In these long endurance events the walk break seems to rule

6. Are you a lifter or a pusher?

The answer could be the silver bullet your running needs

Last time we spoke about the forward lean & its contribution to an increased stride rate – a highly desirable component required to being an efficient runner. That forward lean is one component that increases stride rate; power application is the other. However an increased angle of attack does not guarantee increased stride rate in some cases, as habituated lifting of the knee, in an effort to increase/maintain stride length continues to access majority concentric muscle contraction of the hip flexors. This not only slows stride rate, but greatly increases the strength requirement & therefore an accelerated accumulation of fatigue from dealing with eccentric jarring from increased support phase weight bearing time. It also creates more fatigue because the stride falls more towards the forward sector relative to the center of mass, & thus increasing work to regain this lost inertia with each step. It is a common myth that in order to have that nice high knee lift when you run you have to fire your hip flexors – nothing could be further from the truth. By powerfully extending your leg downwards it subsequently is dragged rearward (because of forward momentum & the foot striking a stationary surface). The leg is not driven in an effort to push the body while it is on the surface – this would be counterproductive as tissue is supposed to be held semi rigid as connective tissue stretches/loads in anticipation for elastic release upon toe off. It is essential that the driving phase is seen as unloaded & with gravity. In this way the hip flexors are extended/loaded & pop back powerfully because of this, leading to that light, springy high knee lift so characteristic of great runners. Again, please make sure that you do not push while the foot is on the ground, but before this; it’s like throwing a pogo stick at the ground. If you push while the foot is on the surface you stop it from unloading elastically. Good running is 5 parts elastic return & only one part strength application – the more you lift your knees & try to power your body by driving the foot while it is on the ground, the greater the strength component, the slower the stride rate, the longer the stance time, the greater the rate of fatigue accumulation. Nuf said!
©Bobby McGee – Bobby McGee Endurance Sports
www.BobbyMcGee.com

HEAD to HEAD – The Mental Side of Being the Best You, You Can Be

A coaching friend of mine recently asked me what one could do with the very frustrating situation of athletes not achieving what they are physically capable of on race day. Now the coach happens to be one of the VERY best coaches that the sport of triathlon has & the athlete is a professional, so it is not like this coach has no idea how to motivate an athlete or has no experience with getting top results at the highest level!
After what I thought was a drug-riddled showing in the distance events in the 2000 Olympics I made a fundamental shift in my thinking as a coach—forget trying to find individuals with the physiological characteristics to be world beaters; work instead towards helping those athletes that choose you as a coach to become the best they can be. If one of those athletes turns out to be a world beater then so be it.
I am happy to say that I have since also been involved with athletes who make it to the very top – the answer lies in the acknowledgement that NO SINGLE FACTOR IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALL THE REST. Holism is an easy word to toss around in a lecture or conversation with coaches & athletes, but a far harder principle to apply consistently with every athlete & yourself.
Most of us master of one or some of the facets that make up peak performance in endurance events & I know some coaches who have systems & people in place that manage close to all of them. However of all these facets that constitute success mental skills training is the most challenging to master.
Which athlete wants to own up to being a “head case”? Very, very few of us have the vulnerability & ego-checking capabilities of setting aside our desires of not being exposed & the guts to fully take on the very real risks of falling flat on our faces in the full on attempt required to be the very best we can be.
This process is like meditation or prayer – the minute one gets competitive with it one loses! The dialogue that leaves one’s mouth as an “explanation” of a subpar performance is ego driven & a futile exercise in avoidance of being exposed to oneself & others. Even the seemingly honest, “that’s all I had on the day” is pregnant with denial if there is information that indicates the performance failed to meet the standards set in training. The worst one for all involved of course is the “I tried my best” answer. Facing & fully experiencing failure honestly is at the very root of the learning process that makes champions of us all.
Add to this, the coach’s conundrum – they know the athlete failed mentally, the athlete knows they failed mentally & the athlete knows the coach knows! Yet, because of the many precipitating factors like avoidance of confrontation, the relationship (in terms of social environment), trust, frail egos & money, the partnership continues & the size of the elephant in the room continues to increase.
With every day a coach fails to address the obvious fact that the athlete needs to take on their mental & emotional limiters he/she is selling their athletes more & more short. Granted, if the cause of the failure is sufficiently severe & sourced in the athlete’s childhood, then the coach cannot become a psychiatrist. But can the coach become a parent of sorts? YES, if the athlete is willing.
The whole idea of consciously allowing kids to fail in a safe environment within a loving, empathic environment is so that they learn how to read situations & make smart choices when the chips are down & the consequences of failure are far more dire. (Can you tell I have a 3-year-old & I am using Love & Logic© principles!). Without an open honest relationship & a clear commitment to excellence, athletes & coaches CANNOT access the means by which the athlete may rise to a level commensurate with the athlete’s ability… Quite simply can not
Whether you are self-coached, coached or coach, if you want to experience the elation of crossing the finish line with a deep sense of knowing that you displayed full access to your talent, skills & fitness, then you must take on addressing your limiters. These may include mental & emotional hurdles that are largely unknown & unseen by you as the protagonist.
In every endurance event, 1st race to your ability & fitness levels & then, when you have gone as far & as fast as your physiology & pacing have allowed, then race & beat everyone around you, knowing that these athletes will include many with greater capabilities. In this way precious few with less talent will finish ahead of you. And many with more ability will end behind you – those who have less fortitude than that which you forged in the fire of ownership & hard graft.
Bobby McGee
www.BobbyMcGee.com

