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Copyright © 2012 by Austin “Ozzie” Gontang, Ph.D. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America All rights within the United States and worldwide are reserved. No part of this publication ma be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Publisher Address Phone/fax/email Distributed by in US and Canada Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gontang Ph.D.
, Austin “Ozzie” Folklore of Running Volume 1 Includes e,g, biographical references and index 1. Running Folklore – Training/Philosophy/Psychology/Physiology Purchasing information Book printed on: Cover design Cover illustration Interior design and composition by Illustrations by Photos by except Test & Concept Ozzie Editing Book Design The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or a medical practitioner. Please see your health care provider before beginning any new health program 3

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Contents Dedication Poetry xPre-Ramble Kalama Sutra 1 page of Quotes of Buddha Preface My Mission/Purpose/Vision Science Is Based on Observation Section I Running Chapter 1 Sharing Folklore 3 pg Chapter 2 x Growing Ideas While Running Through The Garden of Life 3 pg Chapter 3 My Mission, Purpose, and Vision 1 pg Chapter 4 Science Is Based On Observation 2 pg Chapter 5 x Ball/Heel/Ball is the Correct Running Form Chapter 6 x BA BA Ball/Heel Atavist Manifesto 4 pg 3 pg Chapter 7 x Running Theory of GAPO Chapter 8 x Some Folklore on Learning to Run Four-Footed on 2 Feet 3 pg Chapter 9 x Runner’s Psychosclerosis And A Wee Typo 3 pg 2 pg Chapter 10 x A Look At Unnecesary Bouncing While Running Chapter 11 x Go For The Time: Moving 2 to 3 Hours on Your Feet Chapter 12 x Reflections On Unnecessary Vertical Displacement 2 pg 2 pg How To Experience and Observe It Chapter 13 x Fannypack, Backpack, Camelbak Feedback Chapter 14 x The Fiction of World Records Chapter 15 x Embrace Dragon, Run with Tiger 3 pg 3 pg 1 pg 2 pg Chapter 16 x We Are Called To Be World Class Humans Chapter 17 x The Day Before The Marathon: Understanding and Living ADHD Chapter 18 The World’s “BEST” Exercise Chapter 19 Seeing Yourself Move Through Space Chapter 20 x My Cat Taught Me How To Stretch Properly Chapter 21 x Dealing with Interesting Days and Brushes with Death Chapter 22 x Listening To Runners’ Thinking The Useful/Useless Knowledge A Runner Gathers Chapter 23 x Moving the Heart: To Change The Story You Tell, Tell A Story You Have Changed Chapter 25 x Give Me Oxygen and Give Me Breath Chapter 24 x The Ramblings of A Marathon Training Run A Marathoner’s Stream of Conscious 2 pg 4 pg 2 pg 3 pg 4 pg 3 pg 5 pg 4 pg 2 pg 3 pg i

Chapter 26 x Best Techniques To Prepare Someone for The Marathon 5 pg Chapter 27 x Journey of a Running Therapist 8 pg Chapter 28 x Depression-A Stepping Stone To Learning More Ramblings of a Running Therapist Chapter 29 x A Look At Psychology While Running 4 pg Thanks Abhay Wherever You Run Chapter 30 x My First and Last Flip-Off Chapter 31 x Nipples, Bloody Nipples Chapter 32 x How to Run Lightly and Quickly Over Terra Firma 3 pg 3 pg 2 pg 3 pg 2 pg Chapter 33 x I Love To Run In Weather Chapter 34 x If The Shoe Fits Chapter 35 x Lessons From Bubba: Educating myself at rec.running Chapter 36 x Lessons from “Lessons from Bubba” Chapter 37 x A Dialogue on Breathing: Some Science To Aid In What We Often Know Intuitively Chapter 38 x Nose Breathing and The Benefits: 2pg 4 pg 3 pg From Panic to 3:27 Marathon 4 pg Chapter 39 x Pump Up The Body: Short Version 1 pg Chapter 40 x Pump Up The Body: Long Version GAPO Ex. 2 Chapter 41 x Run Softly Over Hard Surfaces & Train On Uneven Terrain3 pg Chapter 42 x Breathing Patterns & Rhythms for Running Longer or Faster 3pg Chapter 43 x Arms: Man The Four-Footed Animal 3 pg 3 pg Chapter 44 x Eyes On The Horizon Madeleine Page and Miles Lakin Chapter 45 x Why I Love Hills: For People Who Hate Hills Chapter 46 x Arms and Cadence: Tying Them Together Chapter 47 x Going Sockless: The Results of a Dialogue with 2 pg. 2 pg 5 pg 2 pg Chapter 48 x Practice Yoga and/or Tai Chi: Improve Running Form And Style Chapter 49 x Running: Learning To Roll Over The Ground Chapter 50 x Running Downhill is a Downward Diagonal Chapter 51 x The Steeper The Hill The Shorter The Step Chapter 52 x A Feeling or Experience Is Worth Ten Million Pictures Chapter 53 x Inspiring Others To Reach For The Stars Chapter 54 x Runners And Ancient Healing Chapter 55 M Eight Pre-Marathon Questions and Answers Chapter 56 x Spirit of the Olympiad and the Fighting Cock Chapter 57 x Making A 180-steps A minute Feel Real Chapter 58 x Care of the Marathoner Chapter 59 x Groin Pull and ITBS: Collective Wisdom Chapter 60 x Marathon Trance Induction Chapter 61 x Downhill Running: Making Sense of Word Pictures Chapter 62 x Sex and Running Chapter 63 x Problem is the Calves Not the Achilles Tendon Chapter 64 x Knowing About & Caring for Your Friend: 3 pg 2 pg 7 pg 1 pg 1 pg 1 pg 3 pg 3 pg 3 pg 2 pg 6 pg 7 pg 3 pg 2 pg 2 pg 1 pg ii

The Achilles Tendon Chapter 65 x A Folkloric Core Dump on Calves: A Dialogue in Progress 5 pg Chapter 66 x Looking At A Shin Splint Problem With No Info 2 pg Chapter 67 x Shin Splints From Hell Chapter 68 x Keeping the Body Cool and What Happens If You Don’t 3 pg Chapter 69 x Eating Before Long Runs and Marathons 2 pg Chapter 70 x Loss of Sensation In Arm Chapter 71 x Flexible Body In A Flexible Mind Chapter 72 x Breathing Properly Chapter 73 x Orthotics, Barefoot & The Running Theory of GAPO Chapter 74 x The Adversary Lies Within Chapter 75 x Guide when Ill & Marathon Training Chapter 76 x Shoe Atavist: A Voice Crying In The Desert Chapter 77 x Folklore On Proper Running Technique Questioned Chapter 78 x Walking to Help Running & Update + Tangent Chapter 79 x Marathon Psyching Series: 1 Accepting the Marathon Challenge: An Inner Journey Done Publicly Chapter 80 x Marathon Psyching Series: 2 Marathoning: A Path, A Direction, A Lifestyle Chapter 81 x Marathon Psyching Series: 3 Hints for the Success the of Four-Hour Marathoner (Super-Fours) Chapter 82 x Marathon Psyching Series: 4 What To Say When Talking To Yourself Chapter 83 x Marathon Psyching Series: 5 The Week Before / The Month After Chapter 84 x Some of Ozzie’s Marathoning Rules of Ruin Chapter 85 x Trance Phrases Help Me In My Marathon Chapter 86 x A List of Blisters Chapter 87 x Healing Shin Splint Folklore & Prevention Chapter 88 x Kicking Self In The Shins + Update Chapter 89 x A Layman Looks At Bone Spurs Chapter 90 x Do Your Knees Grind? A Thought Chapter 91 x Improper Stretching A Waste of Mind… And Body Chapter 92 x The Knees Need To Be Kneaded Chapter 93 x Understand and Prevent Plantar Fascia Injury Chapter 94 x Soak Your Legs After Long Runs In Cold Frigid Water Chapter 95 x Rehabilitating Sprained Ankles: Free The Peroneus Chapter 96 x Sprained Ankle: Self-Help Chapter 97 x Fascia: Connective Tissue Chapter 98 x Shin Work: Pushing A Point Using A Clock Metaphor For A Timed Chapter 99 x One Way Of Looking At A Pain Above The Knee Chapter 100 x Improper Stretching Is The Culprit: 2 pg 2 pg 2 pg 3 pg 1 pg 3 pg 1 pg 3 pg 3 pg 3 pg 3 pg 4 pg 4 pg 3 pg 3 pg 4 pg 2 pg 3 pg 2 pg 5 pg 2 pg 4 pg 1 pg 3 pg 8 pg 4 pg 3 pg 4 pg 3 pg 2 pg iii

Another Look At Muscle and Fascia Chapter 101 x What To Do With A Pain On The Outside Of The Foot Chapter 102 x Motivation Comes From Within Chapter 103 x Mindful Running: Its Impact on Barefoot Running & Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton 2 pg Chapter 104 x Coaches Who focus on Proper Running Form 4 pg Chapter 105 x Your Piriformis May Affect Your Splay Feet & Bunions 4 pg Chapter 106 x A Running Reverie While Sitting Quietly Chapter 107 x Phiddipides Walked Chapter 108 x What is Mindless: First Step In Educating The Mindful Runner Section II Mindful Running 4 pg 2 pg 2 pg 2 pg 2 pg iv

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With our thoughts we make our world And then our world makes us. Anon. We are a product of all the explanations We have been exposed to W hether others’ or our own Lee Thayer Wilfred Bion, the father of group dynamics, said that we are herd or pack animals. While we call ourselves humans, a euphemism for social/her/pack animals with reflective abilities, we remain open to the power of all the ideas, thoughts, history, family, society, and all explanations that make up the catch all word: Culture. We have survived by fast past matching to fit all ideas into what our culture and we know. We are here today because of that ability and also the ability of others to see differently even though it meant a most horrible fate: separation from the herd and from the pack. The difficulty comes when someone alters our perceptions and we don’t like it. People choose problems they can’t solve To a cho ice or decision they don’t like. It’s the old when I point my finger at someone or something thing, 3 fingers are pointing in a different direction. E.g. it’s the economy, stupid. / This is really a steep hill. / Man, this long run is a bear. In the United States if I were to ask any group of people: What color is a Yield sign; the majority of people would, without hesitation, answer yellow. And yet, the yield sign in the US has not been yellow since the US adopted the International Signage Code in th e late 80’s. The trick is to realize that we go through life with our explanations, rationalizations, and assumptions more often that not, masquerading as fact. Our task, should we accept it, is to be aware of the present moment. Awake and aware. Awar e that anyone’s reality is and will always be their perception of vi

reality. It will always be “my” reality. Can’t be any other way. And therefore different for each of us and open to interpretation. Whatever I say will always have to be interpreted by you. My task is to be as comprehensible as I am able so you can ask the right questions to clarify if what you interpret is what I mean by what I said. Years ago, I first came across an introductory page in a book by Ida Rolf with the title: Admonition For 1977. It’s one of those pieces that has sat in the back of my mind over the past 35+ years, especially when I get tangled up in my own righteousness and knowing. At the time I did not know it, that it would become a foundation in my practice of Mindfulness. There are numerous translations if you search the Internet for: Buddha "Do not believe anything merely". This is my composite of Ida’s and those other translations I’ve read.
The Kalama Sutra is the Buddha’s reply to a group of townspeople of Kalama. They asked Buddha who were they to believe of all the ascetics, sages, holy ones, and teachers They came through their town confusing them with their contradictory explanations, aphorisms, truths, teachings, beliefs, and a multitude o f “the one true way.”  Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it,  Nor traditions because they are old and have been handed down from generation to generation and in many locations,  Nor in rumor because it has been spoken by many,  Nor in writings by sages because sages wrote them,  Nor in one’s own fancies, thinking that it is such an extraordinary thought, it must have been inspired by a god or higher power,  Nor in inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption made by us,  Nor in what seems to be of necessity by analogy,  Nor in anything merely because it is based on the authority of our teachers, masters, and elders, However, after thorough observation, investigation, analysis and reflection, when you find that anything vii

agrees with reason and your experience, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, and of the world at large; accept only that as true, and shape your life in accordance with it; and live up to it. These words, the Buddha went on to say, must be applied to his own teachings. James Hollis in his book, Finding Meaning In The Second Half of Life, touches on this issue under what he calls “personal authority” or more appropriately the recovery of personal authority. You can summarize that task in the above Kalama Sutra or in Hollis’ definition: “Personal Authority mean to find what is true for oneself and to live it in the world.” So ahead is a wonderful experience of a lifetime. Page with these quotes It is wrong to think that misfortunes come from the east or from the west; they originate within one's own mind. Therefore, it is foolish to guard against misfortunes from the external world and leave the inner mind uncontrolled. ~ Buddha As the Fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts. All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become. ~ Buddha We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, We make our world. ~ Buddha Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. ~ Buddha All acts of living become bad by ten things, and by avoiding the ten things they become good. There are three evils of the body, four evils of the tongue, and three evils of the mind.
The evils of the body are, murder, theft, and adultery: of the tongue, lying, slander, abuse, and idle talk: of the mind, covetousness, hatred, and error. ~ Buddha An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind ~ Buddha I reached in experience the nirvana that is unborn, unrivalled, secure from attachment, not decaying and unstained. This condition is indeed reached by me that is deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand, tranquil, excellent, beyond the reach of mere logic, subtle, and to be realized only by the wise.
~Buddha It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
~ Buddha The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart. ~ Buddha viii

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1979 What follows is my response to the many who have asked me over the years: “Why do you call when you talk and write about running your running folklore? I am retyping “Sharing Folklore” first penned in 1979 from my cell at the Camaldolese Hermitage, Big Sur. I sit in the monastery portion of the Camaldoi Hermitage in my room Number 12 dedicated to and named after the order’s founder: St Romuald. It is a wonderful location to begin with what was one book: Mindful Running and end up with the three that I have produced. Since I am on a silent retreat for three weeks, I use my voice with the monks and the other retreatants to sing the Psalms at Lauds in the morning and Vespers in the evening. There is talk 5 days a week at the only meal we have in common at lunch. The rest is taken on my own in my room. During the two days of silent eating, Fr. Isiah is reading a lovely book on silence by a woman author who spent 40 days in silence in a remote area in a cabin stocked with the food she brought and the ability to drive her car to other beautiful locations in this remote area. I had to laugh to myself at the first reading since from the look of the silence book it about 200 or more pages long. Keeping me company twice a day are 25 or 30 blue jays who come to enjoy the muesli mixed with a little Holy Granola (not much as it is usually gone as soon as the monks make it). So far they have left me two blue iridescent feathers in return. At other times I am visited by Shoe (as a kitten he loved to get inside shoes) and Bliss. I interpret from what Brother Charbel says it is not me bthey like rather the area because of the mice on the hill next to my cell. In 1979, this is what I wrote: Basically folklore is a compilation of facts —scientific and non-scientific: thoughts, intuitions, insights; yet simply or complexly explanations of one human to another human whether highly educated or uneducated. Uneducated covering the gamut from ignorant to highly learned, competent gained from lively mindfully: Awake, aware and living life intentionally. 1

Folklore is a synthesis of all such data into something that works for me. It may not work for you, it may even be harmful for you, but it works for me. When I share my folklore with you, please do not give me any power over you, whether it works or doesn’t work. If it works, use it and share it. If it does not work for you, then do not give it the time of day, not even a breath of emotion. Instead go out and find the folklore that works for you and benefits you and possibly others. If you cannot find another’s folklore that works for you beneficially, they create your own. When you do be sure to come back and share it with me. I can learn something from you and expand my treasure chest of folklore. What’s nice about folklore is that it does not have to espouse any philosophy, dogma, tenets, commandments, shoulds, do’s or don’ts. Folklores’ ;primary statement is that there are a million different ways of looking at the same thing. It shares one way to view something and understands, even more: comprehends, there are just as many other valid points of view. Folklore does not take the power away from the individual nor does it become responsible for another individual. Yet it understands that we are herd/pack animals even though we use the term social beings. We are the same yet we are unique and in that uniqueness we are the same. Folklore is pragmatic and empirical. Folklore knows that man has existed for 3 or now it is 4 millions years. Do I hear five? Folklore knows that truths are always on the cutting edge of further truths that will still fall in the domain of folklore. Folklore knows that even the most hard scientific data and facts can and have changed in the twinkling of an electron (see Heisenburg) when a new fact is learned that was not included in the original data or thesis. Men create theories to explain the unknown and the unexplained. The inflationary aspect of our theories is: I am right…for all time. If I am right then more often than not, you have to be wrong. I choose to be right rather than acknowledge you just having a different way of looking at the same thing. With folklore it works and is right for me. And from what I have experienced and learned it may be helpful for you and for others. Or I may be wrong or just do not have enough information. Still there is no need for me to proselytize or crusade because there are as many other paths of folklore that are just as real, just as genuine. In the words of the Yaqui shaman, Don Juan, it is: “Traveling on paths that have heart… There I travel and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel, looking, looking breathlessly.” Folklore does not show you or me THE Way. It shows you and me A way. It 2

shows us that whatever we do in life, we have to put our own signature on it. Folklore never justifies, for it knows that to justify or explain is to lose what folklore one has. To justify is to want to make my way your way, rather than “just another way” that might work for you if you try it and practice it. Folklore never hears footsteps behind. It is where it is and has nothing to prove, to sell or to justify. A person is attracted. Folklore knows that it could all be different. Folklore knows also that in the heart of the individual, it has made a difference in how they look at the world and their fellow members of the herd and pack. Folklore believes: There is this Magic Show Some people live in the Magic Show Some people are the Magic Show, Some people wonder what Magic is And still others know. 3

1995 During the early years before the World Wide Web, before Google purchased Dejanews.com and proceeded to archive all user groups, it was possible to “X no archive” (it still may be). This meant the post was not archived. This allowed me to share with a specific individual or the active group on rec.running. I “X-no archived” many of my posts so I could answer immediate questions and dialogue threads. At the same time it gave me control of what I wanted to shared later. The idea being to share my collected thoughts, experiences, suggestions, and folklore in a book sometime in the future. So what you have in this book is a collection of some of my writings still floating around in cyberspace and some only seen by those where were on rec.running at the time of a post and not archived. This book, is a compilation of my running folklore gathered from over 35 years of doing walking and running therapy, directing the San Diego Marathon Clinic, 10 years of being active on rec.running until the static and noise became too distracting, and my attempts to write out my thoughts and thinking to make sense out of explanations that others made about running that I couldn’t understand. I wanted in writing to make what I thought I understood from what the others were saying comprehensible to myself. Then to share my answers, (read: explanations) so they could be questioned, corrected and/or improved upon. The reason I have used the term “folklore” over the years when speaking about my ideas and thoughts (read: explanations) regarding running was that it worked for me and for many of the people I shared my ideas and thoughts (read: folklore). Folklore defined: This is something that works for me and for others with whom I’ve shared. If it doesn’t work for you, find someone whose ideas and thoughts (read: explanations or folklore) do work for you and use them. Don’t waste a moment of your time or emotional energy attempting to prove me wrong. If you can’t find someone, then from your own practice and experience come up with your folklore about your running that works for you. 4

Then please come back and share what has worked for you from your teacher or from your own practice and experience. That way you’ll have questioned by answers by coming up with a solution that works for you. By coming back, you’ve not only answered your own question, you’ve questioned my answer and a good possibility showed me a better way to comprehend the way I had explained myself. I liked what Bertrand Russell said about his beliefs: I’d never die for my beliefs; I could be wrong. It is interesting that with all the advances of science, the more we know, the realization grows how little we will ever know. Just lie out one dark n ight and look at the stars and the cloud of stars we’re in. We call it the Milky Way, as if we can understand it. It is astonishing: 14 billion years, and several billion more stars than we thought existed. We are all composed of stardust. Getting in touch with the awe might shock us back into awareness of our own responsibilities to our fellow stardusters. So folklore it is. If it works for you, use it. If it doesn’t, don’t. Find something that works for you and share it. That is all I have attempted to do for the last 35+ years. Make it comprehensible to myself and see if others could comprehend what I said and help me improve on my own comprehension of my life and living it to the fullest. Subject: Growing Ideas While Running Through the Garden of Life Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 09:04:14 -0800 From: Ozzie Gontang Newsgroups: rec.running x-no-archive: yes This post from '94 or '95 was the beginning of a number of articles I later wrote. It was the start of writing to make sense of 20 years of running and teaching running and doing therapy on the run and walk. You can see the germinal ideas. I picked them up from various and sundry thoughts and ideas of others. My attempt was to understand what they were saying. I then juxtaposed them in relation to other ideas that didn't seem related. I joined the disparate ideas metaphorically to gain further understanding. While the experience is clear after playing with it long enough, the problem for me always is putting what I experience and observe into words that others can verify, validate, disprove or build upon for better clarity. And that's why what Den, Doug, the Mikes, Patrick and so many others at rec.running bring. An inquisitiveness that comes from the practice of this thing called running. It's not about answers, it's about asking the right questions. So for as many people who come here to have their questions answered, many are here to hear their answers questioned. And the better the questions, the 5

more exciting it is for the one asking the questions about the answers and the individual whose answers are being questioned. It is echoed in: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. It resonates with looking at the same old thing with "Fresh Eyes" or "New Eyes." It is an awareness that Lee Thayer says "what we know will always be an obstacle to what we can know. And even more importantly, what we know will be a stumbling block to what it is that we need to know. The real purpose of knowing is not to give answers but to be able to ask clearer and better questions." It's the excitement that comes when something is revealed because someone asked that particular question. Those-who-really know/experts would have called it a stupid or silly question. It was so obvious to someone who didn't know that it was missed by the knowing of those in the know. In health and on the run, Ozzie Gontang Maintainer - rec.running FAQ Director, San Diego Marathon Clinic, est. 1975 Mindful Running: http://www.mindfulness.com/ http://www.faqs.org/faqs/running-faq/ 6

Coaching People to sit, stand, walk, breathe, and run in good form and style; and Become world class humans
Change the way the world walks, stands, breathes, and runs and By recovering that half inch lost due to the one time learning experience of
that created
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We explain why we did what we did. We concoct a plausible story to justify why we did what we did… We lead ourselves that way. And others lead us by their explanations and by the stories they tell to justify their explanations. We invent the explanations and the stories. And then they invent us (to paraphrase Winston Churchill).
Lee Thayer, in Explaining Things (2011) Science is based on observation. The scientist/observer then attempts to explain the observation in ways that are comprehensible to others. When others understand or think they understand, the explanation becomes accepted and life goes on. That is until someone comes up with a better explanation based on newer observable facts that weren’t part of the first explanation. Or maybe it was an old observation that was overlooked or taken for granted. Then a discussion takes place. Discussion comes from the same derivation as concussion or percussion: a hitting up against. In our discussion I attempt to prove that you are incorrect and I am correct and have you change your position to my correct explanation. While at the same time you are doing the same. Dialogue would be much better. I share my assumptions and you yours so that we can arrive at a new and better explanation. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. This is just one observation and one explanation to attempt to make comprehensible man’s Fear of Falling and some folklore that has worked for me for 35+ years coaching runners and doing Running Therapy. Others have come to similar conclusions in regard to teaching running by landing on the ball of the foot first. Fear of Falling has been assumed as a given. My contribution, if it will be considered a contribution, is to explain the fear of falling and what created it. Show how the unconscious solution has 8

changed the way we humans stand, breathe, walk, and run. Beyond explanation, I have attempted to demonstrate that one can regain proper standing, breathing, walking, and running by changing one’s posture an unnoticeable half-inch. 9

1995
It is now 15 years since writing this and the number teaching ball/heel continues to grow. I have been joined by Romanov, Dreyer, Abshire, and Barefoot Ken Bob to name just a few. I did not think I would see it in my lifetime. I am pleased I was wrong. Although I believe the majority of runners still remain heel strikers .
Man the running animal at even slow running speed is meant to run Ball/Heel/Ball! The majority of runners continue to be heel strikers. I believe this fact is based on a faulty assumption that heel striking is the correct way for ordinary humans to run. Most people are told to run the way they run. Heel striking is the norm coached. The average runner believes the assumption as seen by observation of runners. They land on the back of the heel of the shoe. By landing on the back of the heel of the shoe, a heel striker lands behind the actual heel of the foot. Landing behind the heel of the foot causes increased forces at the point of impact and a deceleration of one's center of gravity. Run bare foot to see what I mean. Either start thinking for yourself about running injury free...or minimal injuries...or injury prevention...and look at the way you land on your feet...and look at the fact that almost all running shoes worn by the mass of runners have very thick heels and soles and don't let you feel where you land or how hard you land in relation to the actual contact point on the heel of the foot. Here are some quotes on running form that I think are important in running properly and with minimal injury. If nothing else, it will help you think about your running as something that can be done gracefully by almost any runner who gives it some thought and practice. 10

I am still attempting to understand why very few people are willing to say that the majority of runners should be landing ball/heel...as the three authors below hold. From: Applied Kinesiology by Clayne Jensen & Gordon Schultz 1977 McGraw Hill p. 290-291 "Running mechanics vary from one person to another, and they vary in the same person running at different speeds. At a slow running speed, complete foot contact is used. The foot-surface contact with each stride goes from the ball of the foot to the heel and back to the ball (restful to calf muscles). As running rate increases, the amount of foot contact becomes less, until finally at full speed only the forward part of the foot contacts the surface. The sprinter "runs on the toes"." (Oz's view: Actually it is the front of the ball of the foot just behind the toes) Strength, Power and Muscular Endurance for Runners & Hurdlers by John Jesse 1971, Athletic Press. p. 56 As to long-distance events, most authorities are of the opinion that the mechanical details are not important if the overall running action is efficient and relaxed with emphasis being placed on eliminating all bodily movements that will expend energy unnecessarily. However, the same authorities appear to be in agreement as to certain characteristics of style that lead to an optimum performance with economy of effort: (a) shorter stride, (b) lower knee lift, (c) ball heel-ball-toe action of the foot, (d) lower and more relaxed arm swing, (e) high kick up in the back providing it is natural, relaxed movement, (f) general overall relaxed manner. Ten Tips on Running Form" appeared in Run Fast by Hal Higdon, © 1992 by Hal Higdon Communications, all rights reserved. TEN TIPS ON RUNNING FORM (Read Nicholas Romanov’s Chapter in his book: Training Essays. They update and better explain what we now know) "FRED WILT was a distance runner on the 1948 and 1952 U.S. Olympic teams and became famous for his legendary indoor mile encounters at that time with Wisconsin's Don Gehrmann. After retiring from the FBI, Wilt coached the women's running teams at Purdue University. He edited the publication Track Technique and advised various athletes, including 1964 Olympian Buddy Edelen, who once held the world marathon record of 2:14:28. Wilt's tips on running form follow: 11

1. Running form is a completely individual issue. Each athlete differs from every other at least to a minute extent in height, weight, bone structure, length and size of muscles, point of muscle origin and insertion, strength, flexibility, posture and personality, in addition to numerous other features. Therefore, no two runners should ever use identical form, even though they all adhere to basic mechanical principles. 2. It is a form error of the highest magnitude to run without permitting the heel to touch and rest on the ground with each stride, without reservation, in a ball-heel grounding action. This is true at all running speeds, especially sprinting. 3. It is physically possible to land heel-first in running, but this is quite incorrect and almost never seen, since it jars the body excessively and can be done only at very slow running speeds. Landing heel-first and "toe running" (refusing to permit the heels to ground) are both incorrect. (
Romanov adds in his Essay on Wilts: “In both cases it constitutes work performed against
gravity, which consequently overloads bones, tendons, ligaments and leads to injuries) 4. Ideally, the position of the feet in running is one in which the inner borders fall approximately along a straight line. Athletes should run in a straight line, but not necessarily on such a line. When one foot is placed directly in front of the other, lateral (sideways) balance is impaired. 5. Runners in races longer than sprint distance wherein economy of energy is the paramount consideration should use a natural stride: not exaggerated, not long, not short, but of a length in keeping with maximum economy of effort for the running speed required. 6. Both understriding and overstriding are faults. Each runner has his own optimum stride length at any given speed, depending upon leg length, muscular strength and flexibility. 7. At uniform top speed with zero acceleration, if the athlete was running in a vacuum with no wind resistance, there would be no body lean at all.
(Oz's view: If the body like a broom handle is slightly off balance and the hand carrying the handle continues at the initial rate of speed of the handle with zero acceleration, there is a lean from the ankle to the top of the head be it ever so slight. In a vacuum, Wilt did not take into consideration that the resistance is the foot against the ground. I cannot go forward unless the body's vector forces are "leaning" in that direction.)
8. The hands should be carried in a relaxed, cupped position at all running speeds. They should never be rigidly clenched in a fist while running, since this produces tension, which causes unnecessary fatigue. 12

9. The head should be aligned naturally with the trunk, and the eyes should be focused a few meters ahead while running.
(Oz's view: The difficulty here is that the head follows the eyes and the body follows the head. The trapezius muscles are not meant to hold the head up. When the head is aligned, and held up it is balanced upon the neck. Also the reality is that the human eye can see peripherally. So by looking at infinity, I can seen 6 or 7 feet in front of me without looking down. If I need to look down I can look down with my eyes and keep my head balanced. The difficulty is that most people lower their head when "focused a few meters ahead while running." The problems caused by that slight imbalance of the head are magnified as muscles throughout the body must adjust to the imbalance.)
10. Usually the best solution to apparent form problems is many repetitions of running short distances, such as 100 meters, at a fast, though not exhausting pace. (Oz's view: As in Tai Chi, Walking Meditation, Yoga, Feldenkrais Method, Alexander Technique, Mensendieck System, the view is moving slowly and with awareness and mindfulness. The adage would read: "Walk before you run, and run slowly well to run fast well.) (Romanov adds and I agree : “Running consists of series of reproductions of the body’s fall forward from its vertical position and (we) have to learn how to do it smoothly through specific drills and skill developmenet) "Ten Tips on Running Form" appeared in Run Fast by Hal Higdon, Copyright © 1992 by Hal Higdon Communications, all rights reserved. Autographed copies of this book are available for $16.50 (includes shipping and handling) from Roadrunner Press, P.O. Box 1034, Michigan City, IN 46361-1034. 13

2001 Sharon Sly wrote: When I go running after about five miles my feet at the bottom feel as if they are burning. I have bought insoles for my trainers. I also tried different socks. Has anyone got any ideas? Dear Fellow Runners: If the shoe stops and your foot inside the shoe slides forward just a little for five miles, the little bit of friction done several thousand times will cause what you describe as burning feet. If after your shoe lands, your foot inside the shoe starts to slide back just a little in the early stage of push off and does that for five miles, the little bit of friction done several thousand times will cause what you describe as burning feet. The following experiments should be carried out under the watchful eye of an exercise physiologist or a sports physician. Parental supervision is strongly advised. In reality these are merely mental visualizations. The truth is that most adults (excluding you) have experienced the following in a moment of childhood inexperience or ignorance. To get an idea of what I am saying. Turn a bike over and start to spin the wheel as fast as you can with your open hand. When you spin it at the rate it is going, there is no friction. If you spin it lightly there is no or minimal trauma or bruising to your fingers/open hand as there would be if you hit it hard but at the same rate of spin. 14

If you spin it a little faster than it is going then you are creating a little friction and after several thousand slaps/strokes/pushes with the open hand you will find that you will cause what you describe as burning feet, but it will be with your hand. If you spin it a little slower than it is going then you are creating a little friction and after several thousand slaps/strokes/pushes with the open hand you will find that you will cause what you describe as burning feet, but it will be with your hand. If you are impatient and want to experience it quickly then get the tire going as fast as you can. The easiest way is to crank the pedals. Now with your fingers/open hand push them onto the spinning tire to stop it in several seconds. You will find that you will have taken the burning feet experience to the max. The blisters on your hand will heal in several days. This is a one time learning experience. If your feet are moving faster or slower than your shoes, this could explain the burning sensation on you feet. Anyway, here's the Folklore of Going Sockless as another way of understanding what is happening to give you hot feet rather than frictionless running which would give you happy feet: See: The Folklore of Going Sockless (Chapter___) Actually all the above could be incorrect if the real problem is that your foot slaps down just lightly each step. This will surely happen is you land on the "back of the heel of the shoe." This causes a trigger effect that is similar to the bar of a mousetrap coming down. If you have enough high technology cushioning and thick heels, the light slap to the bottoms of the feet will take about 5 miles to cause the burning sensation on the foot bottoms. Interesting! If you want to have this experience, take a ruler and start to tap/slap lightly on the back of your hand. Be sure to count the number of slaps. Progress until you had demonstrated what several hundred/thousand slaps can accomplish when administered in rapid succession. This can be understood by a Theory of Ann Elk. Actually it isn't Ann Elk's Theory. It my Theory. It's a Theory by me. It's a Theory by me, Ozzie who is not an Aussie, but who is married to an Aussie. And this is my Theory: See: The Running Theory of GAPO (Chapter___) Burning feet could be understood by using Theory B or Theory A or a combination of the two theories, which would be a BA Theory. A combination of these two theories has been met with disapproval by a number of present day land-heel-first theorists. The BA theorists, many of them residing at rec.running 15

newsgroup and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theroadsscholar while gaining some small moments of recognition, continue to be called by the land-heel-first theorists: BA BA Black Sheep. At times these land-heel-first theorists have been heard mumbling under their breath, "BA humbug, we won't let them BA BA bums get to first BA BA base with the BA BA ball/heel BA BA bunch of BA BA bull. The BA BA Ball/Heel theorists ask the mindful runner to begin to think and tinker with graceful running. The BA BA Ball/Heel theorists ask the Land-Heel-First theorists and you to march in place. Notice what touches the ground first: See: Virtual Running Clinic Exercise 1 (Chapter___) The reason for beginning the Virtual Running Clinic was to expose all runners to Runners' Mind/BA BA Beginners' Mind. This is the BA BA beginning of BA BA becoming a BA BA Ball/Heel BA BA Beginning Runner. Ozzie Gontang Maintainer - rec.running FAQ Director, San Diego Marathon Clinic Mindful Running: http://www.mindfulness.com
Advocate/Apologist for the BA BA Black Sheep 16

Originally published as: Miles Ahead: Taking Steps in the Right Direction A Tribute to Miles Lakin: Creator of Running Form FAQ 1998 If you want to get a perspective on the ongoing dialogue on rec.running about Running Form especially the position held by numerous (well a few) regulars on rec.running visit Miles Lakins site. …Lakin/Running_Form.html (unfortunately no longer exists) Anyone who is bearer of the words of "gapo" in his signature : "Focus. Relaxed Form. Stay smooth. Flow. Breathe." is someone you can trust with the ongoing search for true folklore: "If it works and makes sense use it. If it doesn't do not give it the time of day but find or create folklore which works and makes sense for you...and share it." Many come to have their questions answered on rec.running. However, Rec.running continues to be a forum where many come to have their answers and folklore questioned. The bias of this sharer of folklore has only been strengthened in her atavistic approach to running ball/heel...or as seen in slo motion, midsole with the center of gravity (COG) already having passed over the planted foot. The applied researchers of rec.running continue to clarify in their own minds and running bodies and the minds and running bodies of their question askers what George Sheehan said so clearly: "We are called to be philosophers, artists, poets, heroes and saints but first and foremost to be athletes...to be good animals." The dialogue continues on midsole foot plant, ball/heel plant over heel/ball foot strike. It is a perspective of folklore that observes runners to see what works best for running gracefully as the long distance animal we are. To those new to the dialogue here are some of my assumptions: 17

Heel strike for most runners means landing on the back of the heel of the "shoe." That is an overstride because the actual heel of the foot is about two inches in front of the back of the heel of the shoe. When someone lands on the back of the heel of the shoe, they are decelerating or stopping themselves every step they take. It is that stopping and jarring and compacting while aerobic is "in the long run" deleterious and destructive to the human physical structure. Running shoes, especially running shoes with big, thick and cushy, heels mask the effects of landing on the heels. The shoe heels mask or address the symptom but do not assist the runner in seeking a solution to the cause. If it is humanly possible to run smoothly over the surface of the earth by some runners we call world class, then it is possible for all of us to do what other humans do. While we may not run as fast, we can run as smoothly as the best runners. The reason for heel strikers doing what they do is based on Running Theory of GAPO©. Simply put, heel strikers strike heel first because of their fear of falling. In the electronic version of writing (in progress) of this theory and its consequent results, this fear of falling is demonstrated based on my clinical trials with approximately 24,000, (now over 25,000) runners and walkers. The Running Theory of GAPO© (based on a clinical study N=25,000) We run the way we walk. We walk the way we walk because we can. We walk the way we can because we are afraid of falling. We are afraid of falling because we did. We did fall because we were running fast & lost control between ages 3 and 8. It was a one time learning experience indelibly implanted in body and brain. When we lost control and fell during our fast running we landed on our knees, elbows, palms of hands many hit head, cheek or chin About 1 in 40 needed anywhere from 2 to 20 stitches to close the chin cut. The damage to other body parts was severe enough to cause intense pain. From that day forward we said to ourselves (both the thinking mind and the thinking body) "I will never fall again because it is too painful!" That one time learning experience has transformed us into who we are today: people who are 18

afraid of falling. So the majority of those taking up running do so with the fear of falling. This fear is manifest in those runners who land on the back of the heel of their "shoe." The GAPO Running Assumption: Running is falling forward and catching oneself gracefully each step. This Running Theory of GAPO© assumes that "It's not what you know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know that just ain't so" that does. (Thanks Will Rogers). To get my point across. Runners in the US answer this question: "What color is a Yield Sign?" Now that you've pictured it in your mind and said the color you did, go and check it out to verify that what you are thinking and picturing is. One last point to get the fear of falling across. You are looking in your mind's and body's eye at a four panel cartoon. Panel 1: You are walking along eating a banana. Panel 2: You are tossing the banana peel over your shoulder. Panel 3: Ozzie Gontang is about to step on your banana peel as he walks Panel 4: Picture in your mind's eye the fourth panel and how he falls. Question: If I had not been afraid of falling would I have fallen this way? Thanks to Miles Running Form FAQ. This ongoing scientific research is continues right in front of your eyes. You get to see if the folklore works or doesn't. But remember: Reality always wins. Our only job is to get in touch with it. Pat Murray talking about Wilfred Bion We have Miles to go before we rest. And for that Miles, we thank you. Oh, by the way, they are not “wolley” (reverse the spelling). They were changed back in 1987 to meet conform with the international traffic signage. 19

From a Dialogue with Eduardo Suastegui and Daniel Côté Daniel and Eduardo, I ran about 6 miles in the dark around a 2/3's mile loop by Morley Field that was a sanitary fill for about 20 years. The path is mainly dirt road and uneven compacted dirt with an area that is granite cinder on the side of a paved portion. From my readings of Carlos Castenada's Teaching of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, I've played with his Gait of Power for years. There's enough ambient light, but still it is dark. Besides playing with nose breathing most of the way last night, I was focusing on letting the elbow on the side of the foot plant swing forward an extra inch so that the shoulders stayed relaxed. If you can imagine that my arm is nailed to the body at the shoulder and swings freely on that nail. Picture right shoulder is at 3 o'clock and the left shoulder is 9 o'clock as I face 12 o'clock, Also my hips are in the same alignment right hip at 3 o'clock and left hip at 9 'clock. As the body stretches forward from the planted foot that has touched down ball/heel or midsole, I view the shoulders and hips ideally as always opposite and equal and in front of the planted foot. If you looked down from above the running body, the hips and shoulders would look like an "X" on its side. Right shoulder/left hip countering equal and opposite to Left shoulder/right hip with each and every step. <-----direction of run X - where the tips of the X are shoulders/hips and "-" is foot plant. When the right shoulder goes toward 2 o'clock, the right hip is now ahead of the right planted foot but going toward 4 o'clock in relation to the body's core. 20

It is my belief that the right planted foot does minimal push off as the center of gravity is already in motion and moving at a speed/velocity that pulls the right foot off such that the foot is __ \ where \ is the foot. The faster I'm moving, the back kick is not a kick back. The flick allows for my lower leg to close the angle between the hamstring and the calf so that I can bring my leg through faster without having to lift my center of gravity and then to get the foot back and down more quickly for the next step, especially if I'm do a step cadence of 180 steps/minute. (
Today I would use the Pull from Pose Method using the hamstring to pull the heel off the ground)
Just tried an exercise I've taught for years to give people the experience of what I'm saying. Stand in the middle of a flight of steps with both feet on the same step and the arms hanging down the side. Place one hand on a railing. If the two railings are close as in a narrow stairwell, you can hold with both hands. I want to give you the experience of being four footed. Climbing a ladder you experience being four footed. But walking or running on the horizontal does not give one that opportunity to experience that. Take a step backwards keeping your center of gravity over the leg on the step. The step backwards is such that it goes back and down two steps. If the railing you're holding is on the right, step back with the right foot first. If railing is on the left, step back with the left foot first. You will notice you've lowered your center of gravity but it is still over the foot on the step. So your hand is holding the railing and the opposite foot is on the step. The foot that has stepped back and down can touch the step without bearing any weight since the center of gravity is still over the foot on the step. Allow the opposite arm to swing back so it is moving in sequence with the foot that has stepped back and down. As you allow the weight and your center of gravity to transfer to the back foot, it is done as the hand/arm and the leg that were on the starting step start to move down the slope and parallel to it (the slope same as the angle of the hand rail or if a board were resting on the steps). The center of gravity is in front of the step that was placed back and down until it gets to the point where it rest over that first step back. And then the process is reverse and the above is repeated. People are afraid of walking down steps backwards often thinking they'll topple backwards headfirst. With the lowering of the back leg and keeping the center of gravity over the front foot, this just won't happen. If you're moving in perfect asymmetrical movement then you see that the arms are opposite to the same-sided leg, and the shoulders are opposite to the same sided hip. If you start back up the steps, two at a time, you'll also realize for the first time 21

maybe, that the hand that slides up the railing in parallel with the opposite foot, never slides back from its full extension and that when it grabs the railing, the body goes if front of that hand and actually you can feel how that hand can be used to pull you up and forward to the next step. As you can see, I've continually attempted to lock into the body a feeling of what proper form and style feels like. In running up steps dressed in my business suit, you don't hear me coming as each foot once it touches its step, it lands only on the surface. No or minimal vertical movement, as I am going up the steps parallel to the slope of the steps. Any sound tells me that I've wasted energy by pounding into the step and that my center of gravity is not moving up and parallel to the slope of steps. That is enough to think about for the moment. And I have to go make a living....also I am doing something that I love to do. 22

Joe Smith wrote: Hello all. I tend to deal with quite a few injuries over the course of a year. Last year right around this time I had a pesky ITB flare up about 5 weeks out from the Las Vegas Marathon. That one took awhile to get over. I have also had a strained hamstring and a few other minor injuries. Outside of the ITB problem though nothing has forced me to stop running. Anyway, I think I have come down with a case of runners knee now. The bummer of it all is that I am 6 weeks out from the Disney Marathon. Does anyone who has dealt with this before have any advice on how I can still train with this? It's 3 wees until taper time and I think that if I can make it there I should be alright. Thanks for any advice. Running truly is a sickness. Running is a mental state performed using one's body with the primary locomotion being the legs. Actually it is probably more true to say using gravity and falling forward and the legs maintaining a vertical direction rather than falling down. There are runners and “ruinners.” The latter choose running for health and fitness and in the process a disease they know nothing about ends up ruining their bodies thoughtlessly yet with great enthusiasm, pride and righteousness. Running injured is often a symptom of this dreaded and life threatening disease. Running is not a sickness rather running injured while training for events like a marathon is the symptom of this debilitating disease called Psychosclerosis: Hardening of the head. Psychosclerosis is a state where the runner chooses to run thoughtlessly never using their brain to analyze that if some humans can run smoothly, lightly and easily over the surface of the earth at a 5 minute a mile pace, that they being human could run in good form lightly, easily, and relatively quick. 23

Probably they will never run at the same pace as a world-class runner. However if their head hardening could be abated they could teach themselves to run smooth, light and easy. They would have stinted rather than stunted their thinking and saved their spine, joints, and a long running life. While many find it easier to look at shoes as the panacea, their head hardening makes it impossible for them to realize that if you don't ask the right question, you will get an answer and it will be the wrong. It's not what you know that gets one in trouble. It's what one knows that isn't so that does. Also with this illness comes great enjoyment and laughter for others as these runners make typos that make sense yet alter the complete meaning of what they intended to say, as with Joe's pre-marathon bladder power workout: "It's 3 wees until taper time and I think that if I can make it there I should be alright." 24

