ChiRunning Part 1

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My mom recently came across this book while searching for something else, and recommended it to me.  A book about running? You had me at injury-free. 

I've only read the first two chapters so far, but I've found it to be very interesting and worth sharing. 

First, let's discuss kids.  Have you ever spent time and watched kids play outside?  I've had many jobs that required me to do just that.  The pure enjoyment on their face as they run around chasing each other is something that we don't necessarily experience as adults.  As kids, they don't think about the fact that they are running, they think about whether or not they are going to tag the other person.  The running just happens.  They pick up their knees and go.  All with a smile on their face.

Kids run so naturally, and little effort is involved in their movements.  They don't experience shin splints or bad knees when they run.  They only experience the occasional face plant when they run too fast. 

What do kids know that we don't? 

The author tells us that it's because to them, running is fun.  Somehow we've lost that. 

To many adults, the ones who don't have a natural love for running, it has become something they have to force themselves to do.  Running isn't much fun anymore, but a means to an end.  The stress we endure on a daily basis is taken with us on our runs, making it even harder to enjoy what used to be something we loved to do. 

While running is a natural movement for us all, and so much good can come from it, so many bad things can, too.  Injuries ranging from damaging your knees, shins, hips, back, feet, and even your eyesight from all the jarring and pounding on the road.  Eyesight?  Interesting...

Mr. Dreyer believes that all these injuries happen because of over-training, more specifically, poor running form and poor biomechanics.  Poor biomechanics means that we move our body in unnatural ways, leading to stress on our muscles, joints, and ligaments.  With poor biomechanics, injuries can happen at any distance or speed.  Fix that, and your odds of getting injured just got reduced. 

What he considers the root of all this evil is what he calls "Power Running".  Basically, develop strong leg strength and leg speed and you can run faster and farther.  It's what everyone is trained to do since middle school. You get stronger and sure it helps recover from injuries, but it doesn't address why you got the injury in the first place.

Power running is result-oriented, which is the primary cause of over-training.  You have a goal in mind, and you set out to do it. 

            Examples:

            Running a marathon

            Losing weight for a special occasion, like a wedding

            Keeping up with your running parner

            Trying to run faster than last year

Hmm.  All those pretty much describe me to a tee. 

Mr. Dreyer says that while there are plenty of reasons to motivated by, instead you should really be focused on what motivates you from the inside.  Listen to your body and do what is best for it. 

Enter: ChiRunning

The whole idea of ChiRunning is to listen and focus internally rather than on external goals so that you can run and/or train in a more effortless and efficient way.  Meaning, go back to Nature.  Nature knows all.  Nature knows how to operate all by itself.  So does your body.  Don't force it to do something it's not ready for.  It'll only backfire.

The benefits of ChiRunning include:

• Great posture
• Relaxed limbs
• Loose joints
• Engaged core muscles
• Focused mind
• Good breathing techniques
• More energy

Who wouldn't want all that? 

Here's an interesting analogy that Mr. Dreyer presents:

"Have you ever tried to swim upstream?  You can do it if you're strong enough.  And if you're not strong enough, you can work hard and build big muscles so that you can eventually do it.  But no matter how you look at it, you're swimming against the current, and that's going to take a lot of work.  I mean, salmon do it, but they die when they get there.  So, as long as you're in the water, you have to follow the law of the water.  On the other hand, if you want to get upstream with less effort, simply get out of the water and into a different set of laws, where getting upstream might involve nothing more than a gentle walk up a fern-lined path.  As Cecil B. DeMille said regarding his epic film, The Ten Commandments, 'It is impossible for us to break the law ourselves.  We can only break ourselves against the law.'"  (page 31)

The whole salmon dying part might have made me laugh a little, but it's true.  They do die after they make it.

Don't kill yourselves, people.  Just go with the flow.

Until next time.