Reborn to Run

I feel vindicated and ordinary all at the same time. According to Christopher McDougall and his book, “Born to Run”, I’m not crazy because I run. I am supposed to run. We all are. You non-runners are the crazy ones. So there.

Admittedly, I am way behind on the Born to Run bandwagon. While this book was sweeping through the running community and Vibram’s five-fingered-footwear was making its way onto runner’s soles (even infiltrating my RTB team), I wasn’t interested enough to pick up my own copy. The impression I got from those who told me I needed to read this book was that it was a 280 page argument for running barefoot. I understood the argument, but wasn’t much interested I suppose. It didn’t sound that entertaining.

Kevin, my RTB Warrior teammate sports his Vibrams

I spotted McDougall’s book in the Hudson News bookstore at JFK right before yet another flight. I was actually searching for “The Conservative Soul” because I had forgotten my copy on my last flight and was only 30 pages in. They didn’t have a copy, so I picked up “Born to Run” and hey, from its description and praises on the back, it seemed more like an adventure story than a lecture on proper running mechanics. I love me a good running adventure story (check out Bart Yasso’s “My Life on The Run” for some great inspiration) and sometimes I do need to be reminded why I love running so much (like when I come to the realization that my calf has been nagging me for SIX MONTHS).

I loved this book.

I could probably sing the reasons at the top of my lungs via this blog and not spoil it for anyone, since I’m probably the last of my running friends who have read it. But still, I won’t just in case. I do want to mention how loaded this book is with anthropology, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was one of my many almost-minors in college. I’m not taking everything the author says as gospel, even though I would love to. But it has spurred me into doing further research on my own- looking at my stride, checking out persistence hunting, and growing Latin grains in my backyard.

If you're looking for a great resource on the grains described in Born to Run, check out my friend and fellow runner, Ana Sophia Pelaez's article and interview with McDougall.

The persistence hunting will have to wait until I'm back in shape.

The Godfathers

As for my stride... As MacDougall described his quest for an answer to his foot pain, I felt empowered to start an exploration of my own with my calf pain. The Calendar had dipped into April by that time, five and a half months since the calf became an issue. I wasn’t satisfied with what my doctor had told me. Of course I was thrilled it wasn’t a stress fracture, and he did give me some clues, as did Michael at Finishline PT and Mark Thompson, my newly acquired acupuncturist. Mark, who is also a PT, suggested I get orthotics. He took one look at my right foot, saw how my arch collapsed, and made the call right away. I was ready to try it immediately. I was ready to try anything really.

But Macdougall led me in a different direction- natural running. I began "practicing" a midfoot strike in my hotel room shortly after my plan landed. And even before finishing his book, I ordered three more.

* The Pose Method of Running by Dr. Nicholas Romanov
* Natural Running by Danny Abshire
* Chi Running by Danny Dreyer

Dr. Nicholas Romanov

I started with Dr. Romanov’s Pose method, which describes running as a skill activity, just as skiing or even dance is. These activities are taught with a series of poses and movements. Ballet has great examples with first position, second position, etc. In skiing, those who were trained may recall french fries and pizza. Romanov states that there is a running pose that we all strike when performing the act of running properly. He also stressed that a runner should allow gravity to work for us.

Danny Abshire

Danny Abshire explained to me why “traditional” running shoes were no good. He criticized the raised heel and pronation control. The raised heel, designed to cushion the heel upon impact, interfered with our ability to land properly and naturally on our forefoot or midfoot. The pronation control in these heel striking shoes, only exasperated the unnatural heel striking stride. Abshire explained how the lower body is a natural spring and that heel striking with a straight leg negates this physiological feature.

Danny Dreyer

 Danny Dreyer believes that chi plays a crucial part in good running form. If you don’t know what chi is, you obviously haven’t seen enough kung fu movies and we cannot be friends. Dreyer defines Chi as "energy - the life giving, vital energy that unites body, mind and spirit." This energy flows through our body, but only when our body is properly aligned and we are receptive to it. Sounds hokey? You must be a Westerner. He stressed posture above all, as well as relaxing and running tension free.





These three runners, coaches- and yeah, I’ll say it- godfathers of this natural running resurgence (my godfathers, at least) have lots of common threads in their theories and practices. As a matter of fact, Abshire receives praise from Dreyer and Romanov on the back of his book and Abshire sites Dreyer and Romanov repeatedly in his text. Their shared intent is to make running easier, and injury free. I won’t attempt to summarize their writings any further than saying each believes strongly in mid/forefoot strikes, “proper” footwear, proper posture, and letting gravity help out while you run.

Weapons of Choice

As I read these books, I began testing a sampling footwear that I felt these coaches would recommend based on their arguments. The Runblogger was a huge help. Also, via his site, you can receive a nice 10% discount at Runningwarehouse.com. He has a great post reviewing a ton of minimalist shoes and regularly reviews new equipment.

The qualities I was looking for in a shoe are:

Low or no heel rise (zero drop)
If your heels are raised to far above your forefoot, your posture actually changes to compensate. Also, you put more stress on your calves. And midfoot striking is more difficult (heel striking is encouraged). Most "traditional" running shoes have heels that rise more than 10mm.

