MY TERRIFIC CHIRUNNING WORKSHOP
I wrote about the ChiRunning method in my post Run Longer & Injury Free. I discovered its techniques last summer in the book “Chi Running, A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running” by Danny Dreyer. Ever since, I’ve been trying to put its several focuses into my running practice. Yet, I felt I wasn’t really combining the elements correctly.
To actually find out how to put it all together I signed up and participated in a 6-hour ChiRunning workshop two Saturdays ago. Lisa Holloway, a ChiRunning Certified Instructor, gave the class at a park in Temecula California. Lisa is a lifetime runner including track in school and, as a retired fire department instructor, has always enjoyed teaching.
I live up in Ventura so drove to my daughter’s house in San Diego the day before and had just an hour drive Saturday morning. Five of us made up the class: Shelly was already a great runner, having qualified for the Boston Marathon; Katrina, Shelly’s running partner, was also good; Jose was a little overweight but had good running form; Shay, a woman in the Marine Corps was already very fit; And me, the old guy in the group, had a lot to learn. Katrina & Shay were thirty-something, Jose was in his forties, Shay was early twenties and me, the seventy something guy!
Lisa began the class with “body looseners,” including ankle rolls, knee, pelvic and hip circles, hip rotation, spinal twist and stretch, a relaxed arm swing. She then moved on to the most important focus: our posture. Lisa had each of us work at creating a straight line from the crown of our head to the bottom of our feet (Danny Dreyer calls this your Column). It involves aligning the feet, lengthening the spine and back of neck, lowering the jaw, engaging lower abs and leveling the pelvis.
Next, we were given focuses on how to run: “Think floating across the ground, light on your feet. Completely relax calves, let lower legs dangle below loose knees with no stiffness in ankles or tightness in calves.”
All easier imagined than done! Lisa now videoed each of us as we ran in a circle, then straight at her followed by straight away from her. Then she reviewed each of our videos with us individually (but looked on by the rest of the class).
For the next few hours we practiced what we had learned while Lisa gave us personalized feedback. These focuses included:
- Leaning slightly forward to use gravity for your propulsion instead of your legs.
- Adding more and more lean as our “gears” to run faster.
- Landing with a mid mid-foot strike instead of a heel strike to keep your posture in alignment—which helps reduce injuries.
- Gently peeling your feet off the ground as you “fall forward,” so that you don’t use your legs for propulsion.
- Engaging your core muscles to keep your pelvis level to reduce injuries. The movement of your legs creates a counter rotation between your upper and lower body and, once you learn to do it, your pelvis rotates around its central axis along the spine. (If your pelvis does not rotate, you’ll absorb the force of the road with you knees, quads, hips or lower back.)
- Learning that in ChiRunning cadence never changes. (Cadence = the rate at which your feet strike the ground, measured in strides per minute.) However, your stride length changes constantly: As your speed increases, so does the length of your stride and as you slow down, your stride shortens
After all this practicing, Lisa videoed us individually once again. She asked each to concentrate on just one of the new focuses we had learned. I concentrated on keeping my neck up and chin down. We again ran in a circle, and then straight at her followed by straight away from her. Then she reviewed each of our videos individually (again looked on by the rest of the group).
And class was done. A few days later, Lisa sent us the “before” and “after” videos of ourselves and the others in our workshop.
For me, the class was invaluable! Lisa had told us we should aim for gradual progress and that it would probably take 3 to 6 months of slowly adding in all the focuses until we would actually accomplish the complete ChiRunning technique. I’ve already begun working in the focuses and not only find myself running faster, but I’m also less fatigued. I’ve entered a half marathon this weekend here in Ventura where I’ll have a chance to see how it improves my performance.
If you want to try ChiRunning, you’ll want to buy the book by Danny Dreyer because it includes a wealth of information. You can also purchase the physical or digital ChiRunning DVD. Visit www.chirunning.com to purchase these items and/or obtain more information on this awesome new way to run.
Of course, to get the maximum amount of knowledge in the shortest amount of time, you’d want to take a ChiRunning workshop. It’s well worth the $130 cost! They’re offered all over the country. If you live in Southern California, you’d definitely want to take one of Lisa Holloway’s classes offered in either Temecula or Palm Desert. Her website is www.BalancedNMotion.com. Then, enjoy a fun day that will change your running forever!