In my previous blog I talked about the simplest and most effective way for walkers to reduce impact to their knees and hips. So, in all fairness to you runners, this post is for you.

Since runners, as a rule, are a bit more injury-prone than walkers, the simplest way to avoid knee pain or knee injury is not as simple as it is with walking. I’ve read that running can increase your body weight upon impact by 6-10 times depending on whether you’re running on flat ground or running downhill. That’s an incredible amount of weight for your knees and hips to bear with every foot strike. So, it behooves us all to do everything we can to lower that multiple. If I weight 145 lbs. that means I’m putting 870 lbs. of pressure on my knees every time my foot hits the ground.

There are two reasons for this increase in impact to your knees. Part of that increase in weight comes from the fact that you’re leaving the ground between strides and as you return to earth, your body is accelerated by the pull of gravity. The other part of that weight increase happens because of the braking effect created if your foot happens to land in front of your center of mass. For most runners I’d have to say that is the biggest culprit of increasing impact.

So what’s the simplest solution?

Don’t step in front of your hips when you run. You heard me right… and you’re also correct if you’re thinking, “That’s easier said than done.” It’s not really that difficult to do, but it does take some patience and practice. It all comes down to learning how to run with a midfoot strike because it’s the best way to prevent your foot from landing out in front of your body. You can further reduce the amount of impact to your knees by landing with your foot even slightly behind your center of mass. This will minimize any chance of braking as your feet hit the ground.

If you’ve read the ChiRunning book you already know about landing with a midfoot strike and how that’s accomplished. If you haven’t read the book, I highly suggest you check it out. Another part of this equation is keeping your hips loose and your pelvis rotating. This will keep you running level across the ground and prevent the impact that comes from excessive bouncing.

If you can change where your foot lands and minimize your bounce you can seriously reduce the impact to your knees. I was recently tested at the gait lab at the University of Virginia and found that my vertical GRF (ground reaction force) was only 2.4 times my body weight. That’s a far cry from 6-10 times mentioned earlier!

My long range goal is, of course, to get that number down to zero… so I can run on water.

Happy trails,
Danny

Because I’m a lifelong advocate of fitness walking and injury-free walking, I’m always trying to come up with the simplest way to get walkers to move along the ground in a way that produces the least amount of impact to the feet, knees, hips and lower back. The answer to this dilemma is different depending on whether you’re doing ChiWalking or ChiRunning. I’ll begin with you ChiWalkers.

When I watch people walk I’d conservatively estimate that over 90% of all walkers lock their leading knee as their heel touches the ground in front of them. The problem with this (and most people don’t know this) is that when your heel strikes the ground ahead of your center of mass, it creates a braking effect on your forward motion. So you’re essentially pushing yourself forward with your rear leg while you’re simultaneously stopping yourself with your leading leg. We call it “driving with the brakes on” and it’s not only an inefficient way to move down the road, but it can create long-term impact damage to your feet, knees, hips and lower back.

According to the Joint Implant and Surgery Foundation there are over 200,000 hip replacements performed in the U.S. every year! I was totally shocked at this number. Here’s a small section of an article on hip replacements that I’ve borrowed from the JISF.org website:

“Hip joint load is a function of body weight, activity level, muscular force, and the distance from the body’s center of gravity to the center of the femoral head. Publications have stated that the hip joint force increases up to 2.5 times body weight with speed in level walking.”

Let’s see… two and a half times my body weight is 290 lbs. That means that when I walk at any kind of speed on a level surface there’s a force of 290 lbs. going to each of my hip joints with every step I take. Now, if I’m reaching forward with my stride and locking my knee, that means that that same amount of force is also going into my heels (plantar fasciitis & ankle problems), my knees (300,000 total knee replacements each year according to the NIH), my hips (you’ve seen the numbers), and lower back (The U.S. spends $50 billion each year on lower back pain). You’d think that here in the 21st century we could come up with a way to prevent some of this. Well, there is something remarkably simple that you can do the next time you find yourself walking somewhere. Are you ready for this earth-shattering piece of inside information? OK, here it is….

Don’t lock your knees when you take a step forward. That’s right. It’s pretty simple. Just make sure your knees are always bent as your foot comes down onto the ground ahead of you. Here’s how you’ll be helping your hip joint specifically. When you lock your knee the impact of your footstrike travels in a direct line from your heel to your hip because all of your bones are lined up in a straight line. On the other hand, if you bend your knees, that impact is dispersed through your feet, ankles, and knees before it reaches your hip…and the resulting impact to your hip becomes almost negligible.

