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October 4, 2011  

Back on the Road

It’s been 12 weeks and 3 days since my amazing wee boy was born. 2 days before that was my last proper run. Sure, I got out for one run around a month ago, but it doesn’t count.

Now that Ross is becoming more settled, my belly is getting bigger and my sanity is crumbling away, i’ve decided it’s probably as good a time as any to get back on the road running.

The Last Three Months

People take time out from running all the time. It may be self imposed, it may be through injury or it may be because of a life event. Either way, i’m not the first and i won’t be the last person that comes back to running after time off.

For me, this has been my longest break from running for years.  And because I don’t have an injury, I think that’s making me all the more eager to get back out there.

I haven’t sat on the couch the whole time though.

I’ve been making an effort to get out as often as possible. I take Ross walks up the trail I frequented (it gives me running pangs if there is such a thing) or just out round the corner and back at any opportunity.  I got out for 1 run on the 12th of August with a friend. 5 miles. 10 minute miles but I felt really good during and after.  I also started the 100pushups program through the Strength Challenge Facebook Group. I should note I’ve had to repeat a few weeks because of one thing or another. Furthest I’ve got is halfway through week five. I just demoted myself to week 4 again though – it seems it’s easier to get out running than find time for pushups!

Health Impact

I knew 3 months off would affect my health but I underestimated it a bit. I definitely feel unhealthy. And I feel slow.  As an experiment, I used the Instant Heart Rate Android app to measure my heart rate (BMP) – once on my last run, then 3 times over the last 3 months.

As you can see I had a pretty healthy resting heart rate of 49 BPM on 4 July.  Only 2 weeks later that jumped to 58 BPM (18 July).  2 months later I was really feeling it when i measured at 78 BPM (26 Sept).  Today, my BPM has dipped to 72 (4 Oct).  Hopefully that drop is down to an increase in walking activity in the last couple of weeks.  I’m pretty shocked to see how much my resting BPM has increased.  It’ll be interesting to see how it responds running again.

The Master Plan

First thing is first, I can’t rush back into running.  For a start, I think my Achilles tendons have shrunk or at least they’ve lost their vavavoom.  They might not forgive me for jumping into the Vivobarefoot Neo’s after so long.

Stage One

So, for just over a week I’ll be doing some Pose Drills, such as:

  

 

Not only will the drills help provide some strength and stability training, it’ll be a good refresher course in getting my technique right as soon as I start.

Stage Two

Let’s not set our expectations too high.  Just a few miles on the first run then I’ll cap my runs at 4 miles for a few weeks after and no more than 3 runs per week. I reckon that’s all I’ll have time for to be honest. We’ll see though.

That’s It

Yup, that’s my master plan. Quite a departure from past days of methodically scheduling a training plan. No colour coded spreadsheets, no mileage projection graphs.  Just past experience to guide me.

I know as long as I take it easy though, I’ll be just fine.

 

March 19, 2011  

The Truth Behind the Barefoot Craze

image

I saw this headline on the front cover of this months Runner’s World. 

Seriously?! 

Telling your readers about a shoe guide then insinuating Barefoot running is a “craze”?!

It’s chat like that on a front cover of a popular magazine which causes splits in communities. It’s tantamount to sectarianism in the running world and it’s not right.

Granted, once and if the reader can be bothered to flick to the article it kind of positively highlights the benefits of barefoot running (not without a hint of sarcasm here and there) but people seem to be completely missing the point about it all. Who gives a monkeys what you wear or don’t wear on your feet?! It’s the person that does the running.

Stop focusing on what you’re wearing. A £100 pair of shoes isn’t going to make run faster and taking to the roads barefoot isn’t going to reduce injury if you don’t have a basic understanding of running mechanics.  It’s technique that determines how well you run or injury prone you are.

Before your next run, think about how you do it. Are you running as efficiently as you can be? Get a book about running form the library, Google it, do whatever you can to increase your knowledge about it. Please don’t rely on a shoe (or no shoes) to correct your mistakes. Be pro active. You’ll be glad you did and you’ll be a happier runner for it.

September 9, 2010  

Transition to the Darkside – A Change of Plan

Plans are there to be changed if required.