Bare Foot Running Panel & Hill Running

Up that Hill & do it Again!

Before this week’s post, there’s a panel discussion on, yup you guessed it, BFR tomorrow, Wednesday (April 28th) at 6:30PM at Alta Physical Therapy in Boulder, (2955 Baseline Road, Boulder CO 80303). The panelists will be one time junior phenom runner & now coach Melody Fairchild, Olympic 10 000m & Marathon runner Alan Culpepper, Danny Abshire, designer of the Newton running shoe, top running physical therapist, Charlie Merrill, Aaron Anderson, pedorthist extraordinaire & myself. As has seemed to be the case with BFR in its latest Born to Run incarnation, enthusiasm (to put a euphemistic bent on it), is running high. Moderator Barry Siff would seem to have his work cut out for him.
Any way, if you live in the Boulder/Denver area & you are interested, we’d love to see you. Perhaps I’ll need your support as the battle may be bloody as the enthusiasts on either extreme edge of the spectrum vie to get their point across! Just kidding – it ought to be a blast.
HILL RUNNING
Hill running seems to be somewhat under-utilized by runners & triathletes in the USA in my experience, I am not sure if it’s a seasonal thing – in Africa we can run hard outdoors all year around, here it seems conditions limit what you can do quality-wise in the winter months & I don’t hear of a lot of people doing formal hill repeats on a treadmill. I have found runners get really close to their peak form after a series of hill repeats & that repeat work on the track adds some further benefit, but the risks of injury are far greater.
Hills don’t help you gain concentration skills much, (steady state runs on the flat do that!), as they allow you to run only as hard as you can, but boy do they help your functional strength & VO2 max if applied correctly. Hills are the ultimate tool when it comes to self-determining intensity; no matter what set of repeats you planned your form will soon tell you when the best laid plans are to be reviewed. Allow form to be your guide – if you figured on 75sec repeats & bits start flying off at 50sec, then 50sec is what was required at that effort. Use time rather than distance on hill repeats.
Hills are a great way to build specific speed without hurting yourself, because you are fighting gravity you are not running as fast & putting yourself down more softly. A pace on the flat that delivers the physiological stress you require may be challenging your joints & connective tissue/fascia more because of heightened centrifugal force from greater velocity. But on the hill, the same effort physiologically produces less damaging forces, but the same bang for your training buck. Conversely of course what goes up must come down & here you need to either take short soft quick running steps or walk, or Lydiard-style, pick a long hill with side streets that run with the contour (i.e. flat) upon which you recover.
Build to hill repeats as follows: Do a few runs on particularly hilly, rolling courses. Then progress to running those same routes, but accelerating the climbs & recovering on the downs & flats & then progress to formal hill repeats.
A word of caution to the over-zealous – don’t do hills without your ego in check! One of the US greats & definitely a humble individual with no ego issues at all is Dathan Ritzenhein – he gave me good insight on how to do hills. Dathan, the current US 5000m record holder discovered that he might have been doing his hill repeats too hard & too steeply, even perhaps too often, as he was getting injured in the ankle. He switched to shallower, longer & therefore less intense hills, stayed injury free & went sub 13min for 5km.
Have fun in them thar hills – your improved performances will be ample reward for slogging up the same flippin hill multiple times!
Bobby McGee
www.BobbyMcGee.com