Of course, if you’re used to walking with your knees locked, this means a change in what is probably a longstanding habit. Remembering to do it is the hardest part, but it is much easier to do if you can remember to always work on walking with your posture well-aligned with your shoulders and head slightly forward of where you are used to carrying them. It’s just a very slight forward tilt of your upper body whenever you’re walking.

Another way to accomplish the knee bend when you walk is to shorten your stride and quicken your cadence. You’ll sense that you’re taking smaller, quicker steps, but your legs will feel very different as will the impact on your hips and knees. It might feel a bit strange at first, but if you go back and read the statistics about knee and hip replacements and think of the alternatives…you might be more willing to watch your step.

For more information on injury-free walking and fitness walking please visit the ChiWalking website.

For all of you runners who will be running in marathons in the coming months, here’s an article sent to me by Dr. Mark Cucuzzella with some very helpful tips to guide you to a great performance in your next marathon. He’s a family practice doctor and faculty member of West Virginia University. He also happens to have the distinction of having run a sub-2:35 marathon every year for the past 20 years. He recently ran the Marine Corps Marathon (2:34) at age 42 and beat the time he ran it 20 years ago when he was 22! For this reason I consider him an ideal person to listen to if you want to do well in your marathon. He has been practicing ChiRunning for the past two years and will soon become a Certified ChiRunning Instructor. He was the doctor quoted in the NPR piece on ChiRunning. Following is the text of his article.

A Simple Strategy for Running Your Best Marathon

As you enter the week prior to running your marathon here are a few visualizations to help you set your plan. Running your best marathon is part art, science, guts, faith in what you can do, and a little luck. Running your best 10k is mostly about fitness.

The best analogy I can think of is this: if you have trained your body properly with the right mix of aerobic level training and some up tempo stuff in the weeks leading up to your event, you have built your efficient hybrid engine ready to race the marathon.

Many of you have likely driven in a Prius and watch the subtle shifts between gas and electric on the screen. You do not perceive these shifts. Your engine runs on gas, electric, or a mix- depending on the effort.

You are starting the race with one gallon in the tank- assuming you have eaten a nice meal the night before with a breakfast top off.
• If you are in all gas mode, your engine will run about 1.5 hours at a strong pace….and you will be done before the finish.
• If you are all electric you can go all day, but really slow.
• If you are using the proper mix you will go quick and efficient for the first 20+ miles, then fire up pure gas in the last few.

The glucose utilizing pathway is the gas. This is your stored glycogen and blood glucose (pasta meal and breakfast) - easy to access for ready energy. The fat utilizing pathway is the electric. In the marathon you must be in hybrid until the last few miles. Hybrid is where your energy (ATP) is coming from both sources.

Many runners are in great “10k shape” (an all gas event), run their marathon in the gas mode- and usually crash. No nutrition and glycogen sparing factors apply in races of less than an hour. In the marathon, top end fitness matters little and can only be applied very near the finish.

So how do you know you are running in your best hybrid mode?
This is difficult because the sense is not as profound as aerobic/anaerobic. A slight increase from your optimal pace will switch you from hybrid to all gas without you realizing it, and the effects are felt miles later.

You must rehearse a bit in training. I focus on relaxation and breathing. If I’m breathing one cycle to 5 steps, then I’m hybrid. If I breathe any faster I’m using glucose as sole fuel. Belly breathe. Allow lower belly to blow up like a beach ball on inhalation and pull your belly button back to your spine on exhalation. Then you will fill the lower lung areas where oxygen exchange occurs.

Notice the breathing efforts of those around you and many are rapid breathing and they tend to suffer somewhere past half way. Rehearse complete relaxation from the top down: eyes, jaw, shoulders, allow your legs to relax and extend behind you, relax and soften your knees and ankles. Find you own cue for this.

In the last 3-4 miles you will be all gas to maintain the same speed as fatigue sets in. The breathing is usually on a 3 to 4 step per breath cycle- that is OK. Still stay relaxed and use same relaxation cues.

Now a few extra ways to get from start to finish quicker on the same gallon.