2000 It all started with a post I did called Camelbak Feedback. Here's a way to see and understand what unnecessary vertical displacement or bouncing is about and why it is so damaging to the body. Simply said, if you are landing on the back of the heel of the shoe and it's not under your center of gravity as you run you are creating your future injuries. Remember running is falling and catching yourself gracefully. It's not jump, stop, jump, stop, jump, stop, jump…. Steve Freides: Ozzie, while I'm sure running with any backpack it provides useful feedback on the up and down motion I makes while running, running with a full bladder and no waist or chest straps didn't serve to help me; rather, it served only to make me run uptight, minimizing what felt to me like a good, but small, amount of vertical motion in my running. I'll report back again when I get a new backpack, one that's designed for running and has the additional straps, but there is sometimes too much of a good thing, and I had too much feedback about the vertical component of my running yesterday to ever want to go through the experience again. It would make an interesting study to see how much vertical motion makes for efficient running for most people. My guess is that the complete elimination of vertical motion is impossible, and that the suppression of vertical motion past a certain point begins to be counter-productive, not because it wouldn't be good to eliminate it all, but just because it's impossible, given that we're in the air and then landing, to eliminate it all without the cure becomes worse than the disease. Ozzie: Steve: when you’re riding on your bike, the wheels have eliminated all vertical displacement. Think: How do I get my feet to move like a wheel so that they have the same effect of minimal displacement when I run? I went for a run this morning with a backpack and carried only about 3 or 4 pounds of some packages I took to the post office. In the pack were: a package to Greg Raven in Florida with John Jesse's book plus a little surprise for Greg, a stack of back bibs for MaryEleyn Duane who's the lead person for the 25

NYC Marathon Psyching Team, and an article from about two years ago plus a packet of information to Sheryl Marks. She was the Executive Director for many years of ACE which spun off from IDEA a number of years ago. I believe to become a training and certifying organization for personal trainers and aerobic instructors. With nothing but the shoulder straps, which were tight, I ran with no discomfort or much excessive movement. When I got home to test the effect with more weight and only shoulder straps I just did the following: I just went for a run around the block, about a third of a mile, to check out running with a heavier weighted day pack. I used a Caribou Mountaineering day backpack with padded shoulder straps attached to cinching straps. Backpack is approximately 16 ' long. I cinched it tightly so that is sat snug against my upper back. I did not use any waist or chest strap to hold it tighter against my body. I loaded it up with:  20 oz Pillsbury Moist Supreme Cake Mix (Pudding in the Mix) box  20 oz Krusteaz Almond Poppyseed Muffin Mix (Popply seeds enclosed) box  20 oz Betty Crocker Pudding in the Mix SuperMoist Cake Mix box  34 oz Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix w/Real Sweet Cream Buttermilk box.  36 oz Vanilla Praline Designer Protein from Whey and with Zmax.  9 oz Backpack, wallet, keys, fingernail clippers, pen, penknife  For a Total of: 139 oz /8.7 lbs. Nine minute pace with two accelerations to 7:30 for 50 yards. Landed ball/heel. Eyes on horizon. I experienced minimal movement of pack at easy pace. During accelerations I noticed that I needed to allow the elbows to swing forward in a more relaxed motion to counter the side to side movement of the backpack. It was not uncomfortable or distracting. The Issue: How to understand and experience the difference between good running form and style and bad running form and style Other thoughts on Running Form and Style check out: Running Quietly and Lightly over Terra Firma The Running Theory of GAPO 26

Folklore of Going Sockless 27

This is a response to someone who asked about building up gradually to a Marathon Training Program. When I first started my training, I had no idea that I would run a marathon. All I knew is that every Sunday, I would go with Eileen Waters, Wayne Grosbeck, Tad Kostrubala (author of the Joy of Running /'76) and any of 15+ other runners and walkers for 4 hours. It didn’t matter how much of the 4 hours you ran or walked. We just knew that we would be out for 4 hours The model was after the Tarahamara Tesquinada. Do the walk/run and return for a celebration and time of sharing and hanging around together. Looking back it was a great way to train for a marathon. My folklore would have you continue to do your slow build up for the next two months before you join the marathon training program. If I were coaching you, I'd have you build up to 8 or 10 miles for your long run once a week. The view would be that the Marathon Training Program fits into Audrey's Marathon Program. As you built up to that distance, I'd have you do this target: 5 mile run approx 55 min + 65 minutes walking= 2hr 6 mi run approx 66 min+70 min walking=2:15 7 mi run approx 72 min+75 min walking=2:27 8 mi run approx 85 min+80 min walking=2:45 9 mi run approx 95 min+85 min walking=3:00 10mi run approx 100min+80 min walking=3:00 28

This approach gets you use to being out there running and then walking between two and three hours from the very start. During the walking you practice your running form and posture as you walk. Hopefully you find someone to play with your approach and you truly enjoy the company of your friend(s) as you visit for 2 to 3 hours. It just so happens that you also cover a fair amount of distance, but that's secondary. The walking is part of your training as a thoroughbred. You are adding distance without exhausting yourself. You know that you can go for two to three hours. You find that as you increase your running distance or as your running speed increases you enjoy being out there for the remainder of the time as you walk. My first formal race event was a half marathon at the end of two months. My first formal marathon (and truly rite of passage) was at the end of my third month in Las Vegas. Here's a story of that experience: My First And Last Flip Off While Running Marathon Psyching Series is a series of articles to help you as you train. Accepting The Marathon Challenge Marathoning: A Path, A Direction, A Lifestyle Hints for Marathon Success Some Wisdom From the Marathon Psyching Team What To Say When Talking To Yourself During The Marathon Marathon: The Week Before/The Month After 29

What I wanted to do was look at unnecessary Vertical Displacement. For me it is one aspect of poor running form that can be commonly observed in runners. So here are two experiments to first experience one’s vertical displacement and second to observe vertical displacement in other runner’s by changing one’s viewing perspective. Task: Demonstrate unnecessary vertical displacement Objective: Experiencing and observing unnecessary vertical displacement in runners Outcome: Experience vertical displacement Change perspective so observers can see visually vertical displacement in action. Purpose: Do further dialogue, reflection, experimentation on correct running form and style in order to remove unnecessary vertical displacement. Experiment #1 Experiencing Vertical Displacement If you want to see what too much vertical movement looks like, ask someone to stand in front of you. 1. Say: “Please balance on one leg with the knee up so that the thigh is parallel to the ground.” 2. Then say: “Jump to the other foot.” Observe their vertical lift of the body to jump to the other foot. They will experience their vertical lift. There is no need to jump “up” in order to jump to the other foot. This changing of feet can be accomplished by lowering the raised leg quickly as the balancing leg is lifted. There is no need to lift the center of gravity of the body up to "jump" to the other leg. Vertical displacement occurs if the center of gravity is carried to low 30

or is weighted on the legs. For example, when someone slouches, the core muscles of the upper body are not being use to carry or balance the weight of the upper body. Picture a statue resting on a pedestal, i.e. body on the legs. This is a beginning to think further about the impact of correct posture when you run. Some argue that I said: “Jump to the other foot.” Yes, I said jump, but I did not say: “Jump up to the other foot.” I think that when we hear jump, we think lift the whole body up. If you watch world-class hurdlers, they do not jump/raise the entire body's center of gravity to get over the hurdle. They step over them with the front leg and I believe the trailing leg is dragged through so the inside thigh and knee are parallel to the hurdle as the leg goes over. One of Bill Gates tricks is to stand in a trashcan and jump out of it. While he needs some vertical lift of the body, the trick is the ability to quickly raise the knees together towards the chest. If the bottoms of the feet can be raised so that the soles of the feet are parallel to the bottom of the torso, one does not need to jump up very high. It is more a matter of jumping just enough to the side so that the legs can be brought up toward the chest and quickly be put down. Again it's the hurdler principle. Use minimal vertical effort to raise the center of gravity only enough so that the legs can clear the hurdle or edge of the trash can. Most runners land on the back of the heel of the shoe, which I call an overstride. An overstride occurs when the foot lands in front of the body's center of gravity rather than under it. In order to take the next step the runner must lift the body's center of gravity up to counter the stopping effect of landing on the back of the heel of the shoe. To do that, the body's center of gravity is lifted more that is necessary to compensate. That allows the body's center of gravity to get above the overstriding foot so the next overstriding step can occur. If you look at these runners you'll notice the up and down movement of the whole body. You will also notice that there is minimal lifting of the knees. The whole body lifts. This lifting (in my mind’s eye: unnecessary vertical displacement and wasted energy expenditure) of the entire body allows the runner to swing the lower leg through. The lower leg pendulums or swings forward. The runner lands on the back of the heel of the shoe, as that foot becomes the planted foot. And the body is lifted for the next swing through. Experiment #2: Observing Vertical Displacement: altering observer’s perspective. Here is a way to get a perspective that makes the vertical movement stand out: 31

1. Find a group of runners who are running towards or away from you. 2. Turn your back to them and spread your legs and look like your doing a stretch for your hams or inside thigh/adductor muscles. 3. Lean forward and as your mimic your stretch or really do it look at the runners coming toward you through your legs. You will be looking at them upside down. 4. This perspective will give you the best perception of the vertical movement of the runners'/joggers' bodies. 5. You will notice what I am saying about the joggers who don't lift their knees. You will observe that they lift their bodies up and down and don't lift or minimally lift their knees. 6. If they are coming towards you, you will notice that their lower leg never disappears behind the upper thigh as is seen in most knee lifting runners. 7. You will see the lower leg pendulum forward so that you can actually see the bottom of their feet completely from heel to sole before landing. Your inverted view also will give you a better perspective of the impact upon landing. You will see the overpronation and collapsing in of the ankle on the inner arch due to the deceleration impact of the foot landing in front of the body's center of gravity. 32

2000 William Harvey asked: I started running to work early last year and tote everything in a backpack. I don't see too many people doing it and when I mentioned this to a few office buddies, they said it's because a backpack can hurt your back. Is this nonsense? I've never had any problems with my back over the last year and I'm saving too much time and money over public transportation. If anything, it may make me run more erect, which as we all know tones the tummy. Any info out there? One thing that I have found while running with my back pack or fanny pack is that the packs have been a great feedback mechanism for my running. With the backpack I found several things and would be interested in your experiential insights. First, I found that I learned to use my arm swing from shoulder to elbow so that they counterbalanced the pack. The pack did not bounce from side to side. The weight of the backpack kept me from raising my shoulders unnecessarily. I had lose change in the front zip pocket once and realized that it jingled less with certain running form. When I used both the free swinging/counter-balancing of the arms and the proper lean I didn't hit the ground as hard. I learned to put my foot down faster and keep my core/center of gravity up, so I didn't jar with every step. The feedback from the fanny pack helped me bounce less minimizing the vertical movement of the body. It gave me feedback when I wasn't lifting my knees. I also found that when I was stronger with one arm or leg, the fanny pack had a tendency to slide toward the side I wasn't using as much. I used this feedback as a way to attempt to keep my arm and leg movements opposite and equal. Equal being the operational word. 33

My longest backpack run was about 55 miles running from home to a Benedictine Monastery up in Oceanside. I was carrying about 15 pounds. As with William’s observation, the backpack has never caused me a back problem. However I’ve never run with more than 10 or 15 pounds. The other part of the backpack running was what I picked up while doing a research study with the Marine Recruit Training Regiment at MCRD in San Diego. Working on running form so that there would be fewer injuries, we realized that slow running with a backpack is a matter of balancing the upper body over its core. When running with the backpack, it forced the Marine to align properly. When they weren't carrying the backpack, the tendency was to go back to a slight backward learn (unnoticeable to the eye) of the upper body. One of the best examples of the proper running form that I've been speaking about for the past 20 plus years is demonstrated by two different military marching styles. The difference is between the regulation marching of the recruit with a 31-inch step and the marching of the Marine Silent Drill Team. The 31 inch step of the recruit is an overstride that is visible on the shoe wear of the recruits. The outer back edge of the heel is worn down...that may play a role in all kinds of lower leg problems from tendonitis to stress fractures. The Marine Silent Drill Team can march in cadence and pivot around one Marine who is marching in place and doing a 360 degree turn while staying that that one place. At the same time the 12th Marine at the outer edge of the line scribes the circumference of the circle while keeping the same cadence as the Marine marching in place. This is a topic George Sheehan and I discussed on one of his talking visits to San Diego. He wrote about it in a monthly piece about the 85 strides or 170 steps/minute around a track where he was doing a 10 minute mile and another runner was doing 85 strides or 170 steps /minute and doing a 6 minute mile. I would be interested in hearing where your focus of vision has changed since you've been running with the backpack? Is it ten feet, or twenty feet, or are your eyes on the horizon? While the results of the research with the running form did not prove any statistical significance regarding speed, the physiologist had said that he wished he had put some transducers under the legs of the treadmill. Anecdotally, he said that after the training in running form and style, he noticed that none of the glass beakers, containers and canisters had fallen off the shelving as they had before in the wooden floored barracks where the testing took place. Please write up your experiments of one and e-mail me a copy, as I would be interested in using it as I continue to write by book on teaching proper running form and style. 34

The uphill battle in talking about running form and style is that if you are doing something improperly/incorrectly and you think that it is correct because of your own beliefs or that of authorities, you will never change. While there is no comparison, at times I can understand what the scientist who put forward the concept of tectonic plates back in the 20's must have felt when discounted and dropped from the Academy of Sciences as absurd or crazy. The common belief is that distance runners should land on the heel. Where are you landing as you run? Anyway, William, keep up the good work as runner/hunter/food gatherer. I would also be interested in hearing your thoughts on the meditative aspects of the run...and what has been the effect of integrating your running into your lifestyle. As I type this I've accumulated over 1000 miles at my computer since January on my exercycle which is under my elevated desk. And so I repeat one of my favorite quotes by Goethe: Life is the childhood of our immortality. After 25 years of teaching running, I am once again a student of my running. Ah! It's good to be alive...and running with Beginner's Mind. 35

©1997, 2000 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Attributed to Napoleon Hill The truth is that world records are abstractions. It allows us to measure ourselves against people who may be dead, or no longer active in their world record endeavor, or are unable to be there in the same time and place as the one who breaks the world record. The problem with abstractions is that they are one step removed from reality. The reality is that one runs a race in such and such a time. It is a time that is the fastest time ever run by a man/woman. We now can say we are going to attempt to break the world record. What often happens in this type of goal setting is that once the record is broken one can get caught in the trap of being a world record holder...and if it is broken by another...a former world record holder. We are always more than what and how we decide to choose to define ourselves. Those athletes who have lasted beyond their years are often found to be people who challenge themselves to see what they can do on a specific day, at a specific time and in a specific place with those present. They have not listened to the stories created by the media Since competition means "to seek with," the fiction of "world record" is that an individual did it alone. But while one crossed the finish line first, it was not alone. We have lost some of the sense of competing in that we believe that it is beating another opponent, rather than seeing what comes out of being challenged by others and oneself to be and do one's very best at a specific place and moment in time. Archibald Leach, an Englishman, set out to be the world's best Cary Grant. After several years Archibald was Cary Grant. Archibald set a world record in that he became known forever more to the world as Cary Grant. So what personal world record did you work on today? 36

Sara wrote: I run because I like to do triathlons. I really don't love it at all--any tips for learning to love this? Potentially, it's the part of my training that could help me the most, but I just don't get how runners can love it so much. I'm not injured, I run about 11-12 minute miles (just an age-grouper), and I try to get out 3-4 times a week. It's a lot easier since I'm going out more frequently, by the way. Sara, I started with running and must say that it has become part of my lifestyle. I've learned from my running that it is most influenced by my posture, and by the way I walk, stand, sit and move the 80 to 90 hours a week when I am not formally exercising. When friends I had trained moved up to Iron Man in the early 80's I started to train with them and realized that I didn't like to swim and saw the injuries from their biking accidents. I just wanted to make sure that I could run with minimal or no breaks. So I settled into what it was I liked to do as my practice and discipline. Along the way I took up Yoga to be a more flexible runner. Then I realized that to move fast I needed to be able to move in total synchronized motion. That is when I took up Tai Chi. I had this intuition that if I could move with extreme slowness that was total body movement in unison, that I could run extremely fast. My background is as a family counselor/psychotherapist who realized that the running and walking were just a metaphor for the rest of my life. So it is still lest 37

costly to see me if we are walking or running than it is to see me if we are doing therapy seated. So running is about being a good animal. It's about living life fully. Another hat I've worn for the past 15 years has been working as a Group Chairman for a company called TEC Worldwide-an international organization of CEOs. I work one on one and facilitate a group of CEOs, company presidents and managing partners in helping to make them more effective and also enhancing their lives. So it comes down to a body/mind/spirit/business approach. Two great articles are in the Harvard Business Review, January 2001 edition: Jim Loehr on The Corporate Athlete and Jim Collins on Level-5 Leadership. One of my sayings to people who want to value or judge something is to say: It's not good, it's not bad, it just is It's not right, it's not wrong, it just is It's not positive, it's not negative, it just is It's not useful, it's not useless, it just is. After doing marathons and realizing that the marathon had taken me through my rite of passage, I realized that in my running I was allowed to see where I am mind/body/spirit in living life fully and being in the moment. It also allows me to see if I am taking care of myself the only way I can: mind/body/spirit since I exist in that totality. So you have just created an article with me about running and some thoughts about embracing it. There are a host of articles that got me to this article. You might find them interesting or you may not. They are how one person looks at life from the mind/body/spirit stimulation created from the simple act of running. Not running away from, not running towards, not running into, not running out of, not running fast, not running slow, just running. And in the process of running it has created an image that running is a dance. I can do it gracefully or I can do it clumsily. I have chosen to go for the grace. 38

There is no 3 or 4 or 5-hour barrier. There exists only the reality of the myth of the Marathon. Twenty-six point two miles covered on foot when completed in the public forum of a marathon acknowledges that the finisher is a marathoner. We have created the abstract concepts of time and space. The barrier of time is not "out there" but rather within. If one's mind and body can complete the marathon, the brain creates thoughts of what the body can do. When the brain works together with the mind and body, the sub-3 or sub-4 or sub-5 or sub-6 hour marathon emerges from within you the marathoner. When the brain and the mind and the body are relaxed and focused enough, the goal emerges from within. If the goal becomes a demanding taskmaster, then the brain has talked its way into dominance and cannot be quieted. The novice marathoner becomes the veteran when he or she allows the brain and mind/body to be in the moment...each moment of the marathon, observing non critically and monitoring itself to see what it is capable of doing at that moment of the marathon based on their estimates of training and practice. The veteran marathoner is not constrained by time. Time is only one measure. Time cannot measure, purpose, mission of service, intention, quality, and peak experience, flow. Time is the container constructed by man within which he lives his life. Time is a fiction that allows us to measure ourselves against ourselves to see if we were better or worse than a previous time. And so we judge ourselves better or worse based on an abstraction. Our uniqueness and the joy of experiencing 39

the moment are without comparison. But compare we do, and to the detriment of missing and experiencing and living in the moment of our being...and doing because we can. The uniqueness of the individual and the uniqueness of the experience at a given moment can never be replicated. You cannot live on past experiences. As an Australian health program's motto stated: Life, Be in it! We are either here or not here. If we are here, then we are alive. If we are alive then we are not dead. If we are not dead then living is what our lives are about...and living our lives fully in all that we do and all that we are is what living is about. We are herd or pack animals. We need each other. We need a group with which to identify. The marathon allows us a metaphor to experience whatever we will experience. The direction is caring for oneself and the good of one's community and society. As George Sheehan said, we are called to be poets, artists, saints, heroes, philosophers and athletes; but first and foremost we are called to be good animals. No other animal measures its accomplishments and strives to set world records. The small niche within which I work and place is: coaching people to be world class humans and better athletes. There are no barriers. If you think you can or if you think you can't, you're correct. Better to focus on what we can and reflect on what future we are creating in the present. How is our sub-three or super-three; our sub-four or our super-four helping us to prepare the next seven generations to run their marathons and live their lives fully. If you want to help you can join me in saying thanks to one hero who has been making a difference, unheard of and unsung to the majority of runners around the world. He is truly a world class human and a good athlete. 40

In the late 70's, the depletion phase was standard operating procedure. The idea is to super saturate regarding carboloading. One's ability to store 1.2 to 1.4 times more glycogen was the numbers batted around. After the Sunday run until Wednesday, we would go high protein and minimal to no carbos. By Wednesday a 6 to 8 mile depletion run was truly an experience of running the Bataan Death March. My body remembers the experience of being carbo depleted and the feeling of not being able of going on...let alone run a marathon in 4 days. After that is was a carbo gorging for a day and a half to two days. Problems that might occur with the fanatical approach to depletion from ketosis and not enough water taken during this period: a. Resistance down: colds, other bacteria invade b. Muscle injury or soreness from dehydration c. High level of irritability d. Negative mental state about being able to run a mile let alone a marathon. e. Bad breath In the early 80's moderation and common sense entered the scene. “Yo, Oz, by cutting back on your running and eating regular and drinking enough fluids to be well hydrated, you'll carboload without the pain and you minimize chances of injury and illness.
” “Oh, thanks for that info.” 41

I realized that by eating normally for the last 3 days and hydrating well, that the energy I ran on was what was stored on Thursday and Friday for my Sunday marathon. How sensible. I got into eating an early dinner of high bulk: romaine and leafy lettuce (not iceberg lettuce), cabbage, veggies, whole grain rolls or whole wheat bread and a little chicken or fish. Then I'd go to the pasta bash to hang out and get into the spirit and get energized by the spirit of my fellow marathoners...and just hang out and socialize - as I was already hyper from 2 or 3 days of minimal to no running. At these times I picked up a lot of folklore, and realized before it became a diagnosis that everyone of these marathoners or marathoners-to-be could be diagnosed as full-blown Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disordered (ADHD). It was all that pent up energy waiting to be released and having no outlet except talking and nervousness and apprehension and worry and anxiety and thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking about thinking and wondering and creating a million scenarios to worry about, fret, and fear. It is a fear of coming up with a pain or an injury somewhere in the marathon. So what happens if it occurs before the half marathon and it's all due to going out to slow? But if I go out too slow, how will I make up those 2 or three minutes? And oh my gosh, I heard about the guy who forgot his shoes because he was so nervous. And the woman who forgot her running shorts and had to buy a new pair and didn't wash them and the sizing cut the hell out of her inside thighs and she didn't make her Boston qualifying time. I'd better be careful to not put too much Bag Balm on and between my toes as I've heard that it creates a barrier and won't allow the moisture on my feet to be easily evaporated. Then my feet will get soft and blister more easily. Damn! I forgot to put the piece of duct tape on the bottom of my Spenco inserts so they won't slip forward like they usually do. And if that happens at mile 18 and I stop to fit them, I could get a cramp just like Steve got when he bent over to tie his shoe and he had to limp in the last 8 miles. Wait Ozzie! Breathe! That's right! Breathe! Feel better now. Wait! Take another breath. Hmmmm, throat feels a little raw. Wonder if I'm getting a sore throat. That's all I need. If I'm not hydrated enough, my mucous membrane in my throat and nose is drier. But my pee's clear the 6 times I've peed in the last 45 minutes. I remember someone picturing my throat to me like getting chapped lips. All that bacteria getting in those open wounds and multiplying, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 523, 1026, 2052, 4102, 8204, 16408, 32816, 64632, and that's in only a minute or two. Wonder where I can get some salt? I could go to the restaurant and....borrow...some salt. If only I had brought my Cloraseptic. I really like that Cherry flavor more than the original. Sally Byram showed me how to inhale the 42

salt water through my nose, so that I can bathe my sinuses and stop those rapidly growing bacteria in my nose and throat. It's really hard for me. I gag and start to drive heave. Man, if that happens during a marathon. Wait! Oz! Stop this mental chatter. Okay, okay. Calm. Calm. Breathe. Calm. But what happens if I'm too calm and relaxed and don't hear the alarm clock go off. I know. Oh, hello Operator. Can I get a 5:00 am wake up? And then can you call me back at 5:15 to make sure I haven't overslept. I remember Vic Ryder the night before the Honolulu. We drank too much beer and he missed the start of the race. Oh, and I remember that I went out too fast and I promised myself that it was to be a training run for the San Diego Marathon. Damn, Kip caught me at 21 and said she wouldn't wait for me if I didn't keep up with her. Boy did I feel bad. Gotta remember to go out slow. Go out slow. Go out slow. But not too slow. No don't start doubting now. Remember. Go out slow. Go out slow. That feels better. Damn! Forgot to look and see what sports drink they have on the course. Man I loved it in the days of ol' Bill Gookin and his ERG. Reconstituted sweat. Forget what it stands for. Oh, it's Electrolyte Replacement.... Was the G for Glycogen? Maybe it was something else. Anyway it was just GookinAide. That stuff I had at mile 12 in the last marathon was so syrupy, I was sick to my stomach for the next three miles. Then that dumb guy that was yelling out "Water" and I dumped the stupid drink over my head. Stop! Oz, you're carboloaded and ready to go. You've finished your dinner early so you can have your proverbial big dump early. So get up walk out the door and go to the Pasta Party and be distracted by a few thousand other people who can take your mind off your marathon. The laughter from watching all the hyperactivity of the marathon mind leaking out from its collective carboloaded body and brain will calm you down. Go and enjoy the stories and the experience knowing that many of those people think that the Pasta as the last meal before the Marathon will make a difference. If they only knew: Nothing like running a marathon on an empty bowel. Remember you're going there to meet people. No need to share any folklore or teach or tell people what they need to do. I leave the room for the elevator four times. Forgetting wallet; then ticket for party; have to go pee once more and finally realized I didn't have my shoes on. That's better. Doggone, this elevator seems a bit jerky. I hope it doesn't stop between floors. I could be trapped in here for hours and not get a good nights sleep. But wait, Kevin McCarey did a marathon under 2:20 with minimal or no 43

sleep. So don't worry about it. I hope I packed my favorite racing T-shirt. I know I put it on the bed... Elevator stops. Shot of adrenaline. Elevator door opens on eighth floor and a man in running gear enters. Door closes. Boy, had me scared there a moment. Hi, I'm Charlie O'Leary from Boston; looks like you're going to the Pasta Party, too. Mind if I tag along? Yo, Charlie, nice meeting you. Glad to have you tag along. I'm Ozzie Gontang, here from San Diego. Are you set for tomorrow? Well come to think of it, Ozzie, I was feeling a little worried about... The above is fictitious and has no relationship or bearing to anyone dead. 44

Roger Martin, now long retired as Director of the San Diego YMCA, asked this question to a group of us at a meeting. Immediately there were a handful of answers with appropriate explanations that gave the why and wherefores of each exercise. His answer covered them all: The best exercise is the one you do. He went on to mention the next best exercise is the push away. Pushing myself away from the table when I have had enough nourishment to sustain me for the work and other activities I have before me. Also pushing away excessive use of those addictive foods that give pleasure but create the problems that we in the United States deal with in epidemic proportions. Since this a book running folklore, I would have to add that the world’s third best exercise and one of the greatest exercises for becoming an excellent runner is: Correct Posture. I would have to say that correct posture is the perfect exercise for running. Correct posture is not only a way to take 2 or more minutes off your 10K time, it can lower your marathon times by 30 or more minutes. An often overlooked benefit that correct posture can give us is 10 or 20 years of vital living as we reach the end of life, whatever age that is. Running is something you do maybe 3 to 15 hours a week. If I gave you 8 hours of sleep a day that most of us never take that would be 56 hours a week. If I add the number of hours I have you and add the max of 15 hours of running to that, you still have 97 hours of being awake time when you are standing, walking, sitting, driving, lounging, watching TV, listening to your iPod or Android, chatting or doing one of a hundred other things. So standing properly, sitting properly, walking properly, reading properly, walking properly, or doing any of the hundred other things properly can do nothing but improve your running. When you tire you slip into the exercise you have been doing the most. Ninety-seven hours of physical activity, especially unconscious physical activity (posture) out guns 3 to 15 hours a week of running by large 45

margin. You will be running more lightly over the ground as your postural muscles in your upper body will support so you don’t hand so heavily on the ground. Your leg muscles will experience less impact and you will expend less energy over the miles because your correct posture aids in making sure you cover the horizontal distance from point A to B. With correct posture, you will find that your ability to breath more easily and deeper increases. You breathe easy at an 8, 7, or 6 minute per mile pace, because your correct posture allows for greater expansion and deeper inhalation with each breath. I have entered you and every reader of this book into the first Posture Iron Man, Posture Marathon, Posture Ultra-Marathon, Posture 100K, Posture 10K, Posture 5K, Posture Olympic Distance Triathlon, and Posture Sprint Triathlon. You have a year to get ready. Winners will not be announced. Only seen. Something to remember: Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.
46

If you think you are doing something correctly and you are doing it wrong, you will never change. Because when a thing is thought to be right and it is wrong, it will never be perceived as wrong. Therefore it will not be corrected. This truism hold for any change; be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. In order for us to run faster, we practice running faster and faster. Further and further. Faster and further. Years ago I followed what Joe Henderson used: Long Slow Distance (LDS). So these days most of my time is running more slowly and with a high cadence. Usually I have my metronome set to 190 steps/minute. Let me go back a few years to a high jumper named Dwight Stones. I had the pleasure of watching him at several track and field meets. What you would see would observe is Dwight going through a ritual before high jumping. It looked as if he is marching in place. He picks up his left leg and right arm, turning his head over his right shoulder. Then he changes to the right leg, left arm, head looking over his left shoulder. He repeats this exercise for about 15 minutes. I learned the term for it as the Cross-Crawl. We move asymmetrically: left arm moves with right leg and right arm moves with left leg. It is a way of coordinating the brain and the neuromuscular pathways of our body. You have heard the expression: “Learn to crawl before you walk.” One of the developmental stages of locomotion is crawling that gradually prepares the child for walking. Some of you had speed demon crawlers that didn’t walk until their later teen months. During a run around Mission Bay with physician Marshall Milton said to me when I was concerned that Erin was not walking just crawling: Ozzie, I haven’t seen too many college students crawling to classes. When Erin and Allison were babes, still are now in a different way, rather than pick them up to hold them, I would lean over so they could grab my shirt and then I would put my hands under their feet so as they climbed my hands became the steps they could push off of to grab with the opposite arm to keep climbing until they reached my shoulder so I could hold them. For people who have had a stroke one of the exercises uses to rehabilitate them is getting them to crawl. It is a simple way to coordinate both sides of the brain 47

with asymmetric training. An example of symmetric locomotion would be camels: right/right and left/left. To test your own coordination of asymmetric locomotion, stand up and walk in slow motion. Better yet, run in slow motion. When you do it thinking about it, you will find your arms and legs not quite in sync after on a few slow motion steps. One arm will be forward before the foot lands or you will find yourself walking like a camel after a few slow motion steps. If you are running and your arm/leg coordination is slightly out of sync; even in the smallest way, it will be necessary for your body to compensate in one way or another. Once that compensation becomes a habit, you did not know it was even happening; a whole series of muscular compensations occur and develop in your kinetic chain of locomotion. Taking a big leap to the final outcomes; the statements I hear often is: “Well, this is the way I was born. It’s genetic.” “ Just a nagging injury that I have to live with.” If my body is slightly out of sync as I move through space, then the brain with its neuromuscular transmitting will also be slightly out of sync. So back to the earlier statement about faster and faster and further. If I go faster by running faster, it is my belief (but even more so my experience) that I can go faster by going slower. If I can train my body to take one step in 5 minutes, then the muscles I use should have the same control and be in sync as when I do one mile in 10 minutes or 5 minutes. The advantage of practicing slow movement is that I learn total body movement. In running the entire body moves. I learn to relax and feel the antagonistic muscles relaxing as the working or agonist muscles contract. What good is a tight quad and a strong and elongated hamstring or a flexible quad and a tight hamstring. In every step I take while running one muscle is contracting and the opposite muscle relaxing and elongating. In the next moment the reverse occurs on the order of 90 times a minute for people who understand Mindful Running no matter their speed; and also 90 times or higher a minute. That translates into 180 to over 200 steps a minute. What happens when one’s antagonist muscle only partially relaxes and elongates when the working muscle is engaged. The active muscle has to work to move the weight of some part of the leg PLUS pull against the tightened, only partially relaxing muscle. Extra unnecessary work and stress. You begin to realize why coaches and other trainers place such an emphasis on flexibility. That pulling against that muscle that is tight creates a diminished range of motion for one leg that the other leg or some part of the body will have to compensate for. Those of you with recurring injuries know the rest. When rest is the last work you want to hear because running is such a part of your life. 48

Well at least your body knows. It is your head that has the problem. You will hear me speak of this disease again is other chapters: psychosclerosis. Medically defined as hardening of the head. If you think it’s right and it’s wrong…. 49

GAPO
“If you don't know what you're stretching, You need a shrink to stretch your imagination.”
In the Wall Street Journal on April 28, 1997 an article was printed that said: Stretching is Greatly Overrated. It showed that runners who stretched prior to workout were not any more resistant to injury than those who didn stretching. My cat thought differently. He said I should call it: ’t Many inflexible or tight muscled runners now had proof that justified their practice of not Stretching The Mind Before Stretching The Body by Felix Gato M.S. and Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. He said he wanted first billing as he heard my sister-in-law talking about if she ever had a cat she was going to call it Predicate, just to make sure it was never the subject of any of her conversations. When I asked about where he received his M.S. he looked at me with one of those: “I get you to feed me twice a day and clean up after I poop and Dr. “Piled higher and Deeper” doesn’t know all cats are born with a Masters of Stretching. I won with my chapter title, which he liked being the subject of, but he persuaded me to share what might have been. The issue he said in his mind was not about the issue of stretching. He reminded me about the statement: Practice makes permanent. The issue, he said, 50

speaking with an air of MS degreed authority, is one of proper stretching and knowledge of what it means to stretch what is being stretched and the awareness of the feeling when a muscle relaxes, lets go so it can stretch properly. Most people haven’t a clue what it means to stretch properly. So they continue to think they are stretching and their mindless movement they call stretching simply takes them in the wrong direction and down the road to injuries. He rattled on as he snuggled in my lap: “You can’t stretch a weight bearing muscle.” Oz, open hand and try to close. I did and told him all I felt was the build up of tension. He looked at me barely liftin g an ear and said: “Can you see that cats have some connection in lineage with Yoda. There is no try. When I see people do what they call a calf stretch trying to push over a wall, telephone pole, tree or a car I brush up against their back leg to give them feedback that putting the weight on the back leg makes it weight bearing and to put the weight on the front foot. They just look at me and say: ‘Nice Kitty.” He was asleep and purring with the word: Kitty. Some thoughts: 1. Felix stretches all the time. While not into reading the WSJ he told me he was in total disagreement with the premise "Stretching is greatly overrated." While we were talking that morning over a bowl of Meow Mix and Kashi, he questioned the statistical analysis and the researcher's population while calling into question the population's intelligence about their bodies. He continued on rather heatedly saying that if the "sons of.....ah humans" don't know their own bodies well enough to know the difference between proper and improper stretching he was not about to share his feline proprietary and trade secreted knowledge, eluding to the human blind spot and not being able to see what's there. He asked me to count the "F's" in this sentence: FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF- IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS OF EXPERTS. Like most of us I counted three. He then said that's what was beautiful and paradoxical about the human brain. But he didn't continue further as he had finished his Meow Mix and proceeded to do a cat stretch and go into the living room and lie down for a nap on my favorite chair. 2. Great stretching book, a nice piece of work from a long time running friend and now mountain biker, Bob Anderson and illustrated by his wife,Jean. Stretching At Your Computer Or Desk. http://www.stretching.com Bob's book Stretching has sold over three million copies around the globe. Also Aaron Mattes' Active 51

Isolated Stretching, $30 plus shipping is a great book to have in your collection: http://www.kudos.net/mattes (check to see what is the correct URL) 3. A piece of research from the American College of Sports Medicine's journal. Two groups of people did a standing hamstring stretch for 8 weeks several times a week by putting their heel up on a table or stool and leaning forward. Group A leaned forward to touch their toe, like in a hurdler stretch. Group B kept the body erect without leaning forward from the upper body but keeping the upper body aligned in good posture with the hips. The results after 8 weeks were: Group A increased their degree of flexibility about 3 degrees. Group B increased their degree of flexibility between 9 and 11 degrees. The difference was due to the fact that when you lean forward from the upper body as in the hurdler stretch, the pelvis rolls back decreasing the distance between the origin and the insertion of the hamstring. When the body is kept erect, and the upper body and pelvis move forward in unison, the distance between the origin and the insertion of the hamstring increases giving a greater stretch. An Oz-Image: When you stretch the hamstring think of your body as closing a picket knife not bending forward like a U-bolt. 4. The Ozzie-Gontang-in-a-nutshell view of improper stretching. If there is a knot in a muscle and you stretch that muscle, the knot remains because you don't know that you even have a knot. You stretch good muscle fibers on either side of the knot. You proceed to overstretch the good/healthy muscle fibers on either side of the knot until they get overstretched. In self-defense to protect themselves from your unthinking/unfeeling stretching they tighten to protect themselves and in the end join the knot. Then the fascia around the knot stays shortened so now your stretch and your running begin to stretch tendon, which can stretch but it is the muscles that are suppose to contract and relax (stretch). 5. Most people who stretch unthinkingly suffer from Psychosclerosis a medical term for “Harding of the Head.” If you're doing something and you think it's right...and it's incorrect, you'll never change because you don't know the difference. Mindful Running is about that detectable yet seeming insignificant difference and our ability to discriminate that difference. 6. Honestly my cat taught me how to lounge around. It became a habit. It is something I continue to do and share with runners and marathoners who are willing to roll in the gutter with me and hang around bars and railings. 52

Well enough said. Oh, the sentence of counting the "F's". There really are seven. You just forgot to count the "of's"...all four of them. The mind is so use to seeing them, and thank heaven for that ability to block out unneeded or unwanted or unnecessary static that it doesn't see them even when it counts every F with your finger scanning the sentence as you read. Also part of the reason is that we read "of" as "ov." Those of you that feel good about getting all seven either did the exercise before, or our obsessive or really good at detail. Some other pieces to read if Felix perked your interest Some more folklore on various ways of massaging, stretching, rolling, and understanding what it is I'm attempting to do when I work over my body: Stretching Needs to be done properly Knees Need To Be Kneaded Posture: Its effect on Quads, Hams, Gluts And Some Things To Do About It 53

© 1997 by Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. In article to rec.running , CottonPup) wrote: Well, when I was out for my usual 6:00 am run today, the unfortunate happened. I was hit by a car that decided not to stop at a stop sign. I spent three hours in the emergency room, and I basically walked away with a big huge bump/bruise on the back of my leg, a very swollen lip, and two broken teeth (my face hit the pavement.) I know it could have been much, much worse, and I am definitely counting my blessings. I'm interested to hear from others that have had similar things happen to them. How they dealt with all the emotions that are involved, and how much time they allowed for physical healing. And I need some good ideas for food! I can only eat soft things for a few days, anyway. Oatmeal, yogurt, soup, mashed potatoes - that sort of thing...Thanks for listening :) Maureen Maureen, First we are glad that you are alive and able to walk away from harm's way. Also that your brain and fingers are able to share with us what occurred. Be aware that the brain may go into shock somewhere down the line when you find yourself thinking about how close you came to being killed. While clinicians call it post-traumatic stress, it is the brain going into panic. Panic comes from the name of the sylvan god of the forest, Pan. Pan never did anything to harm anyone who came into his domain
I have only learned recently the truth. Pan, the player of the Pan pipes, the god of the forest never did anything to the people who entered his realm. He in a way was only a trickster. Pan would rustle some leaves. Pan would drop a few acorns. Pan would break a few twigs. And the people who experienced "panic" created the lions, tiger, and bears in their own minds. They create the robbers, murderers and thugs in their imaginations. And in that state of "panic" they rushed off to get away from their imagined dangers...only to be driven to the brink of fear...created by their own imaginations. Lost, starved, never found, crushed at the bottom of a cliff, tangled in the upper branches of trees, because they created their monsters and demons from their imagination. Mindfulness is being aware that we only have the moment in which we are. The past is gone, the future is unknown because it is not here, and that is why we call this gift of life, the present. As Thich Nhat Hanh would say, "Breathe and Smile." Thoughts are like breathe, they come and go. Continue breathing and you will find that once you let a thought go, you are back in the gift of life, the present. Anyway that's a thought when you find yourself stuck on realizing how close you were to permanent injury. The Zen monk sent his student up a hundred foot pine tree to practice his agility and quickness. The student quickly climbed up and was on his way down. When the student was about 10 feet from the ground, the teacher said, "Be careful." When asked by the others around him why he told him to be careful when he was only 10 feet from the ground, the monk said, " When he was going to the top of the tree and coming down, it was new for him and he was careful and very aware of what he was doing. When he was close to the ground, it is familiar territory and it is in those moments when one loses awareness and being mindful that distraction from the familiar can cause the most harm. I trust people, cars, animals, others runners, bikers, inline skaters. I trust them to be oblivious to me. I have learned to avoid them. They have never been given responsibility for taking care of me or my wellbeing. And I trust them never to take care of me or watch out for me. While some will, I cannot trust that it is the person or animal that is coming at me at this moment. To that end I have used Chuang Tzu's story translated by Thomas Merton to help me in my life to avoid empty boats: Chuang Tzu gave us a mindful way of dealing with out of control people. THE EMPTY BOAT from The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton, ©1965 55

New Direction Publishing Corporation If a man is crossing a river And an empty boat collides with his own skiff, Even though he be a bad-tempered man He will not become very angry. But if he sees a man in the boat, He will shout at him to steer clear. If the shout is not heard, he will shout again, And yet again, and begin cursing. And all because there is somebody in the boat. Yet if the boat were empty, He would not be shouting and not angry. If you can empty your own boat Crossing the river of the world, No one will oppose you, No one will seek to harm you.... When I am confronted by reckless drivers, speeding skaters or bikers, I simply avoid them and say to myself, "Empty boat." Over the years, those two words have saved me from feeding anger, aggression and violence-both mine and theirs. 56

started.
I always come back to the same point where I started my run. No matter how far I run, in a sense I never get anywhere. It is about non-judgment. Reality always wins, our only task is to get in touch with it. When queried about being useful or useless, good or bad, right or wrong, positive or negative. I return to where I Nitejogger wrote: The following is a summation of the information I've gleaned from news articles, web sites and so on. (I don't know whether they are scientifically proven or not. I don't even remember where they came from.) 1. The less you eat the longer you will live. (At least this is true for the mice) 2. Food intake and digestion cause inevitably oxidation of human body cells. 3. This accelerates aging. 4. Exercise on regular basis is beneficial but in extreme, exercises can over-oxidate your body. (Such as professional athletes.) 5. Even worse, extreme exerciser needs more calories. This means more food intake. See #2. I used to run 40 ~ 50 miles a week. (This is winter so I've slowed down a little bit... 20 ~ 25 miles a week) I know many people in this newsgroup (rec.running) run over 60 miles a week. That's not the distance that the ordinary people usually run, I guess. So.... Are we (tens of miles a week runners) getting extra wrinkles on our faces and a shorter longevity? I hope we are not. What do you think? nj Dear nj, I'm one of those people you like to have on your team in Trivial Pursuit or Tribond. There is a quote that I've liked because it makes me feel that I have some value: The value of a man can be measured by the amount of all the useless information his mind contains. Mine contains a lot. I derive that thinking from my readings of Taoism especially the stories of Chuang Tzu. I don't profess to understand much. I do know that wisdom and 57

knowledge can block one's understanding. One reason all I can share is my folklore. If it works use it. If not, move on. One story that touches the mark of how people respond when asked what they think is the story of The Useless Tree. Hui Tzu, who loved to debate and one up Chuang Tzu, said to him: There's a large ailanthus tree on my property You know the one I mean: the "stinktree." The tree's trunk is so grotesque Misshapen and full of knots A master carpenter couldn't cut A straight board with all his skill. It's branches so gnarled and twisted You can't align them with a square In any way that would be orderly. Let it grow by the roadside. No carpenter, not even a master craftsman, Would give it a thought or consideration. Your teachings are just the same - Big and utterly useless So everyone disregards them. Chuang Tzu thought a moment and replied: Have you ever observed a wildcat or weasel As it lies in wait? See it hunch, Half hidden eyeing its prey - Then in a flash it pounces Jumping this way and that Springing high and low, until it is Snared by the net, caught Soon to be killed and skinned Ah, but look at the yak? Mighty as the roiling clouds of a thunderstorm He stands powerful, a sign of strength. Big? Yes. But it doesn't know how to catch rats. About that "stinktree" you have. Useless? Then go out and plant it in the badlands In the barren desert. Leisurely relax against its trunk, Use its shadow to rest under A haven for all passing by. No saw or axe plans its demise If there's no use for it, How can it come to any grief? Useless, you say. {i.7.} 58