A couple of months ago I set a mileage plan for transitioning over to barefoot / minimal running.  The plan was very prudent, building up mileage slowly.  However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to how quickly my body is adapting.  As such I’ve been able to increase my miles a little more than first anticipated.

Below – the original plan on the left, new plan on the right:

In the original plan I should be doing 3 miles a week barefoot.  At the moment, I can run 4 miles in one outing and I’m confident I can now run 2 barefoot workouts of 4 miles each for the next 2 weeks.  After that I’ll move onto 3 workouts of 4 miles each per week. (I should note I’m still running with regular shoes on my other workouts too)

I think the hardest part for me (mentally anyway) will be increasing the single run mileage, e.g. from 4 to 6 miles.  It’s a silly thing to think, I know.  I think the fear is that if I do that little bit too much I’ll get hurt.  But, as you’re probably shouting at the computer right now,  it’s completely contradictory to my confidence at the start of the post.  That said, even though I feel 4 is my safe limit at the moment, in a few weeks I’ll feel a whole lot different I’m sure.   Well, it doesn’t hurt to still be a little cautious, eh?!

I don’t think my weekly mileage will increase above 24 – 26 miles for a while, next year at the earliest, so it’s safe to assume from the revised plan that I could potentially be fully barefoot / minimal by mid November, early December.

Have I gone from one extreme to the other and is my plan now too drastic?  I hope not.  As I said, my body has adapted a lot better than I previously thought.  My feet and lower leg muscles are way stronger than they were back in June.  And, something which I think is pretty key, my technique has improved considerably since it was analysed back at the end of July.

So, I’m another step closer to completing the transition and running has never felt better.  Let’s hope the new plan works. If not, I’ll just change it again.

August 31, 2010  

Running Technique – Under the Spotlight

I wrote a blog post not so long ago about discovering a learning technique called PoseMethod, which, used as a guide, can teach people how to run more efficiently and reduce injury.  Since then I’ve read up on the subject using many on-line sources and watched countless videos on YouTube of people running.  In the original post I highlighted need for me to video myself running.  So, after doing as much as I could on my own, I shot some video footage of myself running and sent it off to Ian at Thinkrunning.com for analysis.  When I sent the video, I knew my technique wasn’t perfect (for example, I was becoming frustrated that I was still landing in front of my centre of gravity [CG]) but felt progress had been made and that I had done pretty well considering there was no face to face communication with anyone while learning to change my form; all communication had been via Twitter, DailyMile or email.  While I had made progress though, it was apparent there were quite a few areas for improvement.
The Report
Ian’s analysis took me through each stage of the running cycle -
  • [starting with] Landing
  • Weight bearing
  • Later weight bearing
  • Intended Pose
  • Pose
  • Entering flight phase
  • Flight phase 2
  • Landing again
Below are highlights from the report.

This image is from the “later weight bearing” stage.  Up until now, Ian has pointed out that i’m landing infront of my CG.  Not only that, but supination (heel landing on the outer lateral edge) was occurring! That feeling of my laces being too tight – Yup, that’s what could have been causing it.
Regarding my frustration of landing in front of my CG, late retreval of the swing leg was to blame as Ian has pointed out in the image.
This next image is taken from when i reached the Pose stage

As you can see, I’m slightly bent at the waist (my back should be straight) but the main issue is that this stage of the cycle happened late. Again, this is due (in part) to my feet being on the ground for too long during the earlier stages of the cycle.
In the flight phases, again, it can be clearly seen that the swing leg is on the ground for too long.

