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Hills – Mountaineers are better runners.
“Going to the mountains is going home” – John Muir
This is a read ahead module for those who have inquired about, or already running hills - you know who you are (grin) you need not be running hills yet, but in the next few weeks you'll want to try this to get ready for your Forest Festival 10k, which has a few hills.
Runners from Ohio complain about them and the Boston Marathon has the notorious “Heartbreak Hill” as part of it's mythology but runners who know the benefits of running up and down hill know something – they have both the performance and mental advantage on their competition.
This part of your running can easily comprise 35% of you total mileage & will develop your stride and physical capacity to run more easily. You’ll also never fear a racecourse - something flatlanders get chills about regularly. Again, Danny Dryer’s book CHI Running is a great resource here in dealing with hills because technique can help your newly acquired powers to get up any hill efficiently.
Flow and glide – is the earth flat? Easy question - but think about the last time you enjoyed a roller coaster, surfed a wave, rode a mountain bike or snowboard over that very non-flat planet of ours. That slowing and accelerating feeling you enjoyed can be learned and integrated into your running and while it will not be easy, you already have many of the tools to do this well. Concentrate on an easy and efficient pace going up and learn to love that fast gliding down and you’ll start to reap the physical advantage of hill running.
Physical developments – no matter how fast (or slow) you go uphill you’ll be working at a higher PE than you typically do on a training run. You will be gently adjusting your workload and this gives you better cardio capacity while building powerful hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. Towards the end of a race as fatigue sets in runners may shorten their stride and lack muscle endurance to raise their knees and ankles into the next stride. Hill running builds stamina in these key areas and prevents fatigue. You’ll have more power to keep running.
Hill repeats – In the same way that we are able to start running or do speed work in small doses – you can also run uphill in short bursts so as to not tire of it completely and still get most of the benefits. Folks who do not enjoy hills or feel intimidated by a hilly course will find a hill that takes one minute to run and run it at a “regular pace” (PE 4) multiple times. At the top you turn around and gently glide back down, resting as needed at the base before heading up again.
Proper form – we have discussed before that if your form suffers while doing this running then you’re not doing yourself any favors and need to slow down. You get much of the benefits from walking the hills too – find a pace you can handle – progress gradually.
Uphill - You will use your upper body more when traveling uphill. A slight lean forward would come from leaning at the ankle. Your focused breathing to power your body upward, and your arm swing – all play an important role. Think about the little engine that could. Small lean and small strides as well as a relaxed state governed by our breathing rate. You do not want to overwork your hamstrings and calves with long strides and pulling yourself up the hill. Small strides, never stepping past your hips, shoulders slightly ahead of your hips, keeps you pushing yourself up the hill in a controlled way. Take it easy and let your breathing determine your pace. Relax your legs and make sure feet are flat on the ground, heels down, and you’re not asking smaller muscles to do bigger jobs. Conserve energy and know that going uphill is always a bit slower. Pump your arms, thinking about elbows moving back, coordinated with your stride to give you extra momentum moving uphill. Your eyes look up – to the top of the hill and your long straight spine allows more air into the runner for hard work. Think about a positive mental image and know that every up, has a downhill too.
Downhill – Done poorly, you’ll pound your legs, feet and lower back with 6-10x your body weight with each footfall, hammering your legs and possibly your ability to run later in the week! While not all hills are runnable, many are and you’ll get better at the “glide” skills with practice & enjoy the down without the pounding. Relaxing both physically and mentally allows you to loosen up your knees and quadriceps, give in to the speed a bit and enjoy the movement which can be much faster than you ever run on the flats. Stride, cadence, and orientation to the ground help smooth out the ride you’ve earned.
Think about your hips, shoulders and upper body. You want your hips and pelvis level while you run. Your shoulders and upper body should stay centered over your hips. Leaning away from the hill and bracing will shift your legs forward and as they act like the brakes - you’ll transfer impact to heels, quadriceps, and your lower back. This is a time that you want to stay light and footfalls/strides will be much faster than usual.
Your cadence (number of strides per minute) will increase and those smaller steps will keep your feet under your hips and landing quickly and lightly on the ground. If you need to take longer strides as your speed increases, think about the stride getting longer in the back, or behind you, so your feet do not come past your hips and you are recruiting muscles from the posterior of the body. One item to focus on is peeling your feet off the ground from the heel. This tends to make the mid-foot land first for your next step and keeps your footsteps closer to the pelvis – reducing impact forces to your body. Another way to look at it is to lead with the toe – plantar flex the foot – toes point down as you descend and your mid-foot will hit first and quickly transition to the next step.
Safety – while accidents a few, if you start running 35% of your mileage as hills you may want to take an hour one afternoon (on a grassy slope) to think about falling properly. Cyclists do this annually and skiers do too as their falling season starts. If you practice a tuck and roll, drop a shoulder style of falling you are much more likely to avoid road rash and to stop sooner, post contact with the ground. You want to tuck things in and not splay them out – do not make tender and breakable appendages responsible for stopping your trajectory. If this practice drill sounds scary, remember to walk the steepest descents so that you are in control.