1. The researcher (Woldrop, Walthrup at UCLA or was it USC?) who studied the mice allowed the control group to eat freely and the experimental group was fed every other day and diet was controlled. At the end of the study, the experimental group of mice were more healthy, more active and didn't seem to have aged as much as the control group which where fat and happy. Happy here being a relative term. In the end I believed they were all sacrificed for the sake of science. That same researcher was involved as part of the crew that went into the Biosphere to live for a year. 2 & 3. Tom Bassler back in the early 80's was writing about free radicals, transfatty acids, and marathoners being immune from death by heart attacks for up to 8 years after running a marathon. Tim Noakes and Tom had a great discussion back in 1976 at the New York Academy of Sciences Marathon Symposium. Tim drew from his experiences with the deaths of marathoners that contradicted Tom's hypothesis. Tom arrived at much of his findings and hypotheses from his work as a pathologist, experiment-of-one and avid runner. 4. The research at the Cooper Center under the guidance of Steve (Last name begins with B, I think) showed that even with minimal exercise heart attacks can be reduced by as much as 50%. Also regular exercise is beneficial based on (a) cardiovascular health, (b) lowered percentage of unnecessary body fat, and (c) an increase, maintenance or slowing down of the loss of bone density. a. Heart is a bloody muscle. Work it out and exercise it through aerobic activity and it is healthier. (Today the thinking about the heart is that the brain listens to the messages the heart is sending and responds) b. Normal or ideal percent body fat keeps one away from the diseases caused by obesity: e.g. diabetes that is the fastest growing diseases among US children today. c. Think about it. Muscles pull on tendons. Tendons pull on bone where tendons attach. When you pull on a tendon, it pulls on the bone. The bone receives a message: Hey, the tendon is trying to pull away from me. I'd better lay down some more cartilage, put down a little more calcium so that it won't pull away. So that continual stimulation of the muscles pulling on tendon and tendon on bone stimulates the body to put down more calcium in the bone to make it stronger so that the tendon won't pull away. 59

5. Regarding the extreme exercise. Young women who stop their periods because of extreme exercise lose their bone density at a fairly high rate. Bone scans has shown women in the 20's and 30's who were without their periods for several months to several years can have the bone density of women in their 70's and older. I know that if someone over trains to the point of exhaustion they will sustain more injuries. They will tax their immune system and be more open to getting sick. Once someone has gone over the edge, it often takes 6 months to a year or more for them to recuperate. Once over the edge it is a long journey to get back to their level of peak performance. Their climb back contains much agony and soulful pain to get back to the level where their mind and body had formerly been. This says nothing about the state of their psyche/soul/spirit. This is an area where over the years I have been privy to the inner journey or dark night of the soul of many of these overachievers. I have been honored to attend or be present as they recovered their sense of being that was destroyed by their overdoing. For some the recovery was never to happen. We individuals are only small echoes of what myth and history have given us. Pride, arrogance, challenging the gods and denying the limits of humanity, being swept away, going unconscious are the shadow and dark side of ourselves we wrestle with all the time. Adalanta, Prometheus, Odysseus, Sisyphus, Samson, Richard M Nixon, William Jefferson Clinton are our teachers and our coaches and our mentors. Positive or negative they are here to teach us about ourselves. It makes one wonder about James Hillman's concept that in the acorn is contained the mighty oak. Did Manolete hide behind his mother's apron as a child knowing he would be facing a 1200-pound bull? Did Winston Churchill have trouble as a child speaking knowing that he would have to inspire with words a country on the edge of total destruction? I always come back to the same point where I started my run. No matter how far I run, in a sense I never get anywhere. It is about non-judgment. Reality always wins, our only task is to get in touch with it. When queried about being useful or useless, good or bad, right or wrong, positive or negative. I return to where I started. It's not useful or useless It's not right or wrong. It's not positive or negative. It's not good or back. It just is. 60

So I am neither valuable nor valueless since I don't know if what I have in my mind is useful or useless. And what did you think about on your run today? 61

One determined person can make A significant difference; a small Group of determined people Can change the course of history
Sonia Johnson, author, lecturer
Genius is the ability to put Into effect what is in your mind.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, author Carpe diem: You are the casting director. Make sure that your runners cast themselves in a role that makes their futures a reality. They create the future .by practice...by discipline...by passion...by friendship...by humility...by crafting their lives as best as they can. See what each of them can do to experience a team that win or lose will never lose heart and will never be vanquished. Dedicated to the spirit and flame waiting to be awakened in you and me. Chad wrote: Hi. I coach a high school track team and help out with the cross team in the fall. There is one runner on the team that has the potential to go to states in both XC and Track. The problem is that he has no motivation. He's slacks off in practice and in meets and his parents make him feel like he is the best thing since sliced bread. Does anyone have any ideas of how to get him to work hard at practice and to give his all in meets? He doesn't pay much attention to direct confrontation, the effect only lasts for a short time. Please help. Thanks in advance. Chad----------Keep on Running Chad, Actually the definition of motivate is to have a motive; and when you look up motive, you find the "goal and objectives of one's actions." So the question is what are the goals and objectives that this young gentleman has. What does he want to be when he grows up. What is it that turns him on. Look up the definition of discipline and you find the derivation the same as disciple, or one 62

who learns. Practice from the Greek "practica" means "fit to do" or the actual verb means "to do." So one's practice is one's doing. Finding out what are the possibilities in one area of life allows one later to generalize to other areas of one's life. If I can "___________" then doing "________" can't be any harder. My daughters know that doing an all out sprint in rowing for the last 500 meters can be total exhaustion but achievable. Compared to that nothing they do can be that hard...so there is little that can stop them from doing anything with total commitment. Find out what your young athlete aspires to. What does he want to be? The measure of performance is "performance." If you want to measure yourself against anyone, be sure that you measure yourself against the best. Being the best brings with it pride of doing something that one set out to achieve. It also brings with it humility, that one can be the best but it is only for a time because someone else may/will be inspired by the very record holder to do what other's thought impossible. Each athlete when challenged to be his/her best, allows others to "compete" that is "seek with" them what is humanly possible. The spirit grows. With continuous improvement, one is "Green and growing" always seeing what new possibilities are within the heart of someone who believes: "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." Anon. Have your runner play with what is humanly possible for him. What great things he can learn about himself as he comes up against his own mind. If you can find the spark, your runner will ignite it. Remember that enthusiasm comes from the Greek again, meaning "the God within." When someone had "en theos" people would say he/she burned with the god within. The passion was evident. How will you reframe the context for this young man to come up against what he may not have even dreamed as possible. As I've repeated to my daughters over and over again: "If you want to know the future, create it!" Erin created the possibilities for going to Moorea. She turned possibility into reality and did 2 months of scientific field work in Tahiti this fall semester at Cal. She created her future by seeing where she wanted to be and then worked back from there to arrive at that point. Allison has overcome her asthma and from a scrawny 9th grader, she stroked the junior women's varsity 8 63

at ZLAC (the oldest women's rowing club west of the Mississippi) and captained the team in its winning of the SoCal Cup. What's the story that your young runner wants told about him? Find out and you only have to help create that possibility. Stay out of his way as he challenges himself to perform...and have fun...and be part of a team...as he models the behavior to do what needs to be done to achieve what one wants to achieve. Chad, you know you can't motivate anyone to do anything. As I said, motivation is always internal. What you can do is create stories and images which set the heart on fire. Read David Whyte's chapter called "Fion & the Salmon of Knowledge" in his book, The Heart Aroused. It is the story of youth against experience. Read John Wooden. How are you challenging yourself and your possibilities as a coach...and mentor. Read Inamori "A Passion for Success." Here's someone who did it. The track team, the cross-country team is the metaphor for creating a hook on which to hang other experiences. The beauty of a cross-country team is that it is a team, and that strategically the 5th man can play a great role in winning or defeat. Here we are only as good as our last man. What's nice about rowing, is there is no MVP. What would your team be like if you helped your best train and develop the learners/beginners. What dynasty would you/they create if you/they set your hearts to it. Carpe Diem. What a great few minutes to show to your athletes as Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society looks into that trophy case and looks at the picture of those early athletes - young and virile - as the young men looking at the picture. These young men had similar wishes, hopes, desires, passions and aspirations. In that picture in the trophy case, the eyes of the young look out. Those eyes looking out capture the imagination. Those young eyes now closed for many years by death look out and connect with the spirit of youth. How had they lived their lives? Carpe diem. Carpe diem. Seize the day, Boys! Chad, seize the day. You are the casting director. Make sure that your runners cast themselves in a role that makes their futures a reality....by practice...by discipline...by passion...by friendship...by humility...by crafting their lives as best as they can. See what each of them can do to experience a team that win or lose will never lose heart and will never be vanquished. If they lose, then they know they had pushed their competitors to their very best. They could truly walk up to the winners and celebrate with them. They truly were creators of what was humanly possible at one moment in time, at one instance. 64

As George Sheehan said "It will live in the hearts and spirits of all those who shared that moment, when both teams tested the spirit of human possibilities. It wasn't about first or second, It was an experience in eternity, that is, outside of time. And both teams created it." When a team is thinking about its win the previous time, it has lost being in the present. When a team is focused on being the best, the fastest now, it is in the moment and open to all possibilities of playing on a different level. When a team is a winning team it needs to stay in the present. It will continue to see how it can improve. The individual is focused and will do what is necessary for the team to succeed. The team members continue to seek what needs improvement. The team focuses on increasing their speed, their endurance, and raising the abilities of the slower runners so that the dynasty which they have created will live on in a tradition. Looking back 10 or 20 years they will say: "Coach said, 'If you want to know the future, create it.' And we have. And we still do in all parts of our lives." 65

To me, it's always been a time when I get to see how close my thinking and doing are in harmony. The marathon has continually afforded me the opportunity to see how long I can stay in the present. I get to see how I did on that day, in that marathon under those conditions. Marathoning is about bearing witness publicly to the individuality of the marathoner. The marathoner travels as George Sheehan so aptly put it, the path of hero, poet, saint, philosopher and athlete. On the field of Marathon, for each man and woman doing and being are one. Marathon comes from Marathreum which is the Greek word for the herb which covered those plains in the spring. "Fennel." Marathon's about friends, food and community. In the marathon we come up against ourselves. The real Marathon is called Life. In the Marathon, commemorating the victory of the Atheneans over the Persians, we get to practice the endurance lifestyle. The hero, poet, saint, philosopher and athlete offers thanks for the opportunity of living a "no excuses" life. For some the marathon can become the excuse for escaping from one's job or one's relationships. In the area of work, it's interesting that the word "job" comes from the Anglo-Saxon and means a "lump." 200 years ago, people were saying that in this industrial revolution, people cannot do a "lump" of work. Man was meant to work. And whatever his work, it has to have a purpose...be it building the town center, feeding the village, constructing the cathedral. And now 200 years later we are afraid of losing our "lumps." For others the marathon, is about living and doing and being...in everything. For those practicing mindfulness, where else can one go for 3 to 6 hours and be in the present and observe....breathe, smile and see the interdependence of all that exists on the big blue marble. One is able to see how well one is practicing. 66

In Zen and the Art of Archery, the Master told his student. There is no need to write me. Just send me several pictures of yourself in the shooting position and I will know how you are. It is the same in marathoning. I went to run a marathon and discovered that life is about doing. It is interesting that the word "act" comes from the Latin, ago, agere, egi, actus. And that Latin verb means to "do." So if you act, it means you're doing and not just pretending. Acting like a marathoner means training like a marathoner. And training like a marathoner means doing what marathoners do. And doing what marathoners do, means being consistent. And when one is consistent what you do and how you act are the same. Marathoning is learning to be sincere. That is "sine cera" or without wax. When Roman sculptors chiseled a fine piece of statuary, if they made a few chisel marks too deep or a scratch, they would take dust from their work and mix it with wax and then putty the compound into their chinks and dings. So where you see someone who is for real, or "sine cera" you are getting someone without wax. Marathoning is a dance. You can do it gracefully or clumsily. Go for the grace. To those who ran their marathon this past year and those preparing to run their marathon this year, we salute you. What ever happened or will happen. Whatever you did or will do. What ever you felt or will feel, know that it was you who did it and those were your feelings. No one can take it away. Whatever you felt as you were preparing for or doing the marathon, were really your feelings. For many it has been their first experience of being in the present...and knowing it...for the first time. The Marathon is a metaphor for living life now. 67

What your body and brain need first and foremost to survive is an element that is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas. Oxygen. It has always been free for the breathing. If my brain is without oxygen for more than a few minutes there will be severe brain damage or death. Several years ago on That's Incredible, a Yogi contorted himself and got his body into a box a little over two feet square. He was able to stay there for over an hour. His feat takes real control of mind and body. It is this same concentration you need every step of your marathon training. All of you have tried at one time to hold your breathe for as long as possible. As you reached your limit, there was no yogic serenity and tranquility. You were aware of your entire body screaming out for oxygen. Your eyes seem to get bigger. Your thoughts exploded in a cacophonous roar of one word, "Breathe!" No longer able to hold your breath, you gasp and once again feel yourself standing on an ocean floor of air. Your panting gradually slows as each breathe of air brings your back to normal. For someone unable to use their own lungs to breathe, medical science has made a respirator to breathe for them. The sound of a respirator is so regular and consistent that it has a hypnotic quality. If you listen long enough to the pattern, its' rhythm and steadiness can easily lull one to sleep or put one in a trance. The mind often will turn those sounds into words or chant like phrases. Follow these directions for a moment. Breathe in slowly for a count of eight and then breathe out for the same count. Now, continue this deep rhythmic breathing as you continue to read the remainder of this tip. Try this breathing while walking. You will be able to breathe in for 8 or more steps and out for the same amount. You will be able to breathe out for 16 or 18 steps and get enough air in 2 to 4 steps. If you practice for several days or weeks, you will notice that the amount of time or the number of steps increases and that your effort decreases. 68

What is interesting is that should you breathe in or out for too long or for too many steps, your body begins to tighten and tense up. Your breathing becomes very labored, as you can get no more air in or out. You will notice that muscles of which you were unaware tighten as you use all your effort to get that last little bit of air in or out. You have now experienced what it means to "try too hard." A few of you will have been enlightened through this experience. You have learned to always go to the edge of your "finite but unbounded" limits and expand that little bit. Effortless effort. When the brain receives it fair share of oxygen along with the rest of the body, the mind/body feel no excess tension. If you "try too hard" then you end up tensing other parts of your body that do not need tensing when breathing regularly. Those unnecessarily tensed muscles need oxygen to contract. By trying too hard, you have now taken oxygen away from the muscles needed to do the required work. You are now wasting energy on unnecessary tensing of muscles not needed in what you are doing. • • To experience this unnecessary waste of energy: Open your hand as wide as you can. Leave it open and try to close it for 20 seconds. You have the experience of "trying too hard." You have used muscles to fight each other's purpose. Muscles are made to contract. It is so easy to close the hand and open the hand when the opposite muscles are relaxing. Muscles not moving efficiently will have to use more oxygen, waste more energy and gradually go into oxygen debt or become exhausted. Muscles working against themselves cause many problems that can make you over time more injury prone. It's that situation where you tried harder and performed worse. Mark Belger was telling me about a training session that he had with a fellow runner. His friend was helping him develop a training schedule and also timing his workouts. Mark was doing repeat 440's. He was finding himself doing them in the 58 seconds and feeling himself straining. His friend told him to relax his arms and float through the next 440. Mark found himself doing the 440 yards and several more repeats in 52 seconds without any strain or effort. Less strain or effort with higher performance. Observations on Breathing: Focus on the exhale and relax on the inhale. Breathe out with pursed lips to get a slight backpressure. When someone has run by you gasping for air, the problem is often not getting enough air in. The problem is getting too little air out. If you breathe enough air out, you can relax and get all the air you need easily and without effort. If you breathe all the air out, then you have created a vacuum 69

in your lungs. Mother Nature hates a vacuum. So she has atmospheric pressure, 15 psi (pounds per square inch) breathe you as you relax after exhaling. It's a nice picture to remember on long runs especially during the last 4 or 5 miles. Running at bottom of an ocean of air, the pressure is breathing you (your inhalation) as long as you can get enough air out. Blow out your air as if you are blowing out a candle. However, use just enough air to make the imaginary candle flicker. It's just a slight pursing of the lips to create an ever so small backpressure. There is no sound or exaggeration of your breathe out. That little bit of backpressure assists you in getting more oxygen. So even as you exhale carbon dioxide, you continue to get a better volume of oxygen. Over the next few months, practice finding the breathing sequences that work best for you. Play with different breathing patterns at different speeds. The main idea is to keep your brain well oxygenated so that it does not panic. Also to keep your muscles full of oxygen so that no unnecessary by-products build up in the muscle to slow you down. On a slow training run you may want to experiment breathing in for 6 or 8 steps and out for 2 to 4 steps. Running faster you may want to try 4 steps breathing out and 2 or 3 steps for an inhalation. The idea is to have such strong regulated breathing that like the respirator we talked about earlier, you are in control of your run and have enough oxygen to keep the mind and muscles calm and working effortlessly to do what needs to be done to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. The breathing sets the groundwork for all other types of mental training. You are training the mind to run smart and the body to move effortlessly over the surface of the earth. (Are you still practicing your rhythmic breathing or have you forgotten as you continued to read.)? 70

Jeff Bigman wrote to Mark Baldwin: During marathon training is the ideal time for something like this. You could run the last 2 or 3 miles of your long run a little faster so you can get at least somewhat used to making your legs go faster when they have already put in a lot of miles. Also, since you will probably be putting in more miles during the week, these "pick-ups" towards the end will let you get in some decent pace work without totally destroying your legs. You obviously know best how to prevent yourself from overtraining - something you want to be on the edge of but never quite reach - but I really think this type of thing will pay off come time for your marathon. -jeff Jeff, My experience and those of a lot of people I trained was to do long training runs with 5 to 10 stops over 18 to 23 miles. During the stops it was mainly to use railings, benches, picnic tables, curbs to massage out hams, quads, adductors, back, calves and shins. A 4 to 8 mile between miles 11 and 18 or 19 would be focused on getting into the pace, rhythm, breathing, form and style. Many times the silence of the pack running together, the sounds of the breathing, footsteps, wind in the ears created that "able to run forever" experience. We often did reciprocal breathing, as you breathe out, I am breathing in with the same cadence. The experience is that of being breathed. The only focus is getting the breath out, and the sound of the other's breath fills my lungs. Regarding the statement of wanting to be on the edge of overtraining, I would be concerned that some might take that wrong. I personally wouldn't want to be or want anyone to be on the edge of overtraining. Possibly from your own experience you know the injuries and illnesses that plague someone on the edge 71

of overtraining. I’m sure you know the number of months to get back to one's racing condition after going over the edge. For me this is where I use resting heart rate as my indicator that I'm not wearing myself down. If my heart rate is normally at 48 or 49 when I training well, when it goes us to 60 or 65 in the morning when I take it for a full minute before getting out of bed, I go through the check list of: dehydrated, early warning of a bacteria or virus, not enough sleep, anxious or worried over "x", not getting enough rest, pushing too hard. In running the last few miles hard, my main training goal is to run within oneself. The final miles are never, as I said earlier, death march running where form and style and awareness go to hell. For me that kind of final miles only trains one to practice bad form and style. I anchor those feelings and experience in those final miles. When people I've trained finish a long run, they are tired but feel good. In the first 15 years at the Marathon Clinic, we'd do our long runs on Saturday, and come back for an easy 8 warm down on Sundays where we ran slow and just worked on form and style with a good number of massage stops along the way. If you were to come with me for an easy 8 around Mission Bay, I know the location of every bench, railing, table, or tool for massaging and stretching out one's aches and pains. Some things I have found over the years that best prepares someone for a marathon: 1. Running 23 miles with the group instead of the planned 20 miler because I made a mistake in my calculations. Double bind. Upset, but proud they did what they didn't want to do. 2. Doing hill repeats on the street one block south of Claremont Drive, until no body complained but just turned around and were headed down knowing they were going to do another. 3. Images, pictures, breathing patterns, form and style, 4. Do a 20 miler on the 8 mile loop around the bay because we had to continue on from where we started 2 times. 4a. Stopping at each loop to get water and put on a fresh T-shirt. 5. Do 4 of the 8 mile loops. The one time we did that as a group only John Clapp and I finished the last 8 miles. The other 30 or 40 people dropped at 16 with about 10 finished the 3rd loop. 6. Stopping and working out the tightness in the muscles. It is the best way of getting over the fear that one would not be able to start again. 72

7. Making the faster runners run 3 or 4 miles to a designated spot and from there have to double back until they caught up with the slowest runners and then run in form and style until we all got to the designated spot-usually a water fountain/toilet stop. Then head out to the next designated spot knowing that they would loop back and do the same drill over again. The faster runners like the hounds at a Hash House Harrier run cover anywhere from 4 to 6 miles further than the slower runners. The hardest was going to the finish of the run knowing that they had to turn around and go back and pick up the slower runners. Remember this was in the days when you had to finish a marathon in 4:20 or better. So a 20 miler would be 3:20 at a 10 minute pace and add another 20 minutes of stopping time so the long run would be 3:40 for the slower runner...and for the faster runner. That for them was body adaptation, but even more so mental adaptation. 8. Start a training program knowing that each week you'll be out for 4 hours of moving. Starting with running whatever one is running and then walking for the rest of the time. 9. Have the runners experience every possible mental distraction so that during the marathon there's no new psychological barriers. 10. When walking, one maintains running form and style. Head erect. Eyes on the horizon. Elbows swinging forward. Arms at 90 degrees. Breathing in rhythm. Toes relaxed. Legs extend from below the ribs so that the pelvis is rotating and giving the extra inch or two of stride length. 11. From mile 15 on, have one or two jokes you can tell. 12. Soaking in the ocean or cool water to diminish any swelling, get the core temperature down, and experience the healing power of water - that makes up about 60+% of us. 13. See sweat as losing blood, so that the focus continually goes back to releasing any tension so that I'll sweat just what I need to keep my core temperature down. No strain. No excess or unnecessary movement. Good form and style. 14. Running 6 to 8 miles with the group in silence. Running with a 2 or 3 other runners practicing becoming one in cadence and movement. 15. Always running the course on the tangents, so as to never run more than needed. 73

16. Knowing that speeding up is a function of the lean from the ankle. I can be in the same cadence with some one as I pass them. As a group we would be in cadence together along the boardwalk at Mission Beach. We would often pick a runner ahead that was going at a good pace. We would get in cadence with him or her. The lean from the ankle meant we would be covering several more inches with each stride but still be in the same cadence as our target. Our target would start to take bigger strides to keep up with us. We'd lean a little more and pick the pace up some more. In a few minutes one of us would turn to the target runner and say, "Boy, it's a tough run today." That was the cue to lean a small bit more to pick up the pace. That comment would be the mind breaker for the target as they slowed back down to their pace. I did this pack cadence running, to emphasize that running is a ball/heel event. The target runners were always heel strikers. So the more they attempted to keep up with us, the more their steps were overstrides. It created just that little bit more of stopping themselves each step as they sped up. 17. Rewards of ice cold water or carbo drinks along the way. Ice to suck on. Carrying ice cubes in the hands to emphasize that the hands are heat exchangers and the ice was cooling the blood as it returned to the core. 18. Water stops from the very beginning meant that everybody drank even if they didn't like to drink water. 19. Realizing the power of cold water on the face, back of the neck, head, and forearms. 20. Two days before the run, lubricating with body lotion those areas of the body that would be prone to chaffing. So that during the run, as we started to sweat, the lotion in the pores would continue to add lubrication. 21. Standing during the week and at all times so that one can wiggle their toes. Add this to the image that when I run I have no toes. That means minimal toe blisters when I get tired as I just roll over the front of the foot and the toes don't claw. That clawing with the toes also causes issues with the calves and shins. 22. The use of the 90-Hour-A-Week Workout. Being conscious of posture I work on getting people aware that when I get tired in the marathon or on a long run, I return to what I practice the most. And that is my standing and sitting posture. So the more erect I can sit in a balanced position with no strain: erect, head up, shoulders relaxed, the longer I will maintain good running posture. 23. Any negative thoughts, any doubts, any anger, any complaining, any blaming, are let go with each exhale of breath. When any thoughts come in that distract from running in good form and style, focus on the breathing, until the 74

thoughts are gone, a slight smile appears on the face and disappears to a neutral face, just a slight upturn of the edges of the mouth. Thoughts are gone and no energy is wasted on thinking. Breath rules. 24. When a song enters the brain, breathe the melody or the words as you use it as a mantra to keep calm and the body running with rhythm. 25. Read Zen and the Art of Archery; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; anything by Thich Nhat Hanh; Tom Merton's The Way of Chuang Tzu; Michael Whyte's The Heart Aroused; Jon Kabit Zinn's Wherever You Go, There You Are; All the article and books by George Sheehan; The Little Prince; Tuesday's With Morrie; Don Schmincke's Code of the Executive; Hesse's Saddartha; Rumi's poetry; any poetry. write some of your own. Memorize some of the poetry. Any books or tapes by Joseph Campbell; the works of James Hillman; George Leonard's Mastery; Essential Sufism ed. Fadiman & Frager; The Bible, The Koran, Lao Tzu; Shel Silverstein; Illiad; Oddessey; Heroditus; biographies; The Story of G; Larry Gonick's Cartoon series on the History of the World and the Universe; watch Chariots of Fire; watch the 100 years of the Olympics; any of Bud Greenspan's videos on the Olympics; learn as much as you can about your body; about nutrition; about Feldenkrais; Alexander Technique; Rolfing; philosophy, history, 26. No matter how many people helped me. Know and say humbly: I am doing this marathon alone, even in an ocean of 20,000 people. I honor what my mind/body and spirit are about to do. I will attend and be present and bear witness to what message the Marathon within is going to teach me. Each of us are unique. Just like everyone else. Today I get to see how well my mind/body/spirit finished together. I get to see in this marathon what I learned from being present from start to finish. In this thinking there are no barriers to break. I just let out from within what was needed to qualify for Boston. 26.1 Share your folklore. Always be open to having your answers or folklore questioned. It all stories. 26.2 Everybody holds a piece of the truth. Honor yourself and honor those who have touched the spirit of the Marathon that lives within. 75

©1997 revised 2011 Austin'Ozzie' Gontang, Ph.D.
those walking/running moments together they shared their perspectives and I mine. Those that came seeking a cure were only promised the one guarantee that I continue to make before we start: "When we finish, you'll have burned 300 to 700 calories of energy. I don't know how you'll feel, but I know you'll be able to tell me what your thinking body feels. And even if you can't put it into words, those feelings are yours and no one can take them away from you. Some of the feelings that you don't want, we can leave out 'there' on our walk. And any time you want to get them back, they'll be there waiting at whichever spot we decide to deposit them." Here are some general questions asked by a writer doing an article on walking and running therapy and my answers. You can interchange running with walking as it was for a walking magazine article.
1. How long have you been walking with your clients and how did you start to do so?
In 1974, Dr. Tad Kostrubala, MD, the chief of Psychiatry at Mercy Hospital in San Diego orchestrated a research study with graduate students and faculty of the Rehabilitation Counseling Department at San Diego State University. It measured the psychological and physiological benefits of endurance exercise i.e. running. Using target heart rates that were determined by an extensive physical work up and an exercise stress test using a bicycle ergometer, approximately 20 of us started a walk/jog program for an hour followed by an hour of group therapy. This regimen was carried out 3 times a week from October 1974 to May 1975. From 1975 until 1980, I worked and studied under Dr. Kostrubala. I was the first individual he trained as a "Running Therapist." I would walk and run with individual patients of his and also conducted several therapy groups based on the model of walk/run an hour followed by an hour of group therapy. In 1976, he wrote the book The Joy of Running, in which he described the Running Therapist. From the very beginning, individual patients had the choice of doing therapy sitting, walking or running. The people who participated in the group therapy knew that they would be involved in an hour of walking/running followed by the hour of group therapy. Over the past 35 years, I would say that 75% of the people I have seen for therapy have chosen to walk or run as we explore the issues confronting them. Nearly all of those individuals who chose to do therapy on the move started by walking and talking. I would say that close to half of those who walked with me at the start chose to remain walkers and for many reasons were not interested in running. 77

2. What is it about walking that you feel is effective in therapy? Basically, how does it work?
With people who suffer from depression or other job, family or psychological stressors, walking has all the following physiological benefits: • Reduced heart rate • Resting blood pressure reduced • Reduced potential for platelet obstruction • Increased muscle metabolic capacity & enzyme activities • Increased lipid utilization • Increased HDL • Decreased LDL/HDL Ratio • Increased insulin receptor sensitivity and glucose tolerance and psychologically: • Reduced depression/anxiety/tension • Increased feelings of well-being • Improved control of daily stressors • Higher tolerance to daily stressors • Improved self-image • Increased sense of vigor.
3. How does it work?
1. The therapist and patient are doing something together. They are moving in the same direction. They are looking in the same direction. Anxiety, blocked thoughts give way as the adrenaline is metabolized through exercise. 2. The dialogue while walking with the therapist often is recalled while the patient is walking alone or with others. The Runninging Therapist is trained to pick up verbal and non-verbal cues during the walking session. e.g. an increase in pace as the patient talks about an emotional issue; change in the breathing pattern; postural changes. 3. The physical feelings of exercise, exertion and discomfort are experienced. Often these people have shut down and are completely out of touch or lack any awareness of their feelings. 4. The Running Therapist may see the patient only once a week but the contract is for the patient to walk at least two and preferably 3 or 4 more times during the week. This can be done alone. However at least one of those times is to walk or run with another person; preferably with a friend or some walking group that meets regularly. The socialization process starts from the very beginning. There 78

is psychological stereotyping. When asked what do you do, the usual answer is the number of miles they walk or run. 5. The experience of two people going for a walk and discussing/talking about personal issues. The experience of doing something that is non-threatening, total involvement of mind and body. 6. The use of the environment to enhance or reinforce a point: Walking next to the vastness of the ocean, hearing its power, knowing it has been there for millions of years, the metaphor of the waves like breath or feelings, they come and they go. There's silence, there's the crashing sounds of waves breaking, ebb and flow, ebb and flow. As far as the eye can see, one experiences the vastness of ocean. Even doing the same walk each week, one sees all the changes due to the weather, it's the same but it's different. One can experience awe and wonder of being alive and part of humanity as they walk through parks, through wooded areas, through canyons, through desert, through mountains, even through a mall. All these visual, aural and often olfactory experiences help one remember that one is experiencing life, their own life. It brings people back into the present. They are once again a part of nature. Even as one walks in a sea of shopping or strolling humans they are connected and again part of humanity. They are not just a passive observer sitting, watching and disconnected. 7. The therapist is not doing something to you. He's not fixing you or treating you. He is sharing time and space. He is sharing an experience. He is active in helping the patient alter perceptions, look at life differently, experience thoughts through a different filter, a different view, or the same view from a different vantage point. 8. Should the therapist and patient meet someone known by either of them, they may stop and say hello or say hello as they continue on their way. They are introduced as friends if they stop. If they continue past, all the observer sees is two people, two friends, two acquaintances out for a stroll and some conversation. 9. The therapist is a role model. He/She gets the patient back into life, back into relationships, back into experiencing the present, back into observing and quieting the mind as it observes what is. 10. Even if the patient is verbally and mentally locked in the thought of not being able to go on, by the time they have finished, even should the thought remain; they have gone on for 2 to 5 miles. I once walked with a patient who had attempted suicide. We walked around Mission Bay, a distance of 8 miles. For five of those miles, the patient and I chanted in mantra style, "I can't go on! I can't go on?" We stopped four or five times to deal with the tears and emotions but we covered the distance. We acknowledged his feelings of not being able to go on and even verbalized those feelings and thoughts. When we reached our starting 79

point on the circular route, I pointed out the path we had taken proved that his feelings of not being able to go on were not physically true. 11. One becomes re-socialized and reconnected in the process of walking and talking with the Running Therapist. 12. Running Therapists often become extremely good coaches in walking form and style. They can assist the patient in feeling balanced and centered. They can teach the patient how to walk gracefully. The Running Therapist makes sure she never takes the patient’s old style away of posture and movement. She just shows them the difference between their style and another style. She assists them in discriminating the fine differences and allows them to experience both. And make a choice. The metaphor of going from old style walking to new, often helps overcome the fear of change. Yes, I have seen many people recover from their depression, their anxiety, their confusion, their problems as we walked and talked. Critics years ago said that it was the walking or running and not the therapy that was the secret of this form of therapy. Another criticism leveled back in the late seventies was that Kostrubala and the therapists he trained were excellent therapists and used walking and running as a hook to hang onto people. In 35 years I have walked with several hundred people who were mildly to severely depressed or suffered from other psychological problems. All I know is that they get better. Is it the walking? Is it the therapist? Is it a combination of the two? Is it just the passage of time? I love the statement: Time heals. Give Time: time. People who return months or years later after we have finished our therapeutic journey do so to check in and to problem solve so they won't regress back to where they once were. A large percentage of those who I see again for another bout of depression or other psychological problems have stopped walking, running, stopped exercising and have stopped taking control of their lives. A dear friend of mine, Rick Eigenbrod, is my twin by different mothers and fathers. We were both born on the same day, March 30, in the same year. He tells the story of talking with Jerry Harvey, a wonder human and social psychologist and creator/author of The Abilene Paradox. Rick, who was a Group Chairman for TEC (The Executive Committee now called Vistage) was complaining about how he felt like a grad student when working with these executives and whah, whah, whah. Jerry shared a four word comment: You’re acting like one. Rick broke into deep laughter at being so lovingly caught. Running Therapists have many of these moments of great laughter as the person catc hes themselves being caught: “I just can’t hold it together at work anymore. I feel such a failure.” Well, you’re acting like one.” When you’re coasting, you’re going downhill. It’s so easy for us to slide into the victim and helpless role. 80

The meta-message is: "Only you can take the first step. No one can take it for you. The therapist is there to help you take the first steps, but it will always be you taking the next step. Or deciding not to take the step."
5. Walking vs. Walking Therapy vs. other forms of aerobic and non-aerobic
therapy Walking Therapy teaches patients to take care of themselves physically while dealing with issues or problems surrounding their mental health. While there are beneficial side effects from other exercise therapies, my experience is that the individual needs someone as a reality check. It is that dialogue coupled with the exercise that, I believe, increases the chances of a quicker therapeutic healing. Patients must accept more responsibility in their therapy. They also take a more active role in their own improvement. Walking is a tool by which patients can self regulate to control depression. This process of walking can help generalize beyond the therapy session that has been a problem in traditional therapy. One of the benefits of walking therapy is that the Running Therapist benefits at the same time. Such an approach such as walking therapy may help therapists reduce their own burnout and job-related psychopathology. In the 90's with customer service a big issue, walking therapy is a healthy outlet for the therapist's often chaotic and hectic schedule. What better way to take care of your customer/patient while actively and responsibly being a role model of mental and physical fitness. If you decide to sit in a therapy session, my fees are $175 an hour as opposed to $150 an hour for a therapy session while we walk. As we have so often heard: "Walk Your Talk!"
6. Other psychologists who walk with their clients.
Psychologist Ray Fowler, former CEO of the American Psychological Association. Mark Shipman MD, who died in the 90’s, was a psychiatrist and for over 30 years the medical director of the San Diego Center for Children. Mark has done some extremely good research on the benefits of walking and running (especially running) on emotionally disturbed children. Dr Hugh Stevenson did his dissertation in one study on the affects of running on these children. One result that had not been measured was the decrease in medications of the children over the time of the study. It did greatly lower or do away with the need for medications. Rosalie Chapman Ph.D., who also has died, was a psychologist and adjunct professor of Psychiatry, UCSD. She walked with many of her patients. Jim Hornsby who has conducted running groups for recovering alcoholics. Isaac McLemore, LCSW has conducted walking and running groups for poly drug users and recovering alcoholics. Ron Lawrence, MD founder of the American Medical Athletics Association (formerly the American Medical Joggers Association). John Griest, MD. psychiatrist. John was one of the early 81

researchers back in the late 70's who did research on the effects of running on depression. Again, all of these individuals used walking and running with their patients or groups. All of us have been or were involved for years in marathoning. That's another article.
7. FITNESS FORMULA (Physical)
• Frequency (F) = 4X/Week minimum • Intensity (I) = Comfortable (best pace to become fit) • Time (T) = 30 minutes of muscular activity. Sixty minutes preferred. Mode: Use large muscle groups: Walking, Swimming, Cycling, Jogging Dancing, Racquet Sports, Body Machines Some observations of George Sheehan about the Fitness Formula: • Normal aging occurs at approx. 5%/decade. • Gender is not a factor in determining results • Terms needing to be changed to reflect these concepts: i) Physical work capacity NOT Max. oxygen uptake ii) Aerobic metabolism NOT Aerobic Exercise iii) Muscular endurance NOT cardiopulmonary endurance iv) Perceived exertion NOT target heart rate. The key to starting a fitness program is to find your play. Find a place and people with whom to play. Some advantages are: • • • • • • • • • • • • Accountability in psychotherapy can be more carefully monitored Easily learned and no special skills or coordination required. Health benefits reinforce the physician's motto: "Do No Harm." Increased cardiovascular endurance, Increased respiratory efficiency Improved muscle tone, digestion, and blood volume Increased fat loss Increased energy Decreased anxiety Improved sleep Enhanced body awareness and image Greater sense of well-being In closing some of the best running and walking therapists who I have met, don't even know they are running and walking therapists. We simply call them: my running group, my walking partner, my running buddy, the Saturday morning bunch. These therapists have walked and/or run sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles with you...and you trust your souls to each other. And in that 82

trust you and they have healed each other and other fellow travelers many times over...and more often than not, never even knew it. In ancient Greece, the “theraps” or therapist was someone who attended or listened to those who came to an Aesculpalian healing center for healing. The theraps attended to them until they were ready to have their healing dream. Today those people who help us become what we are able to become are often the best therapists, as they listen and attend to us by asking the right questions so that we heal ourselves. Goethe’s quote fits well for these Running Therapist and all those who are therapeutic to others. “I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that created the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is Escalated or de-escalated and a person humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become What they are capable of becoming.” 83

When I was asked about the work I've done with people suffering from depression by walking/running and talking with them, this is what I wrote a few years ago: I want to talk about depression and using Running Therapy. Sometime back on the Sport Psych list serve someone wrote about depression as a stumbling block. My perspective from my background and experience didn't see it that way. I saw it more as a stepping-stone than a stumbling block. Summary: Depression: A Stepping Stone to Learning Many people view depression as a stumbling block in living life well. If I can believe that I create my own experience of whatever happens to me in life, that I create my own reality, then a stumbling block may be viewed as a stepping stone. As Freud said, it's not the traumatic event that is the problem, but the continued recalling of the traumatic event. While I cannot change reality, I can be in control of how I respond to the events reality places in front of me. The word "job" comes from the AngloSaxon and means a lump. At the beginning of the industrial revolution there were critics who said that man was never made to do a lump of work. He needs to be part of the bigger picture, a part of the community (communitas:being one with others): building the clock tower, the town center, the cobble stone roads in and out of the city, supplying the needs of the community. There is a great deal of pathos when we realize that today we continually talk about losing our "lumps." 84

Carl Jung spoke of Depression as a form of Inflation and also as a way the soul(psyche/unifying personal force/or whatever you want to call it) digs down into the unconscious and dredges up out of the depths something on which the individual can work and grow. Maybe it is akin to the Learning Organization within the individual. The Inflation "My depression is so bad I can't sleep more than 3 hours a night." "Well, mine is so bad that not only can I not sleep more than 2 hours, I'm unable to do my job like I once did, and I may lose a job which I've had for 15 years because we're right-sizing." "If you think, yours is bad, I wake up every day knowing that I wish my life were over." Being locked into the negative spiral of depression one soars to the heights of inflating one's Herculean burden. An interesting contrast if one can step outside of one's thinking for even a moment. The Dredge Am I fulfilling my purpose in life? What is my purpose in life? I said I wanted to achieve this position and I have...now what? Is this what all this work and dedication and commitment get me? "I know...but I don't have time to reflect...I'm too busy just trying to make it." I know there is Clinical Depression and I know how it effects the life of the individual suffering from it, and even more so for those who live with and love that individual. In a Learning Organization, perceptions are continually being altered. So if a person charts their life with its high points and low points, the line graph goes above the midline and then dips below the midline (like graphing profits and losses over time). Below the line when low enough is depression...above the line...doing good, better or great. The continuity however is that the individual is going from point A to B along the midline and then evaluating good above the line and bad below the line. The problem is often when in depression or below the line, the individual has forgotten when he or she is heading...or where they're going wasn't big enough to encompass the loss of a job or a significant change. 85

If you use the sailing metaphor, I want to go from point A to B...which is a straight line. Even when I put my course on the wall so everyone can see it, I don't identify the above the line points of my course as good and the below the line points of my course as bad...they are merely "tacks." Tony Carr told me about "The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America" by David Whyte I bought it read it and was moved. I then purchased a copy for all the CEOs and Presidents in a group I facilitate for The Executive Committee (TEC-now called Vistage). It brings to life, the point in each of our lives and the lives of those we serve in any settings be it home, work or on the run where one day: Nel mezzo del cammin De nostra vita Mi retrovai Per un oscure selva. Commedia Dante Alighieri In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in a dark wood where the true way was wholly lost. Whyte goes on to say: "In three brief lines Dante says that the journey begins right here. In the middle of the road. Right beneath your feet. This is the place. There is no other place and no other time. Even if you are successful and follow the road you have set yourself, you can never leave here. Despite everything you have achieved, life refuses to grant you, and always will refuse to grant you, immunity from its difficulties." p. 27 (The Heart Aroused. David Whyte. Currency Doubleday, ©1994, 1996) It's interesting what an hour's walk or run will do for any kind of depression. And as Lee Thayer, one of my mentor's, told me when I asked how long will it take before I get better at comprehending his message, "As long as it takes to get better. I know that better is the comparative of "good" so I must be getting there. But when I get there, it becomes my "here." But here already so what do I need to do to let go of that thought and just be....here....now. You're alive, Oz, and Eternity means outside of time, so when I’m running I’m either doing my being or being doing my running. Hmmmmm, I said to myself and let the thought go and enjoyed my run and used it as an entrance into being outside of time. Remembering that time is a human 86

mental construct. There is only this present moment: Now! I loved this reminder that Adam Rothenhaus’ Now Watch gave. Covering the entire face of his watch was the word “NOW.” I carried them on the Mindfulness.com website until he received a “cease and desist” order from a large watch company that had patented the name : “The Now Watch.” To runners of all levels who have been swept away or swept along at a pace of increased need to do more and more, Chuang Tzu has a gift to each of us from 2500 years ago. There was a man who was afraid of his shadow and hated the sound of his footsteps. He hit upon a way to escape his shadow and the sound of his footsteps. He started to run and he trained harder and harder and became the fastest man in his country. Yet he could not get away from his shadow nor the sound of his footsteps. He ran through mountain, plain, forest and ran as fast as he could but his shadow stayed up with him and sound of his footsteps could be heard by him. He ran faster and faster and faster until out of sheer exhaustion he fell over dead. He did not realize that had he stopped he would no longer hear his footsteps and had he sat down and stayed quiet and mindful in the shade of a tree, his shadow would have disappeared. Thank you Chuang Tzu. A reminder to be aware, mindful and awake and living life inte ntionally…NOW. 87

Thanks Abhay Wherever You Run Definition of craziness is "doing the same thing expecting different results." Over the years I just happened to use running as a metaphor for life. I’ve basically shared some of my perceptions and put them to the test of fellow runners to see if my answers stood up to the scrutiny of the questioning runner. It continues to be a great dialogue. Running and not thinking. Running and Being and not doing have allowed me to talk to myself out loud on a computer screen and send my electrons out for the running world to see and think about or ignore. What I do, or think I've been able to do, is alter people's perceptions. I've been able to participate and observe how we think about things, or look at things that happen and want to put some kind of causative relationship to them. If you think you're doing something right but it's incorrect, not knowing that you are incorrect, you cannot change. The role of coach, shaman, sport psychologist, psychiatrist, is assisting people to see things differently. The role of nature is to assist people to see things differently. The role of quieting the mind’s chatter is to assist people to see things differently. Milton Erickson, a psychiatrist and in my opinion one of the great researchers and clinical practitioners of trance states worked with many athletes to alter their perception. Milton was color blind, tone deaf and had suffered two bouts of polio, but I believe he was one of the greatest observers of humankind and the ability, magic, voodoo to get people to look at how they did things differently and then act accordingly. 88

