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Previous issues: 2004 Soapboxes
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Aimee's Soapbox!
August 2005: Like Buttah
Has this ever happened to you (be honest)? You are at an out-and-back race, and so you can see some
of the runners coming in ahead of you, and you notice that maybe some of them are running as if they are
either in serious gastric distress or possessed by devils.
What I mean is that maybe some of them run with such poor form that you wonder, "How in the world is this
guy beating me?"
I'm sure you've seen them in the park or at races or even around your neighborhood: Stick-Up-Bum Guy,
Bounces-on-Toes Girl, and Trying-to-Break-All-My-Metatarsals-By-Slapping-My-Feet Dude.
Yikes.
Now erudite Groovy Readers will have noticed lots of press about running technique lately. Perhaps
you've heard of Pose Running or Chi Running. Or you may have even seen some of the world-class runners
at the big races and wondered, "How come they make it look so easy, and why can't I do that?"
(Well, you can't do that because you don't train at altitude, have a coach, get paid to run, have your
own massage therapist, take daily naps, or have anything else to think about but running fast. But I digress. . . )
Anyway, you might not be able to run as fast as Catherine Ndereba, but you can make yourself more graceful
when running like she is. And luckily, changing your running form is a lot simpler than you think.
First, you need to understand what good running form looks like. There are a few basic points to keep in
mind:
1. YOUR LEGS WILL DO WHAT YOUR ARMS ARE DOING. This means if your upper body is stiff and if you are
holding your hands up by your chest, your legs will be tight and your stride will be short. Conversely,
a loose upper body with arms swinging freely by the hips will translate into longer, flowing strides.
Right away you will be conserving energy AND getting a better return.
2. YOUR BELLY BUTTON IS THE CENTER. Before you say "duh," let me explain. Think of your belly button as the
center point between the two halves of your body. And then, the top half of your body will pivot or rotate in one
direction while the bottom half pivots in the opposite direction. For example, think of how you walk: your right
foot goes forward as your left arm goes forward. So, the top pivots in one direction and the bottom pivots in the
opposite direction. Now, accentuate this by loosening your shoulders and letting the left SHOULDER come
forward as the right HIP comes forward. In other words, if you run with your back perfectly rigid, you are
actually inhibiting natural motion and fighting yourself. You will feel this later on as tightness in either your
lower back or between your shoulder blades. Try to run with your torso, not just your arms.
3. DON'T SPILL THE CHAMPAGNE. Pretend you have a glass of very expensive champagne (organic, of course) on
each shoulder. Obviously you would not want to spill such costly cargo, so you will want to keep your shoulders
level at all times. This pointer is for the bouncy, forefoot runners. First, bouncing like that and landing on your
toes puts a lot of stress on some very tiny bones. Not good. Second, you are wasting a lot of energy by
bouncing up and down, rather than focusing your energy in going forward. As my coach used to tell me, the finish line
is ahead of you, not up in the air. So, while your shoulders can be pivoting or rotating (as described above), they will
not be going up and down.
One of my favorite B-movies of all time is "Remo Williams." This cult classic tells the tale of a big, rough cop
who is taken into hiding and secretly trained to be a supercop by a mysterious Korean martial arts master. In the
earlier stages of his training, the Korean teacher describes his student as having all the grace of a pregnant yak. He
repeatedly tries to teach his protege how to have balance and flow. Of course, by the end, we see our hero running along
the beach, and as the camera pulls back, we see that our student becomes the master: he is leaving no footprints on the sand.
This picture is one that you could carry in your head as you run. Visualize yourself flowing like water over your
running surface. Your arms and shoulders will be relaxed, your hips will be loose, your torso will be slightly
pivoting, your feet will be lightly brushing and then quickly pulling back over the running surface.
OK, so how will you know if you are doing all this good form stuff or if you are the pregnant yak? Coupla ways to tell: run past glass storefronts
and watch yourself, run with the sun behind you so you can watch your shadow, have a friend videotape you, or hire a
coach. I actually run past the windows and run in the sun as often as I can just to double check my form. It's very
helpful. And, when you are tired at the end of a long day or at the end of a long run, you can rely on your good form
to relax you and carry you through with less energy output.
Off you go, then, to test out your form and make some changes. I will look for you at my next out-n-back race!
Coming up...
How mayonnaise consumption can help improve your 10K time. (Just checking if you read this part.)
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