Mastering downhill running

Been in Tucson helping with run mechanics & sport psychology for age group triathletes & doing some sagging up Mount Lemmon – now that’s a cool ride & probably a monster run. Camps are the way to go if you come from colder winter climes to jumpstart your season. Tucson is literally swamped with athletes of every kind at this time of year & besides opportunities to train swim, bike & run, there’s tons to do & GREAT places to eat. This year the weather has not played ball – cold & wet, but after what’s been going on weather-wise in Boulder & back east, there are no complaints.
Then we have a new world champion! Simon Martin, a friend & regular who attends drills & with whom I work on some scheduling & advice, won the world masters cross country title in Canada recently & made the final in both the 3000m & the 1500m – indoors. Congrats Simon!
Then we have another client/friend, who dived into BFR sans boots-and-all & then owned up to getting a stress fracture shortly afterwards! There were however some extenuating circumstances, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt…; speedy recovery Simon (another Simon).
This week I am delving into downhill running. There’s so much to say about this topic & so many struggle to gain the full advantage of gravity in races. 1stly I used to agree that “letting go” was a good idea in short races, but now I think down hills need to be “run” to gain full advantage. It helps to push the arms out a little wider during descents for balance & stability & also to open the elbow angle somewhat, lengthening the arm lever to keep the kinetic chain intact while taking longer strides. BUT I THINK A HIGHER STRIDE RATE IS THE ANSWER – this provides more control & less fatigue.
Lean off the line of gravity as the vertical, rather than off 90* being vertical on the level.
Mid foot strikers are able to brake with the foot & shoe, while heel strikers have to control descents with the shin (decelerating the lowering of the forefoot) & quad. This accelerated eccentric contraction massively fatigues the legs & does micro damage as well. Some studies have shown for example that some 70% of quad power is lost in the 1st 6 miles of the Boston Marathon due to the extreme nature of that descent. Heel strikers tend to step out from a slope & therefore “fall” much further to impact, while a good mid foot runner (still putting the heel down after the mid foot or at the same time), steps down the hill, a more kinesthetic move, with far less quad demand & dissipation requirements.
I remember in the 90s when I was running altitude camps for Olympic hopefuls in South Africa how we used to encourage the athletes to keep their heart rates up on descents by running down as hard as they could. Just this weekend some top long course triathlon pros were telling me how high they got their heart rates when descending on the bike – working against resistance down the hills to attain maximum speed.
Now, unlike the bike, bad form/lack of skill when running down can be ruinous to back, knees, shins & quads. To become a master runner on the downs requires an assessment of your current ability – do others kick your butt on the downs & are you really uncomfortable when running down & are you really beat up afterwards? If so assess your foot strike, body alignment & the other factors I have mentioned. Then practice in a number of ways – strengthen your legs through progressively building eccentric strength with lunges, squats, static & then linear plyometrics like hops & bounds. Then gradually, with short duration, shallow, well-cushioned (read grass) hills slowly develop both your technique & functional strength. Add one progressively longer run per week on a course that goes predominantly up on the way out & down on the way back. Eventually run some unidirectional runs; some faster & others longer, downhill. Progression rates with this skill & conditioning will be slower than for normal running as is indicated by the fact that a taper for a race with a lot of downhill running requires about a week longer to taper effectively.
So learn to actually run downhill rather than hang on & survive – turn descents into a weapon in your arsenal.
Till next time.
Bobby McGee
http://www.bobbymcgee.com/

PS: My new DVD on running form & run drills (with plenty of extras) is now available, either order from my website (www.BobbyMcGee.com) or from Endurance Films at www.endurancefilms.com

INTRODUCTION to BFR - & I'm done!