I heard him tell the story of a national shot putter in high school who could not throw over 60 feet. He asked the kid if he could tell from where he tossed the shot the difference between 58'6" and 59'1" or could he tell the difference between 59'8" and 60'2". The shot putter finally broke the barrier. When it came to the state championships, the psychiatrist didn't tell him how far he could or should throw the shot, he simply said, "Throw the shot as far away from your body as you can." He was able set a junior national record. It's a matter of if you think you can or you think you can't, you're correct. Altering perceptions plays with the assumptions on which we all make and seldom realize that we are basing our present thinking. Assumptions which many a time prove to be invalid or incorrect. If you tell me you hate to sell, and I say yeah, it's pretty hard to be a salesman. Then I ask you to give me the reasons why you hate to sell, and you give me a list of at least 12 things that bother you when you sell. After 5 minutes I ask you to stop and say, "Thanks, you've just sold me that you can't sell." Altering our words and our thinking about the words we use alters us. Bruce Ogilvy, emeritus professor at San Jose State, and considered by many to be the grandfather of sport psychology, used his ability as a clinical psychologist, an athlete, a coach and observer to assist athletes overcome mental images, unnecessary thinking, relationship problems, and a host of other personal issues to get back to where they were functioning as a finely tuned animal. The trouble with the brain is that when we think, we often think we are our thoughts. Since I can meta-think, or think about the way I think, I am not the same as my thoughts. It is in this way that coaches be they called coach, psychologist, sport psychologist, counselor, trainer, witchdoctor, shaman, or magician assist someone change some thought processes which are getting in the way of them being at the top of their performance. These individuals assist athletes so they can get into the moment when there is no thinking but only the doing. Marathon Psychology to me is more a matter of getting someone to train 20 or 30 weeks so that they can do something which they thought was impossible. In that process, it shows the individual that no matter how much help one can get from the outside in the form of coaches, etc., it is a matter of the individual doing it. The psychology of the marathon is nurturing someone through the training and then allowing them to come up against the mental barriers which they have set for themselves. 89

It was an interesting phenomenon that no one could break the 4 minute barrier until Roger Bannister came along. It was the awareness that if one broke it by .0000000000000000000001 of a second, if it could be measured, that one would have broken the 4 minute mile. Once it tumbled, it was broken several more times in the following weeks. Joan Ullyot didn't break 3 hours for a long period of time because she did not consider herself a world class marathoner. When it got down to 2:50 and below she realized that she could go under 3 hours. I think that when coach/psychologist/trainer talks to someone having trouble doing some sport to their maximum performance and that person alters their perception and improves ...it is performance enhancing. Some people call it by different names, one of those being sport psychology but what counts is this: I can only educate myself. You can only educate yourself. If what I know and share, helps you educate yourself, then you may have changed your thinking or the doing but you know there is a difference because there are different results. Abhay, a lively participant on rec.running, was killed in a fall while running in the hills or mountains where he lived, I believe, somewhere in Oregon. 90

First Sunday In February , 1975 Las Vegas, elevation XX00' Mile 25 First Marathon Hit the wall at mile 11. Three weeks before, I completed the Mission Bay Half Marathon. I knew nothing about marathoning except Tad Kostrubala, my mentor and author of Joy of Running, told me that I was ready to do a marathon. In retrospect, at the finish of the half marathon and with the red cowboy bandana tied around my head, I looked more the part of a Native American who has survived the Trail of Desolation. Here I was lined up on a cold (low 40's) morning under a clear Las Vegas sky, with 200+ other marathoners lined up at the start listening to a prayer by one of the runners who had scripture verse numbers felt penned across the back of his T shirt. "Lord, we thank you for letting us partake of your greatness and love. We dedicate this small journey to you and to all you have given us so generously. We are pleased to be numbered among the one-thousandth of one percent of the human race that has this opportunity to celebrate together in this athletic event for your honor and glory. We praise you and thank you for allowing us to run the good race and fight the good fight. In your name, we ask your blessing on all here assembled. Give us strength to finish well and sing your praises." There was a resounding, "Amen," and the gun sounded before the "men" and we were off. At the end, I am sorry to say God was not on my mind. Survival was on my mind. At mile 11, dehydrated (and with no clue what that meant) I struggled on feeling that there was no way I could go on. At the same time knowing I would not fail at this seemingly impossible journey before me. 91

When I crossed the half marathon distance I knew I would finish...with feelings that I might die in the attempt...but there was no question of not finishing. The Bataan Death March and the Retreat from Moscow by Napoleon's soldiers resonated in my body. If only there were some cooling snow to soothe my body. I remember sticking a hankie between my teeth, breathing between the sobs from the physical pain racking my entire body. (Miles deleted for brevity of the point of this article) At mile 25, I knew I would finish. It was an agonizing shuffle, limp, shuffle, shuffle, limp as I struggled on. Several years later I would understand the trance state created by this altered state of mind and body. The finish line was winding me in. All my energy was focused on finishing this last mile. The pain of breathing from the dry air being gasped in over lungs that wanted no more of this punishment. The piercing and unexpected blast of a Mercedes horn behind me shocked me back into reality. Traffic has started to flow along the roadway and the car was about 15 feet behind me as I got a blast of the horn. The adrenalin shot through my body, and the left hand raised. A middle finger shaking in anger...anger enough to kill...defied this bastard to do something. This shell of a human animal driven by some inner forces to do this thing called a marathon was now ready to kill or be killed by who ever it was that honked. I never even turned around. As the Mercedes came into my peripheral vision, ready to smash a fist into the side of the car, I saw the face of a smiling woman. As I saw the driver, he was waving his hand with one of those gestures, "It's okay, it's okay, we understand. Don't worry." Then I saw the three little girls in the back seat. It's interesting that even as I recalled that moment just now-22 years later, the lump in my chest, the moistening of my eyes of a body remembering being broken...and having to let it go and go on. He was a marathoner. I can't say fellow marathoner because I had not yet finished my marathon. His honk was to signal "Good going. Keep it up. You can do it. We're with you all the way." As he drove by he gave me the thumbs up and again the open palmed wave saying "Forget it, I know what you now know. I've been there and we salute you." The little girls smiled and waved and clapped silently from their air-conditioned vantage point. I had no time to feel my smallness stemming from my misplaced anger, only the wave of compassion and support of a marathoner who forgave me my rashness, who understood my mortification, who now only wanted the best for me. Looking at me through his rearview mirror, he again waved and gave 3 little toots on his horn. I waved, but it was more a gesture of attempting to get my left hand chest high. 92

The initial horn blast has sent a charge of adrenalin through my body, and I was running faster. My sobs from all that had just happened in less that 15 seconds were uncontrollable. My eyes could only see color and shades of light and dark behind the film of tears that covered them. When I crossed the finish line, I heard cheers. When I looked up there was only an angelic 3 year old girl beaming radiantly and smiling. The cheers were from the awards ceremony about a half block away. There was a fellow with his back to me piling barricades. When I asked my finish time, he looked at his watch and said, "About 5 hours," and went back to stacking. So that's why I never flip off anyone. Now honking reminds me of someone who cared and wanted to give me a sound of encouragement. If it's not, then "Empty Boat," allows me to draw energy. As one dear friend said to me recently, when someone screamed at us as we were running: "Well at least we have something in common. They don't have a clue about what they're doing and neither do I." 93

Vincent Woolf wrote: First, I should thank the helpful posters here on rec.running. Though I haven’t posted questions before, I’ve found advice here that has helped me fight off the evil shin splints (stretching, better shoes, and no more running on concrete if I can help it) and that directed me to useful marathon training information. Thank you. But with the Motorola Marathon (Austin, TX) less than 2 weeks away I still haven’t found a solution to one problem: What can I do to prevent chafed nippl es? I’ve tried various fabrics and tight/loose shirts but have found that the only way I can run for more than an hour without having my nipples rubbed raw is to run without a shirt. Though it’s not a debilitating injury, it’s quite painful. Pilor Erectia is the words I remember hearing or reading somewhere in my running past. Some may call it goose bumps. When cold, the nipples get erect, like a big goose bump. When people are dehydrated or going from dehydration into heat exhaustion the same thing happen s. You’ve probably seen some people after a marathon, shivering uncontrollably. Well maybe not, but I’ve seen it happen in all kinds of weather. It is especially true when the ambient temperature is high 40’s or low 50’s and the skies are clear and sunny…and the humidity is low. What happens is the marathoner is being toasted by the radiant heat of the sun, but the cold air and the quick evaporation of the sweat keeps the runner feeling good because the core temperature doesn’t rise as quickly because of the rapid evaporation. Then when that person hits mile 16 or 18, the effects of dehydration seem like a lightening bolt out of the blue (Chargers fan). You will see these people in this kind of weather with the salty sweat lines in their clothing and on thei r bodies…walking along the last 6 or 8 miles…not quite certain what happened when they were feeling so great just 10 minutes ago. In that stage of dehydration and bordering on heat exhaustion, the nipples are 94

more erect and more prone to be rubbed, especially if the material is a 50/50 nylon and cotton or a nylon singlet. The other problem is that depending on your running style, as you tire you may be lifting your shoulders as you breathe in and out. That up and down of the shoulders along with the pilor erectia, the dehydration, the kind of shirt/ singlet you’re wearing all can add up to bloody nipples. Also if your shoulder to elbow locks as you get tired, the elbows to shoulders doesn’t swing forward and back like counterbalancing pendulums…meaning that you are abrading your nipples as the shirt scratches across them from side to side. That is why along the last 6 miles of the Carlsbad Marathon or the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon, the Super Four Support Team is quietly saying to runners and walkers, Relax your Jaw. Relax your shoulders. That unnecessary tension is taking valuable energy away from one’s running. And tied into all of this and compounded by all these little things is the end result of nipples, bloody nipples…and sharp stabbing pains in the area between the shoulders…and endorphins…and not even knowing the nipples are bloody until someone says: “Ouuuu, Deedra, look at those bloody nipples. It almost makes his shirt look like those bloody eyes from the musical: Cats. I wonder if it hurts. Oh , number 2045 do you want some Vaseline for your bloody nipples.” “Huh, wha, what? What bloody nip…? Oh my god, I’m bleeding. I’m bleeding and I didn’t even feel them.” Turning away so as not to be seen by Deedra and her aid station friend Caroline, he slathers Vaseline on his nipples with the tongue depressor…nee popsicle stick. Screaming..Ahhhhh..”God, I got a sliver in my bloody nipple.” Caroline crying out, “Ouuuu, let me help you, I have a safety pin to help get the sliver out. Here let me clean it up with a little alcohol.” “AHHHHHHHHH.” “Deedra, I’ve never seen a marathoner hobble on at such a pace in my life. I feel like we’ve done so much good work to help these marathon runners today.” 95

When I did the heel-strike-and-roll method it felt as though I were running only from the knees down. It felt awkward and I didn't like it. When I do a normal stride, which I think is a fairly full-footed land, I run faster and more comfortably, but unfortunately noisily. I know I'm going SLAP SLAP pretty loud because people out walking hear me and whip their heads around to see what's approaching them way before I get there. It's kind of embarrassing. Is loud running unhealthful? How can I stop it? Thanks as always, jessica Jessica, The balls of your feet may be sore from being slapped if you are landing on the back of the heel of the shoe which would be a overstride and cause a trigger effect that slaps the ball of your feet down...the faster you run the faster and harder the slap of the ball of the foot. In this previous post of mine you may be able to find something that will be of help. Running Quietly & Lightly Over Terra Firma Those of you who were avid fans of Kung Fu remember David Carridine as a young Shaolin monk having to walk across the rice paper without tearing it. When he could do that then he would be able to leave the monastery, as he would have learned the lessons he needed. Those of you who have watched the Discovery Channel and various series on predators will note that all the predators are very light of foot and their prey is even lighter of foot. Even watching the charging of a bull elephant one realizes that the elephant for all its weight runs lightly over the terrain upon which it charges the camera. Rhino, water buffalo, horses, lions, cheetahs, Olympic 5K 96

and 10K runners move over the surface of the earth. What that means in the kinesiology of running is that there is very little vertical displacement (up and down movement) in running. In weight lifting there is very little if any horizontal displacement (forward or backward movement). Any movement other than movement in the plane in which you are moving is detrimental. Simply put, you are running and you weight 150 pounds. Every step you lift yourself vertically half-inch more than necessary while running forward. This would mean that every 24 steps you have lifted yourself 150 foot-pounds. That is, you have lifted your 150 pounds one foot and gotten no energy benefit in the direction in which you want to move along the horizontal. You've just lifted yourself up one foot and wasted valuable energy. While if you could get rid of that extra half-inch vertical displacement that energy could be used or saved in helping you run in the direction you intend. Along the horizontal Then add to that a toeing out (\ /) of the each foot 20 degrees which means a lost of distance on each stride to the tune of: Size 9 loses 18 yards per mile or 471.6 yards lost/ marathon Size 10 loses 20 yards per mile or 524.0 yards lost/ marathon Size 11 loses 22 yards per mile or 576.4 yards lost/ marathon Size 12 loses 24 yards per mile or 628.8 yards lost/ marathon The slap of most runners' feet is due to their overstride. This means the planted foot is landing in front of the runner's center of gravity. The slap comes when the foot strike hits so that the runner lands on the back of the heel "of the shoe." It creates what is similar to the snap bar of a mousetrap. It affects the front of the foot as it slaps down on its unaware victim...the earth's surface. The only problem is that the helpless victim-the earth-sends the shockwaves back up the foot as the leg compresses and is jarred as it hits the unforgiving earth. Again from the martial arts Bruce Lee's inch punch can hit a tissue in front of a vase or a piece of tile with the tissue just touching either. With the punch the vase or tile shatters and the tissue remain untorn. Bruce or the martial artist's fist hits the surface of the tissue with such force but stops at the surface of the tissue touching the object. The runner with good form and style touches the surface of the earth but does not allow the entire weight of the body to collapse upon the foot. The center of gravity is already over the foot as it lands. When the ball/heel or midsole plant takes place the foot touches down for however short the millisecond. The difference is that the bottom of the foot neither slides back nor slides forward and is the point from which the body is launched forward. As soon as the launch of the upper body takes place from that unmoved spot, the momentum of the lead 97

leg and body going forward pulls the plant foot off the ground. Two techniques I've used to teach the quick touch down of the foot without allowing the full weight of the body to follow the vertical displacement: 1. Imagine you're running on a hot grill, yelling "Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah with each step. You're so interested in not getting burned; you don't think about putting your feet down...gravity does that. You are worried about picking them up as quickly as possible to keep them from getting burned on the grill.... or Tucson summer hot pavement. 2. Stand with one knee up and get ready to pop a Styrofoam cup with the foot of the lifted knee. As your foot goes down to pop the cup, instantly lift up the leg upon which you've been standing on. If you can lift it up as fast as the other leg is going down to pop the cup, you will have counterbalanced the cup popping foot. The foot lands and pops the cup but the leg you were standing on by going up as rapidly as the cup popping foot was going down allowed your center of gravity to have minimal movement. You popped the cup but your foot stopped at the surface of the earth because your center of gravity had minimal vertical displacement on the cup popping foot. 3. When you see a cyclist coming toward you seated on his/her bicycle, you notice that the knees and lower leg are going up and down. It is only when it passes you from the side, do you realize that the foot is scribing circles as it pedals. Now Tom Miller from Utah had people train for 10K's by riding on stationary bicycles while standing up. Notice that you can peddle you stationary bicycle standing up and notice that your body can be held such that it doesn't go up and down. You may now be getting a little sense of what I've been teaching so that I can get average runner to become stealth runners. They never hit the ground. Their foot touches the ground and the falling body along the horizontal allows for minimal vertical movement. Therefore, there is no slapping. Loud running is unhealthy for the human body and can cause severe damage not only to the body but the mind and spirit as well. Running is falling and catching yourself. You can do it clumsily or gracefully. Go for the grace! 98

Steve Brown wrote: “I don't know about the rest of you, but I love to run in all types of conditions (cold, raining, dark...) but I HATE to run in the wind. It seems to me that the wind disrupts my gate, slows me down (half of the run) and robs me of the enjoyment of the run.” Steve Brown Having a vivid imagination and influenced by Don Juan's Gait of Power, like Steve I have always loved to run in any weather. Being in San Diego, I've only run in winds of 30 or 40 miles/hour. One time I could actually lean into the wind, and fall from my ankle. My body was relaxed as the wind held me up. The image that I used for the 6 to 10 miles of the 50K was being the bow of a boat, cutting through the current (wind) of an ocean of air. Dave Worthen, an ophthalmologist, fine runner and a friend who died way before his time was talking about running in a hurricane/gale force wind on bridge over Lake Pontchartrain. He ran having to keep a foot on the ground at all times because if he didn't he'd be blown back. He remembers drafting on other runners. Not sure where he finished by it was near the top. The coldest I've run a marathon was probably in New York where it was the low 40's or at Boston in the low 40's and drizzling most of the way. As long as I can keep my core temperature warm in cold weather, I've always enjoyed my runs. In doing a marathon around Lake Mary, 9200 feet, dry and probably the high 80's in mid August, as long as I could keep my shirt wet with water, the evaporation kept me cool the entire 12 laps around the lake. We did a WOMWAM (Word of Mouth, Walk a Marathon) one year with about 30 of us. It turned out to be the hottest day in San Diego in over 100 years. It was 99

103 but where we were by the bay and on the back streets, it was probably closer to 106 with a 80%+ humidity. We had ice water, ice and aid every mile along the way...and all people finished well. Tired but well. Then most of the group attended the Marathon Clinic the next day and did an easy 8 mile run around the bay. So far there are very few things that have robbed me of my enjoyment of the run. I remember hearing a marvelous presentation by Ernst VanAaken, MD a coach from Germany. He was in a wheel chair I believe both legs having been either amputated, paralyzed, or crushed beyond use from being hit by a truck when he was running. That would rob me of my enjoyment of my running. However after listening to Dr. VanAaken, I realized that it would not rob me of my enjoyment of life. About a year before he died, I had the pleasure and privilege of spending a week training with Milton Erickson. He was a psychiatrist and probably one of the foremost researchers and clinicians of trance states and hypnosis. He had polio as a child and walked for years with leg braces and arm crutches. He said that what he missed most in his later years was the feel of being able to put his two feet on the ground stand up and feel the earth under him. So along with Steve, give me any kind of weather. If I can run in it and not have my life threatened or endangered, then weather is my friend. It teaches me that all things stay the same as they change. Read Jack London's short story of the man freezing to death in the Klondike because of his macho ego...where he should have known it was 75 degree below zero...but it hard to tell the difference between 50 below and 75 below. Now that would spoil my running Sorry about the ramblings but that's what happens after a long run. I'm stopping here to let you get back to what you were doing. God, it's good to be alive and able to run...in all weather. 100

1998. I want to thank Tom Combs for his gracious question. I did not know when I started that it would take me this far afield. Tom Combs wrote: I've always enjoyed your descriptions of running and I was wondering what shoe you wear for your 'falling-gracefully catching' stride? In general, since most shoes seem to be designed for heel strikers, what is good for a forefoot striker - esp. at 190 lbs? Tom, For the past 3 or 4 years, I've run in other people's rejects...size 13. What I do is go to the Road Runner Sports outlet store here in San Diego and purchase 2 or 3 pair of shoes for $30 to $40 each. These are the shoes that people have returned for whatever reasons. Doesn't matter to me the brand, only that when I put them on they are comfortable. I also look to buy shoes with the least amount of cushion on the soles. Recently I've been switching between two pair of New Balance (NB), a Saucony and an Asics running shoe. I've cut the back off the Asics shoe as it was giving me a blister by rubbing up and down on my Achilles. I ran the San Diego Marathon in those Asics. I've been running in the NB thinking that I'll probably wear one of those pair for the Catalina in about 4 weeks. At the end of last summer I was training 3 to 8 miles about 2 days a week in a pair of Reebok sandals that have no cushion support. Used them for running around Morley Field (former home of the Footlocker High School Cross Country Nationals) on grass and uneven dirt surfaces. 101

Since I've gone sockless for about 15+ years, I take the guts out of all my shoes and put in the Spenco neoprene inserts that are just flat neoprene WITHOUT any kind of arch or support. After a few runs I take the Spencos out and wash them. When my shoes get grimy and dirty, I just chuck them in the washing machine at slow fine clothing cycle for a wash. Since as you said, most shoes are made for heel strikers by shoe companies which have bought into the concept that joggers and runners should land on their heels...and therefore maintain a marketing battle where people are not asked to think and be experiments of one.
Ah-Oh, My Daimon Is Showing: I think I'm losing it
(Please read no further. There is nothing more about Ozzie's shoes) It's a little like the changes going on in preventive medicine and health maintenance. We've believed so long that the doctors knew best and that we did not. We believed that all that scientific research and study must be proof that these people who are kinesiologists, and exercise physiologists, and biomechanical engineers know what is correct because they have scientifically validated and proved it. Science is forever growing, because sciencia is knowledge. From time to time we must go back and question what is it that we are attempting to prove...and have we asked the right questions. We continue to give more and more cushion so that runners/joggers don't feel the impact as they crash into the surface of the earth. They are not using gravity to fall gracefully. They are not landing as quietly as your cat as it jumps upon the kitchen sink to get a drink of water from the dripping tap. If we are crashing down unthinkingly (if a word?) then are we asking the right questions? So would you think that the right questions would be drawn from the observation of the Leadville 100 being won by a Tarahamara Indian who made his shoes (i.e. sandals) a day or two before the race? He likes American tires better, which he uses for the soles. They have more tread on them than the tires that he gets in Mexico. What does his body know about running that the average American jogging body doesn't? Who do we believe when it comes to no cushion or too much cushion. How come Abebe Bikila (2:15:16) stops at mile 2 or 3 and takes off his shoes and carries them for a time on his way to winning the Olympic Marathon in Rome in 1960...barefoot. Is there something that shoe companies have forgotten to tell us? I've been running in a pair of yellow banana Pumas dhat I found in my closet from the late 70's. No cushion. No lining. Go back and look at the early Nikes. Go back and look at the early Adidas, Tiger Asics, Pumas and you will see that marketing had not gotten into the act...nor had scientific studies on running shoes for heel strikers. There's no cushion. 102

A Return To Sensibility
But I digress. Anyway don't listen to my ranting and ravings. I get impatient and keep asking questions attempting to educate myself. As my mentor, Pat Murray, keeps reminding me. Ozzie, you can only educate yourself. Others have to educate themselves. So he has helped me to be slow to understand. His words of wisdom ring in my head almost daily: “Ozzie, reality always wins. Our job is to get in touch with it.” Thank you, Pat. I needed that. Maybe it's best for me to say: Please continue not to think about running gracefully. You have a responsibility to keep all of the people that manufacture, distribute and sell shoes working. You need to wear out your shoes on the outside heels quickly so that you can buy more shoes and keep the world economy on a good footing. For those of you who don't want to buy new shoes when you should because you've worn them out quickly, please keep injuring yourselves. Please keep getting shin splints, Achilles tendonitis, ITB syndromes (and forget that symptoms means "a combination of accidental happenings), and believing that chondromalacia is something that only doctors and professional health professionals in sport understand because they need the work and compensation to support their families. Somehow we think naming something explains it. That long wo rd chondromalacia was created to say: “It has something to do with the knee joint and yes you have all the symptoms of it.” Okay and what do I do about it. You may want to read: Knees Need Kneading. Please continue to do all you're doing to continually injure yourself so that others can tell you what your problem is and what the solution for you is...especially if they are taking payments for getting you better...so that you can go out and injure yourself again so that you can come back to them and get some more help. Please don't think about taking care of yourself and asking questions. You need to be responsible and support the entire health system that will be supporting you through managed health care. Don't worry everything is fine. Keep running. Ahhh, that feels better. Now I've told you what to do. If you think it's right or wrong, it is. Please blame any of the incomprehensibility and irrationality of the above statements on my daimon and James Hillman for bringing it to my attention. 103

It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable
Moliere, playwright
A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something
Wilson Mizner, playwright Bubba B wrote: Runners aren't real men. I just read some messages on here, even one from someone who has some size to him and is considering being a runner and you guys say go for it. First, I am even over 250 and I am working on putting 10 more lbs now. I work out on weights a lot and eat lots of protein and that's what makes you a man, not running. Most women have a bigger body than skinny runners have. Bubba, Thanks for stopping by rec.running. Your opening statement allowed me to review the determinants of the male sex even when you have an XX male and an XY female. Normal being XX female and XY male. Dave Page and his researchers found that "all of the XY females were missing a piece of the Y chromosome - the same piece that was present in the XX males." To dialogue, I'd need to know what you mean by "real" men? I would say that neither working out with weights, eating protein nor running makes someone a 104

man. And as I keep getting nailed for not citing my sources, I'm sure some people will query your last statement as to what statistics or research you used to arrive at your "Most women..." statement. Boy, I really got taken to the scientific mat a few weeks ago by Andrew Heiz over my statement: "Breathing through the nose moisturizes the air, warms the air and purifies the air we breath." Lucky for me Patrick from SUNY Stoney Brook found some really good physiological descriptions to clarify what I knew but had not backed up with the science. Regarding "Runners" I won't even go there. That discussion, as it is not a dialogue, has raged since I first came to rec.running back in '94. The main debate has been in minutes per mile. The physiologist, however, differentiates running from walking. In running at one moment during the running stride, both feet are off the ground. That's an interesting fact, as Olympic racewalking requires that a foot be on the ground at any given time. I think that when seen through the lens of a high speed camera, it might be more running than walking. In the Melrose games last week in New York, the winning time around 5:53 in the mile racewalk. Actually the first three finishers all train here in San Diego at the ARCO Olympic Training Center and did under six minutes. The responses you received to your post, at least the ones I read, did not respond with anger, hostility or belittling. Just that it might be a troll. "Empty boat" is a code for avoiding something that will only distract you from what you're doing. Finally Jen spoke for herself. And I found it interesting she said "Someone very silly..." Made me think that maybe Bubba wasn't masculine but feminine. Then, Bubba, I got a little confused and could see why Jen used "Someone" because after saying you used weights and ate protein, you didn't say "That's what makes me a man." So if Jen was reading what you, Bubba, said, she would have had to say "Bubba's saying that's what makes me a man. But I am a woman. So he not speaking for himself, but generalizing." Anyway, it was nice to see that rec.running ran by your post and wasn't distracted from educating themselves about running, running form and style, injury prevention, and seeking answers to running issues to see if it can be of help to them. Probably the nicest thing about rec.running is the number of people who are quite knowledgeable and able to share so much of what they know and have experienced. That's why I hang around here. I just keep learning from everyone. 105

My mom once said to me: "Ozzie remember you and no man are completely worthless. You and he can always serve as a good example of a bad example." 106

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, The wise man grows it under his feet.
James Oppenheim, poet
All mankind is divided into three classes: Those that are immovable, Those that are movable, and those that move
Muslim proverb Ozzie wrote: My mom once said to me: "Ozzie remember you and no man is completely worthless. You and he can always serve as a good example of a bad example." Doug wrote: Ozzie, your mom's wisdom is priceless!! Ozzie wrote: You're right. She truly was as priceless as her wisdom! Doug wrote: It's obvious acorns don't fall far from the tree. A deep bow. Ozzie wrote: Doug, Accepted with deep appreciation. Now I know why dad often said: "You're nuts." I should have known that this native Filipino was saying to this Chicago Pollock: "Your nuts." Damn, never thought about it that way. I'm sure I wrote it somewhere to rec.running how I started spelling my name: "Ozzie" instead of the "Aussie" I used which was nickname for "Austin." Today 107

I'm the oldest Austin I know. It is one of the most popular names for kids under the age of 16. Anyway, it's difficult for the Filipinos to say the letter "f." "Pour by pibe" would be "four by five" or "puck" would be... and "berry big base" would be "very big vase," or "pass the pepper" would be "pass the paper." Also it was difficult to say "Au" as in the "ou" in ought. The Filipinos would pronounce the "Au" as the "a" in "at." So "Aussie" would be spoken "Assie." So as a smart 12-year-old Filipino/Pollock, not falling far from the tree, I spelled it "Ozzie." Probably it is just a matter of me being a slower growing acorn. Damn that's great: "Your nuts." Learn something every day. Thanks for sharing "Your nuts." That's good. While playing with the phrase "your nuts" I realized that there is a strong component of emotion and feeling in being called "stupid" or "nuts." With one daughter having graduated from Berkeley in cellular and molecular biology and the other in her second year there in Math and Biology...and even more gifted in her writing and drawing, I know that it has more to do with my wife's genetic pool, being a bright Aussie. It's an on going process taking back my gift of intelligence before it's gone. Ozzie, they're your nuts. Ozzie, you're not the acorn anymore. Maybe, you're not an oak, but maybe you are. Maybe you're a larch, or a yew tree, or how about a upas. On the alphabetical tree named streets, I’m on Palm, the street after Spruce and Thorn is Upas. Gotta look it up. Where I've been caught over the years has more to do with a chink in my psyche. When a light shines through it, the light of suggestion illuminates a feeling that turns into a thought that turns into a self concept that turns into a behavior that focuses on the "free floating anxiety" best described as "a feeling left undescribed." I've learned that when I describe the feeling it goes away. I've learned that when I can locate and place the coordinates of the anxious feelings in my body, they go away. I've learned that if I focus on breath for several minutes and breathe deeply and regularly, the feeling goes away. I've learned that when I am focused on doing anything that is at hand, the feelings go away. I've learned that when I focus or don't focus on the feelings, they go away. I've learned that if I just think about the feeling, the feeling goes back to its free-floating state. I've learned that when I run and am in the moment, the feeling is nowhere to be found. When not in the moment it is now here. I've learned that the feeling is there to tell me nothing about my thinking but rather about my being and doing. So when I am being in the moment or when I am doing what needs to be done, the feeling is no longer strong enough to attract my attention. 108

I've learned that when I get that free floating feeling, there is something that I'm avoiding. Often it is just the awareness that I need to be...in the moment. Other times it is the awareness that I'm avoiding what I need to do to get to where I said I wanted to go. At other times, it allows me to do what I need to be doing and then to query if that is moving me in the direction of living fully. Feelings are like breath. They come and they go. As does each breath I take. If I attempt to hold onto one breathe, either I will faint and my body will involuntarily breathe for me, or an exhale explodes out of me and I gasp in the next breath I attempted to avoid. With feelings, I use the term "psychological breath holding." I can hold onto a psychological breath until it kills me: an intense hatred of someone, an anger towards someone or something or some event, a feeling of being a victim, a feeling of being unjustly treated, a belief that someone hurt me. The problem with psychological breath holding is that it can last a lifetime. So a lifetime can be a long slow death. The problem with psychological breath holding is that it can kill all or part of me: mind/body/spirit. However, in the next breath, the very fact that I can talk about it and go on is a good sign. The better sign is that you and I are laughing and cracking up about our "stupid little lives." We're milk-through-the-nose roaring with laughter. We're nuts and we're oak-key. And as we run out the door snorting with laughter between gasping breaths we chant together working on our 180 cadence: oak-key do-key be-key mink-key. The sounds of laughter trail off.
Quietly the feeling left behind slowly moves into a position. So that like the tiger leech it will be ready for its next meal when the right moment comes by to attach.
Far off, the sounds of two runners stepping and breathing and whispering in reciprocal cadence: oak-key do-key be-key mink-key. Every so often the sound of the patterned footfalls' constant, rhythmic cadence is drowned out by the explosive laughter of two goddam pucking nuts. Yo, Doug, you're as cold as a witch's tit. No way, Assie. You keep talkin' like that and I'll freeze you Assie. Yo, Assie. You know what you get when you mix an egg with a gnat? No, what. You get your last name backwards: "Gnat nog." Explosive laughter. Ozzie almost stumbles but gets his leg through fast enough to catch himself. Thanks God for his hummingbird and all the years of practicing good form and style. The metronome cadence continues. Well, do you know what do you get when you put 4 Dougs together: No, what. 109

Udder destruction. The laughter trails off as they fade over the next rise.
Not today. Maybe not tomorrow. The free-floating anxiety quietly waits.
110

I had talked to a number of pulmonary researchers over the years. In my first articled I shared what I learned from them was the nose warms the air we breathe, moisturizes the air we breathe and purifies the air we breathe. It took a question by Andrew asking me to prove what I had stated without scientific evidence. Patrick Aro’s with some sleuthing comes up with the science behind it.
Thanks to Andrew and Patrick for creating the opportunity to gain a better understanding and some scientific information about the role of nasal breathing: Ozzie Gontang made an assumptive statement wrote: Breathing through the nose on the inhalation: 1. Warms the air 2. Moisturizes the air 3. Purifies the air Andrew rightfully queried: Please explain all the scientific facts behind these statements! Patrick responded from the text on Body Structures and Functions: 111

"Protruding into the nasal cavity are three turbinate, or nasal conchae bones. These three scroll-like bones (superior, middle, and inferior concha) divide the large nasal cavity in three narrow passageways. The turbinates increase the surface area of the nasal cavity causing turbulence in the flowing air. This causes the air to move in various directions before exiting the nasal cavity. As it moves through the nasal cavity, air is being filtered of dust and dirt particles by the mucous membranes lining the conchal and nasal cavity. The air is also moistened by the mucus and by blood vessels which supply the nasal cavity ... by the time air reaches the lungs, it has been warmed, moistened, and filtered." (Scott and Fong, Body Structures and Functions 9th ed., 1997) Andrew continued his query How can you say that nose breathing moisturizes the air? Again the argument can be made that since there is more saliva in your mouth than snot in your nose the air coming in through your mouth is in contact with more moisture. But beyond either of these arguments what is the role of moisturizing air in exercise breathing. And how much moisturization is necessary? Patrick responds using: Author(s): Godfrey, Richard. Title: The nose and the lower airways. Source: Lancet (North American edition) v. 343 (Apr. 23 '94) p. 991-2 Abstract: "The role of the nose and lower airways in respiration is examined. The nose can increase the temperature of inspired air by as much as 25(degree) C between external nares and nasopharynx; this is because of the nose's rich blood supply with plentiful arteriovenous anastomoses. The lower airways are poor at warming and humidifying air in comparison with the nose, and bronchoconstriction may result from the temporary development of hyperosmolarity in their walls..." Author(s): Morton AR et al. Title: Comparison of maximal oxygen consumption with oral and nasal breathing. Source: Aust J Sci Med Sport (AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE IN SPORT) 1995 Sep; 27 (3): 51-5 Journal Code: B9S Abstract: " The major cause of exercise-induced asthma (EIA) is thought to be the drying and cooling of the airways during the 'conditioning' of the inspired 112

air. Nasal breathing increases the respiratory system's ability to warm and humidify] the inspired air compared to oral breathing and reduces the drying and cooling effects of the increased ventilation during exercise. This will reduce the severity of EIA provoked by a given intensity and duration of exercise. The purpose of the study was to determine the exercise intensity (%VO2 max) at which healthy subjects, free from respiratory disease, could perform while breathing through the nose-only and to compare this with mouth-only and mouth plus nose breathing." This study found only a 3% difference in tidal volume (the volume of air inhaled and exhaled in one cycle) between nasal only and mouth only breathing during exercise. Average tidal volume is about 500 ml, so the difference works out to be about 15 ml. Since the residual volume, the amount of air that cannot be voluntarily expelled from the lungs, is about 1500 ml allowing continuous exchange of gasses between breaths, the 15 ml difference seems to be physiologically insignificant. Granted, the study did not research the ability or inability of an athlete to reach peak performance while nasal only breathing, however, it strongly suggests that there are benefits to nasal only or a combination of nasal and mouth breathing. Andrew finally adds: And the fact of the matter is there comes a point that breathing in through the nose is not enough. So sooner or later the mouth is going to have the last word (excuse the pun). Or if it doesn't then performance will be at a reduced rate. Patrick concludes: Yes, I agree. There is a level of exertion that seems to call for additional or alternative routes of inhalation. However, the study above demonstrated that a recreational runner can achieve and sustain the "fat burning zone" by nose only breathing. ExcUSE the pun? I'd much rather USE one. As others have suggested and you have already done, experiment with it. If it doesn't work for you, well that's just one more piece of knowledge gained. Sorry for droning. Peace as Well, Patrick 113

Ozzie adds: Thank you Andrew and Patrick for a lovely and informative dialogue where we all learned a great deal about breathing through the nose and mouth, the benefits of nasal breathing, and the power and the spirit of collegiality when it comes to educating ourselves. As Andrew and Patrick have shown so well, don't assume anything. Even the best of science when more information and research are done has been proved to be incorrect because we didn't know what we know now. So Science, from the Latin meaning knowledge, keeps on growing. And with that you have another demonstration of the amazing acquisitive and inquisitive minds of rec.running. 114

Breathing through the nose on the inhalation: 1. Warms the air 2. Moisturizes the air 3. Purifies the air When the nose smells some pleasing aroma, the nostrils flare. Look in the mirror and as you breathe in flare the nostrils. Many people when breathing in through the nose allow the nostrils to be sucked semi-closed by the pressure of the inhalation. Try it and you’ll see you can get enough nasal suction to collapse the nostrils so you hear the sniffle sound. Practice the nostril flare so that there is no sniffling sound on the in breath. Try flaring your nostrils and suck air in quickly through the nose. Minimal or no sound of the sniffle. You feel a jet of air straight into the lungs. This is where you see the power of a company ’s advertising that sells to us who have gone mindless and given our thinking power away something we don’t need. Example, Nasal Strips. Put out a strong marketing campaign and you buy something that you do not need. Get some large, muscular football players to wear them. Get some of them to endorse them, paying them the right price and in a year or three even kids playing T-ball are wearing their Nasal Strips (junior size). The absurdity to me came when thinking about flaring my nostrils as I breathe in. Here is a 300 pound athlete who can press 400 to 500 pounds and he can’t flare his nostrils. Well maybe he can but he’s getting a nice endorsement check. Some African runners have been able to help build schools, hospitals and other community projects from the endorsement money they get for wearing branded shoes. Even though they grew up doing all their running barefoot. For me that’s economic exchange is about one’s community while also doing well for oneself 115

econom ically. Sorry, I digress. Just couldn’t help myself. So back to nose breathing. When it comes to survival the brain knows what it want and needs. Don’t play any tricks on it especially when it comes to what it needs most. The brain that will die without oxygen within minutes is not playing along if it cannot get enough of its life sustaining oxygen through the nose along. The brain (which as most of us know is an integral part of our being) is afraid of dying. So when it is not getting what it considers sufficient nourishment of O2, it will breathe through every and any orifice it can to get enough air to survive and get back to its comfort level. When one is having difficulty getting air, the body may and often goes into a panic mode. Not enough oxygen: Panic time. In that mode, the breathing cycle for many is reversed. That is, on the inhalation the stomach muscles contract and relax on the exhalation. That is the reverse of inhalation/abdominals relax/diaphragm contract and exhalation/abdominals contract/diaphragm relax. Often when breathing in this panic mode the stitch is due to the diaphragm working against the muscles that should be relaxing on the inhalation. As diaphragm contracts attempting to such air in, the abdominals are contracting not allowing the diaphragm to expand. It is like opening your hand and keeping it open when trying to close it. All you feel is the tension. Two muscles working against each other. The art of nose breathing takes running slower at first until the mind let the brain know that it is not being suffocated by nose breathing. During a run nose breathe when running slower so as to keep the brain relaxed. This is where it becomes mind over brain. Yoga, TaiChi, Meditation, relaxation response are all ways to play with mind over brain. When I first started to run nose breathing, I had in mind that I was going to do a marathon using nose breathing. Why? There was no specific reason. It was an idea that popped in my head. The first time I tried nose breathing during a run, I was able to get about 200 yards before that fear of suffocating stopped me. Having had asthma as a teenager I knew the feeling. So I thought, let me just start slower so I can get enough oxygen and see how long I can go. I kept playing with it during my runs. I also noticed that when I wasn’t exerting myself or just sitting or driving I was nose breathing. I also practiced slow deep breathing, breathing in for as long as I was able and then thinking relax ribs and breathed in some more. Over several months, I unplugged away at flaring my nostrils, staying relaxed and playing with different breathing patterns. I also practiced some fast breathing through the nose for a few minutes at a time while sitting to practice keeping my nostrils flared on the in breath. 116

After two months, I had no problem breathing only through my nose. The biggest factor was staying relaxed and calm and knowing that I would be able to get enough air just by nose breathing alone. Several months later, I can’t remember, I did one of the San Diego Marathons…through the nose. One thing that really helped was learning to keep my jaw and neck muscles relaxed. I realized that when one panics, all the muscles tighten causing a demand for more oxygen. So on my in-breathes I practiced scanning my body to release any unnecessary tension. I used the out breath to make me a quarter inch taller as the spine elongated. I used any image that would help me breathe and stay relaxed. I played with Ian Jackson’s pelvic pump image. I used the image of cycling my Chi. I pictured my lungs as a balloon inside my rib cage expanding all the intercostals on each inhalation. Not just the front chest but also expanding the ribs under my arms and along my spine. I used my thumbs to work on the fascia and the intercostal muscles between the ribs. On my rib cage I used tennis balls, bean bags, hand balls, basketball, to lay and roll on and practice my breathing. The whole idea for me was to keep my brain calm so that it never worried that it would not get enough oxygen. This is also when I started playing more and more with different breathing patterns. Wonder what the world records for nose breathing at all the various distances are? In an article I wrote for the San Diego Track Club back in the early 80's I wrote about the Mescalero Apaches who trained their kids to run 5 or 6 miles with a mouth full of water. When they crossed the finish line after the 5 or 6 miles of running they had to spit the mouthful of water out. Everyone then was focusing on the great effort not to swallow the water and the great amount of self-discipline demonstrated by these children. I took it the next step beyond the holding water in your mouth for "x" miles. To do so, one could only breathe through their nose. I mentioned also that one soccer coach got his kids to hold a mouthful of water as they played, saying that they wouldn't have to stop for a drink of water so often. The kids enjoyed the suggestion as they played soccer. For me the issue was not the water in the mouth, the issue was: "with water in the mouth, one has to nose breathe. Also a baby nursing on a breast or with a bottle is nose breathing. A number of years ago I took up the didgeridoo and learned circular breathing. All by breathing practice a llows me to play continuously for 20 to 30 minutes…through the nose. 117

I played and practiced with nose breathing for several years. My fastest through the nose marathon was a 3:27. That was mouth closed and breathing in and out through the nose. Jerry Goldberg another friend who I got to play with nose breathing did an 84:04 half marathon through the nose. As Jerry said to me a few months ago, there are some things you don't forget. A related article you may find interesting. It is probably more than you wanted to know or even think about...let alone practice: A Guide To Breathing Patterns and Rhythms 118

A No Strain, No Pain Exercise for the Brain's Body.
Poor posture when sitting leads to slouching when one tires while walking or running. Improper walking or running reinforces poor posture. Both worsen. Improve your posture and correct the slouching habit effortlessly: With your feet flat on the floor, sit forward on the edge of a chair. In this position you will be sitting on your sitzbones. When you sit back in a chair you sit on your hamstrings. Your pelvis rolls back toward the tailbone shortening hamstrings and postural muscles of the upper body. Without a concern for time, pump up your spine —sit erect, at least 10 times a day. Once you are erect forget about staying erect. At first your spine will return to a slump in 20 seconds. Continue this easy and painless exercise daily, and in two months your spine will remain erect for 10 or more minutes after each "pump." Also your slouch will have lessened and you will regain a quarter of an inch or more in height. In six months, you'll be sitting up straight for an hour or more. In a year, your body will need no reminders. You will have regained your normal height plus the ability to stay erect when you tire while walking or running. Sitting, standing, walking or running, your spine will remain erect and elongated. You will be free of muscle strain in the neck, shoulders, and back. Your brain and body will be balanced properly on its muscular and skeletal framework. 119