Showing posts with label ChiRunning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ChiRunning. Show all posts
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Friday, September 10, 2010
Mark Cucuzzella inspiration
I'll share with you something from the Freedoms Run website where there are a lot of great runner materials and a series of races to register for this fall (hint, hint). Mark teaches running, is a race director, a CHI running instructor and a physician. When I asked him to come speak he graciously said yes, and then our schedules did not connect (he is clearly a busy guy) but I'll share some of his insight for you here and maybe some inspiration.
How to Run the Boston Marathon
Written by Mark Cucuzzella, MD
As you enter the week prior to the race, here are a few visualizations to help you set your plan. Running your best marathon is part art, part science, part guts, part faith in what you can do, and a little luck, whereas running your best 10k is mostly about fitness.
I’ve had the pleasure of running this race 16 times and the last 10 consecutively. My only misses were for military and work duties, and a foot surgery. In all these efforts, I had 5 under 2:30, 5 between 2:30 and 2:35; 2 between 2:35 and 2:40; 3 between 2:40-2:44; and one DNF (first one with lots of rookie mistakes). My best learning experiences were when the men and women started together and I had the privilege of running alongside and witnessing the patient approach of the top ladies.
In the 1998, Fatuma Roba, the Marathon Gold Medalist in Atlanta and 3 time Boston winner, scooted over the ground with an incredibly efficient motion. Her knees stayed low, she lifted up her feet, arms relaxed, and face always relaxed. She stayed out of trouble by tucking behind the lead pack of more aggressive ladies. I followed behind the train and we hit half way in about 1:13. Fatuma then opened her stride up in the second half moving away from all of us to run a 2:23. An amazing second half effort. I was pleased with a 2:27 that day and credit Fatuma as any thoughts to go faster sooner were mitigated by her patience.
A few years later in 2001, I witnessed multiple world champion and Boston winner Catherine “the Great” Ndereba employ the same strategy. Her hydroplaning stride and complete relaxation of effort were a contrast to other ladies in the pack whose body language and breathing revealed they were putting out more energy than Katherine. As a group, we hit the half in 1:14. Katherine stayed relaxed down the last set of downhill during mile 17, then tightened the screws with great acceleration over the Newton hills, running the last 10 miles in 50 minutes for a 2:24. Katherine helped my day. By cuing off her pacing and relaxation, I ran an even race and finished in 2:29.
The other runner who taught me to have fun out there was the legendary 3 time Boston winner Uta Pippig of Germany. In 1997, I ran with her until she dropped me at Cleveland Circle, mile 22. The crowds loved Uta, and the noise escalated as she approached. She smiled the whole way … this may be her cue to relax, feed off the crowd’s energy, and have fun in the moment. In marathon running you must be present in the moment, not thinking about how far you have to go, fearing what you may feel like later, are you going to slow down, when’s the wall coming. Uta ran a strong fourth place that day in 2:28 and I finished a few strides back in 2:29.
All of these ladies made sure to get their fluid and nutrition at all stops. The seconds used here paid dividends down the road. They ran over the road not into the road, especially on the downhills … you could hardly hear them land as they did not employ hard heel striking technique. Their posture was tall and their arms always relaxed. But most vital was their efficient energy conservation and utilization strategy.
So how does this apply to you in your Boston Marathon, whether you are going to run 2:20 or 4 hours plus?
The best analogy I can think of is this: if you have trained your body properly with the right mix of aerobic level training and some up tempo stuff in recent weeks, you have built your efficient hybrid engine ready to race the marathon. Many of you have driven in a Prius and watch the subtle shifts between gas and electric on the screen. You do not perceive these shifts. Your engine runs on gas, electric, or a mix- depending on the effort.
You are starting the race with one gallon in the tank- assuming you have eaten a nice meal the night before with a breakfast top off.
• If you are in all gas mode, your engine will run about 1.5 hours at a strong pace….then you are out of gas.
• If you are mostly electric you can run all day, but maybe not so quickly.
• If you are using the proper mix you will go quick and efficient for duration of your event, and you can even do some topping off along the way.
The glucose utilizing pathway is the gas. This is your stored glycogen and blood glucose (pasta meal and breakfast) - easy to access for ready energy. The fat utilizing pathway is the electric. In marathons you must be in hybrid until the last few miles. Hybrid is where your energy (ATP) is coming from both sources.
Many runners are in great “10k shape” (an all gas event), then run their marathon in the gas mode- and usually crash. No glycogen sparing factors apply in races of less than an hour as long as you had a good pre-event meal to fill the tank. In marathons and ultras- top end fitness matters little and can only be applied very near the finish. Glucose gives 36 ATP per molecule, fat 460 ATP per molecule. Now you know how a bird can migrate 7000 miles without a Powerbar.
So how do you know you are running in your best hybrid mode?
This is difficult because the sense is not as profound as aerobic/anaerobic. A slight increase from your optimal pace will switch you from hybrid to all gas without you realizing it, and the effects are felt miles later. Charging up hills early will tap your gas quickly. Maintain effort not speed.