Because my body is moving forwards, my subconscious realises my back leg is lagging behind, so drops the other foot to the ground quicker to save me falling over – meaning landing in front of my CG, starting the cycle in poor form once again.
I’m my own worst critic but all in all though, Ian agreed that my technique wasn’t too bad and that I had made good progress.
Learning From the Mistakes
Before the analysis I knew I was landing in front of my CG and had a fair idea that my swing leg was trailing behind.  However, I wasn’t quite aware of the relationship between the two movements and other impactors affecting my alignment!
Upon reading the report I quickly realised I was concentrating on the wrong things.  I reckon I was thinking too much about where my feet were landing, trying to land midfoot, etc. Actually, just thinking too much about how I was running would sum it up.
It’s been a month now since I received the report and I feel I’m running better than ever.  I’ve relaxed an awful lot now. Keeping it simple has also been key. High cadence, falling forward picking feet up are the only things i “think about”. Even then i’m not really thinking, i’m just feeling – doing specific drills encourages muscle memory making the change process easier to implement through feel rather than thought.
I also think a big help in improving my form following Ian’s feedback is my transition over to minimal footwear.  More efficient running really lends itself to minimal footwear. I’ve worn Asics for years (the 2100 series of late). I always thought they were great, comfortable sporty shoes. Now they just feel restrictive and cumbersome. I can’t feel anything and I’m very sure now that they’re hindering my form to the point that I should stop wearing them now.

Final Thought
I’m enjoying running so much at the moment and I honestly feel i can put a great deal of that down to improved running technique.  The last few months have made me realise that everyone should be taught how to run at some stage in their lives. We need to learn how to ride a bike, play football, drive a car – so why not running?  It’s a tad presumptuous that we should instinctively know how to run.  If we learn how to do it properly, we’ll enjoy it more and be injured less.
So, I’ve got a lot to thank Ian for in guiding me toward better running!
Ian has many years running experience.  He provides 1 to 1 sessions on running technique and Video Analysis to runners of all standards.  He is also working towards becoming a qualified PoseMethod Instructor.  Please visit his website at thinkrunning.com or say hello to him on Twitter!!
July 28, 2010  

Pose & The Barefoot/Minimal Shoe Experiment (Part 3 of 3)

The Barefoot/Minimal Shoe Experiment

So, you’ve seen why and how I became interested in PoseMethod & Barefoot running and what PoseMethod is all about (from my perspective anyway).  Now it’s time to get onto the conclusion of the 3 posts – the experiment.

Getting Naked

I’m very keen on this barefoot lark, but I also know it may not be the safest of things to do on the road or trail.  They didn’t run about on completely bare feet 100′s and 1000′s of years ago so I might just take a tip from them and stick with a minimal layer to protect my feet.  It’s still barefoot in essence since there will be nothing protecting or supporting my feet from impact other than the great number of complex nerve endings, muscles, tendons and bones in my feet.  All good.

I also understand that starting to run barefoot isn’t something to tackle head on by jumping in at the deep end.  Barefoot Ted highlighted this point well in a recent Marathon Talk Podcast where he compared learning to run barefoot with learning a new language.  We can’t just start talking fluent ‘whatever’.  We need to learn the basics first, learn the alphabet, simple sentence structure, etc.  In that respect, learning to run barefoot has to be taken slowly.  Our feet need to learn how to feel the ground when we run, and muscles need to be strengthened (they’ll be weak from all the support they’ve had over their life in modern shoes).

The “Shoes”

If you haven’t looked at minimal shoes such as Vibram Five Fingers (VFFs) and Terra Plana EVOs before, you’ll soon see they have a number of things in common.  They have 1:1 hight ratio between heel and forefoot, they’re made with very light weight and durable materials – in the case of VFFs & EVOs all that is between your foot and the ground is around 4-6mm of puncture resistant rubber.

Oh, and they cost anywhere between £85 – £100 and above!

Unfortunately I can’t splash out £100 on a pair of running shoes at the moment so i thought i’d try and think out of the box.  I thought about how these new ‘barefoot’ shoes looked, their flexibility, then it occurred to me that there was something out there that might be applicable as a cheap alternative.  Aqua shoes!!

A bit of investigating later and it was quite obvious I wasn’t the first to have this epiphany, but it was nice to know I was on the right track.  I remembered seeing aqua shoes for sale at my local supermarket, so I headed there one lunchtime and Bam! – £5 a pair! bargain.

I should note that I completely understand these shoes aren’t made for running. They don’t have puncture resistant soles or anything so i’ll have to be careful.  To be honest, if they last 50 miles i’ll be happy. At the end of the day, it’s an experiment!

