.  They were old and worn and the rough surface ate a hole in them pretty quick.

I learned a lot in that mile and the subsequent miles since then.  The biggest discovery was that while learning to run barefoot, you need to run barefoot.  You need to feel the contact with the road.

I do live in New England and made the wise choice to start my transition during late Fall.  Trees are defoliating, dumping leaves and branches on top of grit and other litter, while the temperatures tap freezing and there is usually some frost in the morning when I usually run. It is beautiful, but not kind to bare feet.

My solution?  I start each run with minimalist protection and, during the last mile or so, I remove the coverings and go barefoot.  Ending each run barefoot gives me the tactile feedback I need to have good form and keep me moving in the right direction.  I did it for convenience since it is easier to take the 5 fingers off than to put them on. Afterwards, I realzed that it brought me conformance to guitarist rule #3.  I end each run on good form with great feedback.

The End of a Run

What is weird is that the bottom of your feet are not what will hurt.  Sure, the skin will be a little sensitized, but no where near what I had expected. It is your calves that will give you the greatest degree of discomfort.  Because you no longer have heels, your calves are stretching out.  That is one of the main reasons for going low mileage up front.

You will also feel it in your feet, but not the bottoms.  Without shoes the muscles in your feet that support your arch and all those bones (there are more bones in the foot than any other part of the body) are now getting exercised.  Every step requires them to make micro adjustments that shoes have denied them.

Attention Men.  If your lovely woman is starting to run barefoot, a foot and calf massage after those first few runs will garner you major points.  Use them at your discretion.

Finding the Form – Part 1

While I was out on the barefoot part of run number two I was trying to think of my feet landing the right way on road.  That helped me to make a complete mess of my form.  The footfall is just too complex to try and think about.

I needed to find that “leading indicator”.  That one thing to focus on that would make the rest of the form come into line.

Then I noticed something.

Lift your knee.  When you lift the knee, even just a little more, it seems to get the foot in just the right position to land correctly.  What you’ll notice is that lifting the knee up keeps you from pushing off with the ball of your foot.  That is good, because the push off leads to kicking out, not lifting up.  That is the traditional heel strike mode and we are not doing that anymore.
Good.  You’ve got a simple thing to think of that will take care of the complex foot landing.

Line up your thumbs.  I need you to take a leap of faith on this one.  I discovered it years ago from an add in a running magazine.  It wasn’t what they intended, but it works like a charm for getting the right upper body form.

Forward motion comes from a slight movement of the hips forward and that is only possible if the knees come up, not kick out, and the upper body is straight and upright.  To keep your body upright, you need to keep your shoulders back.

Here is a picture of the position you need to hold your thumb over an unclenched fist.

Thumb Forward Position

Image a line perpendicular to your body that runs right up and parallel to your thumb.  The unclenched fist should be perpendicular to the ground as you move your arms back and forth.

Play with it a little.  You’ll see that if you bend the wrist in toward your center that your elbow moves away from your body.  Likewise, if you bend too far out your arms constrict against your side and make it hard to have the free swing you need.  Turn your wrist away from perpendicular and you’ll feel the impact all along your shoulders and elbows.

When you run with this thumb forward line, your shoulders will naturally pull back and keep your posture where it needs to be.

Freakin amazing, isn’t it?  Barefoot or other, this works.  I have shown this to many runners and they all love it.  On those long runs when my form started to go haywire, I would remember to do this and everything would line back up.

There you have it for Finding the Form, Part One.  Lift your knees and keep your thumbs forward over your unclenched fist.  Now go out and practice this at a slow and comfortable pace (somewhere over 120 beats per minute).  Run at least the end of your run in bare feet and make sure you end each run in good form.

Focus on making it easy and light.

I’ve discovered more tricks to keeping good form and those will be in the next installment.   Maybe you’ll figure them out before I do my next reveal!