You must rehearse a bit in training. I focus on relaxation and breathing. If I’m breathing one cycle to 5 steps, then I’m hybrid. Any faster I’m using glucose as sole fuel. Belly breathe- allow lower belly to blow up like a beach ball on inhalation and pull your belly button back to your spine on exhalation. Then you will fill the lower lung areas where oxygen exchange occurs.
Notice the breathing efforts of those around you and many are rapid breathing- they tend to suffer somewhere past half way. Rehearse complete relaxation from the top down- eyes, jaw, shoulders, allow your legs to relax and extend behind you, relax and soften your knees and ankles. Find you own cue for this. If you use the Heart Rate Monitor in training strongly consider one during the event.
In a marathon, the last 3-4 miles you will be all gas to maintain the same speed as fatigue sets in. The breathing is usually on a 3 to 4 step per breath cycle- that is OK. Still stay relaxed and use some relaxation cues that you have rehearsed to keep your form.
Land softly, especially on the early downhills. I use a running method called ChiRunning which focuses on midfoot strike, slight forward lean, and letting gravity do some of the work. A few months after learning this technique I ran a 2:31 here at age 39 and felt none of the usual post Boston soreness. Felt so good I lined up 5 weeks later in Ottawa for another 2:32. I’m never sore after marathons now thanks to ChiRunning and feel I can keep doing them until I enter the retirement home. No pain…thank you.
Your shoes matter too. Not that you are going to change your shoes in the next day based on my advice...but make strong consideration to not running in minimalist racers unless you have trained substantially in them. Your body will need some protection on the downs to save muscle fiber for the later rolling sections. My favorite shoe is the Newton Neutral Racer, an incredible marathon shoe if you are running with a proper midfoot landing. If you relax your lower legs and not push off…these shoes with no heel elevation put you in perfect position to allow natural elastic recoil of plantar fascia, Achilles, calf muscles, and hip flexors. Try to learn the midfoot strike and test the Newtons before Boston 2011. Read Dean Karnazes new book “50-50” (50 Marathons, 50 States, 50 Days). He has figured this gait efficiency technique too and it has allowed him to accomplish some amazing endurance and durability feats. “Born to Run” also makes the case for running with a more efficient stride and questions modern running footwear. The evolving world of modern sports medicine is going back to the future too and rediscovering what evolution has taught us. For an all inclusive document go the www.freedomsrun.org and click “download presentation” from the homepage.
Now a few extra ways to get from start to finish quicker on the same gallon.
• If you can add a little gas along the way then you can go more into gas mode. This works a little at best. If running too fast you shunt all blood to working muscles and nothing digests. If you are in hybrid the early going you can continually add fuel- the key is not only the correct fuel, but the right pace. A Powergel every 25 minutes is easy to digest and tops off the tank. Carry them with you at the start. The weight is nothing compared to the benefit you will get. If you do the gels then you can drink water instead of the energy drinks which are often less predictable on the run. Boston has a Powergel station at Mile 17. Carry 4 at the start (one every 4 miles or so) and reload at mile 17.
• Maintain effort on uphill. Your pace will slow. You can easily use all your gas here if your effort increases. Shorten your stride, relax, and use your arms. Then allow gravity to take you down.
• If you are having a “bad patch” – try to refocus on relaxing, fuel a bit (sometimes a blood glucose drop triggers the sense of doom) , and have faith in your training and race plan. Another nice trick is when you hit mile 21 it is not 5 miles to go, it is 4 and change. Mile 22 is 3 and change to go. Just run to the next mile marker.
The fun of the marathon is that we are always learning and enjoying the adventure of it. I’ve done over 50 marathons now with a couple under 2:25 in my younger years. I’ve had one DNF at my first Boston in 1989. I raced the first half in 1:08 in gas mode not realizing it, in really minimal shoes that I’d not trained in, and was done by 20 miles. My worst time of the all the others has been a 2:44 at “run for hoses” Boston on 2005- 90 degrees and sunny. No hybrid here as efforts to cool were overwhelming. Another slow day was a 2:41 in the “run for cover” Boston in 2007. This was year with 30 mph headwind and Nor’easter rain. I was not in hybrid in this race in efforts to fight wind and cold, hit half way in 1:16, and suffered coming home.
We learn from experience, taking chances, and occasional failures. My first marathon in 1988 was 2:34. This year (22 years later) I hope for a similar time (2:37 in 2009 race with some tough winds coming in). Along the way I’ve accumulated 20 straight years under 2:35 except for my year of medical internship when there was no time to find a race. I’ve learned a few things in 20 years, but still there are uncertainties every time you line up. Relax, taper up, and seize the day.
Mark Cucuzzella MD
Associate Professor of Family Medicine West Virginia University
Lt. Col USAF Reserves
Coach USAF Marathon Team and Medical Consultant for Air Force Marathon
Race Dircetor Freedom’s Run (www.FreedomsRun.org)
I’d like to especially thank my sponsors for giving me the continual opportunity to run this event, be part of new innovations in running and nutrition, and representing Service Men and Women worldwide.