Hey my run mechanics DVD is finally available - I will be able to ship them out in about 3 weeks - watch the website.

A Coach’s suggestions to introducing BFR to your routine

(This article goes out with a clear warning – no NOT try this without first clearing with your physician)
This process can be a little easier for triathletes who do spend some time running barefoot from either the water to the bike, or the dismount to the run and hopefully training for that.
The trick with moving from fully shod all the time, to experiencing the conditioning, mechanical and performance benefits possible through BFR, is gradual progression – just like regular endurance training.
· Your specific mechanics (including weight)
· Foot wear transition process and suggestions
· Venues and surface
Somewhat obviously your specific mechanics are the most crucial aspect as pertaining to the entry process to BFR. If you are a serious over-pronator with collapsed arches who originally chose your footwear because of pain or injury due to this, you need to pay special attention.
Use this as a disclaimer (speak to your doctor). Bottom line – your feet could always use some strengthening and everyone can benefit from addressing their running mechanics, BUT SOME FOLK REALLY WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RUN AT ALL WITHOUT MODERN SPECIFIC FOOTWEAR. If you have issues either structurally or with soft tissue that logically and in the opinion of a respected expert, preclude you from efforts to do some running (or even walking) bare foot – stay away. As an individual you will know from informal barefoot experience whether this is a route for you to try or not.
Lastly, remember that the likelihood of early man, the runner who chased his lunch down, had a body fat of over 10% is highly unlikely – they had no high fructose corn syrup! An individual’s weight is key going into a BFR integration process. As an example, I set goal weight targets (based on a % body fat) for my beginners before they transition from walking to running and from run/walk to running. Similarly, neophyte triathletes from a swim background (or to a lesser extent, a biking or highly sedentary background), must first do some walking, foot strengthening and bone density increasing activities before beginning BFR. So too should any athletes who have clear limiters to BFR regarding their physical suitability.
Once you have jumped through the hoops to ensure you can safely launch into a BFR process then it’s time for HOW.
The first HOW is footwear. You might say well, if we are talking BFR then let’s go do it – run without shoes – but easy there Tiger, not so fast. A good model is the one of orthotics – have I said a bad word? Often individuals who opt for orthotics, maintain the same support shoes & end up over-supported – it is essential to reduce the amount of support you get from your shoe if an orthotic is doing much of the work already. Also consider that often an orthotic does its work in a very short time & proprioceptively improves your foot function meaning you need less orthotic VERY soon. Lastly the greater the amount of support, the greater the weakening of the foot structure as its function is taken over by external devices. This, by the way, is the whole argument of the BFR fraternity – these shoes have weakened our feet to such an extent that we have become dependent upon them. Ironically, this is also the voice of reason in the whole process: yes strengthen your feet, gain as much natural strength & function as possible & reduce the support & cushioning of your footwear to the safest point possible. The whole idea of course is to run as fast as your physiology permits & you desire & then also remain injury free, (which is the secret to optimal fitness any way – consistency!)
So using the orthotics model – the greater your dependence upon supportive shoes & orthotics & the less effective your own natural mechanics, the slower the process. This might mean wearing slightly less supportive shoes as your specific process begins, while another, who wears a neutral racer or racer/trainer can possibly go straight to barefoot work or to some kind of minimalist footwear.
Lastly the surface that is to be run on needs to be carefully considered. While thick grass is good, there are some inherent challenges: hidden dangers like glass, rocks, splinters & dog poop landmines are an ever present possibility. Grass is also uneven & can cause sprains & the like. Dirt is somewhat hard & stony. So those surfaces often require some sort of covering of the foot sole like a cross country racing flat. I really like synthetic grass surfaces – they are soft enough & firm enough & somewhat clear of debris & reasonably accessible.
Process:
1. Start off by walking about the house & garden barefoot for ever lengthening periods – good luck with the garden in northern climes (or way southern climes) in the winter!
2. Spend some time (a maximum of 10 minutes) “playing” with minimalist shoes (no heels or real cushioning or support) – Frisbee, throwing a ball, light soccer, kids, etc
3. Before run sessions, after a brief barefoot walk, run around on a smooth, softer, safe surface at a comfortable pace for a maximum of 5 minutes & gradually increase from there.
4. If you do regularly sprint or stride & do plyometric drills, begin doing some small part of these barefoot or in minimalist footwear
5. Build these until you have achieved the desired effect & you have determined a level of footwear cushioning & support that suit your needs for performance & safety
& for goodness sake – have fun with it!

