Running: an endorsement from a wannabe runner

[theoconbrio]

I have run on and off for years, but I always found it a pretty painful slog. Recently I have been following this program with *excellent* results.

www.chirunning.com

I bought the book and DVD and have been practicing with it. I learned a bunch of really interesting things: (1) my posture is lousy, (2) my core muscles are weak, (3) my balance is lousy, (4) my stride is too long, and (5) I try wayyy too hard. Basically it teaches you some simple postural tricks that help you feel more balanced, so you are less likely to get injured. It also emphasizes *quality* of your cardio exercise over the quantity--they say that you should only do your exercise as long as you can do it comfortably and in good form; doing more just encourages you to practice bad habits. Kind of obvious in retrospect, but how many of us follow it?

Obviously I have no interest in this; I just have been amazed at how much better I feel--after 15 years of running and hating it, within a few months I've totally changed the way I run and it feels a lot more relaxed. If you wish you could run but find it too much work or too hard on your joints or whatever, you might find this helpful.

[Dani]

I'm intrigued as I get ready to train for my first 5K.

[Chester B. Dickens]

they say that you should only do your exercise as long as you can do it comfortably

COOL!

<<runs to refrigerator; runs back!>>

Aaahhh!!

I have never been able to run well or for very long. I could walk from here to Timbuktu and back, but ask me to increase that pace even 10% and I'm a winded, beet-face-redded idiot. Dunno if it is attributable to having chronic bronchitis as a kid, or being a lardass for most of my adult life.

[theoconbrio]

Dan: <thwack!>

Re: the serious part of your comment, in ChiRunning they teach a VERY slow pace at first. (They call it "first gear.") You actually are encouraged to walk one minute, run one minute, for a total of 20 minutes.

Dani, if you really are interested the best thing might be to see if there are any classes at your university or nearby. That's how I found out about it--from a seminar that one of the instructors was giving in my town. He taught basically everything you need to know in a couple of hours. For me the book and DVD are just reminders. The website says that there is someone who advertises as covering Central MI (gives the link http://www.reallybethere.com/).