• If you can add a little gas along the way then you can go more into gas mode. This works a little at best. If you’re running too fast you shunt all blood to working muscles and nothing digests. If you are in hybrid during the early going you can continually add fuel. The key here is not the specific fuel, but the right pace. A gel every 25 minutes is easy to digest and tops off the tank. Carry them with you at the start. The weight is nothing compared to the benefit you will get. If you do the gels you can drink water instead of the energy drinks which are often pretty awful on the run.
• Draft if you can.
• Maintain a constant effort level on uphills. Your pace will slow. You can easily use all your gas here if your effort level increases. Shorten your stride, relax, and use your arms more. Then allow gravity to take you downhill. The first hills of the race will ruin your day if you take them too quickly.
• If you are having a “bad patch” try to refocus on relaxing, maybe fuel a bit, and have faith in your training and race plan.

The fun of this event is that we are always learning and enjoying the adventure of it. I’ve done over 50 marathons now with a couple under 2:25 in my younger years. I’ve had one DNF. At my first Boston in 1989 I raced the first half in 1:08 in gas mode, not realizing it, and was done by 18 miles.

We learn from experience, taking chances, and occasional failures. My first marathon in 1988 was 2:34, when I could run a 30:00 10K. This year I also ran 2:34 at Boston, and I think my 10K split there (35 minutes) was my best 10k for the year. Along the way I have accumulated 20 straight years under 2:35 except for my year of medical internship when there was no time to find a race. I’ve learned a few things in 20 years, but there are still uncertainties every time you line up. Relax, taper, and seize the day.

Mark Cucuzzella, MD
Physician LTC USAF Reserves and West Virginia University Faculty
2 time top 5 Marine Corps Marathon and Masters Winner 2006

In a recent NY Times article I read a quote that states, “Training a little bit beyond your capabilities is the only way to get better…”.

For now, I want to comment on that one statement. As an overarching theory, I agree, but what I don’t agree with is what the article and that statement implies. Most running coaches believe that more training is the only way to become a better runner. So what do they mean by better and what do they mean by training?

I’ll start with the question about training. When most people talk about training for running they are usually either talking about running more miles or doing some sort of strength training for their legs. So, when you “train a bit beyond your capabilities” it generally means you run farther or faster. I do agree that you need to train beyond your current capability to get better, but I think the focus should be on improving your running form and technique, not just running faster and farther. If you focus only on running faster and further, you are setting yourself up for injury.

If you focus on improving your running form, you are setting yourself up to run faster and/or longer distances with greater proficiency and efficiency.

This brings up the question of what it actually means to be “better.” In most cases I think most people define “better” as becoming faster, which is somewhat of a limited vision of improving your sport.

The ChiRunning approach takes on a much more holistic view. Getting better means running more efficiently so that you can run with less perceived effort no matter what speed or distance you run. It means working on your running technique so you can run injury-free and there’s no down side to your running. It means not working so hard that you have to recover after every run. It means finding long-lasting joy in your running so your relationship with it doesn’t fade with the years. And, it can mean, if you so desire, to use running as an internal practice to improve your mind and body as well as your spirit.

So, the next time you think of “training” to “get better” with your running take the time to include the whole picture or you could be missing out on something much more valuable than speed and distance.

I was recently asked, for the umpteenth time, a question that deserves a good answer.

“When I concentrate on striking mid-foot and keeping my
lower legs very relaxed, it feels and sounds like my feet are slapping the pavement much harder than before. Is this normal, or does my form still need correcting?”

For many first-timers to ChiRunning, learning to run with a midfoot strike is a very new experience. The new way your feet touch the ground, along with a distinctive full-bodied tilt can take a little time to get used to. What happens for some folks who are working on a midfoot strike, is that they notice their feet tend to slap the pavement more then they used to. If this happens to you it’s a sign that you’re on the right path to getting a midfoot strike, but it’s also a sign that there’s more work to do in other areas of your stride.

Here’s what I mean. Most people are used to swinging their legs forward when they take a stride…whether they’re walking or running. What this does is create a heel strike where your heel then becomes a fulcrum and your foot slaps down onto the pavement with each step. Not only is a heel strike unhealthy for your knees, the slapping can bruise the metatarsal heads and make your feet feel like they’re on fire.

In the ChiRunning and ChiWalking techniques, the foot strikes under your center of mass in a midfoot strike. This eliminates a heel strike and shortens your support time. The legs are always swinging to the rear, which noticeably reduces the amount of impact to the knees. When many people first try the midfoot strike they tend to focus more on the landing than on what the rest of their body is doing. The way to get rid of the slapping is to work on your pelvic rotation, which is mentioned on pages 179-180 of the ChiRunning book, and also mentioned at the top of page 82. In the ChiWalking book it is explained and illustrated on page 87.