Since I started the experiment, I’ve run 8 miles in in the experimental shoes. They’re showing signs of wear but the tread is holding up well.

Another type of shoe in my sights is something they call Huaraches.  If you’ve read “Born to Run” you’ll know what I’m talking about.  Not sure they’re something for the winter but at $20 for a kit (around £12) i’d be willing to give them a go.  It’s all in the name of science after all.

The Plan

I’ve said on this blog recently that i’m not going to follow any training plans.  I’ll still stick to that.  The only reason I have a barefoot plan is to control and monitor the amount of mileage I undertake.  As BFT said, it’s something you have to take slow.

The plan is rather prudent in terms of my expectations.  By the end of 28weeks I’m looking to be running 5.5miles a week ‘barefoot’.  I think this is achievable.

The increase in ‘barefoot’ is in line with my own projected increase in weekly mileage, following the 10% rule.  Because the mileage for barefoot is so small, however, I rounded up the figures which plateau for a 3 week period before the next increase.  Currently, ‘barefoot should be accounting for between 6%-8% of my weekly mileage.  By Week 28, ‘barefoot’ should account for 20% of total weekly mileage.

Note: W/E 25th July – no ‘barefoot’ running was done because of injury (slight Achilles strain).

The chances are, I may be able to run more than that ‘barefoot’.  If I can, great.  If I can only stick to the mileage suggested in the plan, that’s great too.

BFF (BareFoot Forever)

So that’s the big experiment. Bringing more barefoot into my life and trying out cheap shoes to feed the future habit!

Do you run barefoot? Wear minimal shoes?  Let me know your thoughts on how you approached barefoot running and beyond!

**UPDATE** The experiment has come on leaps and bounds since I started.  As such, the barefoot plan changed.   See my later post Transition to the Dark Side – A Change of Plan for details. Thanks!

July 8, 2010  

Pose & The Barefoot/Minimal Shoe Experiment (Part 2)

The Pose Method of Running.

As well as over Twitter discussions with Ian and comments he’d left on my Daily Mile log, he directed me to various websites to read up on Pose.  However, I found Ian’s website the best for the explanation of technical information and how to implement technique.  You can visit his site at www.thinkrunning.com.  I’d recommend grabbing the RRS feed for your feed reader too.  There You’ll find lots of useful articles, videos and links related to the Pose Method of Running.

From my own understanding, I would explain the Pose method simply as a natural and efficient way to run.  You utilise gravity to push rather than pull yourself along.   Sounds odd when i read that back but that’s how it feels.  Don’t get me wrong though, it’s pretty difficult to get to grips with and requires you to strengthen muscles you never knew you had.  Which, again, is odd because it’s still the act of running.  You’re still performing an end goal – to run.  Pose, i guess, is just a different means to that end from what we’ve become used to.

At first it was very strange.  Transitioning from a heel strike to a mid foot strike isn’t easy.  I had it in my head that I should appear almost motionless and graceful, only my legs carrying me forward.  Easier said than done.  I did feel a difference.  But I also knew something wasn’t quite right.

The aim: Mid foot strike.  Feet striking below the hips in fast succession (quick light steps – as soon as your foot is on the ground it should be off the ground!), back straight leading from the hips - if you were watching from the side your hips and head following a level path, using your hamstrings to pull your feet up at the rear rather rather than using your quads to pull you along.

That was the aim. I wasn’t quite getting it though.  I read some more articles and watched some more demo videos.  Then, Ian left a comment on one of my Daily Mile logs that went something like - Remember to lead with your hips (thrusting them forward), lean forward like you’re teetering on the edge of falling over and concentrate on picking your feet up.

Although I had heard those points before, “picking your feet up” just seemed to make things click into place. A light bulb suddenly appeared over head. I’ve got it!  Not perfect obviously, but I think I’ve got it.  That was just over a month ago and i’ve been putting it into practise every run ever since.  In fact, my rough version of Pose has worked so well I got myself a 10K personal best (48:18) 2 weeks ago without even trying hard.  The ratio of effort to speed and distance has changed significantly.  Previously, my easy runs average 9:30 min miles.  In the last month this has dropped to 8:30 at the most… with the same effort. In a month!  It’s not that i’ve found some super strength serum or a magical work out. I’m just running way more efficiently than before. And the ITBFS. Gone.  It’s not easy and takes a lot of effort but it looks like it’s paying off.

