Easy transition from heel to midfoot strike.

grifter09

Let me start by saying that Im not an expert runner by any means.
Im a complete beginner.
Perhaps this is why I've take to this method of running so well.

Im in training for my first marathon (DCM) and have been on the HH plan.
Against some better judgement I have ignored all advise on builing up a running base and just went straight into the training.
It has been very tough. Apart form getting the muscles strong Ive had knee pain in the right leg. Hip pain due to wrong/ no stretchin. The list goes on as the the niggles and general wear and tear. Im learning a lot as I go.

Anyway, from the start of my running I knew my form wasn't great and needed to be addresses at some stage. Unbelievably I left it until last week to look at this important aspect. I googled and youtubed proper running form. I quickly became an expert on the pose/chi style of midfoot first.

So in the same vein as this whole experience I went head first into changing styles 4 weeks before the marathon.

Bottom line, the heel striking I had been doing all along was literally knackerin' my legs.The effort and energy expended was really very high. I didnt know this until I made the change.
The thing is it has worked so well I feel the need to post about it.
Its almost effortless compared to my old style.
It really suits me.

I see a lot of negativity about pose/chi also. People calling it a money making scam etc. but I didnt have to pay anybody for anythin. Just a couple of hours watchin youtube and a while running around with my gf telling me if i was doin it right or not was enough to get going.

I eased into it last week and sailed a 14 miler today with it. I have even taken off the knee support I had on as I just don't need it now.

Just tought I'd share it with anyone who's interested. TBH I wouldnt recommend changing a thing at this late stage if your a newbie like me and training for DCM but its food for thought for any of ye who know as little as myself and havent got anything too important coming up.

macinalli

My problem was the other end of the scale - I used to run very forward on my feet and my heels barely touched the ground. Likewise gave me a lot of problems (mainly calf) but correcting it was the best thing I've done for my running. Grifter - did it take you long to correct? IIRC, I think I spent the 1st month just concentrating on how my foot was hitting the ground and completely ignoring pace etc. Worth it though - it now comes fairly naturally to me, although sometimes later in long runs when I'm truly nackered, the old bad habit will start to creep back.

MrCreosote

Early days yet grifter09!

Watch out for your calves and achilles. It takes time for our body to get used to any new running style.

grifter09

Ive done 4 runs with the style corrected.

First was 4 miles , then 9, then 4 and 14.

My right calf was very sore after the 9 and i had to take a couple of days off.
After this the calf was very tight and sore and in order to be able to run on it at all i had to completely relax on it with each strike. almost flop the heal down. Then this helped me see what i was doing wrong. it seems my calves shouldnt have been tense at all. now my calves dont sem to be working anywhere near as much as they used to . or my hips. really all that seems to be fully firing is my quads just above the knee when fully landed. Apparently this can be reduced too with lighter stepping.

I hope I dont regret this change so close to the marathon guys. But it does appear to be suiting me.

Jnealon

It can take a month or two for the body to adjust to a new running style. I did this in 2008 when I changed my running style after the frank duffy 10.
Looking back I probably should have waited until after the dcm as I got injured at mile 20 and had a very painful 6 miles to hobble home, I'm pretty sure the new running style in the OLD runners were to blame
I also ditched the headphones which allowed me to concentrate on my form while running

DULLAHAN2

grifter09 wrote: »

Let me start by saying that Im not an expert runner by any means.
Im a complete beginner.
Perhaps this is why I've take to this method of running so well.

Im in training for my first marathon (DCM) and have been on the HH plan.
Against some better judgement I have ignored all advise on builing up a running base and just went straight into the training.
It has been very tough. Apart form getting the muscles strong Ive had knee pain in the right leg. Hip pain due to wrong/ no stretchin. The list goes on as the the niggles and general wear and tear. Im learning a lot as I go.

Anyway, from the start of my running I knew my form wasn't great and needed to be addresses at some stage. Unbelievably I left it until last week to look at this important aspect. I googled and youtubed proper running form. I quickly became an expert on the pose/chi style of midfoot first.

So in the same vein as this whole experience I went head first into changing styles 4 weeks before the marathon.

Bottom line, the heel striking I had been doing all along was literally knackerin' my legs.The effort and energy expended was really very high. I didnt know this until I made the change.
The thing is it has worked so well I feel the need to post about it.
Its almost effortless compared to my old style.
It really suits me.

I see a lot of negativity about pose/chi also. People calling it a money making scam etc. but I didnt have to pay anybody for anythin. Just a couple of hours watchin youtube and a while running around with my gf telling me if i was doin it right or not was enough to get going.

I eased into it last week and sailed a 14 miler today with it. I have even taken off the knee support I had on as I just don't need it now.

Just tought I'd share it with anyone who's interested. TBH I wouldnt recommend changing a thing at this late stage if your a newbie like me and training for DCM but its food for thought for any of ye who know as little as myself and havent got anything too important coming up.

I was in the same boat as yourself and i would get very bad shin splints, i got some advice on my training log about chi running. I watched some youtube vid's to see what it was about and when i was out running i would try and concentrate on my midfoot hitting the ground first. That was a few months ago and it's only this week i am doing it without thinking. I find running alot more effortless now, before i changed i was running 8 1/2 min per miles with some miles at 8 min miles which i found very tough. Now i can run 10 mile at 8 min pace and i am alot faster in shorter distance's like 5k and 10k

grifter09

Yea i would love to be able to do all this without thinking Dullahan (what did you get in the shop?).
Thanks for that tip Jnealon. Im concentrating on so much it would be a very good idea to ditch the mp3. At the moment its like theres a checklist i have to constantly go through. Head looking forward, arms swinging properly, enough/not enough/too much lean and of course midfoot strike which kindof takes care of itself if the others are in check. At the moment im constantly rotating though the list.

pudgeydev

I would recommend Catherina McKiernan's chi running workshop. Was at it about month ago and it's really helped how I run, and stopped the constant achilles/calf/thigh injuries I was getting during long runs.
That said, if you get the same result using youtube it's all good!