GAPO Theory of Running's Exercise 2. Posture Pump Up Abbreviated:GAPOTORE 2 (Pronounced: Ga pot' o re Two)
Posture Pump Up, Altering the Mind, Body & Perception
A runner who forgets that the sitting posture is exercise, will either exercise for a shorter hamstring, i.e. slouching; or will exercise for an elongated and toned hamstring, i.e. sit on one's sitting bones in an erect, balanced and unstrained posture. This has been my coaching advantage for years. I was able to get another 20 to 30 hours a week of proper postural exercise out of my running students young and old, especially when they played with the posture pump. They did it only 10 times a day. I emphasize the words "only 10 times a day." At the end of a year, they would have to consciously roll the pelvis back to go into a slouch. Poor posture when sitting or standing leads to slouching when one tires doing their sport. Technique in sport takes intelligence to do well. Using good posture when not exercising consciously has a profound effect on one's athletic prowess. Slouching constricts breathing and also causes inefficient movement. Endurance and speed are affected, tendons are strained, joints are jarred, and muscles are stressed and tightened. And just as poor posture affects your sport, your improper movement reinforces poor posture, and both worsen. Here's how to improve your posture and correct the slouching habit: 120

With your feet flat on the floor, sit forward on the edge of a chair; in this position you won't be sitting on your hamstrings but on your sitting bones. When you sit on your hamstrings, your pelvis rolls back toward the tailbone shortening both the hamstrings and the postural muscles of the upper body, causing slouching.
How To Find Your Sitting Bones
Finding your sitting bones.  Sit on the edge of a chair  Place your left hand fingers up and sit on it with your left buttock  Place your right hand fingers up and sit on it with your right buttock  As you roll your pelvis back and forward you will feel a bony ridge. That is your sitting bone.  Notice how the pressure increases and decreases on your fingers as you move forward and back. Where you feel the greatest pressure on your fingers you are using the right spot on your sitting bones for balancing your upper torso. It is the same point where a rocking chair is at rest. It is key to balance on that point as it keeps the hamstrings elongated. Your upper body: shoulders, back, chest, and abdominal area depends on it for correct posture and alignment so your upper body is in its best balanced posture. Without a concern for time, pump up your spine —sit erect, at least 10 times a day. At first your spine will tend to return to a slump in about 20 seconds as the pelvis rolls back. I tell people that those back muscles have a slow leak so once they pump up don't do anything to maintain the pumped up posture. Pump up and forget about it and continue doing what you're doing. Continue this easy and painless exercise daily. Doing 10 pumps a day and forgetting about it allows you to practice without any strain or effort. Ten pump-ups a day at 20 seconds gives you 200 seconds or almost three and a half minutes of good posture exercise without effort. At the end of a month your body can hold your body erect for two or three minutes each pump-up and without effort. You will find that your slouch has decreased a quarter of an inch or more. Do all without effort or strain. Should you pull the "macho" card and attempt to hold the posture for an hour or more, the reverse will happen. You will end up straining the muscles you have trained unconsciously for so. Those back muscles and deep muscles will revolt and you will find yourself with either strained back muscles or at the end of a week much more hunched. Remember muscles will contract to protect themselves. 121

In about two months of pumping yourself up 10 times a day your spine will remain erect for up to 10 minutes after each "pump." When it slumps, the slump may be a half to three-quarters of an inch less than when you started. In six months, you'll find yourself sitting up straight for an hour or more each time; and in a year, your body will need no more reminders. Sitting, standing and especially doing your sport, your spine will remain erect. Your head balanced on your shoulders. And your good posture is now done unconsciously. You don't have to think about it. When you get tired during your sport, you go back to what you've practiced unconsciously. Yep, for runners and walkers, times increase or there is an increase in the sense of effortlessness. With erect posture, not only will you move farther, but you will be free of any muscle strain in the neck, shoulders, and back. And you won't be straining or tightening these muscles when sitting. Your leg muscles will also be relieved of strain because your upper body muscles will be helping support your upper body weight. And your body will be balanced properly on its muscular and skeletal framework with every step you take. This posture has a profound impact on your running especially using your upper body. 122

Conal Guan-Yow wrote: If you have to pick either, the street is the one to run on because the pavement is typically made of concrete that is a very unforgiving surface. Roads are typically made of asphalt and they're more forgiving. In addition, you're constantly climbing up and down sidewalks because they're not continuous. Your wife is doing the right thing (i.e., if she has to pick either one). Most running sources don't recommend running on the pavement because it's too hard. I think I disagree. Let me take you down to where I'm going to. If you are running on concrete, pavement or the compacted sand on the beach, none of them give. So in my mind's eye all three are all unforgiving surfaces. I recommend running on pavement be it concrete or asphalt with proper running form and style. You land lightly because you only land on the surface of the hard surface. Your center of gravity doesn't follow into that point of contact but is already moving on from the planted foot. The issue for me isn't the hardness of the surface, street or sidewalk. The problem is the vertically vectored force at which my foot hits or touches down. That impact, hard or soft, depends on the vertical movement of my center of gravity and where its impact point is on the surface of the "hard" surface. If I land only on the surface of the hard surface by counterbalancing the impact of the planting foot with the upward lifting of the opposite knee and the same sided elbow swinging forward and up, my center of gravity impacts the ground very lightly. I have counterbalanced it. Experiment: 123

Place several paper or Styrofoam cups on the ground upside down. a. Jump up and come down with one of the cups under the planting foot and pop the cup. You should feel the jar as rest of your center of gravity comes down on the planted foot. b. Lift one knee so that the foot is above another unpopped cup. As you allow the foot over the cup to come down smashing and popping the cup i. Lift up the planted foot as quickly as you are stomping down on the cup. ii. Allow your foot stomping cup popping foot to land only on the surface of the hard surface. That is achieved by counterbalancing the stomping foot with the planted foot lifting it equally and opposite to the stomping foot. This is how a martial artist can break a brick through a piece of cloth without tearing or ripping it. His/her fist stops at the paper touching the brick but the energy goes through it. The power transmitted to the brick shatters it but the paper remains untorn. However if I lift my body up vertically and come down on the planting foot, I can get 2 or more times gravity impacting at the point of foot contact. If you've watched a cat jump up to a ledge, there's no clump or hard landing since it cushions the landing. You or I can run up a set of steps clomping each step or quietly on cat like feet. However, the reason I run on soft surfaces like grass or dirt surfaces like Strawberry Fields is not because the surfaces are soft. I run on soft surfaces because they are uneven and allow the muscles controlling the foot and ankle to move through the full range of motion they were created to move through. So that's what it's all about. It is my view that running on hard flat surfaces creates an overuse syndrome where the foot/ankle is never allowed to do the adapting it was created to do after a million years or more of adapting to moving over uneven surfaces. People strain their ankles not because the surfaces are uneven. Rather they sprain their ankles because the muscles of the foot overused by continuous running on flat surfaces don't know how to adapt to the uneven surfaces. Also the reason many people sprain their ankles severely is because they are used to overstriding in addition to the "Flat Surface Overuse Syndrome." (Remember where you first saw this term. Shortened to FSOS or pronounced F Sauce) So when they come down on the foot, the whole weight of the body comes crashing down on the bent or bending everted ankle...and the muscles on 124

the outside of the foot (peroneus) are not able to take the overstretch and give allowing for the ligaments of the ankle to be strained or torn. If I'm not overstriding when my ankle everts, my center of gravity has already passed over the spraining foot and the spraining foot doesn't take the full impact of the body's weight. This saves the ligaments and tendons from bearing the full brunt of the body on the tendons and ligaments. So remember, nothing is real. It's a word. So there's nothing to get hung about. Just continue to practice running lightly on uneven surfaces as if you could run over Strawberry Fields. Forever. Other articles of interest: How To Running Quietly and Lightly Over Terra Firma 125

Arthur Dent wrote: I've been experimenting on recent long runs with different ways to keep from going too fast too early, which invariably causes me to run much slower at the end. My breathing experiment seemed to be quite successful. On my last long run, an 18-miler, I consciously held myself to a 4-in, 4-out pattern for the first 6 miles. By only running as fast as I could comfortably run with this pattern, my pace was a nice and slow 8-8.5 minutes/mile (MPM). Then, at the 6-mile mark, I shifted to a 3-in, 4-out pattern for 3 miles. And, at 9 miles, I shifted to a 3-in, 3 out for the next 4 miles. By this point, I was doing a steady 8 MPM. At mile 13, I shifted to 2-in, 3-out and, finally, for the last 3 miles, I kicked it into high gear (i.e., 2-in, 2-out) and slowly accelerated to my hoped-for marathon race pace, doing my last mile in 7:23. It was a good feeling to know that I could run a 7:23 mile, without killing myself, after having already run 17 miles (and this was my first time running the 18-mile distance!). All-in-all, I averaged 8 MPM, with first mile being 8:13, then gradually slowing to 8:40 at mile 6, then gradually speeding up as I moved to faster breathing patterns. Is this a good long run pace for someone hoping to do a marathon at 7:20 pace? Does anyone else use this technique? What about for the race itself? For the race itself, I'd like to do the first few miles at 7:50 pace, then accelerate to 7:20 by maybe the 4-5 mile mark, maintaining 7:20 until the half, then pushing to 7:15 to make up for the early slowness, and, finally, for the last few miles just hoping to hold onto 7:20.... I think that I can do the above negative splitting by consciously constraining myself to slower breathing patterns at the start, but is this an inefficient way to control pace? Would I be better off if I could hold the desired pace while freely allowing myself to move to faster breathing patterns? Or does consciously sticking to slower breathing patterns at the start have the favorable effect of not only limiting pace, but also of speeding the transition from glycogen-burning to fat-burning? Does it take more oxygen to burn glycogen than it does to burn fat? Ozzie writes: You are a man after my own lungs. Here's a post that I have grown into what I call Breathing Rhythms and Patterns. Hopefully helping to increase your own folklore on breathing. As you alluded to, the breathing becomes the gears to keep fueling the body with enough oxygen to keep the body metabolizing its stores of energy during the entire marathon. 126

Breathing Rhythms & Patterns Next to proper running form and style and an integral part of proper running is breathing and the rhythms of breath. Once good running form is achieved one can keep the same cadence and be running 30 seconds to 2+ minutes a mile faster. The issue is getting the leg through its cycle to touch the ground maintaining the same cadence. This is where the concept of ball/heel/ball running and the idea that running is falling and catching oneself gracefully comes into play. (See Pose Method-Romanov, ChiRunning-Dreyer, Natural Running-Abshire, Barefoot Running-Saxton) To that end, breathing becomes the next important factor in maintaining an oxygen uptake to support the increased speed while maintaining the same cadence turnover. This is where I teach breathing at slower speeds to 4 steps in and 4 to 8 steps out. The idea is that I am never panicked and that my breathing sequences are always enough to sustain the rate of turnover...which maintains at the same cadence be it a 9 or 10 minute mile or a 5 minute or better mile. For the young and for top runners, most never think about breathing. However thinking about breathing patterns and rhythms and practicing them will allow someone who has played with or practiced them a possible advantage if it allows them to stayed relaxed, concentrated and focused under extreme stress of setting a personal PR. So in my slow running, I do a 4 in and 6 or 8 out. Then as I need more air I go to a 4in/8out; 1 cycle of air every 12 steps =2 cycles every 24 steps 4in/7out; 1 cycle of air every 11 steps 4in/6out; 1 cycle of air every 10 steps 4in/5out; 1 cycle of air every 9 steps 4in/4out; 1 cycle of air every 8 steps =3 cycles every 24 steps 3in/4out; 1 cycle of air every 7 steps 3in/3out; 1 cycle of air every 6 steps =4 cycles every 24 steps 2in/3out; 1 cycle of air every 5 steps 2in/2out; 1 cycle of air every 4 steps =6 cycles every 24 steps 1in/2out; 1 cycle of air every 3 steps =8 cycles every 24 steps 1in/1out/1in/1out/2in/2out =9 cycles every 24 steps 1in/1out/1in/1out/1in/1out/1in/1out =12 cycles every 24 steps 127

The ideal one goes for is the same volume at all rhythms. Remember you're always breathing though the nose even when the mouth is open...unless your nose is blocked, i.e. nasal congestion. Remember: The idea is to keep the volume of air the same for everyone of the breathing patterns. All of these patterns are breathed at a rate so that the mind stays calm and does not let any of the body unnecessarily tighten up from a perceived stress beyond one's capability. The other aspect of breathing cycles is that an even (symmetric) breathing pattern, which means when the steps in & steps out total an even number, the runner is always running on the same foot at intake and also at exhale. With an odd (asymmetric) breathing pattern, which means when the steps in & steps out total an odd number, the runner is running off the opposite foot at initial intake step of each breathing cycle in-three-steps/out-four-steps; in-three steps/out-four-steps: in-two-three out-two-three-four in-two-three out-two-three-four LFT/In-2 - 3 —RT/Out -two-three-four RT/In-two-three LFT/Out-two-three-four LFT/In- speed. 2…. L 2 3 4 5 6 7 R 2 3 4 5 6 7 In animals there is a breathing pattern that is called phase locking. It has been photographed at high speeds in horses, cheetahs, and ostriches where at full speed there is one pattern into which they breathing locks. In humans, if I remember from the research, there were found two-phase lock patterns at top So you can see if you breathe 2in/2out all the time and we speed you up, you can only continue to do what you do. You only get 6 cycles of air every 24 steps. Whereas I can pick up the speed and get 8 cycles or even 9 cycles of air every 24 steps...and if I practice I can get 10 or 12 cycles every 24 steps. You may begin to realize that running a marathon during the later part of the run from 15 miles onwards most runner are running in a trance state. It is through these breathing patterns I have taught people to play with the rhythms of their breath to keep on going. So for someone whose muscles are glycogen depleted I need to maintain the same running pace but increase the amount of oxygen to those muscles...and that is where the breathing patterns come in. Some people begin to realize the power of rhythm. When I run with a partner and we are doing symmetric breathing of 2in/2out or 3in/3out or 4in/4out, I do 128

reciprocal breathing so that after 3 or 4 minutes as they breathe out I am breathing in and as they breathe in I am breathing out. The sound can be heard. The experience is that the other person's out breath is breathing me on my in breath. On the next cycle my out breath is breathing his/her in breath. Eyes on the horizon, breathing reciprocally with my partner, the miles covered in trance are an experience to remember. When into the breathing and at different breathing patterns both symmetric and asymmetric and some being reciprocal, the breathing patterns of 3 or 4 or 5 of us mixed with the foot touch or foot fall (POSE Method) (rather than foot strike) can carry a group of runners easily for miles where the mind scans the body to relax any tension as it arises and lets it go...going back to the sound of the feet running together and the breathe of the pack. If you've seen Stomp you know the power of rhythm! The 2 chapters on breathing will be of interest: Nose Breathing and The Science Behind it: A Dialogue on Breathing: Some science to aid in what we often know intuitively . Nose Breathing and The Benefits: From Panic To A 3:27 Marathon 129

Some of my folklore: The arms are like metronomes. At slower speeds (beats=steps) the arms can be down at the side. But as the metronome speeds up, the weight is moved closer to the fulcrum. The speeding up of the arm swing is accomplished by bending the forearm. This creates a smaller angle between the forearm and upper arm. Some people keep the forearm at right angles to the upper arm. My tendency is to have even more of an acute angle. More \/ or |/. That is because I am swinging my arms in cadence with my legs or vice versa and that for me is around 190 steps/minute. In walking particularly but with some runners you will see them swing the upper arm (shoulder to elbow) minimally and most of the movement come from the forearm (elbow to wrist). Like someone doing short curls with weights. I picture us as four-footed animals. Stand in place and swing your arms (upper arm and lower arm with no bending of the elbows) from the shoulder back and forth from the straight-arm position as fast as you can six or 8 inches forward then backward. Now place the forearm at right angles with the upper arm and swing your arms (from the shoulder) as fast as possible. Now bring the wrists as close to the shoulders as possible and swing the upper arm (from the shoulder) as fast as possible. The arm and metronome work on the same physical principle. The shorter the lever arm the faster the lever arm can move. You have seen it done by ice skaters as they bring their arms close to their body as the spin and you see them turn into a spinning top. Most people think that in running the arms swing back and forth and don't help much in the propulsion of the body. They just act more like counterbalances to keep the body moving in a straight direction and prevent unnecessary torque in other parts of the body. I believe that this is an illusion from the point of view of the observer watching someone run. That is that the arm (upper arm with forearm at right angles) swings forward and backwards. If you consider us four-footed, and the arms are 130

a part of the movement, you get a different picture from what you see as the observer of the runner. If you hold onto a railing, with the arm extended in front of you and pull yourself forward, the arm will end up behind the body. The reality is that the arm has not moved from the position on the railing. The body was pulled in front of the arm although it looks as if the arm swings behind the body. In swimming the same perception can be misleading. If the swimmer held onto a rope and pulled herself through the water you would notice that her hands didn't go under the body. No, the hands held onto the rope and the body went over hands. Back to running. Tom Rutlin was a man before his time when he came out with his Exerstriders. Today it is extremely common to see walkers everywhere walking with their telescoping walking poles. Bummer a third or more do not know how to use them properly. If you use a pair of these walking pole while running you will realize that what looks like a back swing is in reality the body moving in front of the arm, since one walking pole is planted the arm never swings back, rather the body passes in front of the arm. In race walking, the emphasis of the arm is not on the back swing, (partly because a back swing is going in the opposite direction you are moving. Rather the focus is the forward thrust of the arm to assist in moving in the forward direction faster. This is something I would like to dialogue further with Nicholas Romanov and Danny Dreyer. Nicholas says: “The main function of your arms is not to drive the body forward, but to provide balance and equilibrium as gravity pulls you forward.” (Emphasis is Nicholas’) Training Essays p.99 Danny says the arm swing on level ground: “Swing your arms to the read, not to the front. As your body leans forward, swinging your elbows to the rear creates a balance in the opposite direction… If you swing your arms forward, it will cause your legs to swing too far forward, creating more heel strike. …If you really like to swing your arms forward, save it until you’re either sprinting or running uphill. (ChiRunning p. 85.) On hills Danny says: “An upward swing will give your body the upward momentum it needs. I think there’s something the spring or elastic recoil that moving the arm forward at just the right time helps the Pose Pull and the stepping over the bar in the ankle for Danny. I’m sure we’ll talk about it at sometime. That’s what’s nice about my idea of folklore. I need more and more explanations or images or metaphors because we all come from such different backgrounds that the more images, explanations and metaphors I have the better opportunity to help someone educate oneself. 131

Running a seven-minute mile with your arms at your side is pretty good. My concern down the road would be the torque and the other force vectors might in the long run on the long run have an opposite effect on your form and style. If the form and style is correct it is possible in my mind’s eye that the fine tuning of the arms can give someone that little advantage that ends up making a big difference. I'm interested if what I am saying makes sense, and if you see it making any difference in the perception of your own running form and style. It does for me based on the results I see in runners who have played with the idea. 132

Slowie wrote: When I tried to lean, my eyes tend to look at the ground and I know it's not right. Can you please let me know where I should focus my eyes which I think was not mentioned in the book. (ChiRunning. Actually if you keep your head the way Danny suggest, you could look down with your eyes but your head would help keep your: Eyes On the Horizon) Hi Slowie, Mary's given you some great ideas and things to think about and do as you continue your ChiRunning. (Hi, Mary: Thought I'd drop by and see what's going on) I'll just share some of my folklore about the eyes tending to look at the ground. The following is what I have given to several thousand marathoners, half marathoners, and runners. With your right hand, make an OK sign (thumb and middle finger making a circle). Now touch the top of your head with where the thumb and middle finger join. That circle at the top of your head will be your imaginary "skyhook." Now screw that skyhook into the crown of your head. Attached to the skyhook is a fine silk thread. Attached to the fine silk thread is a hawk, hummingbird or butterfly hovering your erect head. Pick one. 133

Now during all of your ChiRunning, and sitting and walking and standing that hawk, hummingbird or butterfly is hovering over your head, keeping, as Mary said, your head aligned over your spine. Imagine that as you run from now on, Mary has given you a permanent chin support that was created when you rested your thumb/middle finger on your collar bone and the pointer finger under your chin to get your head aligned. Notice that when you walk with your chin support and your skyhook there is no need to look down by lowering the neck. To look down, notice that you can use just your eyes, and you'll see the ground about 18 inches and out without having to look down. 134

For People Who Hate Hills Inspired by Martha L. Clark who wrote to rec.running: I am curious as to how a hill is defined. I ran a hill today, but it felt like a mountain!! Actually, I only made it halfway up, walked the rest of the way, then turned around and ran back down. The hill is .4 mile, with a pretty steep slope. Is this considered a typical hill? Thanks. A hill is a way for me to get to the top of what would otherwise be a sheer cliff. A hill is a stairway that I can use. Someone has graded off the steps and allowed the slope to remain to assist me in reaching the top. A hill is a friend that helps me get to the top of where I'm going without having to develop cliff-climbing skills. A hill is something that was there long before I was born and will most likely be there long after I am gone. As I run up the hill, its purpose is to serve me in getting from one point to some other point that has a higher elevation. Hills are my teachers and my friends. A hill teaches me about myself. It allows me to see how I project my thoughts and feelings upon it. It teaches me consistency, steadiness and to mindfully bring myself back to the moment when my brain has gone to the top where it rests as my body struggles on. A hill is for going down and learning what it means to have a free ride (I already paid by going up). A hill up and a hill down are magnificent training devices so I can learn in slow motion how to go fast. 135

A hill up teaches me that good running form is the same at any speed. A hill helps me defy gravity with each and every step. I love hills and continue to love hills for they are my friends. They are always there when I need to be uplifted. They are there when I need to be gently let down. Once I learned to love hills as part of my practice, I do not give my power away nor do any external elements have power over me. Hills help me learn to live on the plateaus of life. Hills help me realize: It's not about my destination rather it's about my journey. 136

Stef Luijten wrote: Anyone ever used an electronic metronome to train cadence? Instead of counting my steps and concluding my stride rate is too slow (<160), I'd like to carry an audible 'stride rate trainer' during my runs. What came out this question with the shared thinking and dialoguing with Denny Anderson and Miles Lakin was: Arms and Cadence: Tying Them Together. Having taught every form of holding the fist over the past 25 years, I have used the hands opened as if reaching for a handshake. I've used the image of lightly holding the ski poles for cross-country skiing in the hand. I've used the hand as having 4-foot long titanium claws to get a sense of being a tiger or cheetah digging into the earth with its claws. An early adaptor, the Exerstrider poles gave one the best sense or picture of how one digs into the earth. The pole stays where it lands and doesn’t go any further back. It is pulled forward. It looks like a runner’s arm swings back and forth when one watches a runner from the side. However, the placement of the poles shows the runner when seen from a side view, their side arms do not really swing back. The body is propelled past that imaginary arm or pole placed into the earth. pumping backwards, respectively.) (ed. This is where I have seen my teaching perspective differ from Nicholas and Danny regarding arms to provide balance and equilibrium as gravity pulls your forward and the arms From my Tai Chi I’ve used the image of “Fair Maiden’s Hand” where the wrist and the back of the hand are straight. There is no bend between the back of the 137

hand and the wrist. From the position one can close the hand. Be sure the wrist and back of the hand are straight and not bent even slightly forward or backward. To me the floppy wrists are similar to people whom during their normal walk swing from the elbow and not from the shoulder to elbow. When the arm swing is from the shoulder, the lower arm (elbow to wrist) stays in unison with the upper arm (shoulder to elbow) during the swing. As a quick aside, I think that the shoulder tightness in many people even good runners has to do with carrying fairly heavy backpacks or purses over one shoulder that tightens that shoulder. You will see from the back that many people have one shoulder higher from weight compensation. The cause could be anything from a mother carrying her baby from infancy to 40 pounds in one arm and on one hip on one side (usually less dominant side so dominant hand is free) to people who carry backpacks, briefcases, purses, tool kits, or other weighty objects on the one same side all the time. This is where Mindful Running looks at possible causes of certain running symptoms, discrepancies, or body postures. Then helping people become mindful of what their habits are doing to them and then making the habit or behaviors conscious so it can be addressed. As one reaches towards an idealized goal of 180 steps (each touchdown of the foot being a step)/minute, the shorter the pendulum swing of the arm. I use the image of a metronome hanging upside down. When the weight is lowered along the arm of the upside down metronome, the beat is slower and the arc longer. So that would mean as you pushed the weight higher up the arm of the upside down metronome, the faster the beat and the shorter the arc covered for each beat. Again for me what is swinging is the elbow from the shoulder. They swing because of the shoulders being torqued opposite and equal the pelvis/hips moving the legs. When one is running in perfect form, the legs and the arms (on the same side) are moving equally and opposite to the legs and the arms of the other side. I often use the image of a bell shaped agitator in a washer turned up side down. Two strings of equal length with a weight attached to the ends are place opposite each other so the string hangs down from the upper edge. |___ ____| ("|" Represents the shoulder joint . \ / . . \ / . Picture of the upside down agitator. . \ / . . \____ ____/ . 0 | | 0 ("0" represents the elbow joint) | | 138

In the picture the two weights on the string just hang there relaxed. They will begin to swing forward and backward (opposite and equal) as the upside down agitator rotates around its vertical axis. One may begin to fathom the importance of the arms in good running. Most people neglect the arms. They picture them as secondary to locomotion. I think they miss the physics of the arm swing and the body torque needing to be in perfect sync with the lower body. If the arm is swinging forward at just the right time it can help with the forward movement. It counterbalances the landing foot and I think can help, and described so well by Dr. Romanolv in his Pose Method, with the heel when it is “pulled” up by the hamstring. In my mind's eye, the shoulder and pelvis rotate opposite and equal around the vertical axis of the spine. So if you looked at two agitators moving opposite and equal, the upper weights would represent the arms attached to the shoulder girdle and the lower weights would represent the legs attached to the pelvis. And they would be working in perfect sync with the upper agitator torquing equal and opposite to the lower agitator. While the physics aren't scientifically correct in terms of vectors and influence of weight and lengths (of arms and legs), you hopefully may get the idea. For some of you who have followed my ramblings over the years, you begin also to realize why I have taken Tai Chi with the idea of running faster by learning to use unit body movement in slow motion. By moving the elbow to wrist from straight line of shoulder/elbow/wrist (represents 180 degrees) to 135, 90, to 75 degrees with the angle being measured as the elbow bends the lower arm towards the upper arm represents the sliding of the weight of the metronome up the arm. You can more the arms faster through a smaller arc if the wrists are 6 inches away from the shoulders then if the upper arms/lower arms are at 90 degrees or 135 degrees. Simply, if I want to increase the rate of steps/minute, the arms will be swinging through a smaller arc at the same rate the legs are moving. Most coaches say, if you want to run faster, move your arms faster. This is especially true for world-class race walkers. Also here's a post between Miles and me back in early June of '98 Miles Lakin wrote: 139

 If you are going to take it further than that, i.e. worrying about exactly at what stage the heel is planted, I think you need to go to video analysis. Self-analysis is going to be very difficult, especially when you're roaring round the track at 800m or mile race pace. Don't forget the 'snappy' footsteps though. Running like you're on hot coals.   Last night I was doing some 'all out' 100's. One of the trainers came over to pick me up on my arm swing. For a distance runner it already felt like I was swinging madly. Apparently not so. He had me getting my elbows up near shoulder height!!! Felt bizarre, but seemingly not the case. I'd like to see a video replay :-)   And after spending the best part of 3 years learning to run faster and faster while keeping  upper body movement to the absolute minimum necessary...  Miles --  "Focus. Relaxed Form. Stay smooth. Flow. Breathe." - gapo '98 Miles, You have made my day and another first. GAPO has never been in a signature line. He feels that he has joined a new level of mythology. While remaining a legend in his own mind, the words he wrote have taken on a life of their own. To break the arms form, do some short 100 to 200 meters with your elbows raised above your shoulders, but keeping the arms in running position. One image is that you have two ice picks you’re stabbing into an ice wall about 8 inches above your head. This means running with the elbows raised and hand in same position as if you were running normally but now the arm swing is above the head. (Added 9/27/98) Imagine that you are Superman/Super Woman flying towards the sky with arms extended straight up. Another image is imagine climbing a ladder where you have to reach for a rung almost 2 feet over your head. You will notice that for most people the elbows turn outward. If you bring the elbows inward so that they are parallel, you'll notice how tight you are in the shoulder area.) Gradually after 4 or 5 repetitions allow your arms to gradually return to their normal Position at the side of your body. You will hopefully now have a different sense of the feeling of the elbows being thrown forward by the foot plant of the same side. Everyone visualizes that the arms swing back and forth. The truth is that when the arm swings it swings forward, the arms DON'T SWING BACK. The rest of the body goes in front of that arm extended in front. It just looks like it swings back. To see what I mean, go up a stairwell. Place a hand on the Bannister and note that the arm/hand stays at the place where it grasped as you walk up the steps. 140

The same idea holds with ski poling in cross-country or placing an oar in the water. That visualization change will give you a new feeling of what it means to run four footed. 141

From my thoughts to follow, you might want to play with not wearing socks. Written as Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton was at the beginning of his avocation and his website: Barefoot Running. Going sockless would allow you to possibly go down a shoe size to get a snugger fit in the heel. Over the years, I've used the Lydiard lacing (start at the bottom both down the hole. One side up the hole same side up one hole, the other up the hole on the same side two holes. From there straight across, down the hole, up the hole two holes same side.) It allows me to tighten the upper part of the laces to keep the heel snuggled in and allow for the other lower part of the laces to be looser. I've been sockless over 20 years. Art Justice a long time running friend has been sockless for about 10 years after losing first place in his age division by 30 seconds in a triathlon...the time it took to put on his socks before putting on his shoes. I use Spenco neoprene insoles. They are the ones without any of the various supports or arch cookies that they glue on. Just the old flat 1/8" thin cut out. I change those like you would change socks. My thinking way back then was that if my foot and the inside of the shoe are moving at the same rate and I am not overstriding/decelerating, then the foot/shoe interface will not be creating any friction. If there is no friction then there will be no blisters. So in the 50+ marathons run that way, blisters have been minimal. 142

My folklore holds that tip of the toe blisters and black toenails are more from clawing with the toes...something a majority of people do when they run because it's the neuromuscular habit they practice all the time when standing. Stand...lean forward as far as you can. You will see what I mean by clawing with the toes so you won't fall. Now you get an idea why people have hammertoes. So in running you imagine you don't have any toes and you'll find that you now bend at the ball of the foot/toe joint. Now stand and lean forward ever so slightly from the ankle and keep you body erect. Now with an image of having no toes and being unable to claw, you begin to realize that running is falling and catching yourself gracefully with each and every step you take. Back to sockless. When breaking in shoes be sure that you wear the shoes around the house for about 1 week. Run a mile or two around your neighborhood in the shoes. Often blobs of hardened glue can literally wear a hole into your foot within a mile or 2. A piece of laser cut nylon that is part of the tongue of the shoe can cut like a razor. An inside seam that is double stitched can bore into the side or top of the foot at mile 4 and you don't even feel it until you see the red spot growing on your new running shoes. Use Bag Balm lightly rubbed onto the foot for the 3 to 5 mile runs the first few times to guard against any of the imperfections of the inside of the shoe. It may take some delicate surgery of the seams or glue or...to remove the problem. Sockless you find out so much more quickly where the trouble spots are. Socks mask the problem until you're out on a long run and the cushion of the sock is diminished by sweat or the spot wears through the sock and attacks your flesh. Running sockless is one of the better ways to become aware of your form and style. If you find yourself getting hot spots on the bottom of the foot, you can examine how you land to see where or how the friction is being created. Sometimes it helps to put a very light coat of bag balm on the bottoms of your feet before slipping them sockless into your shoes. Bag Balm...always a friction fighter. Sorry Thorlo...sorry sock companies...Actually all the stuff I said above can be disregarded if your folklore is different or if you like to wear socks or invest in socks and sock companies. Remember folklore is something that works for you. If my folklore doesn’t work for you, don’t give it the time of day and zero emotional energy. Find someone’s folklore that works for you and use it. Better yet, create your own and share it with others to see if it works for them like it works for you. Also be sure to come back and share it with me. I’m always open to learning new, better, or older tried and true ways I’ve not been exposed to. Remember I am speaking of sockless only for running. I do wear socks when I play tennis or basketball or any lateral movement sport.... un less you’ve got something to teach me. 143

1/11/99 . The Practice of Yoga and Tai Chi to Improve Running Form and Style Aleksi Kolehmainen inquired: Hi Everybody, Do any of you practice Tai Chi? I started taking lessons of Qigong in the beginning of the year and I've truly enjoyed those. We have a Chinese teacher who also practices Chinese medicine. So I'm also taking a Tuina (acupressure) class during the same day. It really teaches you awareness of yourself and your body. Qi. As a result of this I've also gotten quite interested in alternative (sports) medicine Bruce Poston queried: Could someone comment on the differences between Yoga and Tai Chi? While I am mostly looking at taking a class in one of these from a runner's perspective, I'm also interested in how the methodology taught will aid other areas of my life.
These questions gave me pause to reflect. As a runner I have used Yoga and Tai Chi to increase my flexibility, range of motion, and muscle tone They are both great practices to do in order to balance the negative effects many of us have experienced from our years of running. Some of the results of the years of unconscious running are: excess tightening of the muscles, injuries due to inflexibility and fascial constrictions from faulty posture and poor running form, and strain on the joints by improper running style. Yoga or Tai Chi are excellent ways to balance the running body so that it can continue to run for years without injury or deterioration from the wear and tear due to muscular imbalances. Properly doing Yoga stretches and Tai Chi movement works every muscle in the 144

body. They can greatly increase flexibility and reduce muscle tightness. Held standing postures (asanas) or the movements of Tai Chi greatly increase strength, stamina, breath control, and concentration. Yoga and/or Tai Chi may not only keep a runner from getting injured, they may enable the running body to run better for longer periods of time injury free with less strain and minimal effort. The idea for Yoga and Tai Chi is moving mindfully. If you can move the body in one of the asanas, (poses) or one of the Tai Chi movements only a thousandth of an inch further each day, in a thousand days you will be able to go an inch further. Yoga and Tai Chi take the mind/body and spirit without strain or stress to a place of new possibilities. For me I took up Tai Chi as a way to run faster by moving as slowly as possible. Walk in slow motion and you will see that your arms get out of sync with your legs. Walk slower and it only exaggerates more. Tai Chi is total body movement. It's the larger muscles moving the rest of the body's muscles in unison. Yoga is active total body stretching. It's the entire body moving to its maximum point of stretch without effort. Yoga and Tai Chi add the flexibility that comes with movement in all directions. A problem when one only goes in one direction-running forward. Either will give you mental and physical flexibility. The problems that many runners experience with soreness and injuries created from their inflexibility is due to psychoslerosis. This dreaded disease of the brain is defined as "hardening of the head." It is related to doing what one does without thinking of what it means to move like the graceful animals we can be or become. Yoga and Tai Chi are both exercises that one can do even when one is recovering from the injuries of running. At the same time, those who do Yoga and/or Tai Chi find themselves able to run for longer periods of time without incurring injury or imbalances to portions of the body. Yoga and/or Tai Chi are practices, like running can be a practice. They are all part of the practice of taking care of one's body so that the mind and brain need never worry about the past - which no longer exists, nor worry about the future - which is not here. Only the present exists. All three give one, if one is in the moment, a present of being present, It is at this present moment that the brain becomes the secondary organ it is, as Joseph Campbell said. It's no more important than spleen, heart, kidneys, lungs, etc. We are here to be fully alive and be good animals as fully as we are able. As George Sheehan said "We are called to be heroes, poets, artists, philosophers and saints, but most of all we are called to be good animals...we are called to be good athletes." Go for the grace of total body movement, and make your running a dance. Yoga 145

or Tai Chi will only further assist you in this graceful dance.
Mens sana in corpore sano.
I went with my family to see Stomp tonight. I love rhythms. For Christmas, my daughter gave me a didgeridoo. It will help me with my breathing. The above was written three Christmases ago. Tonight I am going to hear Mark Connor play at the San Diego Museum of Art. Over the past two years I have become pretty good on my didgeridoo. The one I enjoy most is the one I've made out of inch and a half PVC.. Further Readings: ChiRunning Danny Dreyer ChiWalking Danny Dreyer & Katherine Dreyer Pose Method Nicholas Romanov Training Essay Nicholas Romanov Further watching: ChiRunning: Injury Free Running Vol. 1 ChiWalking: Lifelong Health and Energy Pose Method of Running 146

Years ago, I did a video of Jan Hagelbrand from Sweden who attended USIU here in San Diego. He was on the track team and one of the most graceful, longest striders of all the runners I've ever seen. To the eye, I was certain he was a heel runner, but he was so smooth. When I ran the video of him running, I noticed that when his heel touched down his center of gravity was already moving in front of the point of contact with the heel. What looked like a heel strike to the human eye or in a still photo, was part of a smooth transition as if his foot were the tire of a bicycle rolling over the ground. When he stepped off a curb and back onto the curb, his center of gravity continued to roll along. From still photos what looks like a heel strike for a world-class athlete is actually part of a smooth transition. In my mind's eye, as the heel touches down the vertical speed remains constant for it is from that platform of foot plant that the rest of the body is springs forward: gravity aided by the same side arm as the foot plant plus the opposite side knee from the planted foot being sprung forward. This got me thinking about when a cat’s paws touch the ground, the body springs forward from that point of touching. If chasing something or running away there’s minimal vertical displacement. [In 2011, POSE Method, the horizontal vector (one’s speed) is caused by gravity. The hamstring pulls up the heel to keep up the controlled fall without any deceleration, no push off and minimal vertical displacement.] Dean Brittenham would show the effect of plodder, runner, elite runner by dropping a bean bag, a tennis ball and then a superball all from the same height. I became aware of the quickness of the placement and it's displacement because of the quickness of the body moving forward horizontally with minimal lift (no time spent moving vertically). I want to get back to the idea of the rolling bicycle wheel. 147

I have a rubber wheel that's about six inches in diameter. It’s a wheel with 8 little feet around the circumference of the circle. When you roll it, it rolls like a tire, each little foot rolling over the ground. If you saw it at just the right still photo...as in the sprinter shots, you'd swear that the little foot is landing heel first. The difference for me is that the center of gravity is falling forward. It reminds me of the roadrunner, meep-meep, with his feet circling behind him and the body ahead. The feet are keeping up with the torso, so that it won't fall down. 148

Sean Chester wrote: I've been running on and off for a while now, whenever time permits it, and I've come across a real obstacle that I was hoping someone here could assist me with. When running downhill, I seem to run a lot slower, and get passed by nearly everyone else in the race, and then have to try and get back on pace on the uphill and flats. It doesn't seem right that I should have more ease with uphill than downhill. Any suggestions Here's a repost with a few ideas. Well, I got carried away. It was sometime back in the winter of '99. Oz I read Indy's and DownUnder's posts. Then I read the following 4, and I wrote a magnificent piece on Running Downhill, only to have my computer crash as I was transferring some email addresses into the "To" section of Newswatcher. I gave up for the night, bummed. I come back today and now there are 21 posts in all. So I read them all and now am ready to start again.
. When I first got into running I truly pictured my self as the "Keep On Truckin'" Mr. Natural or the image was sitting in my dad's '59 Buick Roadmaster as I ran my 149

early marathons. I was able to do marathons in the 3:20 to 3:30 range in this laid-back style. As I got into thinking about running, and balance, and gravity and mixed the Bowerman erect running posture with the Brookes Johnson's forward lean things started to change. I pictured the lean of the erect posture from the ankles. So that the posture was always erect but falling forward with ever so slight a lean of the erect posture, ankle to crown of the head. For many people and me included that little forward lean from the ankles made the difference between doing 3:20's and going under 3:05 for the marathon. This is my folklore about downhill running. (1)-see footnote 1. Going down hill while running, I maintain an erect posture. The downhill is the downward diagonal of a rectangle. 2. Think geometry (2). The diagonal is longer than the horizontal base. 3. Think. The hill (the diagonal) is falling away from the horizontal where you just landed. 4. Think. If you take a normal stride, because the downward diagonal replaces the horizontal landing surface of level ground, that normal stride will be an overstride because your foot lands on the diagonal. And you know that the diagonal is longer than the horizontal. 5. Think again to drive the point home. It makes sense that a normal stride length will cause the runner to overstride because it lands on the downward diagonal. The image is your center of gravity (COG) moves in a line parallel to the downward slope of the hill. 6. So to make your stride the same as you would on the horizontal, it is necessary that you to place your foot down more quickly so as not to overstride. 7. To do that, there's no need to lift up the knee any higher but there is a need as you bring your knee forward to get the foot down faster. The elliptical tracing of the foot from foot stride to the next same-footed foot strike is a downhill ellipse. 8. If you keep the same lean from ankle to top of the head as you would on level ground, the falling away of the hill, increases the lean angle even without leaning. Again you're thinking about the downward diagonal. 9. Stand at the top of an easy-sloped hill. March in place by lifting your knees up and down. Notice also that when you march in place lifting your knees, that the ball of the foot touches first and then the heel. 150

Lean from the ankle a degree or two and keep your body erect. Continue to just lift the feet up and down by lifting your knees an inch or two. That little lean from the ankles moves you forward since you're going with gravity. When you put down the lifted foot it is two or three inches ahead of the other foot but still under your center of gravity. Your slight lean added to the slope of the hill will cause you to coast down the hill. If the hill increases in its slope, you have to put the foot down faster to maintain the same cadence and all the while all you're doing is lifting your knees up and down and the hill is running you down it. The directions "To lean into the hill" often causes the runner to lose his/her erect posture. The image is one's center of gravity riding smoothly down the hill on the wheel created by one's feet landing fast enough so as to create no deceleration and no excessive vertical displacement at each step. 10. In running down hill, if the foot lands under the center of gravity of the body, the body will continue to freely fall down the hill. All you have to do is place the foot down fast enough so there is minimal vertical displacement of the center of gravity. 151

When one overstrides each step is a deceleration and send the shockwave up the body. Remember the ground does not give. Also landing on the back of the heel of the shoe causes a trigger effect which slaps the front of the foot down, decelerating the body even more and increasing the vertical forces to the foot and leg. The sole hits with the power of a highly sprung mousetrap. Those who have forgotten their geometry and tell you to lean back as you go down hill are only increasing your overstride. If you should listen to them after remembering your geometry, your pain and injuries are by choice. 11. In running down hill, the idea or image is that you're sitting on a bicycle seat that rides on the horizontal. You place your foot down fast enough so that the actual point of the Center of Gravity of your body, if you followed it down the hill would be a line parallel to the slope of the hill. Think sliding down a snow covered slope as opposed to sliding down a set of stairs on your butt. 12. Picture all down hill running as if your body is being lifted upward as the slope of the hill goes downward. You have Plastic Man rubber legs so there is never a jolt or jarring of your body because your feet always land under your center of gravity. (3) 13. Jolting or jarring or landing on the back of the heel going down hill means: "Yep, overstride." To show you the image so that you can feel where your body should be. a. Stand with your feet together. b. Keep the weight on the left foot. Place the right foot forward so that the right heel lightly touches the ground. Notice that you can pick up the right heel and put it down as the center of gravity is over the left foot. c. Put your feet back together again. d. Again, keep the weight on the left foot. Place the right foot behind you so that the ball of the right foot lightly touches the ground. The ball of the foot will be 6 to 8 inches behind and parallel to the left heel. Notice that you can pick up the right ball of the foot as the center of gravity of your body is over the left foot. "b" is an overstride since your center of gravity is behind the lead foot. 152