The biggie’s for Pose seem to be core strength, strengthening your hamstrings, hips and foot muscles.  Over the last couple of months I’ve noticed a vast improvement most of those areas.

  • Hamstrings.  There is much less of a need to focus on technique now.  My hams aren’t getting (as) tired on longer runs and I can keep up the high cadence for longer as a result.
  • Core: Abs of steel! well, not quite, but again I’m able to lead with my hips without getting too tired for a lot longer now.  Plus it’s nice to see some (ok, a very small amount) of definition appearing.
  • Feet: There is a difference here.  I’ve been doing the Pose drills (Link further down the the post), but since I’m still wearing structured running shoes I don’t think I’ve improved in this area as much as I could have.  My feet will only get stronger though as i increase my barefoot/minimal footwear mileage (details in Part 3!)
  • Hips:  The need to strengthen my hips has only just come to my attention.  I don’t think my hips are dipping on the foot strike but I’ve not watched any footage of myself yet to know any better. That said though, it wont do any harm to integrate hip strengthening exercises into my routine

Like I said a moment ago, I might be doing ok but I’m nowhere near perfect!  The next stage is to take some video footage of myself, see what I need to change and what i’m actually doing right.  I’m getting a bit of help on this one thankfully.  Ian over at thinkrunning.com will soon be a qualified Pose Instructor.  He’ll be casting his professional eye over the footage and providing advice.  I’d fully recommend him if Pose is something you would like to adopt.  Go to his website or twitter page and contact him for details.

Even though I need to find out how i’m doing regarding technique, I think it’s at least 50% – 75% there (fingers crossed).  Now, it’s easy to see that Pose lends itself to barefoot running.  And, now that i’m well on my way in terms of technique, the Barefoot/Minimal Shoe Experiment has begun…

More in Part 3!

If you’re interested in knowing more about Pose and barefoot running I’ve posted some useful links below:

http://thinkrunning.com/

http://www.barefootrunner.com/

http://www.posetech.com/

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/pose-running-technique.html (Pose Technique, Principles and Drills)

http://tinyurl.com/Pose-Method-Videos [C&P link into browser] (Google Search on Pose Method Of Running Videos)

Video by Terra Plana, who make the Evo “barefoot” running shoe (Thanks for the link Ian!)

July 8, 2010  

Pose & The Barefoot/Minimal Shoe Experiment (Part 1)

I’ve been meaning to write a post on this for a while.  A couple of months in fact.
So, as the title suggests, I’m jumping on the barefoot/minimal shoe bandwagon.   Wait, jumping on the bandwagon?!  Well, not quite.  I hadn’t heard a whole lot about barefoot running when I first started looking into it and I sure as hell had never heard of the Pose method of  running either.
I’ll briefly explain how I was first introduced to it all then.  Throughout my running days i’ve been affected by that horrible band.  No, not Westlife.  My Illiotibial Band.  Yup, you know what i’m talking about.  It can be pretty painful!  At it’s worst it put me out for just over 3 months last year after the 2009 Edinburgh Marathon.  And this year it raised its ugly head half way through training for the 2010 Edinburgh Marathon.
That was the turning point.
I started to look into why I was getting Illiotibial Band Friction Syndrome (ITBFS).  And what was the cause?  The way I was running of course.  Imagine you’re running on a straight road along a line.  The line is splitting you in two.  As you’re running, when your feet strike the ground, each foot stays on its side of the line.  That’s the way it should be as far as i could understand.  However, I wasn’t doing that.  My feet were crossing the line.  That’s what was causing the ITBFS.
Solution:  Change the way I run.
And that’s what I started to do.  I mentioned this on Twitter and DailyMile.  Many people responded with stories of their own advice for their experience, but it was @IanM1963 (Ian) that really grabbed my attention.  He made a few suggestions about how I could change they way I run to a style that would greatly reduce chances of injury in the future.
That’s when I heard about the Pose Method of Running…

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