US Air Force: www.usafsports.com
Newton Running: www.newtonrunning.com
Powerbar: www.powerbar.com
And a special thanks to Danny and Katherine Dreyer of ChiRunning for their amazing teaching and passion for keeping runners healthy.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Running Hills
Hills – Mountaineers are better runners.
“Going to the mountains is going home” – John Muir
Runners from Ohio complain about them and the Boston Marathon has the notorious “Heartbreak Hill” as part of it mythology but runners who know the benefits of running up and down hill know something – they have both the competitive and mental advantage on their competition.
This part of your running can easily comprise 35% of you total mileage & will develop your stride and physical capacity to run more easily. You’ll also never fear a racecourse - something flatlanders get chills about regularly. Again, Danny Dryer’s book CHI Running is a great resource here in dealing with hills because technique can help your newly acquired powers to get up any hill efficiently.
Flow and glide – is the earth flat? Easy question - but think about the last time you enjoyed a roller coaster, surfed a wave, rode a mountain bike or snowboard over that very non-flat planet of ours. That slowing and accelerating feeling you enjoyed can be learned and integrated into your running and while it will not be easy, you already have many of the tools to do this well. Concentrate on an easy and efficient pace going up and learn to love that fast gliding down and you’ll start to reap the physical advantage of hill running.
Physical developments – no matter how fast (or slow) you go uphill you’ll be working at a higher PE than you typically do on a training run. You will be gently adjusting your workload and this gives you better cardio capacity while building powerful hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. Towards the end of a race as fatigue sets in runners may shorten their stride and lack muscle endurance to raise their knees and ankles into the next stride. Hill running build stamina in these key areas and prevents fatigue. You’ll have more power to keep running.
Hill repeats – In the same way that we are able to start running or do speed work in small doses – you can also run uphill in short bursts so as to not tire of it completely and still get most of the benefits. Folks who do not enjoy hills or feel intimidated by a hilly course will find a hill that takes one minute to run and run it at a “regular pace” (PE 4) multiple times. At the top you turn around and gently glide back down, resting as needed at the base before heading up again.
Proper form – we have discussed before that if your form suffers while doing this running then you’re not doing yourself any favors and need to slow down. You get some of the benefits from walking the hills too – find a pace you can handle – progress gradually.
Uphill - You will use your upper body more when traveling uphill. A slight lean forward would come from leaning at the ankle. Your focused breathing to power your body upward, and your arm swing – all play an important role. Think about the little engine that could. Small lean and small strides as well as a relaxed state governed by our breathing rate. You do not want to overwork your hamstrings and calves with long strides and pulling yourself up the hill. Small strides, never stepping past your hips, shoulders slightly ahead of your hips, keeps you pushing yourself up the hill in a controlled way. Take it easy and let your breathing determine your pace. Relax your legs and make sure feet are flat on the ground, heels down, and you’re not asking smaller muscles to do bigger jobs. Conserve energy and know that going uphill is always a bit slower. Pump your arms, thinking about elbows moving back, coordinated with your stride to give you extra momentum moving uphill. Your eyes look up – to the top of the hill and your long straight spine allows more air into the runner for hard work. Think about a positive mental image and know that every up has a downhill too.
Downhill – Done poorly, you’ll pound your legs, feet and lower back with 6-10x your body weight with each footfall, hammering your legs and possibly your ability to run later in the week! While not all hills are runnable, many are and you’ll get better at the “glide” skills with practice & enjoy the down without the pounding. Relaxing both physically and mentally allows you to loosen up your knees and quadriceps, give in to the speed a bit and enjoy the movement which can be much faster than you ever run on the flats. Stride, cadence, and orientation to the ground help smooth out the ride you’ve earned.
Think about your hips, shoulders and upper body. You want your hips and pelvis level while you run. Your shoulders and upper body should stay centered over your hips. Leaning away from the hill and bracing will shift your legs forward and as they act like the brakes - you’ll transfer impact to heels, quadriceps, and your lower back. This is a time that you want to stay light and footfalls/strides will be much faster than usual.
Your cadence (number of strides per minute) will increase and those smaller steps will keep your feet under your hips and landing quickly and lightly on the ground. If you need to take longer strides as your speed increases, think about the stride getting longer in the back, or behind you, so your feet do not come past your hips and you are recruiting muscles from the posterior of the body. One item to focus on is peeling your feet off the ground from the heel. This tends to make the mid-foot land first for your next step and keeps your footsteps closer to the pelvis – reducing impact forces to your body. Another way to look at it is to lead with the toe – plantar flex the foot – toes point down as you descend and your mid-foot will hit first and quickly transition to the next step.
Safety – while accidents a few, if you start running 35% of your mileage as hills you may want to take an hour one afternoon (on a grassy slope) to think about falling properly. Cyclists do this annually and skiers do too as their falling season starts. If you practice a tuck and roll, drop a shoulder style of falling you are much more likely to avoid road rash and to stop sooner, post contact with the ground. You want to tuck things in and not splay them out – do not make tender and breakable appendages responsible for stopping your trajectory. If this practice drill sounds scary, remember to walk the steepest descents so that you are in control.