"d" is what proper running is about. Your center of gravity is above the weight bearing foot and the other leg is behind your center of gravity. If you continue your erect posture with the weight always over the front foot, you begin to see how good running form and style is addressed. Once again here’s a memory jogger. Marching in place is where it all begins. Remember the broom handle balanced in the palm of your hand. If it falls a millionth of a degree and you go at the same speed and the same direction it is falling, you are using gravity to get you from here to there. Your body is the broom handle. The earth is the palm of the hand. The lean of the broom is the lean of your body that is erect from ankle to crown of the head. As the body falls forward you bring the back foot forward and under your body fast enough to keep you from falling "down." (4) Please print this out. While it is correct, it may take you and me many months to figure out what I've just said. Oz Footnotes: 1. I want to thank Laurel Amberdine for her comments to my query: I realize that I just look at things differently and want to make sense out of what people know that just ain't so. I need feedback, Gang, or I'll never know how obtuse my correct but incomprehensible writings are. For me to hurry up and catch you, I need to know how far off I am. Laurel said: I re-read a bunch of saved Ozzie-responses, trying to figure out why some of them are so hard to understand. First- it usually starts out with someone asking about a problem. Like, "My
running. Then, a philosophical comment or two on how everything works together, so it may be some non-running issue causing the problem. And the disclaimer that you might have some other problem entirely. (Whew) I think it's a lot more new information than most people can grasp all at once. Most people are hoping for an answer like "Oh, you have 'Weird Foot Syndrome.' You need Extra-Normal Shoes and to do the wiggly-toe stretch. That'll clear it right up." The asker wasn't quite up for a whole new way of thinking about the problem. Now, I like Ozzie's answers, and I don't think I want them changed, baffling as they sometimes are. :) Anyway, some tips to make writing clearer (for anyone)-- -Keep it small. Small words, small sentences, small paragraphs. Go back and cut out anything extraneous. -Don't include non-essential information. If you want to add something fun, and informative (but not essential) separate it away from the important info. [1] -Be careful with non-specific pronouns like 'it' and 'that'. -Use clear punctuation and spacing. Reading text from a computer monitor can be especially confusing, and the white space helps. 2. Geometry Greek origin: Gaia=land and metrein=to measure. As St. George said: "you are called to be poet, philosopher, artist, saint and athlete. But first and foremost, be a good animal." As the Athenians swept down from the hillsides onto the Plains of Marathon overrunning the hapless Persians, the Athenians practiced their geometry, remembering that running downhill was a downward diagonal. The hoplites proceeded to kick the "scis" out of the Persian army. (Scio, -ire: to know; scis, 2 nd person/present tense: you know) 3. Your body rejoices and sings the praises of Euclid through dance, for running is a dance. 4. "Running is falling and catching yourself gracefully. World records in running are set by the use of gravity and keeping up with the fall as fast as possible from start to finish without falling down: be it a hundred meters or a marathon." GAPO -- In health and on the run, Ozzie Gontang 154

Director, San Diego Marathon Clinic, est. 1975 Mindful Running http://www.mindfulness.com/ Some related articles that might be of further interest How To Running Quietly and Lightly Over Terra Firma The Running Theory of GAPO Depression: A Stepping Stone to Learning Breathing Patterns & Rhythms 155

Everything you need to know is in the title of this chapter Repeat it every time you go up a hill 156

©1997 Austin'Ozzie' Gontang, Ph.D.
/\ /\ /\ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ /\ / \ / \ / \ / \ /\ / \ A---/------------\----------/----------------\------/------\---/---\----/----------- --\----B / \ / \ / \/ \/ / \ / \/ / \/ It is of continued interest to me to see how we continually talk about ups and downs, peaks and valleys, good times and bad times. If my life span is from A to B in terms of years, I can look at it that way with its ups and downs but the ups and downs are relative to a self referential point of where I subjectively feel I am at a moment compared to another moment. So my present position is probably biased by what I am feeling about something that has happened in the past and against which I am comparing the present. I prefer to look at points A and B on a horizontal plane, somewhat akin to a boat sailing from point A to B. There are no ups and downs in relation to my journey from A to B, only tacks to get me from one point to another. Along those tacks I may have feelings of loving life and at other times feelings of things going against me, but its all part of a tack to get me to where my life is going. The winds of life continually change. Sometimes there are doldrums. Sometimes there are storms. All of which make for an interesting journey. As Robert Frost so beautifully summed up life in a poem I can sum up life in three words: "It goes on." I'd like to share an original from Ozzie Gontang. Well I've never seen it expressed anywhere else in my life, so I think it's an original expression 157

of an age old awareness: If a picture is worth a thousand words, A experience or feeling is worth ten million pictures. "Ozzie Gontang Based on the feelings and experience at the birth of his two daughters, Erin & Allison Mindful awareness is being in the present moment and fully experiencing its simplicity, grandeur, and connectedness to all. There are no words that can describe it. And the more words, the further one moves away from being. 158

Some reflections sparked by a post from Dru Jacobs in Boulder. I am continually amazed how we push the envelope of human possibility through the visions and dreams that pop into our minds. I know that the dreamers and visionaries touched by/sparked by/moved by a story, are now in training for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympics. The Greek word for enthusiasm, comes from "en theos" that is "the god within." When the Greeks saw someone burning with "the god within" whatever than god was...power, money, wisdom, athletics, they said he/she burned with enthusiasm. Hopefully you with your personal enthusiasm will have sparked others. The visions and dreams of people with "en theos" have charged and changed children, men, women throughout time. The Latin derivation for “competition” is "to seek with." So in competition, one seeks the existing limitations of human experience and pushes beyond the thought of that limitation. If one seeks only the gold medal of the Olympics and nothing else, and does not achieve it-something is lost. If another seeks with the assistance of fellow competitors to push beyond the limits of human experience and comes in second, he/she has participated in pushing that human limit. When the US and other countries did not go to the 1980 Olympics, an entire group of athletes were not able to measure, seek and push beyond their limits. So a group of people were never able to be measured against the world's best and say "I was the best for that moment in time." Ask any Olympian who did or didn't go. Stars have assisted man for a few thousand years to navigate over the earth. Somehow many people today have associated human Stars and Superstars as beyond the reach of mere mortals. Yet like the stars in the sky, they are here to guide us about what is humanly possible. When our stars forget they are guides...and fellow humans, everyone loses their sense of direction. So we are back to core values. What are the few beliefs we would be willing to live and die for. If I know what you stand for, I also know what you won’t stand for. May the “en theos" which has touched your soul during your life, lighten every step you take and allow you to soar to the possibilities you have dreamed. 159

An exchange on rec.running, a user group that was in existence before the World Wide Web and where I served as the Maintainer of the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). It is where I originally went to have my answers questions especially about my championing ball/heel/ball running since the late 70’s. Wonder group of runners from around the world that I have never met personally except for a few but who shared freely and were participants in some excellent dialogues on every possible aspect of running. Much of my folklore of running came from my reflections and sharing what I had learned and experienced over my years as a runners, Marathon and running coach and last but not least as a Running Therapist. When the user groups was run by DejaNews.com before it was purchased by Google, there was a line that I could add to the message being sent to the listserv that allowed the article to be threaded but not to be archived. Much of what I wrote was: X-no-archive. I wanted to answer the question or query and wanted to keep some sense of control over what I had written. So for those who participated on rec.running and know that they had seen something by me but in their searches came up empty handed, the reason is that I X-no-archived many of the responses I shared over more than 10 years. So some of what you will be reading here allay for concerns that did you read it or dream you read it. Also for some it will bring back memories of a time when running information was shared with minimal noise and interference. Rod Lawson wrote: My wife is just reading "The Histories" of Herodotus, and came to me with this quote about the way of the Babylonians. I must admit I immediately thought of Ozzie's approach to 'running folklore', and decided that he must be a born-again-Babylonian, with rec.running as his street!!!!!! "They have no doctors, but bring their invalids out into the street, where anyone who comes along offers the sufferer advice on his complaint, either from personal experience or observation of a similar complaint in others. Anyone will stop by the sick man's side and suggest remedies that he has himself proved successful in whatever the trouble may be, or which he has known to succeed with other people. Nobody is allowed to pass a sick person in silence; but everyone must ask him what is the matter". 160

Mike Tennent added: I like it. Maybe we can institute that system at road races. Injured runners will lie down in an area next to the registration lines. Healthy runners will not be allowed to register until they've given advice to each. Mike "No begging allowed, tho" Tennent Mike, I like the idea about helping injured runners as a prerequisite to entering a race. It makes sense. I posted the following to a listserv that is made up of people who are interested in the work(s) of Milton Erickson, a psychiatrist and hypnotist who did much to alter the way in which hypnosis was delivered...in that he respected the individuality of each person and whose approach was "the creation of a unique therapy for each client." My work has been in dealing with the trance states brought on by running especially the marathon and the long distance training in preparation for marathons and ultras. The Greeks realized that it was the individual him/herself from which the healing came in relation to their healing dream. Only when it became politicized did the priests and then doctors do their interpreting and diagnosing. I think that's why George Sheehan told people to first talk to other runners about their injuries before going to see a doctor. While I agree that doctors need to be seen in certain cases, In his Lore of Running, Tim Noakes 10 points concerning running injuries outlines very well when a doctor should be seen. Ron, Thanks for the kind association! I remember in a reading that the psychic said I had lived in an ancient time. She thought it was Atlantis. I think I like this period of Babylon. Living on rec.running Avenue is truly a place which resonates to both the healing rituals of both Babylon and Greece. I like their traditions and folklore. Ozzie The post I was talking about was on Aesclepian healing centers and the processes involved: At the Aesclepian healing centers in Greece (e.g. Epidaurus, Kos and there were hundreds of others) the Theraps were those who attended the individuals until they were ready to have their healing dream. It is interesting to note that the 161

Greek verb from which therapist derives means "to attend, to listen to, to tend the sick, to serve." Basically the theraps were the people who attended and nursed those who were accepted into the healing centers. When the individual was ready and after ablutions, purifications and other sacrifices had been made, he or she would go into the "abaton" (the sanctuary-it could be a cave or a room prepared for the incubation where the individual would have their healing dream.) The dream itself was the healing. At one Aesclepian healing center, an inscription lists Aesclepius, Hygieia and Hypnos (the god of sleep) together. At Epidaurus, Hypnos was mentioned in many of the inscriptions dedicated to him. The Ericksonian approach resonates well with the Aesclepian view, in that the Theraps or the "operator/experimenter" is there to attend to the individual so they can utilize their dream - which brings the healing. Dream-interpreters were not needed nor is it likely that the priests in the Aesclepian centers interpreted the dreams. What I have taken from Dr. Erickson and Aesclepius is the great respect for the healing of the individual that takes place from within. The role of the therapist is to attend and listen well so that the individual is able to draw upon that which heals them - from within. (cf. Ancient Incubation and Modern Psychotherapy, C.A. Meier; trans Monica Curtis. Evanston, Northwestern University Press, 1967 "Incubation Ritual in the Sanctuaries of Asclepius" pp. 53-74) 162

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Question 1) What would a good training schedule be for the 3 weeks leading up to marathon, especially the week before? Usually my long training runs on Saturday would diminish: 4 weeks before 23-26 3 weeks before 18-20 2 weeks before 12-15 1 week before 10-12 Question 2) What should you do the day and night before a marathon? Make sure the day before you don't do a lot of walking/sightseeing. Go to bed early. Question 3) What and how much should be eaten or drunk the night before and day of a marathon? The food you ate 2 or 3 days before the marathon and the fluids taken during the same time is the stored energy you'll be running the marathon on. On the day before eat normally. If you are traveling be sure plenty of water is taken, esp. if flying. Eat dinner early. I've given up on heavy pasta dinner and go more for bulk with large salads and a large dish of veggies with chicken/tofu mixed in. I eat early so that the food will have gone through my system and ensure a good bowel movement early in the morning. Question 4) Should any special stretching or warm-up exercises be done the night before and/or day of a marathon? Easy stretching should be done the 3 to 5 days before the marathon since very little running is taking place. The jitters the day before may have some people do too much stretching...that can lead to tightened muscles from being overstretched and the stretch reflex which will shorten/tighten the muscles one intends to stretch/relax. 164

Question 5) How long before a marathon should someone wake up (I've found this to be a factor for some people). For some people it's a matter of getting to sleep. Remember that the body is carboloaded and often that energy load is mistakenly labeled nervousness or pre race anxiety. It's just a body that hasn't run for several days and has stored Question 6) Should she drink replacement fluids (i.e. Gatorade) instead of water, just water, or both? Do what one has normally done during training. For me I always take a cup of water and the aid and can mix them accordingly. For me it's always to take a cup of water at each aid station. Usually walk a short distance drinking it and then start again. Question 7) What do you think about massages before a marathon? Would one right before the race help, or be too relaxing? What about sex? (I'd like to see the replies to this one) After years of being Rolfed/deep tissue massaged/pressure pointed, I know what I can do to loosen up quads/hams/gluts/calves/shins/arch of foot/psoas/back arms/shoulders/neck/etc. I use tennis balls, baseballs, softballs, pieces of PVC on which to roll,the stick and all other kinds of junk I've collected to loosen. While traveling, I take the two tennis balls, a softball (well beaten up), and two baseballs, 14" piece of 1inch PVC or a 14" 1.5" dowel. And finally, we're talking about relaxation...not sex. Orgasm is a great way to get total relaxation. It is achieved when one is able to block out all other thoughts so that the body/mind can enjoy the climatic stimulation of its erogenous zones. There are ways in which this can be done alone or with another. Some people are able to achieve the same total relaxation through deep relaxation techniques or self-hypnosis without having to experience orgasm. As I have coached for many years: It's all folklore. If it works for you, use it. If it doesn't then don't give it the time of day or any power but find something that works for you and makes sense. Question 8) And this last one is more for the women. My friend is a 30-year-old woman. I understand how women can be much more emotional about these types of things than men. Could you suggest a gift to get her either before or after the race...or both? Or anything else you think would have been or was helpful to you for your marathons? 165

Get her an IAM Super Four Psyching Team Back Bibs. She will thank you for something that she couldn’t see. Pin it on her back. People will remind her reading i t. She’ll help them and experience their appreciation. Helpful Reads: Marathon Psyching Series Some further suggestions added by Phil Margolies 2) What should you do the day and night before a marathon? If possible, avoid the expo the day before the marathon. Most major marathons have 2-day expos. If the race is on Sunday, you can visit the expo on Friday. Then chill out on Saturday. 3) What and how much should be eaten or drunk the night before and day of a marathon? I like Ozzie's advice. I would just add that you should practice these eating habits before some of your long runs to make sure it works for you. Don't try anything new for the marathon. 5) How long before a marathon should someone wake up (I've found this to be a factor for some people). I get up 2 to 3 hours before the marathon. Make sure you've been getting consistent sleep during your training. You may be so excited that you don't sleep much the night before the marathon. This will have little effect on you as long as you've gotten some good sleep before that. 166

Triggered by a dialogue on gentlemanly and ladylike behavior of Olympian medal winners by Conal, Sam, Todd, Daniel, Jeff, Byran, Lab, Kerry, Phil and Andrew Those of you who will be here in 40 years and remember the 27th Olympiad of the Modern Era held in Sydney in 2000 will remember only how it touched your spirit. The antics will be gone. Few will remember the arrogance or immature behavior of certain medalists. You will recall the heroes who became heroes for the next generation. You will recall how the flame, given to us by Prometheus, stolen from Mt. Olympus was lit. You will recall the stories of the lives of these Olympians as they unfolded over the years. It was lovely to see Betty Cuthbert the Golden Girl 46 years later be pushed in her wheelchair carrying the Olympic flame. Whatever that spirit is, I felt it as the flame was passed on to the other Olympians and finally to Kathy Freeman. Humility is learned in all different ways. And from that humility comes the power to do impossible things. The Fighting Cock There was a trainer of fighting cocks named Chi Hsing Tzu. He trained them for King Hsuan. As the spirits would have it, He had a fine bird that he was training. Constantly King Hsuan would ask: Is the bird ready to fight yet? Is he ready for combat? "No. Not yet," the trainer would reply. "He is full of himself. He is on fire. He is ready to fight or pick a fight Instantly with every other bird he sees. He is vain and confident of how strong he is." Two weeks later, he responded to King Hsuan: "No. Not yet. Even at the crowing of another Bird he pumps himself up and is ready to fight." 167

Two more weeks and he replied to the King: "No. He is not ready. He still gets that Angry look in his eye and flares his feathers." Two more weeks go by. The trainer said, "Ah, he is almost ready. When another bird crows, there is not even a flicker in his eye. When you see him, he stands perfectly still As if he were a statue of wood. He is now mature. He is a fighter. Other birds, when they see him Will take one look at him And flee." (xix.8) Adapted from Thomas Merton's The Way of Chuang Tzu When one needs to be arrogant, cocky, vain, or puffed up in any way, Freud, Jung or Adler would ask why must one over react in such a way. If one’s ego has to be that big, there must be a little “self” that it is protecting. What is it that they are fearful of? What is it that they are attempting to protect themselves from? There is a spirit of "arête" It was mentioned in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." The Greek concept of Quality: Doing whatever you do the best you possibly can do. There is no quarter. It is where ego fades. It is where the archer becomes the arrow. It is Michelangelo releasing the statue from the rock within which it lay. It is a moment when the individual shows what is humanly possible and takes us beyond all barriers and boundaries. The finger points to the moon. Don't look at the finger. It is only an indicator to show the direction and what can be. The dreamer of possibilities is also the explorer of impossibilities. If you think you can, if you think you cannot; you are right. William Blake said that we are all called to manifest our lives not only in the living of them fully but also in the poetry and art from the poet and artist within. It is a creative live we live. The athlete must bring forth the philosopher, the artist, the poet, the hero, and the saint. George Sheehan, the Mark Twain in Running Shoes constantly re-echoed those thoughts of Blake, who was one of his heroes and constant companions. So as not to get distracted with the actions of others, we are called back to our own behaviors and our own actions. But least we forget, Eric Hoffer, a workingman like William Blake reminds us: "Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, 168

and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping." So we step back for a moment and look at what is possible and remember that human world records are not limits but boundaries and barriers that the human spirit: mind/body/soul pushes up to and breaks through with a simple childlike statement: “Imagine that.”
Nel mezzo del cammin De nostra vita Mi retrovai Per un oscure selva. Commedia Dante Alighieri In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in a dark wood Where the true way was wholly lost.
David Whyte says: "In three brief lines Dante says that the journey begins right here. In the middle of the road. Right beneath your feet. This is the place. There is no other place and no other time. Even if you are successful and follow the road you have set yourself, you can never leave here. Despite everything you have achieved, life refuses to grant you, and always will refuse to grant you, immunity from its difficulties." p. 27 (The Heart Aroused. Currency Doubleday, ©1994, 1996) Truly I live in a time of the Divine Comedy. I like you have no immunity from Life's difficulties and paradoxes. For the athlete/philosopher/hero/saint/artist in each of us, I remember the powerful words of Krishna to Arjuna: "In the heat of battle, keep your heart at the lotus feet of the Lord." See you at the next Olympiad. 169

I've changed to a faster cadence 180 to 190 and find my speed has increased. Before I used to think about increasing the length of stride to get faster, but now I just think Cadence, cadence, cadence! It will feel strange at first as though you are going slower with baby steps, don't even think about the length of your stride. Just relax and think of yourself ' flicking' along rather than 'bounding ' along .You are 'skimming over the ground' heel and forefoot landing at the same time rather than heel striking first. Stick with it & after a few weeks you will suddenly think, "I'm going quite fast here" I've personally gone from 11 min miles to 9 min miles in a month! It’s a technique and you have to unlearn how you previously ran and stick to it for a few weeks. It’s the running equivalent of spinning on a bicycle, watch most people on a bike and they push a big gear, because it seems easier = slow long strides in running, Watch a Top Racing cyclist & its lower gear with high cadence = fast shorter steps in running. Don't believe me? Watch Lance Armstrong in action! Nuff said! Oh & don't forget Eyes on the Horizon, shoulders relaxed.... Read all Ozzie's posts! The above was written in 2001. I figure that in the next 20 to 30 years, hopefully I’m around to see it, the tipping point will occur when the majority of runners will be using a high cadence at slower speeds knowing that the lean from the ankle and falling, aided by earth’s gravity will increase their speed to whatever is their maximum capacity. Thanks to the work of Pose Running and ChiRunning, the slow run up to proper running form and style has begun. Nicholas Romanov, the Scientist of Running, Danny Dreyer, the Chi Master of Running, Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton, the leader in Barefoot Running, along with me and championing ball/heel/ball from the late 70’s and getting people back to their Pre-First Fall posture, we are in the vanguard of experimenters who are teaching the world what Leonardo DaVinci observed hundreds of years ago: Walking (and running) is a controlled fall. It’s a hard concept for the world to grasp, let alone coaches to grasp. For runners and walkers to grasp. For most physiologists, kinesiologists, biomechanists to grasp. Walking and running is simply falling and catching yourself gracefully each and every step. Dr. Romanov along with Dr. Graham Fletcher has done the research to show that the horizontal component of running is related to the propulsion due to gravity. I believe what they are saying as does ChiRunning: There is no push off. Gravity is acting upon your falling body and you had better keep your feet under you or you will…fall. You’ll find some differences between them and Barefoot Ken 170

Bob. For me, it is back to folklore and the different ways of explaining something. Go back to my Pre-Ramble and re-read the Kalama Sutra. So the cadence of 180 is a start at getting people to regain a deep relationship with gravity. For many it is an experience of regaining the grace of a child before the fall. I’ve a metronome clipped onto the back of my cap. I usually keep it around 190. During my training runs I also play with cadences of 200 to 240 steps per minute. Mind you I’m not running fast, I’m just picking up my feet fast at whatever pace I’m going. This morning I ran with Myles Glasgow, a long time friend, and we played with the 180. I finally got him to 180 by continually having to slow down his running speed. I did this by first running in place at 180 steps/minute. It’s like doing the Filipino national dance: Tinikling, only there’s imaginary thick, heavy bamboo p oles that will smash your ankle if your don’t pick your foot up fast enough. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INK8C1E6g3E So here’s what you do to make 180 steps per minute feel really easy. I take my metronome up to 240 or 250 steps per minute. I have the people I’m working with practice lifting the heels up off the ground at that cadence for 30 to 45 seconds. We stop and do it again for another 30 to 45 seconds. I then take the metronome back down to 185 (who can tell the difference between 180 and 185) and it’s really easy to do 185 steps a minute or 3 steps a second when you were doing 4 steps a second. Remember that 180 is the low end of the average cadence that elite runners turn their legs over. So if you are training people who are use to a slow turn over and 180 seems fast, just take them up to 240 or 250 steps a minute for a short time and 180 steps a minute will feel really easy. 171

Core Values for the Mindful Marathon Do no harm. Marathon training allows you to see where you are on a specific day. Listen to you body. Marathon training is a preparation for a healthy endurance lifestyle Injuries and pains are often the sign of not listening to the body The true marathoner has a sense of humor at the finish line The marathon fits into my life: family, friends, work, tasks are not neglected. The marathoner finishes. In some ways a fast marathon is an oxymoron. The marathoner is an R&D experiment of one. Since no 2 people are the same what works for someone else may not work for you. If it works, use it. If it doesn't, stop doing it and go back to Value 1, 2, 3. Talk with marathoners to see what kind of problems they have had and what have they learned and can share with you. For periods of time you will forget all the above. Like George Sheehan said: Talk to other marathoners and runners. They have been through the aches, pains, injuries, and other problems of training. Often they know more than most doctors about these things since they've dealt with them so they could get back to what they love doing. Hydration Hydrate to store the necessary glycogen in the muscles and liver Well hydrated: pee is clear. 3 grams of water to store 1 gram of glycogen in the muscles. When you use the glycogen up you get heat and 3 grams of fluid-most often lost in sweat The energy to run a marathon is the food taken 2 to 4 days before the marathon. If you do not run and eat normally and drink plenty of water, you will carboload and be hydrated. The feeling will be one of nervousness and some jitteriness as the body is full of energy and not doing anything with it. It is stored for the marathon or the long run. 172

Maximum benefit from hydrating is within an hour after exercise Carbohydrate Loading Nutritional Needs I'm having problems with the 28 week program, how can I prepare to start this program Why intersperse walking and running I've fallen and I can't get up Why was I placed in the 28 week Program and not 24 It is now known that it is best to hydrate and replenish your glycogen electrolytes, within 60 to 90 minutes after running. Therefore, on your longer walks and runs, drink along the way and have at least a quart of water/ carbohydrate and electrolyte replacement available and ready in your car or where you finish to sip and drink in the time following the exercise. During the day continue to drink water and eat carbohydrates every 2 to 3 hours. After a long run it takes at least 20 hours to replenish your energy stores. In carboloading, it is not the food you eat the night before that will see you through the long run or marathon. It is the food you have eaten 2 to 3 days before the marathon and stored by drinking enough fluid to store it in the muscles. Follow what you are reading about healthy eating. That focuses on complex carbohydrates, (grains, cereals, fruits, vegetables), low fat (get your percent body fat measured: good eating and marathon training will get it into the right percentage). Lean mean, chicken, fish, eggs in moderation for your protein. Vegetarians know how to balance their diet to get the necessary protein. To prepare for the 28-week program, you can begin to walk more than you run. If you find it difficult to run, then you can walk. You want to be able to work up to 2 hours moving which includes walk 20, run 5, walk 20, run 5 to 10, walk 20 run 5 to 10, walk 20, run 5, walk 20. As you get into the 28 week program, you will gradually walk less and run more. But the running and walking patterns will ALWAYS be interspersed. It does no good to run as far as you can and then have to walk in. The training program is teaching you to always feel like you could run further at the end —even though you never will. Again, DO NO HARM. The running and walking is to keep you from overstressing your body. When that happens, the last few miles of walking and running are done in bad form (you are exhausted and unaware of your form and style) You are more prone to injure yourself by walking and running wrong to compensate for your exhausted state. The walking and running lets you finish in good form and practice good form all along your run from the very first week to the completion of the marathon. This most often happens when the pseudo stress that is created by your marathon training does not relieve the life stresses you are REALLY experiencing (death in the family, divorce, loss of job, etc.) and you stop. The paradox is that running can become addictive-an escape from doing what needs to be done to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. Remember the real MARATHON is daily life. The marathoner knows that she can get through to the finish and still be healthy and can go on…to the next marathon or life challenge. The marathoner when he falls, always get up. The marathoner finishes in style and a sense of grace and dignity. There are no excuses. There is no cheating. There is only honesty, integrity, and the ability to smile and go on. For as Robert Frost said: I can sum up Life in three words "It goes on." A key core value for the marathoner is: DO NO HARM. The program is set up to get you through the marathon in good health and minimal or no injuries. The time difference of 4 weeks is to better prepare you to finish 173

Scheduled Training is missed; What should I do Missing Training early in the program I missed 2 days of training I missed one week No exercise at all I've missed 2 weeks of training Run Through it or Go Home and Go to Bed well. This program is set up so you can run another marathon if you so wish. We do not want you to be a member of the Order of Phiddipides: it was such a bad experience that I'd never do that again. (Remember the story goes that Phiddipides ran the distance wounded, gasped that the Athenians had defeated the Persians and then fell down dead.) People have run marathons after doing the 28-week program and missing a good portion of the last 4 or 5 weeks. This was possible because the base of their training has been strong, consistent, and steady. Missing training for a cause for a day or a week or a month is not bad. Remember the goal is to finish a marathon and still be healthy. So if you are willing to walk the majority of the marathon, then a month missed in a scheduled program won't stop you from finishing. A specifically targeted marathon can be done even though you've missed 2 weeks or 4 weeks. Since people's training levels vary so greatly, we continually have to go back to DO NO HARM. People can test themselves. Not push themselves but test where the edge of their training is. If missed means you haven't been running, but you are doing equivalent forms of aerobic exercise, stair step, exercycle, then you have lost little if anything with your marathon schedule. If you are injured and unable to do anything for 2 to 5 weeks, then you have lost a good percentage of your aerobic capacity. This is why the training programs are 24 and 28 weeks long for most runners. It gives them time to adjust to the increased stress on their bodies so that their bodies can adapt and adjust to the strain and improve. Great. You've had two rest days to recover so that you will be able to run better and easier and maintain good form and style. If you were sick was it from overtraining or was it something you caught or was it from an injury. If you were sick, start back slow. Listen to your body. You've lost some conditioning but it will come back. If it's an injury: have you been doing the RICE, rest, ice, compression and elevation. If it's getting worse, you may want to see a sports physician, athletic trainer, physical therapist, sports massage therapist and talk with other marathoners and runners. It depends on where the two weeks are. It also depends on if the marathon trainee has a specific marathon at which they are shooting. First 12 to 16 weeks: Missing 2 weeks throws the person back a week. A person can continue with the program but the intensity must be lowered. For many that means walking more and running less. For injured runners that means walking more and gradually increasing the running so that the injury is not increased. See injuries Common sense and DO NO HARM. 174

Dr. Jack Scaff's 20 Minute Test If medicated Cold medicines Antihistamines Antipyretics Heuristics for Running a great Marathon Overtraining Overtrained and sick Will cross training help or If a minor cold or nasal congestion, often a shorter run at a slower pace can help through this illness With a virus and the accompanying weakness, sore throat, fever and headache that result, it is best to stop running for several days. Run for 20 minutes at a slower than normal speed. If you feel better at the end of the 20 minutes, you're probably over the worst of being sick and can continue your training program. If at the end of the 20 minutes you're feeling worse, you're still sick and need to get back home and take care of yourself The medication prescribed by your doctor has a healing effect but also many side effects that can harm you if you don't watch it when you go back to running. Basically, if you are under medication for viral or bacterial illness, you shouldn't be running Can cause high blood pressure and can increase the chance of the heart beating irregularly. Dry up the nose, but they also can interfere with the sweat reflex and heat metabolism. This side effect can lead to heat stroke that can lead to permanent kidney damage or even death. Aspirin that can lower fever have been known to cause problems with heat metabolism. Whatever your job do it well. Do what you need to do to accomplish what needs to be accomplished Do part of your training with others when possible Drink plenty of water Get plenty of rest Eat wholesome foods Supplement wisely with vitamins and minerals as a way to hedge your bets on getting all of your essential nutrients If you have increased your training too fast or too hard, your body through being sick or injured is telling you that you have not listened to your main value: DO NO HARM. Start your next week's program but only do 3 or 4 days of the next weeks program every other day to test and see if you have recovered. Remember this program is to finish a marathon well. If it takes walking and running, you know that you are in control. If you train with walking and running, you will find that you have to walk very little in the marathon because you have listened to you body during training. The marathon training is not something to wear you down and wear you out. Training is there to gradually make you stronger and stronger so that you can cover the 26.2 miles and not feel wasted, or injured, and not feel that you didn't do it well. When someone goes over the edge by overtraining, they will be constantly battling infections, colds, flu, and numerous injuries. The body has been worn down to where it can no longer support itself. The immune system has been damaged and it will take sometime 6 months or a year to recover. This program is about: DO NO HARM to oneself. Cross training if done well and thoughtfully can only help your marathon 175

hinder my efforts INJURIES Avoiding Future Injuries Knee Pain training. Upper bodywork will assist you in running the marathon as you run the marathon with your whole body and not just your legs. Cycling is great because it is cardiovascular and with the impact of running. Cycling also help you realize that you use both legs in running cycle. Swimming is great since is gives you a workout while using the whole body and there is no impact. Triathlon training is a good springboard to build up your marathon training program. Any training that adds to your aerobic endurance: aerobics, jazzercise, step aerobics, basketball, and volleyball, cross-country skiing can only help. Injuries that have been on going and developing slowly are indicators that you are doing something wrong. Often it is increasing mileage too fast; increasing speed too fast, changing terrains; small bad habits in form and style; not listening to early warning signals, esp. when the pain goes away while running. Work on form and style. Video tape yourself. Videotape some of the races shown on ESPN and other channels and play them back in slow motion. Picture yourself running in the same form as they are. Proper stretching, underline "Proper." Learning to self-massage muscles before stretching so the muscle you are stretching is relaxing. Regular massage from a sports massage therapist. Work on posture when standing sitting and moving. This is part of Ozzie Gontang's 90 Hour a Week Workout. When you tire in your long runs, you will revert back to the form and style of how you sit and stand during the 90+ hours a week that you are not sleeping or exercising. Often knee pain is the result of the quads being so tight that those 4 muscles pull on the patella tendon so as to cause knee pain. One way to relieve such pain is to massage the quads quite deeply so as to relieve the muscle tension so that the muscle can relax and stretch more normally. The knee pain is often that the muscle is so tight and cannot relax that the tendon (which is not suppose to stretch) takes up the stress and tries to stretch because the muscle will not let go. That patella tendon can get inflamed (-itis) or it does not let the knee joint track properly causing the knee pain. If the pain is inside the knee joint, and is sharp and even causes the knee to lock up, then one may want to have a doctor check it out to make sure it's not the meniscus or a ligament. So knee pain may need professional treatment and some-times surgery. As one Runner's World article said: When your knee is in really bad shape that you shouldn't run, don't worry because you won't be able to run. As a 176

Iliotibial Band matter of fact, you won't even be able to walk on it. See Iliotibial Band The I-T band is fascia or connective tissue which runs down the side of the thigh from the hip and attaches below and on the outside of the knee. It can be irritated by improper running downhill, too much speed work, always running on the same side of a cambered road, faulty standing posture, overstriding, high arched, or rigid foot or bowlegged, excessive pronators and those with leg length discrepancy--so as you see almost anyone. 177

I believe that I'm going into my 10th year hanging around these cavernous halls, hills and hallows of rec.running. Daily there are hordes of runners, joggers, racers, and runners-reduced-to-walking-wounded streaming endlessly through this virtual Grand Bazaar. We personally travel through rec.running at all paces, but the common bonds are: communicating at the speed of light, the practice of running, an openness to learning from another's folklore, being experiments of one, our inquisitiveness, and a willingness to share our collective wisdom. As Wilfred Bion held: We are herd or pack animals. All we have learned has been from the pack. We need the pack to survive. It is from that sense of community, interconnectedness, collegiality, and collective wisdom that I choose to be part of this pack. You have allowed me to educate myself as I continue to share my folklore. You have allowed me to have my answers questioned as I continue to better understand this act called running in this metaphor of life called The Marathon. In a never-ending cycle: Student becomes teacher becomes student. Carl Jung's words reflect my life as a therapist who runs becoming a running therapist: The mind reflects the body reflects the mind. The starting point is wherever one stands and from which one moves. It is echoed in the Zen saying and the title of Jon Kabat-Zinn's book: Wherever You Go, There You Are. For this virtual community I am grateful and appreciative. I thank you for being and doing this thing called running. I thank you for creating a place where both teachers and students continue to learn, share and challenge the definitive, the status quo, and dogma. Ozzie Gontang Maintainer - rec.running FAQ
The Collective Wisdom of rec.running
Scientists have proven that it's impossible to long-jump 30 feet, but I don't listen to that kind of talk.
Thoughts like that have a way of sinking into your feet. 178

Carl Lewis, Track and Field World Record Maker
Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got.
Janis Joplin, musician & so much more
In the Space Age, The most important space Is between the ears.
Anne Armstrong, President Center for Innovative Technology
c.2001 Frank Chm, T.J. Burrell, Jeff Bigham, Pete Thomas, Laurie June, Don Backous & Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. Frankchm wrote: I have been running with groin pain since the beginning of October. I went to an orthopedist and had an x-ray and later a bone scan.... Nothing.... he said that it is a tendon problem... But it’s a tendon problem that won't go away!!!!!! I can run (at best) 20 miles a week... all in pain. Has anyone experienced this? The pain starts at the top of the leg at the fold and goes down the inside of the leg. Surely, there is something I can do. Jerry B wrote and Pete responded: Light stretching, ice, and no running! Jerry B I agree. That worked for me a year ago. It was my first injury, so after trying to "gut" it out, I gave in to treating the injury. I also added massage using a tennis ball. After a month I started daily walk/running, slowly getting my mileage back up. It worked for me. I worked my way to my first marathon in 12 weeks. Have patience and you will recover to run again. Pete Jeff wrote: I had a similar problem a few years ago. Groin hurt, back hurt, hips hurt... First, I went to a doctor who told me just to take six weeks off and when I did it didn't help at all. Then I went to a sports therapist who discovered that my legs were different lengths so they rigged me up with these shoes with one 3/4 of an inch higher than they other - that really messed me up. Next I went to a podiatrist for some reason also didn't help. Finally I went to a chiropractor who discovered that most of the leg length difference was due to a tilting of the pelvis (this was easily seen from the x-rays which all of the other doctors, etc. had seen). After one "adjustment" my leg length difference was 179

down to about 1/2 an inch and I was actually able to touch my toes (I had only reached my ankles before this). Eventually my leg length difference got down to around a 1/4". Try a chiropractor. -Jeff And Laurie added: Jerry B and Pete are right! IMO (in my opinion) A groin pull is the tearing of the hip adductor, or inner thigh muscles. I don't know if they "grade" muscle pulls still, but a grade I or II was slight to moderate tear and grade III a complete rupture. It's not uncommon to have pain radiate down your inner thigh. You could try an ace wrap. Persistence with ice, rest, light stretching and advancing to more aggressive stretching and NSAID's or what ever you can tolerate. Rest meaning no running. :( You may have even noticed some bruising after the initial injury. Heat may help too. Just try and stay persistent and committed to the healing process. Don't get discouraged. They are a rough injury. (Painful) Good luck and ya know what if you need to see your doc. Do it! Maybe just the reassurance would help, and make sure everything else is ok. Not a hernia for sure? Laurie And Ozzie added: Frank, Here's a previous post that may give you food for thought on your groin and the relationship to the ITB. There are some great points for you to ponder by the other responders. That tilting forward of the pelvis to give the leg length discrepancy often is the quads pulling and may also have to do with your sitting and the way you cross your legs the same way all the time. It's all those little things that add up. I was diagnosed with a 3/4 " leg length discrepancy years ago. Did the foot build up and then let that go. Did about three different pairs of orthotics. Ended up that the body work I've done and the eyes and hands of my Rolfer, Victor Geberin, for the past twenty years (now 30) have added up to continuous correcting of the small things that cause most of my problems because they become chronic habits and unconscious patterns of movement. Ozzie Here's the post I wrote to Don: Don Backous wrote: 180

Having run for thirty years I hoped I had experienced all the pains associated with our sport. Alas, I have discovered yet another new and exciting reason to say "ouch!" on each stride. I think what I have is a strained adductor. It is a sharp pain on the inside of the thigh just below the groin. It isn't painful at the outset of a run but develops into a significant discomfort by three miles. From that point the fun of the run is gone. Just wondering if anyone else has "been there, done that" and give me some hints (moral support) about the best way to deal with this. I would hate to quit training for all the normal reasons. Don, Here's some stuff to think about related to your "Ouch!" or "Owie" as Leah would call it: The groin muscles or adductors, draw the leg to the midline of the body. While the rest of this post will talk about the ITB and the syndrome, remember that the same thing is happening to the adductors. Often people hear a pop that may be tendon due to a shortened groin muscle popping over another tendon or bone. Loosen the muscles, or release the fascia that is holding that muscle from tracking properly and you see what is needed to get the leg, your leg to track so that the ITB and the adductors. Imagine they are like the ropes holding up the seat of a swing-your knee. They have to be able to move freely so that the swing goes forward and backward and isn't twisted off or torqued to one side because the way that the ropes may be hanging improperly. My way of dealing with the inside groin, is to straddle a chair or stool or low wall so that the edges of the chair/stool/wall are against the inside adductors muscles. I lean forward and gradually attempt to get my upper torso erect while letting the adductors let go as the edges are pressing against them. No strain, no exaggeration, just slowly working the body up and letting the inside thigh muscles relax. Hmmmmm, look's like I'll have to get some more pictures up on mindful running to show you what I mean. It's like sitting in a saddle to work the adductors loose. Anyway, the rest of the post talks about the ITB Syndrome. From it you can apply what is happening to the inside thigh as you realize what is going on with the outside thigh:
Understanding and dealing with the Iliotibial Band and Its Syndrome.
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I start with a view that the ITBS is a syndrome. Syndrome comes from the "syn" -with, together, at the same time- and "dramein" to run". An interesting combination meaning: A group of signs and symptoms that occur (run) together. Thought it funny ITBS runs together so that I cannot run. Check out the rolling in the gutter. You can do the same rolling on any hard floor, just that the curb or the top step of a landing allows more pressure to be brought to bear on the ITB. (10+ years later, the foam roller is the way most people roll their ITB.) I was told that anatomically, our ITB is due to the way we walk which is a more splayed walk. When one looked at the anatomy books in Japan that used cadavers, there was noted that there were no pronounced ITB as in the west. I am wondering if this is due to the kneeling/sitting position? Usually a spur is at the insertion or origin of a muscle. Am I correct in that thinking? In my mind, it's where the pulling takes place and the message is given to the bone to lay down more calcium so that the tendon won't pull off. The problem being that the chronic semi contracted muscle can't relax. Be that muscular (knot in the muscle) or fascial (the fascial sheath around the muscle is holding and won't allow the muscle to move through its full range of motion). Anyway, the work that has been done over the years on my ITB of getting it to move free of the quads and loosening the gluts has also meant that Victor when working on my legs had also to work on the adductors which also shorten as the foot splays. While it's called the Iliotibial Band, its real name is the fascia lata tendon. The muscle is the Tensor Fascia Lata (Tendere=to stretch, fascia=band/bandage and lateralis=side. The Tensor Fascia Lata is the muscle does three things: 1. The tensor fascia lata flexes the thigh 2. The tensor fascia lata moves the thigh away from the body (ab= away duco=lead) 3. The tensor fascia lata rotates the thigh to the inside (medial rotation) 4. The tensor fascia lata a part in tilting the trunk and pelvis forward. 5. The tensor fascia lata guides the thigh in swinging leg forward. (Knee stabilizer) You can get a picture of what happens to the groin muscle when the tensor fascia lata rotates the thigh outward.) 182

Now an interesting point is that the tensor fascia lata muscle plays a big role in tightening the Iliotibial band (called the Iliotibial tract or the fascia lata tendon. The Iliotibial tract/band also attaches to the gluteus maximus. This help to stabilize the thigh. So begin to think about it. The gluteus maximus that rotates/turns the thigh laterally/outward interacts with the IT Band/tendon of the muscle (tensor fascia lata) that rotates the thigh medially/inward. What happens if the gluteus maximus is tighter than the tensor fascia lata? The tensor fascia lata will be working against a butt muscle that is only semi or partially letting go when the tensor fascia lata is working. That means that the IT Band can't go through it normal motion with the gluteus holding it back...and causing more external rotation (Lateral rotation). So the feet look more like \/ than ||. Now where the IT Band (fascia lata tendon or iliotibilal tract) moves when the feet are || you can see why there would be no rubbing of the inside thighs. But if the glut max is tight then the medially/inwardly rotating muscle of the thigh, the tensor fascia lata, cannot swing through its normal range of motion. So you begin to see why the IT Band becomes tight when the gluteus maximus won't allow the tensor fascia lata to do its work. If that happens then there is another battle beginning between the tensor fascia lata now working against the adductors whose range of rotation would be limited. It is all a balancing act. Getting the two ropes on either side of the swing seat (the knee) to work together. Add fact that the ITB is the separation point between the quads and the hams. And when muscles and fascia are not moving properly, the fascia has a tendency to adhere where it is not suppose to causing other muscles to have to work harder to overcome that holding. So the rolling in the gutter over the IT band (today most people use their form roller), or the using of a tennis ball or baseball in the gluteus maximus may help. Start with light pressure of sitting on it and slowly move on to deeper pressure to allot the muscle to let go. This type of massage can have a beneficial effect on the fascia lata. 183

The problem with the fascia lata is that it like all fascia it can shorten and hold on where it is not suppose to. So it is letting go of the fascia along with the fascia around the tensor fascia lata and the gluteus maximus that can allow the fascia lata/iliotibial band or track to move freely the way it is intended. Or it can be the letting go where fascia of the vastus lateralis has adhered to the front of the ITB. So while http://www.sover.net/~sstryker/itbs.html gives some good thoughts and ideas about ITBS, I thought I'd add my two sense (vision and touch) to have you look at ITBS with a little more thought and not being thoughtless when someone says you have ITBS. 184

This is the Trance Induction I have used as a Psyching Team of one. I use it for groups standing in line to use the toilets. A captive audience. I start around 5 am and continue to the start of the marathon. I figure I reach between 1500 to 2000 of the 20+ thousand marathoners. I reappear at mile 3 and going into mile 8 by riding my bike. Then I drive to the Bay Park/Old Town area and park and ride my bike to mile 13, 17, and 23 where I appear with megaphone to upper the words used at the induction. Most used two words are: Relax Shoulders! If you want to use this induction or modify it for your own Psyching Team, go to my website and download a copy.
Induction at marathon start area to people waiting in the toilet lines.
Using battery operated hand megaphone. If you can hear me raise your hand. I am from the Marathon Psyching Team. I am here to help your mind run a good marathon How many first time marathoners? Great! This will help you in your marathon.  Make an "Okay" sign with your middle finger and thumb.  That circle is an eyehook.  Please screw it the top of your head.  Attached to that eyehook is a fine silk thread.  Attached to the silk thread is a: Hawk, Hummingbird, or Butterfly.  Please choose one. 185

