Trying Out A New Running Technique: Chi Running

A lady at the gym where I work at (and workout with) and I were talking about running a few weeks ago. She was telling me about how she'd had some bad injuries from running too much, and had been told to stop. Well, she wasn't too enthused about that idea, so she started to look for ways to make it possible for her to keep running.

What she found was a book called ChiRunning. It proposes a technique where you used your "Chi" and core muscles to propel you forward, rather than the normal heel strike & push off from the toes. The concept sounded quite interesting to me, especially since the book claims that if you run using this technique, you will be injury free.

However, I wasn't so enthused about the whole concept of "Chi." I'm not exactly into all that middle eastern religion philosophy. She told me she wasn't either, but was able to get past it and find the good stuff.

So, with my interest piqued, I borrowed it from the library. It came in this past Friday, and I finished reading it today. However I had read enough of it by this morning to try it somewhat with my morning run.

I will have to say that I think it has a lot of potential. In fact, I probably am going to end up buying the book so that I can mark it up.

Today's workout:

Type: Endurance run
Place: Treadmill
Time: 50 minutes
Pace: 14 mpm
Distance: 3.55 miles
Plan: Warmup: 5 minutes 3.0 mph (.25 mile)
Workout: 5 minutes 3.7 mph; 5 minutes 4.2 mph (3.25 miles)
Cooldown: 3 minutes 3.5 mph; 2 minutes 3.0 mph (.30 miles)
Strength Training: Focused on legs (squats, lunges, split squats, etc.)

Thoughts:

I don't think it was a good idea to do leg work after an endurance run. :) I was actually trying to keep my pace at 15 mpm, but despite my best intentions, there were a few times where I let myself go at the faster pace for a *smidgen* longer than planned, which then of course made me have to shorten the slower pace.

Chi thoughts: One concept from the book which I really liked, and could have used in my workout today was the idea of not making result oriented goals. For example, in today's workout my goal was just to keep going for a full 50 minutes and not worry about achieving a certain distance. I have a really really hard time with that. I like seeing how far I've gone. But if I'm going to be able to keep good form (so as to not injure myself!) then I really need to be able to let go of the need for a certain distance, and just focus on the correct form and pacing.

Book Review: The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide For Women

• Title: The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women
  
• Author: Dawn Dias
  
• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press; (January 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580052053
• ISBN-13: 978-1580052054

Dawn Dias is in her mid-twenties. Her idea of strenuous exercise is getting off the couch to find the remote control. Healthy eating consists of eating only half the bag of Cheeto's instead of the whole bag.

Then one day she receives a postcard from the American Stroke Society talking about a fundraiser. It was asking people to sign up to run a marathon and raise money for stroke research. Dawn recently had an uncle who had died after having a stroke.

In a moment of inspiration, she decided that she was going to run a marathon.

Dawn has a very sarcastic sense of humor. She is pretty easy to identify with, as someone who also isn't much of an athlete. I could also easily identify with her disliking getting up early in the morning. Her weekly journal entries which are interspersed throughout the book provide the fodder for a lot of laughter.

However, I don't think that this book is one that should be taken as a serious training guide. The end result of Dawn ruining one of her knees, I believe speaks for itself.

I would recommend you to read this book just for the humor, but don't rely on her training information. I plan to read it again after I complete my first marathon - I have the feeling that I'll be able to relate to a lot more of it by then!

Readability: 5 shoes
Practical Applications: 3 shoes

Which Half-Marathon Should I Plan On?

Since making the decision to train for a half-marathon, I have been doing quite a bit of reading on the subject. Most of what I am reading reiterates that if you don't already have a solid base of running, that you should take a longer training time to help avoid injuries.

I signed up for a training class with a local running club. This training class is working towards two different half-marathons. The first one is on November 1, and the second one is on December 13. At first, I wanted to go for the November 1 race, but the more I have been reading, and the more I have been thinking about what my running base actually is, the more comfortable I am with going for the December 13 race instead.

