This is the way that my thinking has been going over the past few days:


If you want to change the way that you've been running for 35 years, then it's gonna take a few months or even a couple of years to do it.


As Keith says in the book, and in his recent reply to my last post, you'll do it quicker without shoes on.  But quicker is a relative term, and I think this still means months.


Logically, I'm guessing that running properly (out of cushioned shoes) is going to be using muscles that you've never used before.  And how long did it take to build up some of the muscles you do use today?  Up to 7 or 8 years, that's how long.  (look at photos from today and from 2, 4, 6, 8 years ago, and you will see muscles now, that didn't exist then) (I took up 800m running 8 years ago)


And I'm guessing that most of those muscles are in the feet.


So this requires real patience.  Approach it almost as if it was a new sport.  Say you were taking up white water kayaking from nowhere.  You'd give yourself at least 2 years to be mildly competent, and that's assuming you can get out on the water 3 or 4 times a week.


Well, I think some of those small muscles are going to want time and space to grow, recover, grow, recover, grow, recover.


I guess Keith and Heidi need to balance the honest truth with the prospect of putting people off for ever.  Tell the average weekend road racer that they need to have at least 6 months off racing and they'd baulk at the thought.


But I'm serious about this.  After 8 weeks I know how good this style of running feels, how fluid and how light on my feet I feel.  But I know if I was to hit a 60 or 70 mile week this month (which I would usually do at this time of year) then that would probably injure me right now.  I'll aim for that volume in January, I think.

The spikey balls arrived! 


What a difference.  I've been rolling the foot over a tennis ball for a few days now.  I can really find the pressure points, particularly in the foot where there's a little bit of Plantar Fasciitis lurking.  However, the effects are limited - and short lived.


However, after the first use of the spiked ball, all traces of pain disappeared!  Not forever, it does creep back after half an hour or so, depending on what you are doing.  But it's clearly more effective than the tennis ball.


I awoke this morning with no hint of the problem.  I rolled in the car on the way to work (automatic car, pain in the left foot, checked clearance of the pedals over the ball for safety sake!!).  However, in stiff shoes, over a tarmac car park, I was aware of pain within 50m walk from the car.  But it wasn't immediate.  Just a reminder to take things steady.


This does beg the question, (Heidi!), can one roll too much?  My car commute is an hour each way, on steady moving motorway, and I can roll for at least 50 mins of that time.


I did have one other question if that's ok.  The book talks about a steady start (beginner programme), and about from a starting point of structured shoes, first moving to neutral, then minimal, alternating between shoes during the journey.  Does "alternate your shoes" also mean "alternate your style"?  Because when I put on my padded/structured Kayanos, I can still maintain the new style, concentrating on hips forward, torso upright, not landing infront of hips.  Or, with the old shoes on, should I also let my hips drop to take advantage of the padding in the shoe?  Thanks guys!!

22nd September

Too much too soon

Well, Keith and Heidi do say, as do the instructions on the inside of the box for my new NB Minimus 10v3 shoes, as do a number of the related YouTube videos,


 "Don't do too much too soon"


And guess what...!! 


I knew the race on Sunday was not a good idea, but being a team relay I couldn't let the team down.  But it's brought on a little Plantar Fasciitis.  I've had it once before, about 5 years ago.  It came on suddenly and hard.  After 15 months it went as soon as it came.  I've never had a murmur of it since.


Yesterday morning at the end of my 1 hour car-commute, I felt it, and at times during the day it got quite bad.  So I aborted the usual Tue eve track session (although, as with 5 years ago, once warmed up I couldn't feel it).  And I did a huge tennis ball session when I got home, which really helped.


This morning I awoke with some trepidation.  When I had the condition 5 years ago, the mornings upon awaking were the worst time.  Thankfully, there was only a mild hint of the condition.


I rolled the tennis ball under the foot during my commute.  There are definitely some tight spots in there.


And, my spike balls should arrive tomorrow from Amazon.  Like Jon, I've gone for a pack of three, different sizes.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CCPNDWI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00


I've also decided to take another few days off, and take it easy for a while.

Right, this is getting interesting!

I ran in the SEAA 4 stage Road Relays today - a fairly exclusive event open to UKA affiliated running clubs only, and [with a couple of exceptions] has been held on the same course for decades.

I approached today, adamant that I was going to concentrate on style, and hold it for as long as I could.

This is the fastest session that I have run since starting the programme 4 weeks ago.  So there are some interesting observations.