“Going to the mountains is going home” – John Muir
Runners from Ohio complain about them and the Boston Marathon has the notorious “Heartbreak Hill” as part of it mythology but runners who know the benefits of running up and down hill know something – they have both the competitive and mental advantage on their competition.
This part of your running can easily comprise 35% of you total mileage & will develop your stride and physical capacity to run more easily. You’ll also never fear a racecourse - something flatlanders get chills about regularly. Again, Danny Dryer’s book CHI Running is a great resource here in dealing with hills because technique can help your newly acquired powers to get up any hill efficiently.
Flow and glide – is the earth flat? Easy question - but think about the last time you enjoyed a roller coaster, surfed a wave, rode a mountain bike or snowboard over that very non-flat planet of ours. That slowing and accelerating feeling you enjoyed can be learned and integrated into your running and while it will not be easy, you already have many of the tools to do this well. Concentrate on an easy and efficient pace going up and learn to love that fast gliding down and you’ll start to reap the physical advantage of hill running.
Physical developments – no matter how fast (or slow) you go uphill you’ll be working at a higher PE than you typically do on a training run. You will be gently adjusting your workload and this gives you better cardio capacity while building powerful hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. Towards the end of a race as fatigue sets in runners may shorten their stride and lack muscle endurance to raise their knees and ankles into the next stride. Hill running build stamina in these key areas and prevents fatigue. You’ll have more power to keep running.
Hill repeats – In the same way that we are able to start running or do speed work in small doses – you can also run uphill in short bursts so as to not tire of it completely and still get most of the benefits. Folks who do not enjoy hills or feel intimidated by a hilly course will find a hill that takes one minute to run and run it at a “regular pace” (PE 4) multiple times. At the top you turn around and gently glide back down, resting as needed at the base before heading up again.
Proper form – we have discussed before that if your form suffers while doing this running then you’re not doing yourself any favors and need to slow down. You get some of the benefits from walking the hills too – find a pace you can handle – progress gradually.
Uphill - You will use your upper body more when traveling uphill. A slight lean forward would come from leaning at the ankle. Your focused breathing to power your body upward, and your arm swing – all play an important role. Think about the little engine that could. Small lean and small strides as well as a relaxed state governed by our breathing rate. You do not want to overwork your hamstrings and calves with long strides and pulling yourself up the hill. Small strides, never stepping past your hips, shoulders slightly ahead of your hips, keeps you pushing yourself up the hill in a controlled way. Take it easy and let your breathing determine your pace. Relax your legs and make sure feet are flat on the ground, heels down, and you’re not asking smaller muscles to do bigger jobs. Conserve energy and know that going uphill is always a bit slower. Pump your arms, thinking about elbows moving back, coordinated with your stride to give you extra momentum moving uphill. Your eyes look up – to the top of the hill and your long straight spine allows more air into the runner for hard work. Think about a positive mental image and know that every up has a downhill too.
Downhill – Done poorly, you’ll pound your legs, feet and lower back with 6-10x your body weight with each footfall, hammering your legs and possibly your ability to run later in the week! While not all hills are runnable, many are and you’ll get better at the “glide” skills with practice & enjoy the down without the pounding. Relaxing both physically and mentally allows you to loosen up your knees and quadriceps, give in to the speed a bit and enjoy the movement which can be much faster than you ever run on the flats. Stride, cadence, and orientation to the ground help smooth out the ride you’ve earned.
Think about your hips, shoulders and upper body. You want your hips and pelvis level while you run. Your shoulders and upper body should stay centered over your hips. Leaning away from the hill and bracing will shift your legs forward and as they act like the brakes - you’ll transfer impact to heels, quadriceps, and your lower back. This is a time that you want to stay light and footfalls/strides will be much faster than usual.
Your cadence (number of strides per minute) will increase and those smaller steps will keep your feet under your hips and landing quickly and lightly on the ground. If you need to take longer strides as your speed increases, think about the stride getting longer in the back, or behind you, so your feet do not come past your hips and you are recruiting muscles from the posterior of the body. One item to focus on is peeling your feet off the ground from the heel. This tends to make the mid-foot land first for your next step and keeps your footsteps closer to the pelvis – reducing impact forces to your body. Another way to look at it is to lead with the toe – plantar flex the foot – toes point down as you descend and your mid-foot will hit first and quickly transition to the next step.
Safety – while accidents a few, if you start running 35% of your mileage as hills you may want to take an hour one afternoon (on a grassy slope) to think about falling properly. Cyclists do this annually and skiers do too as their falling season starts. If you practice a tuck and roll, drop a shoulder style of falling you are much more likely to avoid road rash and to stop sooner, post contact with the ground. You want to tuck things in and not splay them out – do not make tender and breakable appendages responsible for stopping your trajectory. If this practice drill sounds scary, remember to walk the steepest descents so that you are in control.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Pelvic & Abdominal Power
Why talk about all of these drills that seem to build supporting muscles without actually running? Well, awhile back I spoke about the idea that we are making running a habit and a Practice and this means that we are trying to shape it into a process oriented thing rather than a goal oriented thing. Further you have heard my bias that we are all made to run and yet when we enter into something new, it will often show us an asymmetry, an imbalance or weakness somewhere in our body as we develop into the new activity – be it gardening or golf. This is why we train the supporting musculature.
