Diary of an Old Pair of Legs: Running, Art or Science

Training Log for Oct 2016

Running - 219km this month [2301 km. total for the year]

Ascent - 3977mtrs. [8049 mtrs] ave Training pace 7:42 mpk.

Cycling- 42 km [667 km]

My Event Calendar [Nov] Event: Venue: Target time:

Compressport 25k Trail Semenyih

KITS #4 volunteering ISKL

Putrajaya Night half Marathon Putrajaya 1:52:00

Alam Damai 10k Kajang 0:47:00

Penang Bridge marathon Penang 3:59:59

What a strange month.

Just three competitive trail runs:

The Cameron Ultra Trail 25k, to date, the very toughest run I have undertaken, but, I ran well, placed fifth and finished strong and healthy.

The Fire Fighters charity 9k trail, far shorter, far easier, but, I ran well, didn’t finish in the top ten and finished with an injured Achilles tendon. It’s a funny old game!

The Borneo TMBT Ultra Trail 30k, after a very disrupted build up while my Achilles was healing I got to the start and finish-lines. An experience where I learnt as much about myself as I did about trail running, fantastic.

This old man has been Inspired by a young-gun Kops D Appu, remember the name, a future champion.

Running: Art or Science

On my only event-free weekend this month I attended a POSE Method running introductory clinic led by my good running buddy Sam Seow Wai Siong and organised by Matthew Barsing of the KLCC Runners Group.

A free introductory session promising free energy and free speed. What was there to lose?

So what is the POSE method of running? From my one free introductory session with Sam I would sum up what Dr. Nicolas Romanov has been working on since 1979 as:

Using our bodies the way they were intended to be used and letting natural forces help, not hinder, our movement.

Splitting the POSE method into its essential phases and we have; the POSE, the FALL and the PULL.

The pose is, in effect, just a starting point where the moving leg passes under the butt.

The first real element is the lean, which leads to the fall. Try this: Stand straight, lean forwards from the ankles as far as you can. So, what happened, you fell forward and one leg shot forward to stop you falling flat on your face. This, my friend, is FREE energy and increased speed curtesy of Mr. Gravity! When running upright we are one-hundred percent of the time fighting against the force of gravity but by adjusting our posture to lean from the ankle, not bend from the waist, we can harness that same force to propel us forward, and, with no expenditure of effort. Common sense tells us this, no need for any scientific evaluation.

The second criteria is to land the moving leg on the fore-foot, there is sufficient padding on the ball of our foot to absorb plenty of shock, let’s face it our ancestors managed running for quite some time, and without the need of Brooks [other makes are also available]. Do you use a skipping rope exercise in your training? Would you do the exercise landing on your heel or even on your mid-foot, no. Instinct will make you jump and land on the ball of your foot. If we were intended to land on the heel and rotate through the foot to toe-off our feet would be articulated in a very different way.

Also, the foot should land directly under your centre of mass, that is under your hip, not in front of it. Think it through, think of any moving object, now place anything in front of it what will happen? Will it speed up or will it slow down or even stop? So, when we land with our foot in front of our hips we then need to overcome the slowing effect before moving forward, wasted energy, which equates to lost time. In addition, by landing forward on our heel the destructive impact shock waves will be transmitted to the ankle and, through our straight leg, directly up to the knee and hip joints.

The last part of the POSE method is the pull! I must admit this is the part that I had the most difficulty with, possibly because I felt like I was skipping along rather than running. The general motion of pulling the leg up towards my butt rather than pushing forward just felt so unnatural to me. I understand the logic of using the built-in elasticity of our muscles rather than using contraction, which will use more energy. It may take me quite some time to overcome this feeling. It is easy to see the sense in the pull, but not so easy to feel comfortable doing it. Comparing the effort need to jump from a squat passion (muscle contraction) and jumping as in skipping (muscle elasticity) gives us a good guide as to which s more efficient. I must add a skipping-rope to my shopping list!

In just that one session, I could immediately feel a beneficial difference in perceived effort, I am not suggesting that in one short course I can run in the POSE manner, but, there is an instant benefit. The benefit is derived from more efficient running and nothing more.

Monday morning saw me out doing an experimental run mixing some POSE running effort, as best I could given that it was my first attempt, I am sure I had the lean and fall sorted. I was landing fore-foot and as far as I can tell I was also landing under my hips.

TEST 1

K1 warm-up jog,

K2 easy effort normal: HR Â116 time 6:07 Cadence Â171

K3 easy Pose method: HR Â112 time 5:55 Cadence Â174

K4 easy Pose method: HR Â116 time 5:53 Cadence Â174

K5 easy Pose method: HR Â124 time 5:35 Cadence Â178

K6 easy effort normal: HR Â118 time 6:15 Cadence Â173

K7 – K17 easy: for 10k run HR Â115 time Â6:01mpk. Cadence Â173

In this experimental run, theoretically I gained 48 secs in three-kilometres with no additional perceived effort, my third “easy” kilometre was in fact very close to my full marathon pace but still felt very easy. My average heart rate at the pace I ran at would normally have been in the range of 124 – 130 bpm so the actual effort seems to have been in line with the perceived effort.

TEST 2

10km run at an easy perceived pace.

During my current training period, this run would normally turn in data around HR Â123 time Â5:56 mpk Cadence Â174

The test run produced the following: HR Â127 time Â5:28 mpk Cadence Â175

So, for a run of equal perceived effort, that was actually 2.4% higher in effort I gained a speed increase of 8.7% or 4:40 secs off a ten kilometre run.

Okey, not the most scientific of experiments I agree, but, surely the basis for further experiment.

As I said earlier, anything for free can’t be all bad and when it’s free speed then it can only be good.

For anyone wanting more information on the POSE Running Method you can contact Sam via his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/im.samseow. or why not check out the KLCC Running Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/klccrunners/ for the next introductory session, I know you would be welcome.

Conclusion: The perfect running technique:

This young lady was, and still is, the greatest female marathon runner ever. And, “they” said she ran with very bad form. Therefor my view is there isn’t one running correct form, but, there are elements of running form that will improve your efficiency, speed and lessen your potential for injury.

The science of running can be learnt from a book, but, like all forms of art it can only be perfected with constant practice.