The first lap (3km) felt easy, and I had another athlete giving me a good pull (as you can see).  I was able to keep the hips up and forward without much trouble. see picture:  I think this is looking MUCH better, although far from "there" yet.  I can also see where I am almost "pulling" my head back, as alluded to in previous blog.

I'm in the stripes...

The second lap, I noticed some things (sorry, no pic):

1. As fatigue started to set in, I could consciously lift my hips and maintain style, but it was hard to maintain this.
2. As fatigue advanced yet further, this became much more difficult

Right, so the BIGGEST lesson today was about time in the air.  I've noticed how, as Keith points out, to go faster, you don't "walk forwards" with the feet, and you don't (can't) increase cadence.  But it's all in the take off.  Really pushing off with the toes, and getting more time in the air, makes a huge difference to speed.

And the result?

My preparation for the event was fairly typical, and I wore the same racing shoes as the last 2 years (Saucony Fastwitch - light, flat)
But this time made my eyes pop out:

year	time
2007	20:38
2008	20:46
2009	21:03
2010	21:20
2011	21:36
2012	21:45
2013	22:27
2014	22:29
2015	21:52

19th Sep 2015

Four weeks into the 'programme', the following thoughts have surfaced:

 

1. Running this style is starting to become subconscious.  I say 'starting', because I still find myself checking style all the time (not too onerous as runs are still only 5k or less). Also, I haven't properly raced yet, and under pressure, fatigue, or longer run, there will be times when I need to think about something else.  I'm just waiting to see, when this happens, if the style reverts to the bad old way.  I did an experiment yesterday, and ran for 10 meters deliberately with bent torso, hunched back and dropping hips.  I was in padded shoes.  It felt easy, but lazy.  There was also a noticeable drop in speed, and that "float" that Keith talks about disappeared.
2. It's occurred to me that, as all my runs are now at 4:45/km to 4:55/km pace, I'm going to become an excellent 4:45/km runner.  This is not my aim!  But I feel that 4 weeks into the programme (with interruptions) I still feel quite new to this, so I am being patient.

Other notes for now:

 

• I'm still alternating padded support shoes (Asics Kayano) and minimal shoes.
• The barefoot in the park is not quite so attractive at the moment as the temperature has dropped to 12 degrees C
• I still plan on doing weighted squats but only up to 30kg - this really helped my recoveries last winter/spring, so want to keep it up.  I know that Keith says not to, or at least that it won't really help, but even if it's a placebo, I'm going to keep it going
• I'm doing a couple of planks a day now, but I've only got up to 45s so far!!!

 

So the plan for the next week is:

• 5.5km race tomorrow - not ideal, but it's the South of England Road Relays and I can't let the team down.  I'm not going to wear minimal shoes, but my usual racing flats. I will concentrate on style, perhaps get someone to iphone video me near the beginning and the end.
• Start to introduce some fartlek - just 50m strides - into the runs.  Not with the aim of getting faster, but just to learn what it feels like, feel for foot slip at take off (and landing) and to see what I learn.

 

Gruesome Over-Striding

I've dug out these pictures to show the extent of the problem. And the 35 years over which the problem has been ingrained!

1982 Southern Schools XC - 15 years old

2009 Indoor 800m - I cringed looking at this photo even back then

2011 - this is my 5k personal best!  just imagine how faster it could have been!!

2012 - at least I'm not trying to plough the track up with my heel any longer..

2013 - worryingly, this is not even exceeding 80% effort!

I was looking on YouTube at the drill videos, and of course other suggestions came up in answer to my google search.


There are a lot of people preaching about running style, and there's a lot of stuff on line about it that I just hadn't appreciated before. Some content from what appear to be experienced coaches, and some from just generally keen individuals.  But most of it amounting to the same advice about not over striding.



But the key differences are how the message is packaged about what the runner should concentrate on whilst running to achieve the desired effect.  Some concentrate on the landing, some on the legs, some on the knees, and some mention the hips.



There's a series of extremely dry videos from Michael Yessis.  Also the POSE running stuff, and ChiRunning.  And the UK's Running School.



I also listened to this weeks marathon talk.  The main interview was with Richard Moore, who wrote "the dirtiest race in history" (about the Seul Olympics 100m) and more recently " the Bolt Supremacy". Writing the Bolt book took him to Jamaica, where he experienced the sprint training for youngsters at school.  It struck me that we never had any training about "how to run", at school or at club in those days.  I remember a coach telling me, once, to "run more upright or you won't be running at all in 5 years".  But that was about it.  In Jamaica, Richard says it's more like dance classes, and that the running is almost secondary.

Why don't we get that in the UK?  How do we change that?