Bobby McGee

Look out for my new DVD on Run Mechanics & Drills in the next 3 weeks on my website & from USAT or Endurance films

MORE words on barefoot running...

This URL is brief & says plenty; check it out: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=running-barefoot-is-better-research-2010-01-27Especially watch the video; Very clear

Yes there is less pressure on the knees of people who run on their fore foot, or at least strike there 1st. The problem arises for most runners however if they do not follow this with the heel at least lightly “kissing” the surface as the great 800m runner, Sebastian Coe puts it.Remember that a number of elite athletes do run on their forefeet, in shoes, as they were born to run. I am a plodder & run on my forefeet for heaven’s sake. A highly supportive shoe kills me, but even though I teach biomechanical drills, can demonstrate most forms of running, spend my entire childhood & much of my adult life barefoot, I cannot & would not run barefoot on asphalt – I never run on concrete; I rather run through shrubbery! And my goodness, how unnatural, I wear gloves, as this wussy South African could never finish a 30 minute session in a Boulder winter without them! My genetically given foot structure is that of a high arch with zero ability to pronate (natures natural shock absorber & foot spring). I need protection & some cushioning.Not all heel strikers are equal either – remember the heel is far closer to the body’s dynamic center of mass than the forefoot & therefore promotes a partial passing strike of the surface, allowing the body to be somewhat more upright. This landing under the body, instead of ahead of it, is a very good thing & leads to a rolling, efficient way to run. This is also a rotational force & deflects & loads quite effectively. The foot serves as a partial wheel & rolls smoothly from heel to toe. Poor heel striking, with the shin angled backward & the heel striking the ground way ahead of the center of mass, with the toe up high & the shin working like the dickens to decelerate the inevitable slap down & inward that is to follow is a sure way to entice every running injury in the book. This happens because these runners are truly mimicking walking (& how most everyday runners learned to run) – they are simply launching & dropping onto the ground in a display of aerial power walking. This comes from a lack of background in running & these individuals (the majority) have progressed their natural walk to a launched version & call it running. Of course it is unnatural, has damaging peak forces & without highly protective footwear will injure them. Again, I am all for education & returning our nutrition, etc to a simpler way, but at the rate at which safe healthy information gets to the majority of the community that requires it, we will create more problems than we solve if we allow every runner & prospective runner to hurl themselves into BFR. A well designed study done at the University of Cape Town Sports Science Institute, under the auspices of the world renowned scientist & author of what is commonly acknowledged greatest running book ever written, Dr. Tim Noakes produced interesting results. The instigator was a Dr. Nicolas Romanov, he of the POSE method fame or infamy, depending where you seat yourself. He says also that we should ALL run on our forefoot. Now similar to these other studies done on BFR, this study found decreased pressure in the knee joint & supported Dr. Romanov’s notions. Anecdotally however almost every individual in the study developed achilles tendon problems soon after the study completion. Dr. Romanov says the transition may have been too rapid. Add to this of course that there was no footwear intervention either, but I surmise that this is the biggest issue that will arise if we have a mass exodus of runners over to being savannah plains runners on the paved & cobbled streets of the world – a huge increase in achilles tendon & similar injuries.I believe I have 2 more of these (BFR blogs) in me: One on footwear that might meet the biomechanical requirements of BFR & no, not minimalist in the least, & how to transition from shod to some BFR without irreparably dinging yourself.Till then, take care, be your swiftest & have a blast.

