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June 6, 2009 9:08 pm

ChiRunning workshop – Initial impressions

3 comments
by anand    in Running,chirunning

I was fortunate enough to attend a half day chirunning workshop with Larry Neumann. Added to that, I was lucky enough that we were only two students in his lesson today, so we got a nice personal training as well.

As I am still recovering from my knee injury, I decided to focus on my running form and strength issues before I start serious running again. My recovery has been mixed. I have been running two mile stretches, but my last attempt to run three days ago was aborted within a few hundred feet due to knee pain. I was bummed that I wasn’t recovering well enough for today’s workshop. At the end of it, after standing for nearly five and half hours and running 2+ miles, my knees feel really good, in spite of the fact that I did run much faster than I would liked to. I have no sore muscles, which is a huge compliment to both the ChiRunning technique and to the teacher.

Here are my initial takeaways from my first real day of ChiRunning.

Posture

This is really the first time I ever thought about posture and how it affects you during running. As Larry illustrated pretty well conceptually and proved through simple exercises, I am beginning to understand the importance of having a vertical column and a strong core. The differences were obvious when I was able to engage my core and relax my limbs and let my core do the job. I do find it a bit difficult to engage my pelvis correctly and hopefully it becomes second habit as the days go by.

Picking up the feet

The second major shift was instead of pushing my body through each step to propel myself, we learned to pick up our feet instead. When added with the lean to go forward, it is a completely different way to run. It is also completely against how one seems to run or read in other techniques of running upright, but this is something I got really comfortable even within the day. When reading the book, I was under the impression that I had to explicitly work with my hamstrings to raise my feet, which was wrong. The benefit of having an instructor was he corrected this the first time I did this and taught me how to pick up the feet the correct way.

I think that is what Carol was doing wrong as well. There is no need to kick your feet behind you as you run. The photo of Danny shows his ‘kick’ when his lean was pretty dramatic. And if done right, she should be able to relax her lower legs and the kick should have happened naturally without having to work hard at it.

Mid foot strike

Picking up the feet also helped me to land directly under my body’s center of gravity instead of ahead of it (as I used to do) and land directly on my mid-foot instead of my heels. Again, this was something I got quite comfortable really quick with a little bit of focus.

The lean

I never got the lean right when I watched the ChiRunning DVD or read the book. I think I got it wrong pretty much every time I tried it. Once in proper posture and running well, adding the lean was an amazing experience. I could really feel the acceleration and my speed go up dramatically as I increased the lean. It was fun to be able to run much faster without having to do any extra work through the muscles. Of course my lungs and heart aren’t conditioned enough to go much faster than my slow pace, but with practice and conditioning, I look forward to the day when I can enjoy my lean a lot more.

Cadence

This is the other thing that was completely new to me. As a running newbie, I was under the impression that I need to keep my cadence low for running slow and when I run fast, I pick my cadence along with my stride length. I finally understand the need to keep constant cadence and let the lean work my pace, the stride length increases automatically.

As I said initially, I am pretty happy that I was able to run 2+ miles again today without any pain :) . That itself is a great achievement for me already. I am pretty convinced right now that choosing a workshop was the best thing to do, I think it has definitely given me a head-start with understanding the basics of ChiRunning.

Regarding the instructor, Larry Neumann, I highly recommend him to anyone in the SF Bay Area who wants to do a ChiRunning workshop. In addition to being very patient and explaining the basics over and over again, he is very clear and lucid in his explanations. He has a strong grasp of bio-mechanics and explained how posture and form affect us and how specific mistakes we do cause specific injuries.

In short, I am pretty glad that I took the workshop today. Looking forward to practicing ChiRunning and run for a really long time in the future.

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May 28, 2009 11:20 pm

Beginning runners: Surviving your first running injury

7 comments
by anand    in Running

There is a reason why running is one of the high injury sports. At some point in time, every runner goes through some kind of injury. Newbies usually injury really quick and often until we get the basics of running correct.

I am slowly recovering from my first running injury, these are things I learned out of this experience. This blog is more like a note to myself for the next time :) . Other experienced runners, please feel free to add your experiences.

1) Understand the basic reasons why we get injured.

a) Bio-mechanical issues:

Before putting in a lot of miles, make sure you are wearing the right kind of shoes. A good running store would help you immensely here. Identifying your foot type and pronation, you should wear the correct type of shoes. I ran my first 60 miles on a cross trainer sneaker. I ran my next 40 miles on a running shoe which was the wrong size and was of the wrong type for my flat feet. My mistake was to pick my own running shoe with the help of an ‘expert’ in Sportmart. Big mistake. Before I realized my folly and went to Running Revolution, it was too late.

b) Strength issues:

Running strengthens your calf muscles and your hamstrings, but doesn’t help your quadriceps. Your quads are the only ones that save your knee from injury. If you have weak quads, try to shore up your quads before you put in the miles. I didn’t. I suffered.

c) Over-training:

What is normal training to others may not be the same for you. I am over-weight, I have flat feet and have strength issues. Running 16 miles a week was over-training to me, at this point in my running life. All the books I read suggested that 16 miles was perfectly doable. My body disagreed. I should have listened to it.

d) Improper / Inadequate stretching:

No matter how much stretching you do, you do not realize how inadequate it was until you get ITB :) . Learn stretching and spend time on it before and after each run.

e) Improper form:

Should running be learned? Aren’t we all born to walk and run? Turns out, running absolutely has to be learned. No one taught us the basics of running and there are not many training programs on how to run. Improper form will injure you sooner than later. Learn about proper running form. Learn about different techniques of running such as Pose running or Chi running, pick one and try to stabilize your running form.

2) Understanding the difference between pain and soreness

You can run with soreness and discomfort, but never with pain. I didn’t follow it. At first, I did not realize the difference between pain and soreness. And then, I rejected pain and ran with it. Once the adrenalin flows, pain subsides. Watch out for pain, back off at the first instance of pain.

3) Understand the basics of injury

Understand the basics of the various types of injury you can get. Galloway’s book on running has two very good chapters that talk about injury. I read the chapters, tried to apply my pains to what I read to figure out what the heck I had. It was clear as mud. I had too many things going on at the same time, I had more than one injury that stuck me at the same time. Until it was clear what all I was going through, life was very difficult, which leads me to the next point.

4) Get a good doctor

I had to see three different general doctors to even get my pain under control. My first doctor told me 3 days of rest is all I needed. My second doctor told me to stop running and choose the elliptical. My third doctor told me I had weak quads and need help. She also knew about the types of running shoes. But the first two doctors were way off the mark. Looks like most general physicians aren’t really tuned towards treating sports related injuries.

I was finally referred to a Physical Therapist who analyzed my pains and muscles and told me very clearly what was going on with me in less than ten minutes. I had more pain relief in the 30 minutes I spent with the P.T than with all the ibuprofen I took for a week.

5) Figure out before-hand which pain medication works for you

After a week of taking 1800mg of Ibuprofen only to see the pain gradually go up each day, my third doctor figured out that Ibuprofen doesn’t work for me and moved me to a different pain medication which worked like magic. Figure out before-hand what works for you :( .

6) Set realistic goals

This is directly related to over-training. If there is one thing I could change about my running so far, it would be not to push forward too aggressively. The marathons and half-marathons will always be there in the future. There isn’t a real hurry. Once the adrenalin is flowing, one feels like going for the extra two miles or pushing a little bit faster. As I said, you could be over-training even without you knowing about it.

7) Enjoy running

At some point in time, running stops being a fun exercise and starts to become much more than that, to prove a point to yourself (or others), to try to achieve the impossible. Injury downtime puts things back in perspective. Go back and restart running for the sheer joy of it. Once you are ready for the big races, you will know.

I ran my first two miles after the injury today, feels good to start again. Hope this stretch lasts longer :)

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May 25, 2009 5:46 pm

The primary thing I miss when I don’t run

7 comments
by anand    in Life,Running

It is now a full week since my last run. I missed my long run for the weekend as well. I spent the last weekend camping in the beautiful Turloc Lake area, which is an ideal place for the long run. With great jealously, I watched other runners going spiritedly about their running in such serene settings.

As I missed the long run, I realize the primary thing I miss about running isn’t burning the calories, isn’t the rush of endorphins, isn’t the clean air, it is something at a much higher level, at a spiritual level.

The first time I observed Buddhist monks in close proximity was in the Hsi Lai temple in Los Angeles. The monks were slowly pacing their way around the monastery, taking one small step at a time, very mindful of each step.

Later, I learned from my spiritual guru that they were indeed meditating and they were watching their breath carefully and watching the void in between them.

And that is exactly what would happen to me during those long runs. The first two miles of any run is a big fight for me. I don’t really enjoy running until the muscles warm up and it usually takes about two miles for me, probably because I run so damn slowly. I also usually run with music on, which eggs me past those two initial miles. During these long runs, on pretty much every occasion so far (which aren’t many, btw), after mile two, the music gently fades away. The music is still playing through the headphones, but I am not paying any attention to the music any more.

At some point in time, all I am doing is watching my breath and slowly watching the inhalation and exhalation process. Beyond a certain limit, I tune out the breath and I start watching the gaps between the breath. My mind goes void and all I see are the gaps in the breath. At that point, there is emptiness, a calm and a bliss that is otherwise unattainable during the regular course of day. I am not running for fitness, not to prove a point to myself or anyone else, I am running to be in peace, to be at peace with myself, to experience the calm. My silly grin gets wider and wider as the miles go longer and I am highly amused beyond this point.

I miss that. There are people who swear that running is a truly spiritual experience. With my little experience so far, I can confirm. Now I need to go back to talking to my left knee and ankle to heal quickly, so I can start over :) .

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