pavedwave longboarding

Parson Adams · Joined: 02 Jun 2008 Posts: 93 Location: San Antonio

Read it on James' recommendation on the site.

Just finished the book, and I have to say that after practicing my posture and keeping the concept of cotton and steel in my mind while pumping today, my speed gradually increased out of nowhere. It's a great read, and I, too, recommend it. Tomorrow, I fall forward.

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I won't quit my day job.

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

It's a great read even if you're not an active runner - his vibe about being injury-free carry over to many other sports.

I've still not adopted Dreyer's organic diet toward the back of the book, but trying to "clean it up" here and there. I just read "Ultramarathon Man" by Dean K. and find out he's whoofing down chocolate eclairs and pepperoni pizza on his runs Very Happy

Just recently spotted another "Chi" article in the SeattleTimes.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/...th/2008392769_nwchirunning17.html

durtypumper · Joined: 06 Mar 2009 Posts: 6 Location: Eastern Shore of MD

Most of the fundamentals (most importantly, posture) are critical to success in any type of endurance sport.
The basics of Chirunning totally transformed what I was doing as a runner several years ago, and helped me to get from hobbling for 1 mile in extreme pain to finishing dozens of ultra events. While you can still get injured from stupid stuff, good posture allows your body to move more efficiently over the long haul.
I'm a total LDP newbie, but whether I'm pumping or running, if I lose track of my posture I can feel the results almost immediately.

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

Sand Running!

One of the things that really jumped out from the Chirunning book was a visual of footprints in the wet and hard-packed sand on the beach. Dreyer talked about how one should leave an evenly distributed footprint behind when using good running form.

Sand is a simple, objective, kinesthetic, visual feedback mechanism. Assuming that premise of the even footprint has validity, I thoroughly enjoyed running some full miles over our last vacation at Long Beach WA, then backtracking over the same and looking at the foot pattern left behind. In the end, I got overly excited and probably overdid it, as I'm now experiencing more foot soreness than I should, but just got wrapped up in how fun and easy it was to run on the beach. Like a "new discovery" that isn't new at all of course...after getting home I had to google "Sand Running" and quickly came across hundreds of hits like:

http://www.posetech.com/training/archives/000417.html << balanced view, focus is on training
http://home.sprynet.com/~holtrun/sandrun.htm << focus on training
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_10_18/ai_91752392/ << more training focus
http://www.livestrong.com/video/2719-do-soft-sand-running/ << +++ comments on barefoot
http://www.suzietrainsmaui.com/blog/tag/soft-sand-running/ << like the vibe. plus, she's a hottie.
http://www.theaesthetic.com/NewFiles/softsand.html << dug this one the most. spot on!!!

The aspect of 'training' isn't really what I was after. It was more for just enjoying the environment and enjoying running. Barefooting seemed like the only way to go. In fact, I'm surprised how many articles from that quick google search talk about wearing proper footwear--on the beach??

The thing that appealed to me the most was being able to adjust the terrain underfoot quickly by running along the tide line. I wasn't really going for the soft, deep sand running experience, but more for alternating between hardpack and the stuff that sinks just gradually. First day, I started out with a full mile run, then mile walk, mile run alternating for 6 miles (3 miles running, 3 miles walking) Second day was 3-on, 3-off again, but I tried pacing a little more evenly by speeding up the walks. Third day I ran the full 6 miles but at a very mellow pace. The GPS I carried wasn't just to track data -- it was actually quite helpful finding my path back home since there are very few big visual landmarks on that beach.

GPS Day 1
6 miles
Moving time 1:14
Moving average 4.9 mph
Max 10.2 mph

GPS Day 2
6 miles
Moving time 1:11
Moving average 5 mph
Max 12.7 mph

GPS Day 3
6 miles
Moving time 58:55
Moving average 6.1 mph
Max 10.3 mph

The other fringe benefit on the run were some brushes with nature. On days 2 and 3, a bald eagle flew directly toward me, then some 20-30 feet over my head. I also ran quite close to eagles a couple of times as they were standing on the beach, eating freshly caught fish. The other impressive sight were the flocks of pelicans, around 30 at a time, surrounded by three times as many seagulls and terns. Pelicans are quite impressively huge birds! And the terns are a bit on the freaky side because unlike seagulls which simply fly away, these guys tend to fly directly toward you and strafe a lot more. I felt the whoosh of their Hitchcockian dive bombing a number of times.

I could definitely get used to living on or near the beach.