As your foot hits the ground under you, your leg begins its rearward swing. Your leg then extends out behind you and when your foot returns to its original support position, it’s underneath you again…not landing out in front of you. As long as your foot never lands in front of your body, the slapping will go away.

Here’s the trick. Every time your leg swings out the back, let your hip swing back with it. This will force your hips and pelvis to rotate in the direction your rear leg is swinging, creating a healthy twisting motion along your spine. Your stride will open up behind you, as it should, and you’ll experience a new sense of smoothness in your gait because your legs will no longer be swinging forward which causes foot slapping.

Happy Trails,
Danny

There seems to be much debate in the running community today on what is the best footstrike for running. Runners of all levels divide themselves into three basic camps: the midfoot strikers, the forefoot strikers and the heel strikers. So, here is my attempt to put forward my best understanding of the three basic types of foot strike and what each one does for a runner.

The Midfoot Strike
The midfoot strike is characterized as having your heel and the ball of your foot touching the ground simultaneously with each foot strike. You can see this very clearly when you watch young children run. They always land with their whole foot on the ground. I would say that at least 95% of all people run this way as kids.

In the ChiRunning technique, we promote the midfoot strike because it is, for most runners, the most injury-preventive way to run. Our emphasis is on preventing the lower legs (including the knees) from over-working, because this area of the body is where, conservatively speaking, 90% of all running injuries occur. Plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, shin splints, calf pulls, knee pain, IT band problems, over-pronation, bunions, metatarsal and tibial stress fractures, and hammer toes lead the list of the most common running injuries. This list is immense compared to everything that can go wrong above the knees.

The propulsion in ChiRunning comes from allowing your body to fall forward with the pull of gravity, not from pushing yourself forward with your feet and legs. For this reason it is more energy-efficient because your legs are not required for propulsion. When your feet come down onto the ground, they land either under or slightly behind your center of mass, in a midfoot strike. The only work required of your legs is to provide momentary support for your body between strides. Landing on your midfoot, in most cases, either reduces or eliminates the work done by A.) the lower leg muscles…especially the shins and calves, and B.) the two tendons that are most commonly injured… the plantar tendon and the achilles tendon.

The ChiRunning technique is primarily focused on energy efficiency and injury-prevention with speed being a secondary focus.

The Forefoot Strike
The forefoot is basically the part of the foot between the forward-most part of the arch and the end of the toes… generally speaking, the balls of the feet. If your heels don’t touch the ground when you run, you’re a forefoot striker.

Sprinters, middle-distance runners, and some triathletes tend to prefer running on the forefoot because of the extra speed obtained by “paw-back” and “toeing off.” This way of running is great if you want lots of speed, but it puts the responsibility for most of the body’s propulsion squarely onto the legs…especially the lower legs. Some of the faster elite middle-distance runners (i.e. Kenyans, Moroccans, Ethiopians, Mexicans) run with a forward lean added in combination with a forefoot strike. This takes some but not all of the burden off the lower legs.

Because forefoot running is primarily used for running at faster speeds, energy efficiency tends to take a distant back seat. As far as being injury-preventive, forefoot striking helps prevent knee injuries because it lowers the impact to the knees. This is a good thing. But the problem with it is that running on the balls of your feet increases the workload on your calves, shins, achilles tendons, and plantar tendons, so you risk either overworking a muscle or pulling a tendon if you go too far or too fast while running on your forefeet.

The Heel Strike
Heel striking is when your heel strikes the ground in front of your body. At least 75% of all runners run with a heel strike. The interesting thing about this fact is that, although it is by far the most common of all the footstrike patterns, it is not done by choice, but by default. The vast majority of all runners are not elite runners or competitors, they’re just regular folks like you and me, who like to run and like to stay fit.

Most recreational runners tend to run with their body in an upright position… with no lean at all. This forces them to have to reach forward with their legs when they run…and when you run upright and reach with your legs, your feet will always land in front of your body and your heels will come down first. When you run this way, you’re basically putting on the brakes with each stride, which sends a lot of impact to your lower legs and knees. For this reason, many heel strikers complain of knee pain at some point in their running career. This is the group that keeps orthopedists and physical therapists in business.

But, just because you might be a heel striker, it doesn’t mean you’re doomed to be a heel striker for the rest of your life. Work on improving your running technique. If you can learn to run safely and efficiently, you’ll be eliminating the causes of running injuries and you won’t have to worry about ending up in a doctor’s office getting fixed.