 Your totem hovers over your head during every run you do.  It lifts your head.  You now have a Skyhook!  It keeps your eyes on the horizon.  It allows your shoulders to relax.  It pulls you up and forward so you fall gracefully from the ankles.  The only thing you need to do is lift your legs.  You don't bounce because your totem is keeping you up so you only touch the surface of the ground with each footstep.  You are now one with your Hawk, Hummingbird or Butterfly.  It will be with you the rest of your life.  It keeps you straight, erect, aligned.  You are relaxed.  At the gun, you are focused.  Erect posture.  Balanced.  Moving easily and freely over the surface of the earth. =======  After mile 15 or 16 you will be in a trance state.  There are balloons along the last 10 miles.  Some of them are real.  Your mind is easily suggestible.  Talk using words that support you  If you say: I can’t go on. Your body is at mile 21 and your brain is resting at the finish line or is back at mile 16 where you said: I can't go on. Use these words:  Relax Shoulders  Relax Eyes  Relax Jaw  Shoulders Relaxed  Eyes on the Horizon  Keep running form even if I'm walking  Breathe  Relax hands  Run Light  Run easy  Breathe ======= Say with me: Relax Shoulders! 186

Again. Louder: Relax Shoulders! Once more: Relax Shoulders You are now part of the Mindful Running Psyching Team.  Every 2 miles you will say aloud use your name and say: (Your name) Relax Shoulders!  You will relax your shoulders.  It is important. Say it aloud.  8 to 20 people running near you will relax their shoulders.  Some will thank you and bless you for helping them.  You help yourself and them release the stress with Relax Shoulders.  You will take seconds or even minutes off your marathon times  You freed your shoulders of unnecessary stress.  Thanks for saying aloud every 2 miles: RELAX SHOULDERS! ======  At the finish line is a gigantic electromagnet.  Its range is about 6.3 miles.  Just before the 20-mile marker, that electromagnet will begin to attract your safety pins to the finish line.  You will feel its power and energy.  Use your hawk, hummingbird or butterfly.  Lean slightly from the ankles.  The electromagnet will do the rest. Do this!  Use your Skyhook.  Top of the head up  Thank your hawk, hummingbird or butterfly.  Keep eyes on the horizon.  Breathe.  Relax Shoulders.  Stay focused  Keep your form.  The electromagnet will do the rest.
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Does running downhill screw your knees up? i say this because the steeper the hill, the further your leg has to fall resulting in more impact, resulting in a jar. Realizing that the hill is the diagonal of the horizontal at the point of initial foot contact...and that the diagonal is longer than the horizontal...it would make sense that a normal stride would be an overstride on a hill because the next step would be on the bottom of the diagonal from where the last step initiated. It would make sense to me and has for the past 20 years that in going done hill, I'd have to place my foot down more quickly so that I don't overstride. The other part is that in running down hill, the idea is to keep the body from impacting vertically. Again, the normal stride on level ground when going downhill becomes an overstride. The ground falls away makes me land on a diagonal line. And from geometry, the diagonal is longer than the base. The base of a rectangle with that diagonal that was just experienced with the hill would have been the normal stride length. So once again the thinking body or the mindful runner shortens their stride. Following Denny and Charlie and Miles, and GAPO their 180 steps/minute may have to go up to 190 or more. That is to insure there is no overstride. One literally rolls down the hill on those 180 to 190 steps/minute. While the image is that body parallels the diagonal with minimal vertical impact. The body sits on a free-wheeling unicycle. Body up, knees bent and feet touching so quickly as to feel like one is rolling down the hill. I know it can be done...doing it all the time. I think I could safely say: Going downhill, the steeper the hill the quicker the
step.
If you have seen a skier going down a hill with moguls then you know that the legs are shock absorbers. Keep those knees bent and touching quickly. The body is up, knees bent and you are skiing down the hill. One way is to go down the hill slowly doing 240 steps/minute. Gradually increase the speed with a little lean, and then go back to 190. See what works to literally get the feeling that as you run downhill you are actually skiing down hill because your feet roll you downhill. 189

And in going up hill, the same holds true but in reverse. Going uphill, the steeper the hill the shorter the step. You maintain the same erect posture that you are running and the same cadence. The difference is that your lean doesn’t change you just take shorter steps so that you simply fall up the hill. By simply shortening the stride, I have taught several thousand people how to fall up a hill. That way the shorter step keeps the diagonal from being an overstride. In response Denny Anderson wrote: As far as I can tell, I travel downhill bolt upright (w/maybe a slight lean to balance the wind resistance). I have tried a few times, after reading some of the "lean" theories, and it dun't woik for me. Increase turnover - shorten stride. That's what does it! IMHO, anyway. And then he added: To " Increase turnover - shorten stride" is the reality. The lean everybody talks about is not in the body. The hill creates the lean. Every step down the diagonal is the lean. For me the idea is to get the foot down fast enough that it stays under the erect body because the hill downward create the lean. Love hanging around the thinking that makes sense on rec.running. Words are a poor medium w/which to draw pictures. But, I think I've got yer' picture now. Well, maybe. If I stand facing downhill holding a plum-bob at arms length it will point toward the earth's C of G. Ignoring wind resistance, when going downhill my torso is parallel to the plum-bob line. The slope of the hill and plum-bob line form an obtuse angle i.e. 90.deg. I think this is the lean to which you refer. Relative to the hill I (you) are leaning BACKWARD, yet the torso is still approximately parallel to the vector forces created by the earth's C of G. Therefore the shorter, quicker stride gets the forward moving foot on the ground quickly so we don't fall so far down the incline and over stress our knee joints due to needless jarring! If that is the essence of your description - then we are in agreement. Cheers, Denny Anderson 190

1995 Runner in Charlotte wrote: Subject: Re: Sex and Running ( Adults only please ) I am 48 years old and have a very good sex life. I am training for the Feb 17, 1996 Marathon in Charlotte. So far my long run is 18 miles. I thought the marathon was in Jan as it had been for the last 10 years but this year they changed it so I have an extra month to train. OK here is my question. I do my long runs on Sunday mornings. My wife and I enjoy our sex life on Saturday nights. This is not to say we don't have sex at other times, but mostly Saturday night sex is a sure thing. Does having sex before my long run take away energy that I will need for my running? We have sex about 11 pm and I get up to run at 5 am. I want to finish my first Marathon in under 5 hours. Please don't FLAME me. I am really serious. Do I need to talk to my wife about changing our sexual activity to maybe Friday night or Sunday after my run? We have been Saturday night lovers for 26 years so it will be very different not having our normal activity on Saturdays. Thanks for any advice. Are any other Charlotte Marathon runners on the net? We are in the realm of folklore. If it works for you use it, if it doesn't then don't give it another thought but find someone or something which makes sense to you and works for you. The night before a marathon, runners have not been running for several days or running minimally. They are used to running 5 to 10 miles daily. Not only are they not running they are storing up energy in their muscles and liver so that they can cover the distance of 26.2 miles. They not only will be carboloaded and hopefully well hydrated. That energy storage the night before is often manifested in jitteriness, hyper-alertness, anxiety, worry, fear of not being able to sleep and getting enough rest, concern over finishing, bowel movements, aches, pains, tightness, ad nauseam...and then doubt...and then.... When enjoying one's sexual side, the mind cannot focus on other thoughts. An orgasm, like a sneeze is total. It allows the body to do the ultimate Jacobson form of relaxation.....Contraction, contraction, contraction, contraction......... relaxation. 191

Being Catholic, growing up I did the “M” word. I never learned the real word until I was 14. I had to go to confession weekly, always afraid that I would be hit by a car as I rode my bicycle to St. Patrick's and would go to hell before being able to confess I "touching myself impurely." Each week I would promise not to do it again, but next Saturday came around and....well there I was again riding my bike to church very carefully so as not to get hit by a reckless driver. Anyway, my suggestion is to maintain your own folklore. If it were me, I’d go to bed at 9 pm. I believe that having sex takes fewer calories that a mile or two. So the issue is not one of not having enough energy for your long run in the morning. Regarding Sunday it is rather hard. Let me rephrase that. It is rather difficult for many people training for a first marathon to even think after a long run. The thoughts are more in the line of: “I’m going to be even sorer tomorrow. I just want to lay this poor, tired body down and rest. Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into and I only did 14 miles.” A tired sore body doesn’t give the brain much time to think about amorous delectations and intentions of the first degree. In health and on the run, Ozzie Gontang Also know that it's the sleep the 2nd and 3rd nights before the marathon that will see you through your marathon. You can get 2 or 3 hours of sleep the night before and still run an extremely good marathon. Kevin McCarey did under a 2:20 with little or no sleep the night before a marathon. 192

© 2000 by Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. Tendons for all intent and purposes are not suppose to stretch. The muscles above the Achilles tendon, soleus and gastrocs are suppose to do what muscles do: Contract and relax. Your calf muscles are contracting but only partially relaxing. When a knot in the calf occurs it tightens up to protect itself. It won't let go when you stretch it. If you continue to stretch, you stretch the good muscle fiber on either side of the knot. It, over time, gets over stretched and joins the knot. The end result is that you end up saying: stretching doesn't work. It would if only you could stretch the knot. First work out the knot in the calf. Sit down. To find it, put your belly of the calf muscle over the knee of the other leg. Move the knee back and forth in the belly of the calf and you should find the knot. Remember when a muscle is sore and contracts, in the contracted state it doesn't let you know it's sore, until you start to feel around. Put your calf muscle over your knee, a railing, or the back of a chair. Remember it's the back of the calf muscle. You put the belly of the muscle over the back of the chair, or railing or knee. Slowly (lovingly) rotate it back and forth, which is side to side about an inch. Slowly move (slide) the leg up or down the back of the chair, etc. so that you "lovingly massage side to side the entire belly of the calf. Remember if you go too deep, too fast, too hard, you will only get the muscle to tighten up even more---getting the opposite of what you want. But remember your body is a system, so you may take the pressure off the Achilles, but the calf may be due to an overly tight shin muscle that only partially relaxes when the calf muscles are contracting, causing the calf problem. And the shin may be cause by the quad or ham from the other leg being tight so that you get more impact on the leg with the calf problem caused by the shin problem caused by... And the reality may be due to the way you sit at your desk all day in poor posture that causes... Anyway, see if you can massage out the calf. Then you can slowly start to think about the form and style of running. Let me know how it goes with the calf. Remember, what I'm sharing is folklore. That is, if it works use it. If it doesn't, don't give it any energy. Just chuck it out and look for something that makes more sense and works. Remember, "DO NO HARM" 193

Asensenig wrote: I'm training for the Country Music Marathon in Nashville on April 29th. I have developed a case of "mild" Achilles tendonitis in my right leg. The pain is a dull ache right behind the ankle/just above the heel. My training for the marathon has been on schedule with long runs every other weekend, (the last one 20 miles) one interval session or tempo run per week, etc. (I'm a 47 year-old male, 6 feet, 200lbs, wear Gel Kayano's with orthotics. This is my fifth marathon. I average about 35 miles a week and stretch before and after each run.) > My questions is, how can I nurse this Achilles tendon along for the next six weeks and still do what is necessary for the race? Any help, whether from personal experience with a similar problem or knowledge of this type of injury would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your response. I'd look to the calves be it soleus or the gastrocs to find the trigger point(s) where the calf is holding and causing the semi-relaxation of the calf so that the part of the calf that cannot let go. That tension transmits to your Achilles tendon. Check and see if the shin on the right leg is tight. That shin tightness would mean that the right calf has to work against a semi-contracted antagonist muscle. So even if you loosen up the right calf the right shin is still causing the problem for the right calf. It would be necessary to massage out the right shin. As you and I have talked about off and on, the tightness in the left quad or hamstring might be affecting the planting of the right foot that results in the calf problem being a result of the left leg... or tightness in the right iliopsoas. I went through the same diagnosis with my left calf early in '99. Ended up it was the fact that I was carrying an overweight rip stop nylon briefcase in my left hand. The excess weight tightened up my left shoulder. I also realized that when I was 194

sitting at the computer, the chair I used which has arms, I would lean on my left elbow. The left elbow callous was the first dead giveaway. Looking in the mirror when going for my monthly bodywork session showed the lean to the left of my whole upper body. Some further thoughts: 1. Is the soleus more slow than fast twitch? In my mind slow twitch muscles as mentioned are stabilizer or postural muscles. My reason for thinking that soleus is more fast twitch. 2.I want the soleus to be strong and elongated. The problem often is that it is strong and semi-contracted because of a portion of the fascia around the soleus is bundled. The adhesions of fascia around those parts of the soleus are holding and not allowing that portion of the soleus to go through its range of motion. So when you stretch the soleus, you stretch the portion that can stretch and not the portion bundled up with the adhering fascia...causing the good muscle fibers to overstretch and gradually join the bundle/the knot that can only partially let go. Think real tight sausage skin that keeps the sausage compressed and compacted. 3. Remember the Achilles is tendon. Tendon is white and grisly which means there is minimal blood flow to that area. One reason tendonitis (inflammation of the tendon) doesn't heal quickly...lack of adequate blood flow...as one sees in red oxygen enriched muscle tissue. 4. Yes on the massage of the soleus once the trauma has subsided 5. One reason for icing muscles is that the cold constricts the vessels and then once the cold is stopped rich oxygenated blood flows back in to flush the area with its healing nutrients. 6. I have some question in my mind about strengthening the calves...if it means that they are strong but shortened. 7. There's always the question in my mind about doing the heels off the step so that the calves are put under an extreme strain. If the knot in the muscle doesn't get stretched the tension is passed along the healthy muscle fiber and then onto the minimally blood fed tendons. 8. Also there is what is called the kinetic chain concerning the movements we make as various muscles fire in a certain pattern. Putting the calf under strain by the heels off the step, the slant boards, etc. might cause more problems then they solve, if the exerciser is doing the exercise and not thinking about the way the muscles fire in sequence to create movement. 195

9. It's not what you know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know that just ain't so. If you're not thinking nor paying attention to your thinking body which knows how to move when you don't think about it, then you are creating your own injuries and blaming it on something else. And finally a web site talking about: It's the Calves Not the Achilles: You'll see how I use a railing to do the rolling from side to side all the way up and down the calf. Physical Therapists call it Transverse Friction...i.e. rubbing across the muscles in the area where it is knotted. Remember the calves not letting go often cause the inflammation of the Achilles tendons. That's why I would have some reservations about the calf raises. Calf raises would only shorten the calf muscles even more. We want elongated and strong, not shortened and strong calf muscles. Also tightness in the shins can also cause the calves to tighten unnecessarily. The front shin muscles should be relaxing maximally when the calf is contracting. . If the shin muscles can relax fully the calves have to work against muscles that cannot fully relax. When the shins are tight the calves have to work against a semi-contracted muscle. Some related articles that might be of further interest Shin Splint Folklore After Long Runs In Cold/Frigid Water 196

c. 2000 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. & Denny Anderson Paul Doughty wrote to rec.running: I have tried to start back running several times over the past couple of years. I will begin by running 2 or 3 miles a day but within 3 weeks I have always injured my calf (it has occurred to both my left and right calf). My calf will feel fine and then with one stride there will be a sharp pain right in the middle of my calf. Even if I stop immediately, it takes at least 3 weeks before the pain will go away. Sylvan Smyth answered: Have you gone for any really deep massage? Maybe try Ozzie G's calf plan: lots of rolling. I use a Stick(tm), because I got one as a present, but a rolling pin works just as well. See if you can find some knots in there, and just grind them out. Whatever it takes, thumbs, knuckles, elbows... This got me thinking and I brought together my thoughts over the past 20+ years as a beginning to sharing my folklore about calves and running and injuries to calves. As mentioned in an earlier post, your calves are being stretched more because there's a lower heel lift in a running flat. The problem is that the calf to protect itself will contract...and then the fascia shortens around that portion of the shortened calf, and then the tension caused by the calf only being able to partially stretch to its full tonic state will begin to pull on the tendons. The tendons will take it for a while and then they'll start to get irritated. “We’re getting angry and inflamed because the calves are doing what they’re suppose to do. You’re really stretching us thin and we’re not going to take it anymore.” You'll do some stretching as recommended by many and you'll find that you now begin to strain the muscle fibers around either side of the knotted muscle encapsulated by the tightened fascia or attached where it is not suppose to be attaching. The end result is that the stretching most, likely improper, (you can't 197

stretch a weight bearing muscle) will allow the overstretched muscle fibers to shorten to protect themselves...and they'll join the knotted area. And then people will tell you that it's because of the fact you've run in racing flats. 1. The up against the wall stretch where you push one leg back to stretch the calf is improper if you can lift up your front foot. If you can lift up your front foot, the weight is on the back leg, and therefore the back leg is weight bearing...and the calf can't be stretched. You cannot stretch a weight bearing muscle. Feels great but it's like opening your hand and trying to close it at the same time. Great isometric strain. If you're up against the wall keep the weight on the front foot so that you can lift up the back foot at any time. Stretch away from the back foot as if it's nailed to the ground and you're attempting to pull the foot out of the nailed down shoe. When you do that, then you'd be stretching the calf. Doing the heels off the curb in my mind's eye is causing the same problem. Once you're taking the calves beyond the stretch reflex and if the fascia around the muscle won't let go, you end up straining good muscle fiber and tendon. Therefore here's a reason for using the railing to massage out the calves. Transverse Friction, that is rolling the calf from side to side over the belly of the muscle to gradually work the fascia and the knotted muscle (often referred to as adhesions [for the fascia] and scarred micro tears of the muscle). Also you can sit on the ground and with knees up and feet on the ground you can cross a leg and put the belly of the calf muscles over the knee cap and massage out the calf with the knee. The knee allows you to get in deeper into the muscle. Remember the operative word for any such massage is: Lovingly. You are no there to create pain but to play with the edge so that muscles can relax, let go and get back to doing what they are suppose to: contract and relax so there is no strain on the tendons. 198

Check out the picture: for massaging the calf muscle. From my other articles on the calves, you will realize that most Achilles tendon problems are calf problems. The Achilles problem is the result the calf being too tight or knotted and unable to go through its normal range of motion. Or the problem could be that the anterior tibial is too tight and making the calf work against a semi-contracted muscle that is suppose to relax completely when the calf is working. So work out the anterior shin on the bar. Face the bar and turn your body 45 degrees. Put the closest shin upon the bar and start making a small circle with the foot as you slide down the shin. Often the shin may be overworked with the running in the racing flats. Repeating what I just said above, t he reason for working out the shin is that if the shin can’t relax, the calf has to work against a semi-contracted muscle that makes the calf strain all the more. With the idea that Denny Anderson has been passing on about the short quick steps to work on form, it may be that if you're overstriding the strain on the calves is due to the vertical lift and the immediate deceleration as the landing foot touches down. I'd use Denny's technique to practice. He mentions running on eggs, I think he meant egg shells so softly that you wouldn’t break them or like Caine upon the rice paper in Kung Fu style so no tears occur...or an image I use is running on a extremely hot surface so that you are always focused on lifting up you foot as soon as it touches ball/heel. The heel lightly touches and is instantly lifted up because your center of gravity is in front of the foot as it lands under you Picture yourself going "ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh," lifting your feet off the ground the instant the heel of the ball/heel touches. Remember that the heel must be touching as it is the platform of the ball AND heel from which the rest of the body is falling forward. While the body weight is on the ball of the foot, the heel touching ever so lightly allows the calf to unload. (Problem with people using Pose Method or ChiRunning stay up on the balls of their feet causing the calves to be under stress all the time. Pose and Chi explain it correctly and it is interpreted incorrectly as heels don’t touch. Touching means just that: touching the heel. It does not mean that after the ball touches the heel hits the ground with equal force. If you were barefoot and came down hard on the heel after the ball landed and there was a rock that the heel came down upon you could severely bruise the heel. Back to the "ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh." It would be the reflex you would have when you touch your finger to an iron just before ironing to see if it's hot, and it was. The reflex pulls your finger away so fast because while you thought it was just warming up, it was ironing hot. Following in the footsteps of Denny and others, running in racing flats can be helpful to improving your running style and becoming aware of how you land to become lighter on your feet...and therefore the rest of your lower legs and then the rest of your body. 199

If you saw the Boston finish over the last few miles, you saw the way the upper torso leaned forward on one of the Kenyans, to the erect posture of the other Kenyan. Minimal vertical lift, the foot landing under the center of gravity, and keeping the body propelled forward in its fall at a 5 or sub-5 pace. If you learn to run lightly, you'll have a great time running fast. Flexibility will be your biggest aid in getting faster once you learn the rapid turnover of the 180+ steps/minute. Remember when the foot touches the ground it should not stop the body but is like the pushing foot of a skateboarder as he or she maintains a steady speed or accelerates. Or in crew, if you watch the coxswain, his or her body glides forward when the rowers are maintaining the constant speed or accelerating. If you see the coxswain jerking back and forth you know that every time the oars are put in the water they're slowing the boat and then powering it ahead. You also know that the crew are lacking somewhere in their form and style. Another picture is you spinning a bicycle tire. Spin it with your hand. If your hand is slightly slower than the spin of the tire, you slow it down and most likely will get a burn on your fingers. That's where a lot of blisters on feet come from as people get tired in the marathon. Anyway I hope the pictures are a little helpful to get your calves back into shape. Remember if your calves have to push your body forward then you've most likely lifting your body vertically more than was necessary and with every step, you were stopping yourself from being constant in your running speed. Let us know what you experience. Oh, run slowly up a hill with the quick steps so that your support foot just lifts so you don’t push off and therefore don’t weight the calf. You are touching with each step ball/heel with the heel just touching to unweight the calf. Just pull the heel up. As Pose Method says: Use your hamstring to pull up the heel and gravity to move forward and also to put back down the foot you just lifted. Save as much unnecessary movement to save energy and let gravity do the work. Once you can do that, you've absorbed the other words. Now you have the feeling and the experience. Your calf is being used to bring the lower leg off the ground quicker to get it through the cycle faster and get the foot back down because of the high cadence. Less time on the ground with ball/heel, the less energy expended. So from the front, when the leg is coming forward, it looks like the runner for a short moment has only a knee stump. As the knee comes forward and lifts, you 200

see the lower leg and then it goes down so that in the majority of great runners you don't see the bottom let alone the heel of their shoes. Now the above is a core dump. I'll have to go back and see what I said. I'm interested in finding out where I'm wrong or am explaining it incorrectly. Help me clean up my word pictures. Again, it's folklore. If it works for you, use it. Or create your own images that work great for you. Please share them with others of rec.running and me so we can educate ourselves better. 201

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12/19/95 Bruce, Sorry, no experts here. Only experienced resources. The difference is that when something goes wrong, the expert is blamed and personal responsibility is overlooked. You did not give us enough information to be of any assistance. Diagnosis without enough information is malpractice. Some MDs, DOs, Chiropractors, physiologists, kinesiologists, physical therapists, and others in the healing professions do stop by. However most of what is shared comes from personal experience or working with or hanging around many runners over many years. Would help you to check out Dr Tim Noakes’ Lore of Running and the section on his Ten Laws Of Running Injuries. They make sense. Other info for a resource/coach/self-trained runner to give you some reasonable feedback would be some of this information:  Age Weight Height Years running Miles/Week Scheduled training during the week What makes up your 3 or 4 sessions over the 8 to 14 days? What pace are you running those sessions? Are they intervals on a track or some other kind of terrain? What were the changes you made in shoes? What were the changes you made in running surfaces? What does "etc." include regarding other changes? What leg has the localized pain...or is it both legs? 202

Some possible causes?
Vertical displacement Overstride Antagonist muscles may be too tight Center of gravity is moving up and down too much. Overstretch and over compression of the involved muscles. Every step you take which lands on the back of the heel of the shoe is a deceleration, you are stopping yourself and putting strain on the muscle behind and to the inside of the shin bone (posterior tibial) The shin problems may be caused because the calf muscles are tight. When the calf should be relaxing, it only partially relaxes and makes the shin muscles work even harder overcoming a semi-contracted muscle Changes too drastic in surfaces or speed. Too much too soon: Flexibility: The shin problems may be a result of other muscle groups being too tight (strong and contracted) and the working muscle has to work plus overcome the resistance of an antagonist muscle that only partially relaxes Structural problems Walking or standing or sitting posture creates faulty alignment and shows up in a weak link in the muscular-skeletal system. When one runs the whole body runs. If some areas of the body are holding and/or unable to move through their entire range of motion, other parts of the body will be strained. Injuries can be the result of doing something improperly for a long period of time and not knowing that the form and/or style is incorrect. Anyway some thoughts to help you get the information you need to solve the problem of shin splint yourself. 203

1995 Bill Sullivan wrote: A teammate of my daughter's gets shin splints 2/3 of the way through every track and cross-country seasons. Her condition gets so severe that running becomes impossible and her season is, in effect, over. This has occurred for each of the past three years. She has done strengthening exercises, stretching, cross-training, slow build-ups toward the end of the season, orthotics, taping, etc., etc. What is left for her to try besides voodoo, hypnosis, faith healing, and just figuring her body cannot deal with her chosen sport? The running program she is in is not high-stress (mega mileage and many high intensity workouts). Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. First, I would have to look at her running style. I would believe from conversations over 20 years with several thousand runners suffering from shin splints to stress fractures, that their running style and form has a lot to do with it. There are, however, a number of these runners who had compartment syndrome, which means that the muscle when it fills with blood as the muscle is working expands and the fascial sheath (like the sausage skin around a sausage) is tight and constricts the blood flow because it won't let the engorged muscle to expand thereby causing extreme pain. Before working on form and style, I would have the runner see a sports massage/sports physical therapist. Have them work both the posterior tibial and the peroneus (the stirrup muscles). Then I would get someone to look at her form and style to see where she is causing the problem. For example, if the feet splay out, then the runner if she overstrides puts an amazing amount of pressure on the posterior tibial on the inside of the shin bone as she pronates further than the muscle is meant to go. Remember the foot is a right angle hinge and the splay allows the lower leg to slide off the ankle joint towards the inside which causes the posterior shin to have to work more than it is suppose to. 204

If she lifts her knees up and down in place, like marching in place, you'll see that she hits first on the ball of the foot and then the front of the heel of the foot. If the body is aligned correctly, you cannot land on the back of the heel of the shoe. The worst you'll do is land on the front of the heel of the shoe, so there is no overstriding and no deceleration with every step. If she is running and lands on the back of the heel of the shoe, then every step is a stop and she must get over her center of gravity usually by lifting her body upward. Each step being a stop, puts extreme pressure on a posterior and/or anterior shin that absorbs 2+ times body weight because of gravity and then must push off and overcome that force and has to lift the body up and over the center of gravity. Not being a medical doctor, nor a physical therapist, nor a shaman, nor a astrophysicist your daughter's teammate needs to have someone look at what was mentioned above. 205

(7/15/98) When we launch rockets from Cape Kennedy, all the smoke you see when the engines fire up is the steam from the flooding of the launching pad so that the pad won't be damaged. Water is the best dissipater of heat. In running on hot days I want to cool my core temperature. The best way to do that is to cool the biggest heat exchangers...blood close to the surface...head and hands. The evaporation of the water/sweat is what cools the body in air. In cold water, you're taking the heat exchange of the whole body and sending cooler blood back to the core. Those in the east know the problem of humidity. The sweat/water can't evaporate and the core body temperature can't be lowered through the evaporation process. A fan assists in the evaporation process. Remember that people in a 5K can get heat stroke especially in hot and humid weather since the core temperature can be driven up very rapidly...this is especially with young and energetic runners who go out too fast, and by the third mile the core temperature has been driven to dangerous levels leading to heat stroke, and other complications like death. One of the things done to quickly lower the body's core temperature is to pack someone in ice. Let me know if it's different. But I remember being in a medical tent after a hot and humid half marathon and seeing the people covered with ice wrapped in towels. After a cold shower when people break out in a sweat, I assume that the core temperature is still up there and the body is sweating to cool itself down by the evaporative process. But if too humid, you just sweat all the more. That's where standing in front of a fan helps out a lot. Getting air to flow over the body assists in the evaporation process which in turn lowers the temperature of the blood at the surface and then takes the cooler blood back to the core which then can send cooler blood to the brain and vital organs. 206

Remember that in heat stroke, the sweat mechanism shuts down, driving the core temperature even higher which can cause permanent damage to brain and kidneys. Many runners out for the RnR Marathon, who were from the east, were lulled into thinking that they were hydrated enough. Because of the lower humidity, the sweat evaporates even faster so that people don't get any feedback that they are dehydrating. You add the dryer weather after a 3 or 4-hour flight in a pressurized cabin that dehydrates the body quickly and then start 38 minutes late and with all the cloud coverage gone. Faster marathoners feel great for the first 15 to 25 miles...and then BAM!!!! The dehydration hits and hits quickly. You can tell these people who were on a 3 hour pace and are finishing in 4:30 for they are covered with their dried body salt. The salty white sweat lines are seen on their shoulders, arms and face. The white is seen in their clothes. The body stayed cool because the evaporation process was working so wonderfully. Use to the feedback of a hot and muggy environment, the feedback to slow down is the rise in core temperature because of the lack of evaporation. But in San Diego and the Southwest, you don't know dehydration until it's too late as you core temperature doesn't climb being kept cool by the evaporation due to low humidity. So as your body dehydrates and doesn't get any feed back you feel okay about the heat until it's too late. Some people have sat around after a race...in the sun...waiting to see if they won the two free plane tickets to Wally's World, and they go into heat exhaustion...and even into heat stroke since they continue to dehydrate. They feel hot, but the evaporation process keeps them cool and thinking that they're okay. The Oz knows dry, warm weather. The Oz knows that radiant heat is his worst enemy especially when hiking the Sierras at 8 to 10 thousand feet. That's why the Oz always wears a long sleeved T-shirt soaked in water. As it evaporates it keeps his body from overheating. That's why he wears a soaked hand towel around his neck. Anything that will help keep the body cool by evaporation while not having to use an excess of his own sweat. Remember that in RICE, the I is for ice to keep any swelling down. So after a run soaking in a cold stream or lake or ocean helps cool the body and keep any swelling down. I know that the best running weather for me, being of big frame is 40 to 50 degrees with cloud coverage. I never have to worry about overheating. There is no wasted energy in keeping me cool. 207

Knowing the power of radiant heat, the Super Four Support Team has been at the San Diego Marathon for the past 10 years to support the slower\ runners... Super (i.e. Over) Four (Hour) Marathoners. We know radiant heat. We know the damage it will go to any runner, especially those from the east who feel great in the 60 to 70 degree heat...because while the sun is using its radiant heat to cook them alive, they bodies are secreting water at a very high rate but not experienced since it evaporates so rapidly. The Super Four Psyching Team was at the RnR.. telling people to run in the shade where ever they could find it. Supporting those who truly felt the effects of the sun...but when it occurred it was too late. Someone from the 1998 RnR was hospitalized after the plane trip back to Florida. Dehydration and electrolyte imbalance were two key factors in adding to the delayed onset. Remember the effects of a pressurized cabin. Anyway, some thought about cooling down...quickly.... or slowly.... but mainly cooling down and staying cool are "way cool" things to do for one's health and longevity. Wishing you coolness.... all summer...especially all y'all in TEXAS. 208

1998 Footz wrote: (9/29/98) Is it best to eat the morning of the marathon or fill up the night before? I’ve been trying different things about an hour before my long runs. Powerbars are out. Cereal and milk is in so far... and things seem to be going. I am wondering with the early start of marathons (7:30) it seems a bit of a push to get up at 4:00 to eat?
Folklore of Oz:
The energy stored for the marathon is built up over several days before the marathon by eating normally, drinking enough water to store the glycogen in the muscle and liver, 3 H20 to 1 glycogen...and not running. The jitteriness before the races for many is simply that they haven't run for several days and are loaded with energy...yawning is also a sign of the body seeking O2 to burn off excess energy stored. The night before I eat a bulk meal around 5 PM, gave up going to pasta dinners years ago, unless they were early enough. Or I eat early and go to the dinner to visit friends and for camaraderie. The 5 PM rule for me is so that the bulk, salad, veggies, whole wheat break, protein in forms of legumes, cottage cheese, chicken/fish, so that there is plenty of bulk so that a bowel movement at 4 or 5 or 6 will be sufficient for be ready to marathon. Doing Boston was the only time I ate a breakfast in some 80 marathons. I think NYC' s start was still in the ballpark for me to eat at 6 PM and have time to let the food move through the system for an early BM. During the early years, most people (4 hours and under) didn't take anything during the marathon like the GU's and similar sugars. The hard candies (butterscotches) handed out by the Psyching Team from miles 20 to 23 are in the slow sugar drip mode of thinking. But as I say, it's all folklore. One friend would get up a 4 AM and have his toast and banana. 209

With all the slower marathoners out there for 5 to 9 hours, when we did our WOMWAM (Word of Mouth, Walk A Marathon series in San Diego--we just did it and didn't tell the world that it was taking place) we'd walk it in 5 to 7 hours. During those times we'd stop at the now defunct Parker Bakery to have their Bran/Raisin muffins with a caramelized sugar on the bottom. With food and water along the way...also got into peanut butter and jam sandwiches and peanut butter and banana sandwiches...no one ever ran into trouble. We did a 6 AM start with most finishing between 12 and 1:30...high humidity and the temperature on that early Sept date was over 100 around Mission Bay, and no one ran into any trouble because of the sag wagon went ahead every mile to give us water and ice. Most of the group ran 6 or 8 the next day at the Marathon Clinic.
Summary:
Under 4 hours, if carboloaded well the 3 or 4 days before and hydrated there is probably no need to eat the morning of the marathon if it is an early start. Over 4 hours to 5 hours. May need some energy replacement/slow the glycogen depletion depending on conditions of the marathoner and the environment. Over 5 hours, I would recommend nourishment and hydration. Speed is slow enough that there will be little trouble between the legs and the stomach in their demand for blood. Over 7 hours, definite need for nourishment and hydration the entire way. Drip irrigation the entire way is the metaphor to work with. 210

1998 Tim wrote: So I've been doing this running thing pretty seriously for about 16 months now, and am now in training for the Chicago Marathon in October, and so far everything's been just peachy...Except for the past 2 longer runs (one 8 miles, one 18), during which I've experienced a lack of sensation in my right arm at times. It's not as bad as it would feel if my arm "fell asleep," but it is a bit disconcerting. I carry my house key in that hand, so I would try to rectify the situation by switching hands, and flexing and unflexing my right arm, and massaging different parts of the arm with my left hand. This seems to help, but it ain't exactly conducive to good running form, as you might imagine. I'm just wondering if this could be a temporary thing, or if I may have to adjust the positioning of my arms for good (I currently run with my biceps a little behind my torso, my arms at a 100 degree angle or so, and my hands forming a very loose fist). I definitely don't want to have to start flailing my arms around during a long run just to avoid this problem. Tim, First get a pack of diaper pins. I prefer the yellow duckies rather than the pink chickies or the blue lambsies. I just pin my house/car key to the inside of my running shorts and never worry about having something in my hands. Next, not knowing your age, have you been checked out to eliminate the possibility that the numbness has something to do with your heart? If you are running with your biceps a little behind your torso, do your elbows swing in front of your torso at all? If the elbows are not swinging forward a half inch to an inch with each stride forward of the opposite leg, then your shoulders can become chronically tight and cause the lack of sensation in the arm(s). In running think of the swing of the arm is the pendulum that is the swing of the elbow from the shoulder. That swing forward of the elbow will save you excess tension in the neck and the numbness in the arms which you experience. 211

I have gone to running with open hands. As my arm swings forward I slightly open the hand a little more so that the blood continues to be pumped back with the slight opening and then relaxing of the open hand. An exercise to help you loosen up the lats and give you a sense of the swing forward of the elbow: Keep you arms in the 100 degree angle. Running slowly and using the arms let the elbows rise so that they are almost shoulder height. You hands will look like they're throwing or shaking salt shakers behind your head. Do this for about a minute and then slowly lower the arms back to their normal running position. You'll find that the arms swing more freely and with less stress and strain. I carry my arms at a 60 or 70 degree angle. So rather than look like a right angle my arms are move V-like. Part of that angle is because I run at a higher cadence (around 190 steps/minute) Also keep your eyes on the horizon. If you get tired and your head drops, then the neck muscles which run down to the middle of your back can get tight and you can also get the numbness that way. 212

12/18/97 Ozzie Gontang wrote: Running is a dance and it is a martial art...both in charging and in running away to regroup. Phil wrote: Lost me on that one. Please explain Thanks for asking Phil. Running like dance, like the martial arts demands that the body work in perfect unison to avoid injuries. You can stretch muscles further and further but if the fascia around portions of those muscles do not let go, the healthy part of those muscles get overstretched. The overstretched (read "strained") portions of the muscles go beyond their strength and to protect themselves they join the fascia-bound part of the muscle. Runner's knee, tennis elbow is a few of the examples of injuries caused by overuse or specializing at the expense body integrity. Isn't it interesting that we are extremely capable of turning any healthy exercise into an exercise of punishment and pain? Some quoting: Tai Chi Chuan: The Technique of Power c. 1976 Tem Horwitz/ Susan Kimmelman Chapter: Tai Chi and Dance: The Techniques of Power
In America many people live in their bodies, like in abandoned houses, haunted with memories of when they were occupied.
Joseph Chaiken "The practice of Tai Chi has much to teach any student of dance...balance, centeredness, and continuity of motion. ...Not everyone can dance, while everyone, old 213

or young, well or ill, can do Tai Chi. Not everyone has the drive, the talent, or the desire to become a performing dancer. But anyone can dance. There is nothing quite like the feeling of leaping or running across a big open space to the beat of the drum. And although it is not in everyone to become a concert dancer, any serious student can learn from dancing its lesson of vulnerability and patience. Again and again I am struck as I watch beginning adult dance classes by the courage it takes to be willing to stumble and fall like an awkward child, to be willing to expose yourself to failure, publicly, over and over again. Physical disciplines demand to be leaned from the "inside out", and the first step i s always to unlearn.” “No matter how much you would like to be able to lift your leg up to your ear, you must begin with the most minimal extension, carefully aligning the center of the body, unlearning old habits of tension and strain. In order to move forward you must begin from where you are. Learning Tai Chi, shifting the weight slowly from one leg to another, there is no way to pretend you are balanced if you are not. The body does not lie. You begin here.” ...The study of Tai Chi involves synthesis - the means is the end." Pp. 206-210 The Athenians charged down the surrounding hills of Marathon to attack the Persians. The hoplites performed this martial strategy when it was known that there would be no backup troops from Sparta or any other Greek City States. In most of the martial arts movies you will see that the fight scenes were choreographed by so and so. The movement of running, like dance, like the martial arts involves the entire body. From the Tai Chi Ch'uan Classics:
"Bear in mind that when one part of the body move all other parts of the body move. When a part the body comes to a stand-still, all other parts of the body come to a stand still."
In closing, true flexibility takes one's body to where it can be at that moment and no further. There is no strain for strain triggers the protective reflex to save the muscle(s) from injury. 214

4/24/98 T. Jasper Fai wrote: I had always used my mouth to breathe in and out and after 4 or 5 miles of running my stomach starts to hurt. I wonder if the point is whether I am using my lungs or stomach to breathe because I have been using my nose to breathe in and mouth breathe out. It is not as natural to me but I don ’t feel the pain until after 7 miles. I welcome any comments. Larry Cashion wrote: I read a few years ago that this is caused by not breathing out enough to expel sufficient waste. As a mouth breather myself I experience the same effect. Whenever I feel this way I try to empty as much air from my lungs as I breathe out, concentrating on breathing out with the stomach. I learned the technique originally from a book called 'Instant Calm' by Paul Wilson and adapted what he said to running. I have no choice but to breath through my mouth because of a physiological problem, and this is the only thing I have found that works for me. The diaphragm is a muscle that lies between lungs and the abdominal cavity. It is like a big drum head that looks like a contact lens with the rounded edge up (not anatomically correct). When the diaphragm contracts it displaces the viscera in the abdominal cavity making it look like the "stomach" area is expanding outward...and I presume giving one the impression that one is using the stomach to breath. Regarding your stomach starting to hurt, if it occurs under the right side below the rib cage it's often referred to as a stitch. One reason for the pain is that if you are breathing in and tightening your abdominal muscles at the same time, you will experience a cramp. A boxer will often tighten his abdominals as he breathes in to protect the solar plexus area. If you suck in the abdominals at the same time you're breathing in, also people in panic do the same, you can see why you'd get a cramp. It is the abdominals contracting at the same time the diaphragm is. Like closing your hand but using the muscles to keep it open. Back to Yoda: There is no try. The result of the hand muscles fighting each other is tension leading into a draw. The one that wins in the draw is: the one that gets the cramp. 215

A way to practice what is called diaphragmatic breathing is to lay on the ground with your knees up and your feet flat on the ground. Place a small book on your abdomen. As you breath in, the diaphragm is contracting and the abdominal should be relaxing so that the book rises as your "stomach" expands. On the exhalation the diaphragm relaxes and goes back to normal resting stage and the abdomen tightens as the stomach "deflates.
” Posture plays in important role in our breathing and is something to explore. Anyway, that's something you can attempt to see if it makes a difference. What Larry is saying about what he read is something I would hold. Most people when they go into a panic state, gasp for air in and do not get enough air out. In running I have people breath out 2 to 4 steps more than the in-breath so that they create a vacuum (not physically true) so that one feels as if there is no need to gasp in since air pressure at sea level is helping the person breathe once they have gotten all the air out. Chapters of Interest Nose Breathing Any Chapters on Proper Posture 216

6/27/99 Steve, Michael, Arsol and Denny, Enjoyed your helpful hints and observations. Your folklore makes sense to me. I'd be interested in your thoughts. My bias like Denny is toward the soles being as thin as possible and teaching good running form and style. From the bits and pieces of research I have read about working the foot properly, minimal sole or even barefoot allows the foot to work better. My thought process is outlined in: RUNNING THEORY OF GAPO (Chapter___) Somehow comparing barefooted Ethiopian and Kenyan kids running, and sandaled Tarahamara kids running with high tech shoed American kids running raises many questions in my mind about the advantages of motion control, orthotics, and the latest technologically built shoe. I have included the thoughts and ideas in the posts and responses to follow in their marriage with The Running Theory Of GAPO. Back to Noakes’ Lore of Running and the Eighth Law of Running Injuries Eighth Law of Running Injuries:
Never accept as final opinion, the advice of a non-runner (medical doctor or other)
Who to trust: 1. The advice giver must be a runner. Just greater probability that it's right 2. Able to discuss in detail the genetic, environmental and training factors likely to have caused your injury. If not, you will go nowhere together. 3. If the advisor is unable to cure your injury, it should hurt her as much as it does you 4. He or she should not be expensive. Pedram wrote 217

I'm looking for some feedback concerning a seeming contradiction: I can run bare-foot (e.g. compact sand, grass, etc..) with no problems. However, when it comes to running with shoes, I do best with motions control shoes; Shin splints stop me dead in my tracks with cushioned or even stability shoes. Denny Anderson responded Here are some random thoughts while I devise some semblance of order. 1. Barefoot - you probably land either forefoot first, or at worst, midfoot when running. Your foot, which is designed to work in that manner, absorbs landing shock very effectively. Your pain centers would remind you if you weren't doing it right and you'd have to stop, or adjust. 2. Shoes, cushioned - built-up heels, lots cushioning. You may revert to heel landing (speculating here), because the damn outsole is so far from the bottom of your physical heel pad. On landing the heel cushioning compresses to absorb the shock while the forefoot is being slapped to the ground by the torque generated. Meanwhile, as the knee rotates forward AND the heel has sunk to a new low, the calf/shin area is slightly over stressed due to over flexing of the ankle (due to the compressed heel cushioning). Repeat many times - result, shin and or calf pains. Excess cushioning in the heel also causes your inner ankle to track outward (as weight is transferred at landing) a lot more than for stiffer heels. That is, you touchdown on the outside edge of the heel. The lateral torque generated, PLUS the excess cushioning deflection, means the inner ankle travels downward (further than the outer ankle) and quite a bit laterally. This FORCED pronating increases the strain on lower leg tendons/joints. Result; splints/ankle pain, etc. Now it would seem to me that since I can run barefoot painlessly, I should do well with a light, cushioned trainer. But the opposite seems So, with shoes, do you land heel first, midfoot or forefoot first. My GUESS is heel first. Even light cushioned trainers have a lot of cushioning. The shoemakers are really, really proud of that. Hence, my quest for the "right" running show has turned into the holy grail of my running hobby, especially since shoes are re-designed and revamped every few seasons. Here's a couple of thoughts. And BTW, I am running in AquaSocks. Today was the first time since injuring myself 5 weeks ago. So I have some, but not a wealth (70 miles), of experience. It might be useful to try a pair of Cross Country shoes - spikeless, with very little cushioning and nearly non-existent heel. That would facilitate running in a style which is similar MECHANICALLY to barefoot running. It may not work out - but it also may allow you to solve the dilemma, in that, having done barefoot/cushion/light weight cushion/motion control/x-country, a hybrid solution may become obvious. 218

