Oh, how I missed the dirt!

Got in the first trail run of the year today at The White Pines! Should have been out there earlier, the trails were in great shape. Not much snow or mud for this early in the spring. Ran a hard seven and then got the phone and my Xero Shoes (also known in my house as the "Jesus Sandals", see pic below) and took some pics while run/hiking another 4 miles or so...

A Dash Of This, A Pinch Of That... A Running Philosophy! (Sort Of)

I recently became an assistant track coach at Milledgeville High School, which has a cooperative with my son's school, Eastland. Not only does that mean I get to coach my son one more time (you will have to ask him if he is as happy about that as I am) and some of my EHS Cross Country team, I also am coaching the sons/daughters of people from Milledgeville and Chadwick that I have known since I was a little kid. It's a blast and is such a great opportunity and a stroke of luck I am totally thankful for.

Coaching again after a break since cross country has gotten me thinking about my approach to and beliefs about running have evolved in the years since I began doing it on a regular basis. Of course, my reasons for taking up running were like a lot of peoples: get in shape. Many of you who may have known me for only a few years would be surprised to know that though I have always been marginally active I was a pack-a-day smoker for about fifteen years and at one time had a six-pack-a-day Mountain Dew addiction. And those are just the most extreme bad habits! Oh, I could go on and on! But I won't.

The point is that after ditching the Dew and smokes I started to exercise a little more regulary. Me and Gina used to walk quite a bit, which was occasionally irritating for me since I am not a speedy walker, more of a stroller-type, and despite being only five-foot tall, Gina somehow covers ground while walking like a frightened gazelle. It's unreal. But anyway, somehow that evolved into us running and the rest is history.

Like most new runners I was simply putting one foot in front of the other for as long as I could. I was just happy to finish a 5k without walking and/or dying. I was a master of the speed-shuffle! Form? After a few hundred yards or so I was much too tired to care.

But as time and miles marched by, I did start to think and read more about running. Call it a philosophy or a belief system or whatever you want, but some half-baked ideas began to form and stick in my head! I tend to be a pretty free-thinker, which means I tend not to follow somebody else's ideas whole cloth but instead pick and steal bits of information and mold it with my own ideas, creating my own sort of hodgepodge. Below are a some of the things I believe are the keys to me being a happy runner!

Look ahead- This is the most important thing, physically, for me to do while running and all it takes is mental focus. I firmly believe that keeping your eyes on a target ahead has a ripple effect on my entire body. If I keep my eyes up looking ahead my head stays up and level (no swaying side-to-side either) which keeps my shoulders and hips loose and my posture good. If I let my gaze drift to the ground my head droops, my shoulders and hips tighten. Instead of the running feeling like a fluid movement it feels disjointed and out of rhythm. Sometimes if I have having some pain or unusually bad soreness I can refocus ahead and it brings my balance and posture back in line, which often reduces the discomfort.

Not over-striding- I am a believer that everybody has a natural stride that you shouldn't mess with too much, but overstriding (directly related to turnover, or cadence) is a big no-no. It's essentially controlled bounding and a form of self-braking. It's inefficient and wears a runner out. You want to cover a decent amount of real estate with each stride but if your cadence is below 150 footfalls per minute while running a reasonably fast pace you need to increase your turnover because you are bleeding energy away. And I never, ever try to reach forward with my stride. It promotes heel-striking and injury.

Barefooting and minimal shoes- This ties right in with the over-striding, because running barefoot or in minimal running shoes essentially forces me to increase my turnover and run with my normal, medium stride length. If I don't, it is going to hurt, that is a promise. I won't get into the whole "humans are born to run" thing or how thick, over-cushioned footwear is actually bad for you. But we were. And they are.

Oh, and just to be clear. When I say run barefoot I mean on grass! I would not recommend running unshod on a city street. You shouldn't practice natural running on an unnatural surface.

Hit the trails- I am a huge fan of trail running and if I am ever lucky enough to live within a short drive of a huge state or national park, my road running days would pretty much come to a halt. Unfortunately, I live in a sea of corn with the nearest trails a good half hour away. Nonetheless, I try to make it to a park once a week, other than in wintertime, usually for my long weekend run. Trails are so much more forgiving than blacktop it's not even funny. My legs thank me and my recovery time is decreased significantly as opposed to road running. Plus, it's a total blast and good for your soul to get out in nature! Note: when running trails, you cannot use the "look ahead" tip from above or you will go down. Hard. I still try to keep my head up while looking "down my nose" at the trail so I can see any roots or rocks.

Every run has a purpose- It's easy to find the purpose in a workout-type run. By that I mean your classic tempo or long run, hill repeats, etc. It's those other runs that can fall under the "junk miles" category if you aren't careful. I try to find something to focus on beforehand, even for the easiest of recovery runs. It might be something as general as my overall form. Or sometimes I try to focus on being light (what some people call a "ninja" run) or my breathing. The point is that I try to make even an easy pace run benefit me as much as possible, rather than just slogging through the run in a fog just to get miles in. And I never purposely try to go too slow no matter what, since I believe that intentionally going slower than I feel like going that day just because I think I should actually makes me fatigue quicker and messes with my running form.


Keep it simple- This seems like a silly thing to write at the end this long list! But it's a big key for me, not only in running but in life. If you make something too complicated you can suck the fun out of it. Don't clutter your mind with a bunch of crap to remember. Keep the goal of your run and maybe one or two other tips or tricks in mind and hit the road (or trail)!

Along that same line, I really try to leave my problems and worries at the house when I step out for my runs. A person can only properly do one thing at a time in my opinion, so I don't try to solve any financial, marital, work, or any other problems during my run. Nor do I begin a grocery or "honey-do" list in my head. It is not a time for multi-tasking. I feel running should have some sort of meditative effect when done with the proper mindset. There should be no past or future, only what you are doing at the present: running.