Smooth, efficient running greatly depends on posture, stride length, and footfall, and ChiRunning hold the secrets, says Catherina McKiernan
What is ChiRunning? Quite simply, it is good mechanics designed to prevent and clear up running- related injuries. Chi (pronounced chee) is the flow of energy through our body; it can’t be quantified but it’s there.
How we can tap into this Chi energy is by good alignment and relaxation. For instance, when your structure is properly aligned and your muscles and joints are relaxed, energy will flow unobstructed through your body.
As we age, we tend to develop bad habits and lose the natural posture that is central to good form when running. People are often afraid to change, or indeed think they cannot change, bad habits, but it’s amazing how well our bodies respond to proper care, even if we have neglected them for a long time.
It is important to keep your spine straight; this will take pressure off your back muscles. It will also allow you breathe better by giving your ribs and lungs more room to expand: it’s difficult to breathe deeply when hunched over.
Stand upright and tall, putting attention on the crown of your head. Hold your hand about half an inch above the crown of your head. Now, try to touch your hand by reaching up with your head. It will feel as though you are lengthening the back of your neck. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed.
There are two good ways to check your alignment is correct. While standing, lengthen your spine as described above. Holding this posture, drop your chin and look down. If you cannot see you shoelaces, your hips are too far forward; they need to move into alignment between your shoulders and ankles, so gently move your pelvis to the rear. This may feel a little more forward than what you are used to.
Good posture should be practised all day: when you are sitting, standing walking and running. The more you practise good posture in everyday life, the quicker you will be able to transfer it to your running.
Another important component of ChiRunning technique is learning to land mid-foot. Heel striking is a very common mistake with runners. I meet people who have read about mid-foot landing and try to practise it but end up exaggerating what they read and landing on their forefoot, pushing off from their toes.
Heelstrike occurs when you land on your heel and your foot lands in front of the body. When your foot lands in front of you, it results in a brake or resistance to forward motion.
If you are reaching with your legs, and leaning slightly back as you run, you will heel strike and most likely push off the balls of your feet to propel yourself forward. This is not an efficient way to run — it puts a lot of pressure on the lower legs, knees and hips — and if persisted with can cause injuries, including calf strains, shin splints and Achilles tendinitis.
Forefoot striking occurs when you land on the balls of your feet. This overworks the lower leg, ankle and foot and asks a small body part to do a very big, repetitive job under tension.
When running, you always need to have your centre of mass ahead of your foot strike. A simple way to remember this: never let your toes pass your nose.
It is a common misconception that if you take long strides you will run faster. On the contrary, it’s a highy inefficient style, causing unnecessary impact on the body.
By mid-foot striking I mean letting your whole foot land on the ground. Take short, snappy steps rather than long strides. Dorsiflexing and reaching forward with the legs cause heel strike.
I say to people when they are out running, ‘Shake out your wrists and get the same feeling of relaxation into the ankle joint (front of the ankle).’
Don’t ‘make’ yourself land midfoot; allow it to happen by keeping your stride short and snappy and lower legs limp and relaxed.
People carry tension all over their bodies: from neck, shoulder, upper body, lower back, legs, ankles and feet. The more you relax when running, the longer and faster you will be able to run.
Talk to yourself and encourage your body to relax. Tight muscles need oxygen to revive them, and adequate circulation carries away lactic acid. When you clench or tighten muscles you rob them of the blood flow and oxygen needed to do the work. So if you are feeling
tightness in one part of your body, direct your focus to that area and consciously help it relax
With a little focus and practice you can experience the joy of achieving an effective, energy saving and relaxed running style, regardless of how far or how fast you travel.
Happy running!