Why talk about all of this now? Recall that I said that we could easily overwhelm you with good information that could seem insurmountable to a newcomer. Some people will not need to do core work as they come to a program with developed anatomy from another sport or genetic gifts. Others will find that almost ten weeks into their program they are coming into a few minor glitches and wondering how to hop over them. That is why we take the time now to talk about posture and core strength and balance – because for some it will be the next key and you have to present information as folks are ready to absorb it.
So in a potpourri of topics related to core strength I will begin with a summary of a great article by Dimity McDowell, Runnersworld 3/09 titled Never Get Hurt.
Many common injuries are associated with pelvic instability or lack of strength in this region according to the Center for Endurance Sport at the University of Virginia.
Injuries such as shinsplints, iliotibial (IT) band syndrome, and lower back pain are some injuries that can be addressed at the cause and possibly “pre-habilitated” by doing an abdominal and pelvic workout.
If you develop a stable pelvis that supports the legs below and the torso above; the legs will spin almost effortlessly beneath you while the upper body remains quiet and solid. Think about the Roadrunner in the cartoons as he buzzes away from his attacker.
Many of these exercises will positively affect posture and ease the chance of injury from the road. The core work we are already doing for strength training nicely augments this routine.
Drills are about 20 minutes three times a week and can be done before a run
Video of each exercise is available at
http://www.runnersworld.com/video/0,8052,s6-1-0-5,00.html
Besides your abs many muscles help make up the runners core
Transverse Abdominals – cough or laugh and you’ll feel these muscles which stabilize the spine and pelvis, right above your pelvic bones.
Gluteus medius – this muscle on the side of your glutes minimizes side to side rotation.
Your lower back also plays a key role and you need to think about being as strong as is practical – all the way around your core as a protective cumber-bund and to build posture that promotes more structural running.
Some of my favorite stability drills come from Danny Dryer: in one example he ask you to lean forward against a table edge so that the table touches your leg at mid-thigh and you maintain a slight – whole body- lean forward as if you are a 2x4 from ankle to head. Hold this position for as long as you can and slowly increase your time. This is working the lower abdominals in a way that is similar to the way they support you going down the road.
Working these muscles is done with body weight resistance and can be done w/o equipment. Clean form is a must and you only do what you can muster comfortably, and slowly you increase the repetitions or interval weekly.
Some posture guidelines for thinking about a stable pelvis.
Heavy heel strikers typically see lower back pain down the road. Do not overstride and seek to have feet fall nearly beneath you while maintaining a long and neutral spine. Practice good posture daily and translate this to your running. While it may be hard to think about your stride all the time – you take five minutes to think about it, twice during each run, and from there we build muscle memory for best form that will follow you later in your runs.
Danny Dryer in his book ChiRunning, takes this a step further and talks about where we generate power from. “Efficient movement comes from your core muscles, not the muscles in your legs. We are so used to being told that strong legs are the answer to efficient running that when we are told to relax our legs, it is a huge mind body shift away from how we normally move.” So you ask, “Relax my what?” and my simple answer is that you are asking a very big question – but I know that this is not a sufficient answer. You generate the most power from your core and if you have ever hit a baseball, drove a golf ball, skied bumps in spring, practiced martial arts or rowed a boat then you know what I am talking about. These are core sports and activities that require what the literature calls “upper/lower body separation”. In short that means that sometimes your entire body is moving together and other times you isolate the motion of one half from the other half or top from bottom. So while you do need legs to best achieve maximum performance in these sports you will often isolate the movement of the legs from the core and have each doing different tasks or workloads. The core is where a great deal of Danny’s award winning speed and grace comes from and this allows him to not power through on his legs which are not as efficient.
He goes on to say later in the book that the true test of mastery is in how long you can maintain correct technique – quality reigns supreme over quantity. This should sound familiar to you as well. By working these core muscles we allow you to support yourself structurally for longer stretches of time and this will not just benefit your running but your daily posture, air exchange, and daily well being.
On page 72 of ChiRunning, Dryer presents an example of a great drill that you can do anytime to tune into your own posture habits and work on better form. He calls it the vertical crunch and we practiced the idea of this in running seminar in June. If you place your hands at your own waist line (one on your navel and one on your lower back, each just above the bony prominence, or iliac crest) you should get a sense of their relationship to each other. If you are seeking to use your hands to reference the top of your pelvis; is one hand higher than the other? Are they at the same elevation, front and back? Dryer states that this relationship will offer insight into whether you are using more of your lower back, and compressing discs in the process or bowed forward and tipping your pelvis to the rear. If there is an imbalance here - between your two hands “elevations” there may be less room in between vertebrae and a chance of low back stress. You may struggle to breathe from the diaphragm as we have discussed earlier. He points out that when you bring these hands into alignment, front to rear, that you should only be using abdominal muscles to do this and these are lower abdominals that seldom get used so it may take some time and focus to make it all come together.