Bobby McGee

The interest in barefoot running rages on

So there it is… so much more information out there – good stuff too, lots of research being done, some out in the public domain & larger studies to come—hooray! Remember how I said that there are way more intelligent people than I out there who know so much more? So the evening after a day of BFR back & forth in the popular press, there’s a great piece out of Beaverton, Oregon. Check it out on NPR & search for barefoot running. Then there are also the groupies, who at least are passionate, whether well-informed or not. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/even-if-the-shoe-fits-forget-it/.
You know how it goes, a few individuals are super keen, have a valid story about themselves to tell & then sell it as the norm or the answer to world peace - & this cuts both ways – for or against. My appreciation to those who replied/commented as a contribution to the blog; I am glad that some have taken the time (& even admitted getting injured), but persisted & strengthened their feet & proceeded to find a level of barefoot, or minimalist running that allowed them to continue enjoying an activity they love. Also remember the silent majority who run miles, effectively, enjoyably & with shoes of some form or another. Those experts that I work with on a daily basis & who do sell shoes for a living have confirmed in their attention to my clients that sometimes too much shoe is prescribed, but in general, most people receive footwear that provides the minimum of what they need. Look at it this way, sure we were meant to run barefoot, over soft natural terrain, in certain climates. We were designed at some point in our evolution to run down our food because even though much slower than almost all our prey we had superior breathing apparatus that allowed us to go slowly for VERY long periods of time & that we dealt with heat way better than our lunch did hence we drove them to exhaustion. Nowadays we only drive ourselves to exhaustion in an effort to ward off the fact that our food no longer avoids us & just lays there; & in most cases it is barely food at all! We no longer naturally operate that way through necessity (hunger!), & we certainly are not that light, nor do the surfaces we mostly have access to allow barefoot running.
Another factor seemingly not considered is that of speed. Converts to barefoot running as the only way to go can initially, for very short distances run gingerly on their forefeet & gradually adapt to a level where they get some distance & some speed – however, once conditioned, they still need some slight cushioning & protection in the form of shoes to be able to run where they please, as fast as they are able. While they do report miraculous healing from chronic conditions, they aren’t saying much about speed. I do agree with the argument put forth that the slowness of the process of conversion is exactly what we need & it matters not how long it takes, but only that we take the trouble to recreate our feet & legs for long term health & fitness. Some (& this is most people I believe), who have developed themselves as runners & figured out what works best on their feet & are successful at doing what they want to do would be loathe to go back & relearn the process entirely & suffer the injuries en route to reinventing the wheel. If they live in an environment unsuited to the sans shoes approach, why risk it? Whether we run or play racquet ball recreationally, if we push the limits – barefoot or not we will become an injury statistic at some stage!
More next time… Like heel striking is not evil, but not all heel striking is created equally either…
Take care, run well, be adventurous & sure wonder out (or in) where it’s safe & very gradually strengthen those feet!
Bobby McGee

More on unshod or not - barefoot running's run

In alignment with my attempt to seek brevity as a solution to blogging that becomes too infrequent, yesterday’s mammoth post hardly resonated! Anyway, I had had so many requests to state my case that I finally relented.
Today I want to briefly state that in preparation for yesterday’s piece, I did quite a bit of reading on the matter. Some of the pieces I referenced went into detailed, historical, well researched & anecdotal evidence for the use of shoes in some form or another. There are some really smart people out there! Of course what would be needed would be some convincing stats, from broad studies, that support the move to barefoot running en masse or not. I suspect that the level of sedentary backgrounds & social behaviors & circumstances of most individuals would indicate that the shift to barefoot running would need to be so gradual & expertly monitored as not to be possible both in terms of time & environmental requirements. I did not go into any detail on the actual mechanics involved as they pertain to wearing footwear versus going barefoot, but the prerequisites needed for the average runner to gain advantage from striving to run barefoot exclusively will in most cases be insurmountable & counter-indicated.
Add to this that there are a number of BFR (barefoot running) practitioners making a good bit of cash off their efforts to run BFR groups. This is not wrong, but to try to undermine bona fide research & efforts to make running less injurious & more pleasurable & effective for the masses smacks somewhat of hypocrisy.
Please also note that I am in no way financially supported by any shoe company or running store & am in the business to do whatever it takes morally & legally to provide a service to runners & triathletes to optimize their running experience.
Barefoot running most definitely has its place & that place is not as a full-time running alternative for all or most runners.