Quiet Feet!

Good morning, Just got back from a quick trip to Starbucks where I picked up a bag of coffee. No way could we be without coffee on Sunday morning and my grammar is bad enough, but minus a cup of coffee and this blog would be ever worse than normal! Anyhow, the coffee is brewing and I should have a cup right beside me any moment. Ah... there it is, a fresh mug of hot coffee! Let's chat! Yesterday was awesome, Kathy and I sipped coffee until around 8:15 and then around 8:40 we went out for an 8 mile run in Dover. Despite chilling temperatures I choose to wear shorts and a couple layers of tops to run in and by mile 2 I was comfortable. By mile 4 I had to get rid of my headband and at mile 5 my gloves were in my pockets. Not everyone or probably most are as crazy as I am, but running in as little clothing as possible gives me greater feel and enjoyment with my running. It does mean that I want to go from walking out the door to running as quickly as possible, but if it is 30 degrees or higher, I may look foolish, but I wear a lot less than most. Have you ever run a race and had another runner near by that was either foot striking so hard or scuffing so loud that it hurt your ears? During the half marathon Kathy and I ran up in North Conway, there was a woman who was going pretty much the same pace that we were running and she was scuffing her feet so loud I had to speed us up just to get out of hearing range from her. That kind of makes it difficult when you a plan to maintain a certain pace, but there is no way I was going to listen to that for mile upon mile. Seriously though I understand that some that are loud on their feet may be because of reasons that can not be corrected such as past injuries or worse, some type of minor handicap. Instead of being critical I need to be more positive that people are out there running. I was and can still be one of those loud foot strikers if I don't mentally and physically focus on light feet when I am running. In the past I think I scuffed quite a bit and then I speeded up my cadence and I think I progressed to a heavier sounding strike. Most runners that have been in a group I have worked with will tell you that they could always hear when I was coming up behind them because of my short quick and "loud" cadence. As I have spent numerous hours studying running mechanics, gait analysis and injury prevention one of the common themes is to run with a quick cadence and "light" on your feet. The quicker cadence is well publicized these days and most runners can tell you that the ideal cadence is 180 steps per minute, but running light on your feet is also quite important. Besides the pain I was inflicting on those runners around me, I was also putting greater stress with each hard landing. The harder we land the more impact that moves up the entire leg and just as problematic is the amount of stress we put on our legs, knees and hips when we push off the ground after that hard landing. In fact, pushing off the ground has greater influence on our performance, efficiency and injury risk. The amount of time it takes our foot to touch down and push off (stance phase), has far reaching significance that most of us take for granted. We see it all the time when we do a gait analysis and it is really an awakening for those runners that have taken advantage of a "No Finish Line Running" professional gait analysis. Seeing the frame by frame of their landing and following it through to lift off really helps a runner understand the impact that this simple act of running can have. During my run Saturday my goal was to have a quiet feet as possible and by focusing on quiet feet I would hopefully be lighter on my feet. Ultimately putting less stress on the muscles, soft tissue, cartilage, bones and even the vertebra that are all above that foot as it absorbs landing and then pushing off. It was helpful that I didn't listen to music and was able to hear each foot strike and also focus on touch and rolling off my toes at push off. My run felt great I believe it was do in part because of my "quiet feet" and even my problem hip felt okay as we moved along. Another nice result was I felt like I moved along much freer and the pace was considerably faster than the same exact run the previous Saturday. Later I compared my Garmin data from the two same exact runs with only a week apart and my results were more than just mental. Focusing on light feet resulted in a pace that was faster by over 20 seconds and my average heart rate was lower. Now I am well aware that there are other factors that can influence a given run from day to day, but as a coach I try to be as scientific as possible and using data such as heart rate, cadence and comparable runs is important when trying to help runners with every facet of their running. For me personally I am excited that I had a great run and I will of course dissect why and try to build on it. Many people that are close to me will tell you how I can't let a runner pass me even when I am in a car or sitting at table without noticing their running gait (mechanics) and I guess that's the coach in me that wants to help everyone! Don't forget that we start our "No Finish Line Running Winter Running" groups this Tuesday at 6:00. We will meet at 1 Washington Place in Dover and go for a 40 minute run. Come join us and then we can also stop at the 7th Settlement after and have something to warm us up. This group will meet Tuesday's and Saturday mornings. Everyone that joins will have access to the NFLR training plan for winter runners or half marathon training, we will also have some organized Pilates classes, strength training, great running tops and much more! Contact me for more information or if you have any questions. The investment is $50.00 for the "Winter Running" group or $100.00 if you want to train for the "Half at the Hamptons". Have a great Sunday! Mike