Other posture tidbits that I find help runners. Another one from Danny Dryer: to begin each step, think about lifting your feet off the ground from the heel – this helps recruit muscles from the back of the body in your running stride.
More training guidelines to prevent injury
Your longest run should not be more than half of your weekly total mileage.
The “10% rule” states that total mileage does not increase by more than 10% each week.
If you are limping you have no business running. If the pain is sufficient to cause a limp your stride will create alignment issues that will tear something else loose before the end of your run. You would not drive with one wheel rubbing the wheel-well because you know that the misalignment of the car would throw you into the ditch or give you a flat. In the same way that you would not drive the car with the rubbing tire, do not run when you have pain to the point that you are compensating somewhere, even subtly.
Here is another great running drill that gives you the strong feel of what solid running posture would be like and points to any current weakness you can work on. This comes from the Chi running instructors.
Leveling Your Pelvis
A Killer Exercise to Develop Coordination and Strength
By Scott Smith, ChiRunning Certified Instructor of the Month
(articles about Chi techniques, and a subscription to the newsletter can be found at chirunning.com)
As a ChiRunning Instructor, one of the most important services I can provide is educating a student on coordinating and strengthening the muscles that that are used to level the pelvis. This movement is essential for optimal posture and efficient movement. Whether I am skiing, cycling, running or kayaking, I always draw my strength, balance, and endurance from my pelvic floor/lower abdominal region. Low back pain and tightness can be reduced greatly by recruiting the muscles that level the pelvis, thus signaling the opposing back muscles to release (reciprocal inhibition).
The following rope exercise teaches you how to level your pelvis while moving your legs (engaging your hip flexors), simulating walking or running.
Step 1: Lay on your back with knees bent, heels close to buttocks, toes up and slide a 3/8" to 1/2" rope underneath your low back where the largest gap exists.
Step 2: Flatten your lower back against the rope by pulling your navel to your spine, pinching the rope against the ground. Try to pull the rope out with one hand. Make sure your head, shoulders and tailbone all stay on the floor.
Step 3: Test your starting point: If the rope slips, then do 3 x 30-second holds, 4-5 days per week. When this is mastered with no rope slippage, add movement of the knees up and down while slowly walking your heels away, half an inch at a time until the rope begins slipping. Now back up half an inch and use this as your starting point, doing 3 x 30 knee lifts for 4-5 days per week. Keep advancing heels away from the butt over the next couple months until you can do straight leg raises, with your core engaged, back flat, and no rope slippage.
With practice, this is an excellent way to engage and strengthen your lower abdominals. Good Luck!
Why talk about all of this now? Recall that I said that we could easily overwhelm you with good information that could seem insurmountable to a newcomer. Some people will not need to do core work as they come to a program with developed anatomy from another sport or genetic gifts. Others will find that almost ten weeks into their program they are coming into a few minor glitches and wondering how to hop over them. That is why we take the time now to talk about posture and core strength and balance – because for some it will be the next key and you have to present information as folks are ready to absorb it.
So in a potpourri of topics related to core strength I will begin with a summary of a great article by Dimity McDowell, Runnersworld 3/09 titled Never Get Hurt.
Many common injuries are associated with pelvic instability or lack of strength in this region according to the Center for Endurance Sport at the University of Virginia.
Injuries such as shinsplints, iliotibial (IT) band syndrome, and lower back pain are some injuries that can be addressed at the cause and possibly “pre-habilitated” by doing an abdominal and pelvic workout.
If you develop a stable pelvis that supports the legs below and the torso above; the legs will spin almost effortlessly beneath you while the upper body remains quiet and solid. Think about the Roadrunner in the cartoons as he buzzes away from his attacker.
Many of these exercises will positively affect posture and ease the chance of injury from the road. The core work we are already doing for strength training nicely augments this routine.
Drills are about 20 minutes three times a week and can be done before a run
Video of each exercise is available at
http://www.runnersworld.com/video/0,8052,s6-1-0-5,00.html
Besides your abs many muscles help make up the runners core
Transverse Abdominals – cough or laugh and you’ll feel these muscles which stabilize the spine and pelvis, right above your pelvic bones.
Gluteus medius – this muscle on the side of your glutes minimizes side to side rotation.
Your lower back also plays a key role and you need to think about being as strong as is practical – all the way around your core as a protective cumber-bund and to build posture that promotes more structural running.
Some of my favorite stability drills come from Danny Dryer: in one example he ask you to lean forward against a table edge so that the table touches your leg at mid-thigh and you maintain a slight – whole body- lean forward as if you are a 2x4 from ankle to head. Hold this position for as long as you can and slowly increase your time. This is working the lower abdominals in a way that is similar to the way they support you going down the road.
Working these muscles is done with body weight resistance and can be done w/o equipment. Clean form is a must and you only do what you can muster comfortably, and slowly you increase the repetitions or interval weekly.
Some posture guidelines for thinking about a stable pelvis.