Minimal "traditional" stability qualities
The stability built into "traditional" shoes assume a heel strike. If I were to land on my mid/forefoot, their intent of stabilizing my over pronation would be neutralized.

Minimal cushioning & Flexible Sole
Now, I don't mean barefoot running here. I just mean that I want to feel the road. This one has always been a requirement of mine. But the authors argue that the nerves in your feet communicate with the rest of your body, instructing it how to move. If they cannot feel the road, what you get is "stupid feet".

Sampling: Brooks Mach 12, Newton Distance, Merrell Trail Glove

After reading a bunch of reviews and ordering 6 pairs of shoes to try in my apartment, I settled on two.

The Altra Instinct
It's got zero drop (meaning the heel is no higher than the forefoot), moderate cushioning, is flexible, and has a roomy toe box. Altra is a start up shoe company. Those stores that are stocking them are having a hard time keeping up with demand. I ended up ordering mine from a running store in Miami.

Merrell Trail Glove
Also zero drop, roomy toe box, but these puppies have no cushioning, only a 4mm sole to protect you from rocks.

I want to stress that I am not going barefoot. The Altras have been working well for me because they protect my feet like traditional shoes, but allow by feet and biomechanics to work as they "naturally" should. They are a great compromise shoe. The Merrells are very minimal, but I am only using those in small doses as a tool to strengthen my feet.

The winners: Merrell Trail Glove and Altra Instinct

Form, Form, Form...

My transition to midfoot strikes began the first Saturday in April. I'm 5 weeks in now and still working on it. It hasn't been easy. The godfathers all suggest disassociating the transition with result oriented goals. In other words, do it in the off season when you don't have to worry about speed or mileage. Each of these natural running books offer a program to get you transitioned over, but I haven't committed to any single one. I've been trying ideas from all of them. Probably just in the past week, things started clicking on a consistent basis. I still cannot do all the things I used to- speed work is a challenge as is carrying a back pack while I run- because I have trouble maintaining proper form.

I blamed my lack of form for my calf injury in my last blog entry and I stand by that accusation. As a coach, this is the one thing I stress the most with my runners. All of us TNT coaches do. I remember Lisa, Jim, Michael, and Ramon doing the same to me when I was just starting off back in the day. Runners World has an interesting article on the topic in the latest issue (while you're there check out an article my friend the infamous MP was quoted in concerning BQing).

Posture is also stressed heavily by the godfathers. And though they heavily favor mid/forefoot striking, they recognize that a runner- from beginners to elites- can get away with heel striking while remaining healthy and quite speedy. I ran for two years- two marathons, a few half marathons, two RTB relay races, and tons of short races with training probably totaling 1,500 miles- without a running injury. In fact, I recovered from chronic patella tendonitis during this time. Yup, running, even heel striking, *helped* my knees.

Fellow Warrior Erin (aka Lady Southpaw) showing off her pretty much perfect form

This transition I am undertaking is a personal one. As I've tried to take my running to "the next level" (in my case, I wanted to be faster), I got injured frequently. And it was because I wasn't holding good form with the speed increase. I've found new shoes, but they're not magical shoes that will protect me from injury and make me fast. These shoes, I hope, will just be tools that will help me hold proper running posture, and sustain it for the duration of my runs (it's why I do all that core work too). The same goes for all those wacky barefoot runners out there. Shedding shoes isn't a magic fix- the intent is to *force* a runner to run with better form, otherwise he will end up with a stress fracture.

If you heel strike, you can't go minimalist. You have to protect that heel. But it doesn't have to be a huge heel. Asics DS Trainers, a stability shoe (that I used and logged over a thousand miles in) has a heel rise of about 8-9mm. Not bad. Nike Frees have maybe a 7mm rise, but no stability element. Saucony is releasing more and more low drop shoes in the 4-5mm range including their latest version of the Grid Fastwitch which has a stability element. Runningwarehouse.com will give you this stat on each shoe you search for. But if you're getting into the shoes for the first time, I still recommend trying them on at your local running shop, such as our friends at JackRabbit who even have a treadmill you can take the shoes for a spin on. How they feel other than this heel rise issue (too narrow? cramped toes?) is absolutely important. And again, shoes are just a tool for you to sustain proper form. Listen to your body.



If you're reading this far into my blog, it's probably because you're a runner. And If I know you, you've probably already heard me preach these things a million times, but I might as well at least list these important running form points:
* Keep your back straight and don't lean too much.
* Shorten your stride length (except for you Suzy) and aim for a cadence of 180bpm
* Soft steps
* Feet pointed straight ahead
* Keep relaxed, lose the tension in your shoulders and back
* Neat arm swings, 90 degree bend
* etc...

And of course, listen to your coach.

Shout Out
This summer season of Team in Training has been excellent. Our runners have graduated from hill training and are on to speed work and pacing. I'm proud and excited.

Shout out to my Team in Training peeps, Summer 2011