If I hadn't had such a long hiatus from regular running, I would definitely go for the earlier race. But my first priority is to get to the starting line as injury free as possible, and then of course finish the race! So, if that means taking a few extra weeks, then so be it.

About Laura Runs

Hi! My name is Laura. I am a runner. That wasn't always the case though. Some may say that I'm technically still not a runner ... but I get off the couch and I pick my feet up off the ground .. so I think that qualifies me as a runner, whether or not it takes me 15 minutes to run a mile. :D

My story begins in January, 2008. I'd been pretty faithfully exercising 3 or 4 days a week, doing various cardio and strength training activities, but was kind of getting bored. One day I came across a group on Sparkpeople.com called "Couch To 5k." I'd seen that term before, and even knew that it was a running program. But it had never interested me personally. After all, I hated running - I was slow and it just took too much effort.

For some reason though, that day in January, my interest spiked enough so that I read through many of the threads. By the end of the next week, I had stopped at a local running shop and bought my first pair of running shoes - a pair of Asics. It sure didn't hurt my feelings any that they were blue and white. :D

Over the next number of months I slowly built up my running. I modified the program a bit to suit me better - starting off with 30 seconds of running followed by 90 seconds of walking. I did slack off from it several times during those months, which made me have to backtrack some. But by the end of May I was able to run almost 8 minutes straight before taking a walking break.

That's when I got the bright idea that I needed a challenge - something to give me a reason to not slack off - I needed to sign up for a 5k race! So, I did. I signed up for my first 5k in July, 2008.

What a bundle of nerves! Luckily, my dad was willing to get up at the early morning hour necessary to drive us to the race site - otherwise, I probably would have never found it myself. (I am directionally challenged even when fully awake.)

Standing at the starting line waiting for the starting buzzer to go off was such a rush. I hardly could believe that it was really me standing there, about to go off and trek out 3.1 miles. I didn't care about what my time would be, nor even if I finished last - all I cared about was finishing (preferably without the need of any medical assistance!)

And yes, I did finish. I wasn't last either. (Close to it though!) As I crossed the finish line and started drowning myself in water, I knew that I needed to make this a repeat experience.

I completed 3 more 5 k races by the end of October, with my time getting a little better with each one. Then November hit, and somehow my motivation went out the door, and didn't return again until late March, 2009.

I had gone for a few runs here and there in the intervening months, but had definitely lost a lot of ground - and gained a lot of weight back. Something kicked back in during March, and I started back - not quite back at square one, but close to it.

I realized that I needed to set landmarks for me to achieve - reasons to keep up with my running. So I decided that I probably could be prepared to do another 5k by the end of July. This time I would do it with my mom - who had walked the 5k I ran in October.

For some reason though, just doing more 5k's didn't feel like quite enough. I wanted to challenge myself more. But, I wasn't sure quite how. Then, a little over a week ago, I was reading some various blogs and I came across several mentions of people completing half-marathons - or 13.1 miles.

Two-years ago if you would have asked me if I had any interest in participating in a half-marathon, you would have seen me fall down on the floor laughing hysterically. Me? Do a half-marathon? The girl who could barely do a mile without feeling like dying of exhaustion? Yeah, that would be a no.

But for some reason, my mindset has changed. One-week ago I decided that I was going to train to walk/run a half-marathon.

I have several other blogs (which I don't keep updated as much as I should) but I didn't want to overrun them with my half-marathon journey. Because that is what this is going to be - a journey. Going from run/walking 3.1 miles to 13.1 miles is going to be quite the adventure, and possibly just the beginning.

So, here in this blog, I will be sharing the low-lights and the high-lights of my journey towards my first half-marathon. More than anything, this is for me to have a tangible record of my journey which I can look back on later.

But I also hope that it may be something which encourages someone else to get out there and join the running world. Hey, if you're in Texas, we might just pass each other on the trail.