Heavy heel strikers typically see lower back pain down the road. Do not overstride and seek to have feet fall nearly beneath you while maintaining a long and neutral spine. Practice good posture daily and translate this to your running. While it may be hard to think about your stride all the time – you take five minutes to think about it, twice during each run, and from there we build muscle memory for best form that will follow you later in your runs.
Danny Dryer in his book ChiRunning, takes this a step further and talks about where we generate power from. “Efficient movement comes from your core muscles, not the muscles in your legs. We are so used to being told that strong legs are the answer to efficient running that when we are told to relax our legs, it is a huge mind body shift away from how we normally move.” So you ask, “Relax my what?” and my simple answer is that you are asking a very big question – but I know that this is not a sufficient answer. You generate the most power from your core and if you have ever hit a baseball, drove a golf ball, skied bumps in spring, practiced martial arts or rowed a boat then you know what I am talking about. These are core sports and activities that require what the literature calls “upper/lower body separation”. In short that means that sometimes your entire body is moving together and other times you isolate the motion of one half from the other half or top from bottom. So while you do need legs to best achieve maximum performance in these sports you will often isolate the movement of the legs from the core and have each doing different tasks or workloads. The core is where a great deal of Danny’s award winning speed and grace comes from and this allows him to not power through on his legs which are not as efficient.
He goes on to say later in the book that the true test of mastery is in how long you can maintain correct technique – quality reigns supreme over quantity. This should sound familiar to you as well. By working these core muscles we allow you to support yourself structurally for longer stretches of time and this will not just benefit your running but your daily posture, air exchange, and daily well being.
On page 72 of ChiRunning, Dryer presents an example of a great drill that you can do anytime to tune into your own posture habits and work on better form. He calls it the vertical crunch and we practiced the idea of this in running seminar in June. If you place your hands at your own waist line (one on your navel and one on your lower back, each just above the bony prominence, or iliac crest) you should get a sense of their relationship to each other. If you are seeking to use your hands to reference the top of your pelvis; is one hand higher than the other? Are they at the same elevation, front and back? Dryer states that this relationship will offer insight into whether you are using more of your lower back, and compressing discs in the process or bowed forward and tipping your pelvis to the rear. If there is an imbalance here - between your two hands “elevations” there may be less room in between vertebrae and a chance of low back stress. You may struggle to breathe from the diaphragm as we have discussed earlier. He points out that when you bring these hands into alignment, front to rear, that you should only be using abdominal muscles to do this and these are lower abdominals that seldom get used so it may take some time and focus to make it all come together.
Other posture tidbits that I find help runners. Another one from Danny Dryer: to begin each step, think about lifting your feet off the ground from the heel – this helps recruit muscles from the back of the body in your running stride.
More training guidelines to prevent injury
Your longest run should not be more than half of your weekly total mileage.
The “10% rule” states that total mileage does not increase by more than 10% each week.
If you are limping you have no business running. If the pain is sufficient to cause a limp your stride will create alignment issues that will tear something else loose before the end of your run. You would not drive with one wheel rubbing the wheel-well because you know that the misalignment of the car would throw you into the ditch or give you a flat. In the same way that you would not drive the car with the rubbing tire, do not run when you have pain to the point that you are compensating somewhere, even subtly.
Here is another great running drill that gives you the strong feel of what solid running posture would be like and points to any current weakness you can work on. This comes from the Chi running instructors.
Leveling Your Pelvis
A Killer Exercise to Develop Coordination and Strength
By Scott Smith, ChiRunning Certified Instructor of the Month
(articles about Chi techniques, and a subscription to the newsletter can be found at chirunning.com)
As a ChiRunning Instructor, one of the most important services I can provide is educating a student on coordinating and strengthening the muscles that that are used to level the pelvis. This movement is essential for optimal posture and efficient movement. Whether I am skiing, cycling, running or kayaking, I always draw my strength, balance, and endurance from my pelvic floor/lower abdominal region. Low back pain and tightness can be reduced greatly by recruiting the muscles that level the pelvis, thus signaling the opposing back muscles to release (reciprocal inhibition).
The following rope exercise teaches you how to level your pelvis while moving your legs (engaging your hip flexors), simulating walking or running.
Step 1: Lay on your back with knees bent, heels close to buttocks, toes up and slide a 3/8" to 1/2" rope underneath your low back where the largest gap exists.
Step 2: Flatten your lower back against the rope by pulling your navel to your spine, pinching the rope against the ground. Try to pull the rope out with one hand. Make sure your head, shoulders and tailbone all stay on the floor.
Step 3: Test your starting point: If the rope slips, then do 3 x 30-second holds, 4-5 days per week. When this is mastered with no rope slippage, add movement of the knees up and down while slowly walking your heels away, half an inch at a time until the rope begins slipping. Now back up half an inch and use this as your starting point, doing 3 x 30 knee lifts for 4-5 days per week. Keep advancing heels away from the butt over the next couple months until you can do straight leg raises, with your core engaged, back flat, and no rope slippage.
With practice, this is an excellent way to engage and strengthen your lower abdominals. Good Luck!
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