The midfoot strike works for most runners…the forefoot strike works for some runners…but, the heel strike doesn’t seem to work well for anybody. Try all three and see which one works the best for you.

With the ChiRunning book, DVD or audio CD you can easily learn the midfoot strike. We offer you an alternative way to approach your running so that you can learn the midfoot strike and spend many more years enjoying one of the world’s best and most natural sports.

Happy trails,

Danny

I want to give a gracious thank you to all who have commented on my blog. Your kinds words and interest are greatly appreciated. Recently, I’ve noticed that questions are being posted on the blog. Regretfully, I am not able to address these questions. Our bulletin board is a wonderful resource for many of your inquiries and if you’re not able to find your answer already, you can certainly ask the expert while you’re there. I apologize for not answering each question but I trust the bulletin board will provide you with assistance. Thanks for all your support!

Stay centered,
Danny

We’ve all heard the old saying, “It takes money to make money.” Well, here’s my latest take on that. I was out running yesterday, having an ok run, but not feeling particularly energetic. I’m sure you’ve been there. I was running my favorite out and back trail run with my dog. It’s quite a hilly trail with virtually no flat spots anywhere.

It has an uphill start (which I never recommend) so I started off walking to warm up my legs before taking on the first incline. Once I began running on the trail I walked some of the steeper uphills in order to not over-use my legs early on in the run. This has always worked well for me in the past. Once my legs were warmed up they began to feel much more comfortable on the up hills. I ran to my turnaround point and began my return trip, as I usually do. But on the way back, my legs were beginning to feel exhausted running some of the last hills, even though I was shortening my stride considerably and slowing my pace. I felt as though someone had pulled the plug on my energy. I was body sensing and my legs were telling me that they were tired.

One of the interesting things about the Chi skill of Body Sensing that is explained in the ChiRunning and ChiWalking books is that as you watch and listen to your body, it is important to be as non-identified and impartial as possible. So, here I am, running along and saying to myself, “This is just a sensation.” I intuitively knew that my legs weren’t really tired, because I had done this same run only a couple of days earlier and had a great run. So, then I asked myself, “What can I do about this?” I was on an uphill section, so I shortened my stride, relaxed my legs and began swinging my arms forward and upward wildly, creating a huge range of motion. When I crested the top of the short rise I kept swinging my arms as I had been and leaned into the subsequent downhill slope. I did everything I could to lengthen my stride, rotate my pelvis and bend my knees. I must have looked like a crazy-man. I kept this up for about a minute or two and then relaxed my whole body. What I noticed after doing this, was that my whole body felt much lighter and energized. I had no problems with fatigue for the rest of the run. In fact, I ran smoother and faster than usual.

After my run, I realized that if I hadn’t chosen to swing my arms and focused on getting my energy moving, it wouldn’t have changed over and I might have finished my run feeling tired and worn out. As it turned out, I felt very energetic afterwards. And that’s when the phrase, “It takes money to make money.” popped into my head.

Whenever you feel you have a lack of energy, it could mean that your energy (chi) just isn’t flowing and you need to do something to “wake it up.” Doing something physical is always best, and don’t always think that just because you’re tired, that you have no energy available. It’s there, but you have to consciously “jump start” it to get it moving. This technique can, of course, be applied just as effectively to situations in everyday life. Try it…you might like it.

Keep the chi flowing,
Danny

Whenever I’ve been asked to be interviewed by the media, I’ve been asked this question…and then been given about 45 seconds to answer. So I challenged myself to come up with a brief description of how ChiRunning and ChiWalking combine the principles of t’ai chi with running and walking, and how that can improve your movement. So here goes… (I’m starting my stopwatch.)

“T’ai chi is the mother of all martial arts, based on the premise that all movement and power originates from your center, not your arms and legs.
For centuries, the Chinese have studied animal movement and found that all movement in the body revolves around a central axis (along the spine) while the arms and legs remain as relaxed as possible and act only as conduits for the force generated by your core.

When these principles of alignment and relaxation are applied in ChiRunning and ChiWalking, efficiency increases and impact with the ground decreases. You can run farther, faster or more often without increasing your risk of injury. Your body no longer breaks down because you’re practicing to run and walk with more fluidity with every step, while using the pull of gravity for propulsion.”

There… 41 seconds flat.

Have a great day,
Danny