I could not have run as well as I did, however, without the help of a seasoned marathoner who paced me for the first 5 miles, until our routes split. The concept of pacing has been a difficult one for me, particularly over rolling hills where I want to charge up them, just to get them over with. I use this approach in cycling a lot, but the difference is that you can't stop pedaling and coast for a bit when your feet are your wheels. So, my "Run Sherpa" kept us around a 9-min pace, which she seemed to just know intuitively - something I don't quite understand but am thoroughly amazed by. Practice, practice...
So, how was my form? Did I "run gently?" What does that even mean??
If you were trying to sneak up on somebody, how would you approach them? Perhaps on the balls of your feet, carefully stepping to make as little noise as possible? While good runners aren't exactly tip-toeing along, they are using the balls of their feet and their toes to drive them forward, and they are quiet. Start listening when people run by you, or you are out running. Is there a shuffle sound? Does the shoe slap the ground (mine does, but I'm working on it...)? Or is it nearly silent? Gentle, and efficient, runners - even those who have not perfected that gazelle-like, beautiful form we all long for - are very quiet with each step. Heel- or midfoot-striker, it will not matter. They will breeze over the ground like they are floating.
Which brings me to the next aspect of gentle running: translation direction. Most daily activities find us moving in some combination of the planes of movement, but in running, one of these should be dominant. The goal of endurance running is simply to propel oneself straight forward in the most efficient way possible. There is an important word in that sentence: forward. Bipedal locomotion - walking and running forward - is what we have evolved to do. And, yet, sometimes we are so bad at it! It's almost as if we want to make it more complicated, or more exciting. "It can't just be, 'Go forward,' can it? There's gotta be more to it." No, there isn't.
Why am I harping on this? Because a huge tenet of running gently is running forward - NOT up-and-down. I just watched some of the NFL Combine where I caught the linebackers doing the 40-yd dash. Once these athletes were out of the starting gate, you could have put a roof an inch above their heads and they would never touch it. When the goal is forward, up-and-down is wasted energy. However, it is a common "coping mechanism" among novice distance runners. My educated guess is that it's an unconscious way of pacing themselves. Whereas fully forward motion might be too fast for the distance they are running, adding the "bounce" to their step is certainly going to slow them down - but it is also going to hemorrhage energy and possibly lead to injury. This is a problem I am very familiar with. As I mentioned previously, it is only recently that I have figured out a way to slow myself down without completely changing my biomechanics (smaller strides, increased frequency). Prior to that, I was running with a sprinter's form and trying to keep a 10K pace, but I would fatigue after 2 miles because I was always running faster than I should have been. And a long, long time ago, I was the bouncer - using my legs to absorb energy (and eat speed) by flexing my knees with each foot strike, making every step a poorly performed mini squat I would have to rebound from as I tried to continue forward. No wonder I thought I wasn't built for this sport!
So, to run gently, we must 1) tread quietly, 2) pace ourselves with the right cadence and stride length for our body type and the distance we are running, and 3) go forward.
Pay attention to those three things on your next run (or while your athlete/client/friend/significant other/neighbor/stalking target is out for their run) and see what you come up with. Do you run gently?
In the next few posts: How my warm-up saves my ass (literally); Prevention is the best injury treatment; Point/Counterpoint, where I argue with myself about orthotics and minimalism. Stay tuned!
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