I went from lightweight, cushioned shoes to Aquasock running in a very short period of time. Was (am) amazed at how much more comfortably I'm running. OTOH, I overdid it with track reps and pulled a muscle. If shoes don't do it for you, and barefoot is not an option, a decent pair of AquaSocks (my Nikes work well) could be another possibility. HTH helps, Denny Anderson Alan Graham queried: I wear custom-made orthotics (full size) and I have traditionally taken out (or ripped out) the insoles in a new pair of shoes and replaced them with the orthotics. However, I have recently read advice (runners world shoe section) suggesting that I should buy a shoe a half size bigger (to accommodate both), leave the insole in place and put the orthotic on top of it for better support. Your experiences and opinions please. Steven Pribut responded: The function of leaving an insole in the shoe would be to increase shock absorption (if that is needed). If you chose to leave in the insole, make sure you cut out the lip around the heel of the orthotic and also cut out the "arch" of the insole, so that the orthotic can be properly seated and not tilted in a way that it is not designed to be tilted. Also, if you place it right over the insole of the shoe, without cutting out that lip around the heel, it will be pushed forward 1/4 inch or more and then not be properly aligned with your foot. The logic is different for over the counter non custom inserts. Many of them, but not all, work better with the insole left in. Arsols also responded: I have all of my patients bring their shoes in with them. I design a full foot orthotic to fit the patient and their shoe. This also allows me to make sure they have the proper shoe to address their specific pathology. I remove the original insole/sockliner and fit the orthotic into the shoe to assure a properly functioning support system. If your orthotist/c.ped/podiatrist doesn't request that you bring in your shoe do it anyway. Ask him/her to fit the orthotic to the shoe. They should comply. If not go elsewhere and have your custom orthotics made. I do not recommend stacking sockliners and full length orthotics unless your shoe feels loose. In that case it may be the solution. 219

-Glenn Cunningham Shared by Robert C. Lowery 220

5/23/98 The question was asked: What do I do when I am marathon training and become sick or injured. Are there any rules of thumb that I can follow? I missed my scheduled training. What should I do? People have run marathons after doing the 28-week program and missing a good portion of the last 4 or 5 weeks. This was possible because the base of their training has been strong, consistent, and steady. Here are some general rules of thumb regarding getting ill or injured when you are on a marathon training schedule:
Missing Training early in the program
Missing training for a cause for a day or a week or a month is not bad. Remember the goal is to finish a marathon and still be healthy. So if you are willing to walk the majority of the marathon, then a month missed in a scheduled program won't stop you from finishing. A specifically targeted marathon can be done even though you've missed 2 weeks or 4 weeks. Since people's training levels vary so greatly, we continually have to go back to DO NO HARM. People can test themselves. Not push themselves but test where the edge of their training is. If missed means you haven't been running, but you are doing equivalent forms of aerobic exercise, stair step, exercycle, then you have lost little if anything with your marathon schedule. If you are injured and unable to do anything for 2 to 5 weeks, then you have lost a good percentage of your aerobic capacity. This is why the training programs are 24 and 28 weeks long for most runners. It gives them time to adjust to the increased stress on their bodies so that their bodies can adapt and adjust to the strain and improve.
I missed 2 days of training
221

Great. You've had two rest days to recover so that you will be able to run better and easier and maintain good form and style.
I missed one week. No exercise at all
If you were sick was it from overtraining or was it something you caught or was it from an injury. If you were sick, start back slow. Listen to your body. You've lost some conditioning but it will come back. If it's an injury: have you been doing the RICE, rest, ice, compression and elevation. If it's getting worse, you may want to see a sports physician, athletic trainer, physical therapist, sports massage therapist and talk with other marathoners and runners. I've missed 2 weeks of training. It depends on where the two weeks are. It also depends on if the marathon trainee has a specific marathon for which they are shooting.
First 12 to 16 weeks
Missing 2 weeks throws the person back a week. A person can continue with the program but the intensity must be lowered. For many that means walking more and running less. For injured runners that means walking more and gradually increasing the running so that the injury is not increased. See injuries
Should I run through it or go home and go to bed.
Common sense and DO NO HARM. If a minor cold or nasal congestion, often a shorter run at a slower pace can help through this illness. With a virus and the accompanying weakness, sore throat, fever and headache that result, it is best to stop running for several days.
Dr. Jack Scaff's 20 Minute Test
Run for 20 minutes at a slower than normal speed. If you feel better at the end of the 20 minutes, you're probably over the worst of being sick and can continue your training program. If at the end of the 20 minutes you're feeling worse, you're still sick and need to get back home and take care of yourself. 222

If medicated
The medication prescribed by your doctor has a healing effect but also many side effects that can harm you if you don't watch it when you go back to running. Basically, if you are under medication for viral or bacterial illness, you shouldn't be running Cold medicines Can cause high blood pressure and can increase the chance of the heart beating irregularly.
Antihistamines
Dry up the nose, but they also can interfere with the sweat reflex and heat metabolism. This side effect can lead to heat stroke that can lead to permanent brain or kidney damage or even death. Antipyretics Aspirin can lower fever has been know to cause problems with heat metabolism. Taken from: Marathon Mentoring: A Training Approach To A Challenging Mind/Body Adventure. © 1994 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. Ulrich “Uli” Eckartz adds a caveat to infections: Running with any kind of infection (even minor) can be extremely dangerous. Especially bacteria called "Streptokokken" (what is this in English?) can cause major heart problems like myocarditis, inflammation of the heart. Those bacteria are often found when catching a cold. YOU DON'T KNOW what bacterium caused your cold, so even if it seems to be a "minor cold", it could be something like "Streptokokken". If you run with it, your bloodstream will transport those bacteria from your nose, throat or whatever to your heart. Due to the rough surface structure of the inner heart, those bacteria can settle there and cause serious problems. It could even be life threatening. One way to check your health is counting your heart rate in bed every morning at the same time. Do it for a full minute. If you slept normal and it is more than 5-7 beats/minute higher than normal, your body may be fighting off an infection even if you feel nothing. If you are training that day take notice so as not to compromise your immune system. 223

3/7/97 (Pascal Hua) wrote: Hi, I was wondering if some of you have tried this and it could help in training (avoid injury). We all have our favorite shoe. I have now 4 pairs of Asics 125, and rotating them in training. I was wondering if it would be good to have a different brand/model to insert in the rotation so as to "use up" my legs a different way on th at day… Let me know what you think about the idea. It is called being the experiment of one. I would put a different pair of shoes in the rotation just to see if there was anything different after running. There's an entire other group of runners who have gone out, knowing that a certain style of shoe would be going out due to newer, better (?) and improved model. So they go and buy 10 to 20 pairs of the shoe they love. Hey, come on, you know who you are. Okay, Okay, I admit that I've bought 5 pairs of shoes when there was a close out. Can't even remember the model, the blue Nike with yellow swoosh and waffle soles and very little cushion. God, I loved those shoes. If any shoe company is reading this, please contact me about the Ozzie Gontang training shoe for beginners, The Atavist. With form and style as the war cry and teaching people to fish rather than giving them fish... or teaching people to run rather than having them buy high tech, latest and greatest shoes that will prove to be iatrogenic in the long run... over time, you can gain customer loyalty with a shoe that makes sense for the runner and a higher percent gross profit margin for the shoe company. The ground swell is growing. Shoe companies will begin to listen in the next five to 8 years. Making runners mindful through running shoes by teaching good form and style in running. Stop masking the poor form with high tech shoes that slowly destroy the mind and body of runners. Didn't get much sleep last night...must be something I ate...in some kind of mood...it's all James Hillman's fault...that damn daimon. 224

3/15/97 (Ides of March) These were the early years, early mid 90’s that the ground swell was just beginning to ripple. Romanov, Dreyer, Saxton, and the running denizens of rec.running were active in dialogue about Proper Running Technique. My interest in heel strike being incorrect started in 1978 when I purchased a Sanyo Video Recorder that had a 4 wheel-drive reduction system (whatever that meant) that allowed me to record runners on a 20 minute cassette and play them back running in slow motion. Watching elite runners I recorded at various races in San Diego had me question the accepted belief that heel striking was the proper way to run. This is a thoughtful dialogue attempting to make sense of my statement: We land on the ball and then touch the heel a split second after, when we march in place. March in place and land on your heels, and you'll realize that the foot touches ball/heel so that the very sensitive foot can first feel the ground to see where it is in relation to the body. Ozzie, You're always a good bet for a thought provoking post, but why do you always make this analogy between marching on the spot and running? If your style when running is different from when marching on the spot I would have thought that's because you are running and not marching on the spot, rather than being an indication to reconstruct your whole running style so it fits in. (I find it easier to change my marching on the spot style than I do my running style, come to that, if it's deemed necessary for them to be the same). I've just accidentally zapped another of your comments, so please excuse my paraphrasing. You made a comment that for the heel to strike, the foot had to be in front of the body, so it was slowing you down each time your foot landed. 225

I can half see what you are driving at, I think, but your forefoot would land (other things being equal) even further ahead. It certainly has to land in front of you to a degree or otherwise you would just fall flat on your face. A further thought; landing on the heel is not as cushion-free as you imply, as the first thing that will happen on landing on the heel is that the ankle will "collapse" into extension, acting as a cushion. By coincidence, this will mean you roll forwards in the direction you want to go, and can push off in one movement. If you forefoot strike, the cushioning will be by rolling back onto the heel, followed later by a roll back forward onto the forefoot to push off, thus giving a much more complex back and forth foot movement. In general complicated movements tend to be less efficient and more prone to going wrong, which makes me a little suspicious of this. I seem to remember studies of running efficiency showing that there was no difference between heel and forefoot striking, except that once you begin to go quickly (as in sprinting) you are obliged to forefoot strike and the heel almost leaves the ground altogether, becoming rather equine. I really ought to sort my references so I can find things... Just a few thoughts from someone who has no particular knowledge of or training in biomechanics, and is certainly not a quick runner; I bring no special credentials to this, just general thoughts for people's comments. Rod. Disclaimer; the opinions expressed above are not necessarily yours. Having come to rec.running to have my answers questioned, created some wonderful collaborations attempting to put into words what proper running form or technique was. As mentioned somewhere in the Folklore of Running, I did not expect to see an acceptance of landing ball/heel. Those adhering to this folklore have had their whose backsides trodden over by thousands of heel striking, cushion-shoed runners, running experts, scientist and professions, and non-running explainers. We were and to some extent are still up against millions of marketing dollars, and there is a turn of those dollars toward minimalist shoes, and other Tied into all this is a little about becoming better runners and world class humans. If you want to have further dialogue about being free, you may want to watch Adam Curtis’ Century of the Self that follows the impact of understanding and controlling the masses, i.e. us. From marketing to the mass consumer of the early 1920’s to the 60’s, and from the 60’s on with the human potential 226

movement, we may be even more controlled because now government and business now use our values and lifestyles to give us what we want. You can watch or download: Century of the Self from http://archive.org
under moving images. I think there’s some connection between consumer and manufacturer. In social networking and a social democracy everybody has a voice. For me the question is who do I listen to and who is out there looking out for my best interest and the interest of our society. With our freedom comes responsibility to the community of man as we are all in this together. Watch Power Of One by Bombshel on YouTube Watch If Everyone Cared by Nickelback Anyway, some things to ponder on your next run. 227

10/13/96 Ari wrote: Two questions. 1.I have replaced 1 out of the 3 days of running with walking. I walk for 1 hour at about 15 min/mile pace. Is that too slow to have any benefits? 2.What is the walking equivalent of running 1 mile at a 9 min/mile pace? When I do my walking it is part of my running training, I make sure that my walking form, that is arms swinging from shoulder to elbow, slight torque of the shoulders equal and opposite to the hips, landing on the front of the heel of the shoe, relaxing toes, using breathing rhythm that allows me to stay smooth and relaxed through the entire walk but gives me a sense of the body lightly and gracefully moving over the surface of the earth. Knowing that the rough estimate of a mile is the use of 100 calories, then the mile walking taking 15 minutes and the mile running both use up about 100 calories. I read somewhere that a sub four minute mile would burn about 76 to 86 calories, due to the efficiency of the sub-four miler. Teaching walking form has been important to the marathoners I've taught over the years, because when they hit the wall, I want them to be able to maintain good form while walking. The focus, the concentration is maintaining the mindfulness of not letting the brain break and having the would-be marathoner mentally fall apart.
Update:
Over the past year I have been playing with the Pose Method image of pulling the heel up with the hamstring as I walk. So that I am landing more on the ball of the foot as opposed to even the front of the heel of the shoe where there is more of a feeling of rolling off the ball. I also have been running barefoot on asphalt with small crushed rock embedded. At first it was extremely painful, but my feet have been getting use to it. It is an interesting process. 228

A Tangent
When I brought Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton down to San Diego in March 2010, I liked the comment he made about running barefoot or in shoes. works for you, use it. If not, don’t.
“If you’re not having any problem running in shoes, why would you want to go
barefoot?” I was appreciative of that because of my concept of folklore: If it Barefoot Ken Bob like myself has been at teaching proper running as an avocation for many years. I charged for running classes back in the 70’s and 80’s but the San Diego Marathon Clinic has always been free and supportive of all the runners, walkers and local races. I was saddened to see Bob’s comments about not having to pay Romanov and Dreyer to teach you. I consider all three friends and people I champion. Nicholas and Danny and their families have chosen to do their teaching of running, walking, movement, and lifestyle as professionals. As such I would not expect them to do their classes for free. I believe that Barefoot Ken Bob and I truly teach professionally but it is not our livelihood. We have chosen to do our classes for free. No need to say my way is better. It is only different. I respect them and all the other running coaches and teachers who have been in the minority battling the explanations of why things as they are with shoes, running, running injuries, and all things runners while knowing that not to be the truth, just A truth that is an explanation that works for the explainers. I know that Barefoot Ken Bob is passionate about his sharing of barefoot running with the world and am pretty sure that he would not want to be the shill of a publishing company or of anyone for that matter. It will be an interesting Odyssey over the next few years to see if shoe companies can be honest with us and fair. In business it is about return on investment (ROI) Who really cares about you? Who really cares about changing the world? Maybe it starts with me and realizing the social norm (caring for each other) is based on relationship and trust. The market norm is based on a monetary exchange. If you think about it, the market is attempting to create relationships and trust so that it can continue to sell us something. Is what they are selling in my best interest? Is it in my family’s best interest? Is it in my community’s best interest? Is it in my countryman’s best interest? Is it for the good and betterment of all mankind? Check out again the Kalama Sutra in my Pre-Ramble. 229

We have tens of millions of people to show the differences to proper and improper running with shoes or without shoes. One thing I learned, as a teacher is to start where the people are and have them experience the differences in the normal way and new way. Experiencing the differences allows them to make positive, conscious choices as to which will be better in the long run for the overall health of their running body. I do not need to build myself up by tearing someone else down. I don’t know Barefoot Ken Bob to be anything other than an honorable person. He is a person with a generous heart as his years of contribution have shown. My hope is that the comparisons that were made were part of a publisher’s strategy to create controversy in order to sell books. Publishers are in the business of publishing books and selling books creates their ROI.
End of Tangent
Anyway, when I am walking without shoes I find that I am landing more ball/heel, then lift the heel ever so slightly to land on the ball of the other foot. My coaching of runners now has them playing with their walking that as soon as the heel touches they are pulling it up with the hamstring and placing it right back down for the next step. My idea is to get them away from allowing the lower leg to pendulum forward as there is more likelihood of going back to landing on the back of the heel of the shoe, that is back to the old overstride. Play with it and let me know what you come up with so I can add to the ongoing folklore of running. 230

1996
I have always known that at last I would take this road, but yesterday I didn't know that
it would be today. Unknown
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on.
Robert Frost George Sheehan, God bless his soles, knew from experience that we are all called to be athletes, poets, heroes, saints and philosophers. Especially in the marathon is this true. As we drove to dinner that night after the London Marathon we saw her. Linda had two more miles to go. With her hand braces supporting her, she struggled step after step. As we drove by, she looked up, and our eyes met as I gave her the thumbs up. She smiled. We drove past. I knew, my body knew. I was touch by this heroine. My body knew her feelings. My body resonated to her challenge and success, and my tears and quiet sobs bound us as one. The marathoner had been winding me in for the past mile. It was annoying to hear his inane banter. "I haven't seen the ocean looking so blue in years. It reminds me when we were in Hawaii. Remember all those people cheering us on that last mile. Your smile was so big, I was certain you were going to sprint away from me." He went on and on and on. I was ready to tell the guy to just shut up and run the race. Out of the side of my eye I saw that the blabberer was doing a 3 hour pace marathon monologue so Harry Cordellos next to him could get a 231

picture of the course through his guide's eyes. Harry as you know is blind. God, even as I write these words about so long ago the emotions and tears are alive in this moment...instant replay. I came upon him at mile 17. Someone said Dick had started early since he would be out there for a few hours longer than most of us. It was an odd sort of gait. As I ran by and told him "Great going!" I heard his rhythm for about a minute. "Step, shuffle, click; step, shuffle, click." The shuffle sound was made as he hopped so that the prosthesis of his above the knee amputation could "click" into place for his next step. The rhythm stayed in my mind for several miles. It kept me going. I visited Tal at Casa Loma just 4 days ago. It was the first sunny day in about two weeks. Tal reminisced about his first marathon at the Avenue of the Giants almost 18 years ago. He was 61 back then. He's had several strokes in the past 4 years that has made it hard for him to remember. He's stayed active by walking 4 miles round trip to the top of Mount Soledad. But now his knee has been acting up, and he's frustrated. Even with all the forgetting, Tal's recollection of the marathon through the redwoods is crystal clear. It is locked not only in his mind but also in his body. The Marathon is not something that can be bought or sold. One catches the spirit of the Marathon. The Marathon captures the imagination of the individual across two thousand years; one relives the victory of the Greeks over the Persians. One viscerally experiences the mythic run of an unknown messenger who announces the victory to the Athenians. Ten thousand defeated sixty thousand. Whether one travels the 26.2 miles with 20,000 other runners and walkers or 200, the reality remains the same. No matter how much one is helped in training and preparation, no matter how many people are in the race; the Marathon is ultimately run or walked alone. It is something that inspires the individual. For he or she can now say, "I am a Marathoner." The interdependence on all those who helped in the marathon still must give way to the conscious awareness: nothing is impossible to she who dreams. As one marathoner put it: "I have tested myself. I have seen what I can do. I have come up against my own unseen demons, doubts, mental limitations and negative feelings. I have seen my fantasies, my expectations, my dreams while realizing that I had to be grounded in the only thing I knew for certain: the present-my next step. Being in the present, acknowledging the moment, acknowledging my feelings, my fears, my excitement and my connection with the other marathoners gave an entirely new perspective to time, space and movement. I was one with humanity; but remained alone in my thoughts." The Marathon is a very personal event that one does publicly. The Marathon is a personal challenge. The Marathon is one of the last personal frontiers, where the individual comes up against the unknown within himself or herself. 232

The Marathon tests one's metal, courage, planning, and self-knowledge all at the same time. The Marathon is a challenge that attracts thousands of people each year from all around the world. One can train and prepare to run a marathon. Real success is taking care of the health of mind, body and spirit while preparing and finally running the marathon. The marathon as metaphor transforms the finisher as someone with a new and different perspective of time, space and personal effort. The real marathon known as "Life" takes on a new dimension. One learns what an endurance lifestyle is. The athlete, the hero, the poet, the philosopher and the saint are alive in the individual who accepts the Marathon. In memoriam To Marathoners who have touched my soul and those of countless others: Fred Lebow, George Sheehan, Jeannie Blanco, Marian Gallagher, and Tal Lovelady 233

1996 In the past several months several thousand of you accepted the marathon challenge. You have overcome obstacles both physical and mental and touched the spirit of the marathon that now lies within you. To you who followed the blue line through New York City, we acknowledge you and your efforts. To those who passed the Iwo Jima monument we say, "Well done." Past Diamond Head, along Old Highway 101, through thousands of images locked within your marathoning mind, we remember with you. The feelings and memories are indelibly imprinted upon your soul. If you don't believe in the soul, then those same feelings and memories are indelibly imprinted upon your inner core. To those of you in the first Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, their theme song says it's all: "Helping our friends along the way." So many people, their names unknown, are remembered forever, you having only travelled a few miles with them within the marathon. Their words somehow lifting your spirits. Or you theirs...and the gracious parting: "See you later." "Do well." "Keep going." "Thanks for letting me run with you." The face or faces in the crowd imprinted like a digital photo when you close your eyes and relive moments along the course. The smells, the sounds, the quieting of panic as a muscle twinge or a sharp pain rain thoughts of not finishing...and knowing that no matter what, you will finish. The amazement of the last 2 or 3 miles when you recover your running speed after having run 6 to 10 miles not knowing if you would finish. The smile, the tears, the unexpected feelings and emotions and tears, the moment of inner quiet, the outpouring of gratitude and thanksgiving, the welling up of tears...at unexpected moments. Where did that feeling come from? Weeks or months later, being moved to tears at the athletic artistry of a skater, a gymnast, watching the Iron Man, my God...even listening to some music or hearing a poem on NPR. 234

A nerve ending? Yes. A nerve ending? No. Only a beginning to the metaphor that you have just lived out publicly as you completed your marathon. For no one else could do it for you. No one could give you a gift so great or a challenge so moving. And now you are joined with those who on the plains of Marathon did not march lock step against their opposition. They ran at their competitors...who were seeking to end the spirit of democracy as known in Athens. The few overcame the many. No matter how much you discount your efforts or inflate your exploits of your marathon, at that moment, at that time, in that place, and with individuals and a roster acknowledging your presence, you were in the moment. While you can live for years, talking about the marathon you ran, the endurance lifestyle as mirrored in the marathon calls you and me and all of us to realize that we are interdependent. We are called to make a difference, in whatever small way. We are called to run "The Marathon" called life...well. Why many of us do more than one marathon, is that it is a reminder of practicing all the time to do The Marathon well...and then to see if my mind and body were in sync on that day of the marathon. In the greatness of the throngs who surround the marathoner on that day, at that hour in that place, comes the balance of a black night somewhere in our lives. Looking up at the Milky Way...which almost looks like a cloud...and knowing for a few moments again...our place in the universe. We salute you, who have travelled the Marathon. We salute you who have allowed us to touch that moment again vicariously...knowing that it is not about thoughts or memories. Life is about living in the moment. And in the marathon, we get to experience those moments which touch the spirit we all share as runner, hunter, food gatherer...or as St. George said, "You are called to be poet, artist, philosopher, saint and athlete...but first and foremost be a good animal. In your practice of being a "Good Animal" Joseph Campbell would reflect that we are only a few breathes away "in universal time" from our early ancestors. Marathoning has put us in touch with our oft forgotten abilities to go long distance and to endure. Let our runs after the marathon bring us back to the moment. While I can share these thoughts with you at the speed of light, I still must practice what helped our ancestors survive...the ability to run long distances...if and when necessary. To be a good animal. As I ran around Mission Bay today, I remembered my fellow Marathoners. Running for me is my way of practicing. It allows me to be in the moment. I am not a marathoner because I ran a marathon. I am a marathoner because while marathoning I bring the being in the moment to my daily life. My running helps me be a good animal, so that I can do my life consciously and with 235

mindfulness. But being human, it is a direction in which I move...and no motivational words can replace the practice. It's in the doing. When there are no words, there is only the practice. Know that, when you find yourself needing words to move you, you have my money back guarantee that you will find them between 30 and 60 minutes into your run. And it's a lifetime guarantee. Super-Four and Psyching Trance Phrases Eyes on the horizon: This keeps your head balanced on your shoulders and saves the trapezius and neck muscles a few hundred calories. Value: Save 5 to 10 minutes added to your time if you look only 5 to 20 feet in front of you. Relax your jaw: This whispered phrase along the way will keep your fascial and jaw muscles from tensing. When you open your mouth, remember that you are not opening at the front but relaxing where the jaw hinges. That relaxed jaw will save you from the added two to fifteen minutes from the facial, neck and shoulder strain over the last 6 to 8 miles. 236

© IAM & Austin “Ozzie” Gontang, Ph.D.
These Hints are for Super-Fours, i.e. those running over 4 hours in the Marathon. "A Short Guide to the Care and Support of Four-Hour Marathoners, The Physically Distressed and Mentally Distracted Sub-Fours and The First Time Marathoner-Who Only Wants To finish." The Int'l Assoc. of Marathoners (IAM and pronounced "I AM") originally published it in 1988. The last 6 to 8 miles of the Marathon will test an individual physically but most of all mentally. No matter how well prepared one may be, the unknown of how one will be or how the weather conditions will be leaves one with some sense of discovery or traveling unfamiliar territories of mind/body. It is often for the righteous and well-trained Sub-Three that the fall from grace is the hardest. IAM Aware: Know that you will tell others your verbal time: "About 4 hours." Know you will harbor a desired time: "I THINK I can do it, if all goes perfect, 15 to 30 minutes faster." Know you will have an ideal/fantasized time: "How great to break 3:30 in my first marathon." Acknowledge your Desired Time and Fantasy Time verbally to yourself; otherwise they will influence your finish time for the worse.
Super-Four Success One:
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Set your time with a standard deviation (SD) of 15 minutes. The SD=± 15(Verbal Time + 5 minutes). The mind/body message goes from a single second in time to a window of 30 minutes and respects the mind, the body and the conditions of the day.
Super-Four Success Two:
Starting a marathon 30 seconds to 60 seconds per mile faster than your race plan for the first 3 to 5 miles can slow your finish time from 20 minutes to 90 minutes. That speed will burn off several times more glycogen in the first 3 to 5 miles than needed. You are fueled with energy from minimal running the 6 days before the marathon. You have also stored extra energy from eating and hydrating well the last three days before the marathon. Know your game plan and stick to it for the first 3 to 5 miles when you are so full of energy. That energy can easily give you the power to run those first few miles at that 30 second to 60 second per mile faster...and not even realize it. It will remember somewhere between miles 18 and 26.
Super-Four Success Three:
The jittery feelings the morning of the race and the day before are from your body being fueled and needing to expend energy. You can identify it as fear, or nervousness, or worry. Just remember you haven't run more than 2 to 4 miles in 3 days. You body is ready to do something-Run A Marathon. You now feel what it's like not to run a few days...or the feelings 3 days after injuring yourself. To walk and sightsee 5 to 10 miles the day before the marathon is 500 to 1000 calories of energy plus the water to store the glycogen. You may not be able to replenish it by race time.
Super-Four Success Four:
In the past 6 months if you have moved, bought a house, changed jobs, started or ended a relationship, had a child (or fathered a child), have trouble at work or home that costs you mental energy, there is a good likelihood you will finish 30 to 60 minutes slower than you had planned.
Super-Four Success Five:
When you feel tired or unable to go on, should your mind go to the finish line, bring it back to the present. If your mind is at the finish, so is your body...even though it has 1 to 6 more miles to go. Bring the mind to the present by saying, "I am at Mile ___ and am being drawn by a magnet to the finish. I hold my body up and erect and I am being pulled steadily to the finish."
Super-Four Success Six:
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The last 10 miles push the crown of your head up and look to the horizon. By holding the head erect you save your shoulder muscles and balance not only the weight of your 12 to 14 pound head but also your breathing.
Super-Four Success Seven:
The last 6 miles run out from the pack and away from the curbside. You are in a trance state by mile 18. You will be open to and picking up visual and non verbal cues of runners around you. If you are away from the curb and can see 200 to 300 yards in front of you, you will be running your own race. Should someone stop dead in front of you, do not give him or her any of your energy by getting angry or upset. Simply say as you pass them, "Don't lose your form. Even if you walk keep your good running form."
Super-Four Success Eight:
What do you do when someone running with you start to speed up or to fall behind? Or what do you do if you start to pick up your pace or fall behind? Picture you first 2 fingers as a pair of scissors in. There has been a cord attaching the two of you as you have run together. Now with your scissors cut the cord between you and the other runner. Otherwise, you will be carrying that person in your mind...and it will only slow you down...or wear you out if they are in front of you. You can only be in one place physically, and that is directly above the space upon which you feet are running. Cutting that cord allows you to cut loose from a slower runner or free your mind from attempting to keep up with a faster runner. Run Smooth!” If you are going ahead, say: “Thanks for the company, I’m going to play with pacing and pick it up a bit to see how I feel. Keep your shoulders relaxed.” If the other per is going ahead, snip the cord and say: “ Great running with you. Keep on going. I’m going to play with this pace for a few more miles.
Super-Four Success Nine:
When you run with someone, run shoulder to shoulder. If you run slightly behind, the mind often feels like it has to catch up. If your image is that of being pulled or towed by the runner in front of you, then running behind is okay...unless the runner complains.
Super-Four Success Ten:
In a marathon to catch someone, wind him or her in over a mile to three miles that way you waste no energy required to finish the last 1 to 6 miles. 239

Super-Four Support Team
Brought to you courtesy of the International Association of Marathoners (IAM), The proud sponsor of the Super-Four Support Team. The San Diego Marathon Clinic has been on Sundays at 8 am since 1975. It was created to support the marathoners of San Diego and Marathons and Marathoners in San Diego. It has always been free. There is an Intro to Pose Method, ChiRunning, and Barefoot & Minimalist Shoe running plus groups running Social 6’s, Social 8’s, Social 10’s and a 13 miler on Sunday morning at DeAnza Cove 240

© 2000 2001 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. Here is some sharing so that you can decrease the stress in your thinking. Already as you read this you are finding that your shoulders are relaxing and that you find it easier to take a deeper breath because you've relaxed the tension in your diaphragm and within the rib cage. Feel you jaw relax and also feel that your eyes relax and that as you continue to read it is as if the picture is being seen from the back of your eye and your eyes aren't having to go out and capture the words you read. Shoulders, neck relax. Breath is easy and calm. Now as I was going to say: When people are running long and getting tired, their form and style deteriorate. When that happens the tendency is: 1. They let their erect posture slouch while I run erect and relaxed 2. They drop their head while I use a skyhook in my head to hold me erect 3. They hunch forward while I stay relaxed and in good posture 4. They shuffle along while I focus on grace, and maintaining good form & style When this above "stuff" happens, the fear of falling unconsciously has a profound effect on them...as their spirit is falling. I use balance and gravity to keep me falling gracefully in the direction of the finish line. The tendency is to claw with the toes. To see what I mean, stand up and lean as far forward as you can. You'll notice that your toes are digging into the floor or into the soles of the shoes you are wearing. If you relaxed your toes, you'd find that you would fall. 241

So when running or walking your marathon, check ever mile verbally with 1. Relax toes 2. Hook in the top of the head keeping the head and body erect 3. Say to yourself: 1. Relax shoulders 2. Relax jaw 3. Relax eyes.... as squinting can cause great mental discomfort Since you are in a trance from mile 16 or 17 use these as a mantra from time to time to breathe and keep you focused on staying erect, focused, balanced and lightly running or walking over the surface of the earth as you run or walk. In that trance, continue to bring your mind back to the body...and relaxing the shoulders, jaw, eyes and keeping the eyes at infinity/horizon All unnecessary tightness means muscles are tightened and draining energy you need for your marathon. Another reason for focusing on your breath as you run or walk along. When you mind goes to the finish line and wanting to finish.... bring the mind back to your body and focus on the stuff above. Remember if your mind goes to the finish line...it has abandoned your body to do the last 5 or 6 miles alone.... and that's not good. Bring the mind back to the present.... breathing.... relaxing shoulders, jaw, eyes...eyes on the horizon...and relaxing toes.... relaxing toes. Simply the marathon is lifting your feet up and down and leaning the body for 26.2 miles. The body is like the broom balanced in the palm of your hand. The broom leans every so slightly and your hand goes at the same speed so that the broom won't fall. Eyes on the horizon. Notice that by the time you are reading this sentence your posture has slouched. So use the hook in the top of your head to lift you and use a mental air pump to pump up your spine and relax you stomach muscles and align your spine so you can sit erect and relaxed. Erect and Relaxed. Erect and Relaxed. Eyes on the horizon. These are some ideas created for the Super Four Support Team by the Int'l Assoc of Marathoners and are used by the Psyching Team to help those who 242

finished over four hours...because that was where they were.... or because they crashed and burned. The spirit of Marathon has touched you. It tests you to see where you are in your life. It challenges you to do what you thought impossible. It calls you to bear witness in public of an inner journey known only to yourself. Remember the words you choose are the words you live. Choose your words well. For your words worth depends on your ability to understand: Reality always wins. Our only job is to get in touch with it. You will visit with yourself for 26.2 miles. Be present. For your presence with yourself is the best gift you'll receive no matter the reason you are doing your marathon.
You are where you should be, doing what you should be doing. Otherwise, you'd be somewhere else, doing something else.
Stine
There is a dead medical literature and there is a live one. The dead is not all ancient, and the live is not all modern.
Oliver Wendell Holmes 243

© 2000, 2001 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. *The Marathoner's Body is 70% Water Train yourself during the week before the marathon to continue to hydrate so your urine is clear. Remember it takes 3 grams of water to store one gram of glycogen. You can carboload but the folklore is that unless you continue to drink fluids, you can be carboloaded but dehydrated. *Get into the rhythm of your breathing. A sense of your rhythm can keep you running smoothly so that you do not strain nor tighten up muscles not involved in your smooth running form. *Terms to say to yourself and to picture as you train and during your marathon: 1. Relax my shoulders 2. Relax my jaw 3. My running style is smooth like cycling over the earth. Lift my knees a quarter of an inch (1/4 ") each stride, not my body. I am pedaling over the earth's surface- smooth and easily. 4. Breathe smoothly like a hospital respirator. 5. Scan the body and relax those muscles: tongue, jaw, neck, shoulder blades, lower back, diaphragm, quads, hams, calves, toes. *Go over the course in your mind. Remember should anything happen that you need to walk more than expected, do not lose concentration. Walk in good form and style. More often than not you will be back 244

running in several minutes because you have maintained your inner spirit of doing the marathon well. *Locking In Your Marathon's First 10 Miles: On your long runs of 15, 13, and 10, run the first 3 miles a minute/mile slower than your normal marathon speed. From mile 4 onward, run your normal marathon speed. It is important to use the 1st 3 miles to warm up. Remember on marathon day, you will be full of energy. By running the first 3 miles slower 30 seconds to 1 minute slower than marathon pace, you will be ready to settle into your marathon pace. Should you go out 30 seconds to a minute a mile faster than your marathon pace, you will finish the marathon 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes slower than you expected. Since you are well rested, don't let the excitement and adrenaline affect your first 3 miles that are 30 seconds to 1 minute slower than your marathon pace. Do not waste any glycogen storage by going out faster than race pace those first 4 to 8 miles. *Carboloading the right way: By eating normally on days 5, 4 & 3 before the marathon plus hydrating well, you will have stored the energy needed to complete the marathon. Eat early the night before the marathon so that you have enough time to have a good bowel movement. Make sure that you have plenty of bulk/roughage in your meal so it is digested and you are ready to have a good bowel movement several hours before the marathon. *Sleep-Get It Early: The sleep you get on days 5, 4 and 3 before the marathon, especially days 5 and 5 will get you through the marathon. Even if you were to be up all night before the marathon or even if you only get 3 to 5 hours of sleep, it will be due to the energy your body has stored by your minimal running 4 days before the marathon. Knowing the body is on a 36-hour cycle, will allow you to run the marathon no matter how little sleep you had the night before the marathon. That is one less worry you have the night before. Kevin McCarey had one of his best marathons with no sleep the night before the race. *Hydrate! It Needs Repeating: Hydrate! Knowing it takes 3 grams of water to store 1 gram of carbohydrate in your liver and the muscles, the water you drink on days 5, 4 and 3 before the marathon is very important. Should you not drink enough water, your body will use water from the body to store the carbohydrates. So it would be possible to be carbohydrate-loaded but not well hydrated. If you are flying to your marathon, bring a liter of water for every 2 hours of flight time. Even then that might not be enough, but it will keep you from getting too dehydrated from being in a pressurized cabin. 245

*The Day Before: The day before the marathon, you will do nothing but hang around. Remember that if you go sightseeing by walking around, each mile you walk is costing you 100 calories. Should you walk 8 or 10 miles, you will not be able to replenish your energy stores in your legs by next day. Even then you possibly wouldn't feel it until the last 4 to 6 miles in the marathon. *Post Marathon Training: Do easy running for 3 to 4 weeks after the Marathon. After such an effort to achieve such a goal, there will be a letdown. Expect it, as it is normal. It is extremely important at this point to set a new goal for yourself. The goal might be another marathon in 6 months; or the ability to have a base mileage so that you can prepare for a marathon with a 16 week program; or a marathon a year for life; or assisting someone else prepare and train for a marathon. Remember the marathon is a metaphor of a lifestyle. You have proved to yourself that you could achieve a goal. You achieved something that takes effort, time, commitment, focus and determination. You now have a standard to measure yourself against when you are confronted by the goals and challenges of life. You now have the experience of having trained to accomplish what needed to be accomplished to do what needed to be done. Read George Leonard, on Mastery. Read George Sheehan's Personal Best. Your marathon has prepared you to live your life. Life, Be in it. Life, live it to the fullest and share what you have learned along the way. Goethe's wisdom heard twenty years ago continues to alter my perception of time: Life is the childhood of our immortality. Remember you are using the marathon to see where you are not only physically but also mentally. If you have listened to your body, you will find that the training you have used for running a marathon: scheduled training, pacing, hard/easy days, long/short days, --all apply to the Marathon we all run--LIFE. During these training sessions, if all goes according to plan, there will be nothing unexpected during your Marathon. Well, almost nothing except what your mind can create to distract you. The Marathon while run in the reality of the body is made up of two abstract concepts: TIME & DISTANCE (or space). We have created these two in order for us to compare. While we are always comparing, in reality since we are unique both in TIME & SPACE, we cannot be compared. The Marathon is not something you will or will not do again. It is a measure within yourself to see where you are at a moment in space and time. You have learned something about yourself. Should you hurt yourself in anyway, you may or may not have learned. If you are depressed, remember your body has the right to feel depleted after 246

such an effort. The purpose of the Marathon is to teach your body and mind to run well. Your best teacher is the student/teacher within yourself. LISTEN WELL. Running is a dance done gracefully or clumsily. GO FOR THE GRACE! *Post Marathon Training Week Week Week Week Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total 29 30 31 32 0 0 0 0 2 3 4 4 2 3 4 4 0 0 0 0 2 3 4 8 2 0 0 0 4 6 8 12 12 15 20 28 for a base with a 12 to 14 miler once a week to stay in marathon striking distance 247

1. Forgetting that while long distance training is a marvelous stress reducer; however once one enters their trance state, usually anywhere from 14 miles on, the amygdala can go into flight/fright/freeze mode in order to "survive." In that state the neocortex will find it difficult to regain control. The survival reaction will do just that: react. You can calm the amygdala through breathing patterns, a mantra, or recurring thought that attracts you to the finish. You will learn a great deal about yourself and your survival responses. 2. If you have had any positive or negative experiences of significant import in the past 6 to 12 months, the emotional impact may leak into one's marathon time creating a negative impact: Experiences like: new job, getting married, divorced, engaged, breaking up with significant other, birth of a child, death of a family member or close friend, getting fired, moving to a new house, buying a home, selling a home, illness of family member or close friends 3. Expectations of qualifying. Not running for a few weeks and expecting a specific time as opposed to just finishing. Sightseeing the day before the marathon. Worry over an injury; concern or fear of not finishing. Feeling great and that this will be a personal best. 4. Starting out 30 seconds to 60 seconds a mile faster for the first 3 to five miles. Starting at a great pace, e.g. 8:45/mile for the first mile but bumping it up to get mile 6 with the 7:25ers in sight. I usually have people go back and chart their minute/mile pace the first 8 miles to see what the truth was. The Oz Rule of Foot is that such a start will cost 20 to 90 minutes on to one's finish time. 5. Forgetting that one is a novice marathoner for the first 5 to 8 marathons. 6. Being sucked up into the psychic energy of the starting line crowd and now staying within one's plan. At times it is difficult as one has been minimally running for a week. One is carboloaded or even super loaded with energy. When fear or excitement come into play, similar reactions take place and one can easily go into a trance state from the euphoria of the starting line crowd. 248

7. Thinking that one has to break a 3:15 or a 3:30 or a sub 3 or a sub-4. This sets up an external barrier that one must overcome. Once over being a novice marathoner, the marathoner realizes that the marathon is a test to see what time will emerge from within...all things considered. 8. Diverting from the ritual preparation for the marathon. Diet, clothing, all bodily and mental preparations. 9. Getting in an ADD state the night before the marathon. 10. Forgetting that it is the sleep the 2 or 3 days before the marathon and the food ingested 2 to 3 days before the marathon that one is running on. Years ago, Kevin McCarey got no sleep before one San Diego Marathon and finished under 2:20 11. Believing one has arrived because of having run so many marathons that they can accurately predict how they will finish. 12. Forgetting that each marathon, like other things we practice for, can only be compared to similar experiences...after the fact. Each day, like each marathon, is a new experience; however we like to fast-past match the experience to something we already know or have experienced. 13. We let explanations masquerade as fact as to why we did what we did. The idea is to find the best explanation that leads to a successful outcome in the future. 14. Forgetting that the only time one is truly free from marathon training is when the actual marathon is being run. 15. If the spirit gives up or the mind goes to the finish line, your body is abandoned at that place along the marathon course to struggle alone. 249

Dr. Ozzie Gontang has married the mindful and mental training of 22 years of the Super Four Support Team & Psyching Team of the Int'l Assoc. of Marathoners to assist me. These Super-Four and Psyching Trance Phrases are word triggers to help me along every mile of my marathon. I think I may even make a recording of this for my smart phone or my computer so I can listen to it at least once a day as I prepare for my marathon. I am pleased that the voice of the Psyching Team will go with me every step of the way. Even as I read these words I am already going into a trance as I think about my marathon training and my upcoming marathon. The word hooks I am reading will keep me in good posture and good running form. Hook On! Head balanced and light. Head up! Eyes on the horizon! Jaw relaxed. I have a hook in the crown of my head. I have a fine unbreakable silk thread attached to my hook. Holding me up with the silk thread is a hawk, hummingbird or butterfly. I choose the ___________. It is hovering over me lifting my head an extra quarter of an inch with no effort, easily lifting me up so that I run lighter and easier. I now have a Sky Hook. It will be with me for all the runs of my life. During my last 6 to 10 miles if I need it my Sky Hook is attached to a quarter-inch carbon hardened stainless steel cable and I am being carried along by a whisper mode Chinook helicopter. It is hovering overhead allowing me to keep my head up. My head is balanced. I have energy and my neck and lower back are elongated and relaxed. The hovering helicopter allows me to continue running lightly over the surface of the earth. I am enjoying the word hooks of the Super-Four and Psyching Trance Phrases Eyes on the horizon: Keeps my head balanced on my shoulders and saves the trapezius and neck muscles a few hundred calories. Value: Take 5 to 10 minutes 250

off my time if keep my eyes on the horizon and not looking down 5 to 20 feet in front of me. Eyes on the horizon. My Sky Hook keeps my head up Relax jaw: This whispered phrase along the way keeps my face and jaw muscles relaxed. When I open my mouth, I remember I am opening my mouth where the jaw hinges. It is so relaxing to feel the jaw hinge relax and let go. My relaxed jaw can take off two to fifteen minutes off my marathon time because there is no strain. I am relaxing my neck and shoulders over the last 6 to 8 miles. I appreciate the Super Four Support Psyching Team I will share this with my marathon-training group. Much of the marathon is a state of mind. The Psyching Team places me in the right frame to start and finish well. These helpful words assist me along the way. The Psyching Team knows that I am in a trance state from mile 16 to the finish. I will heard the words whispered to me as I run those miles: Shoulders relaxed. Jaw relaxed. Eyes on the horizon. Run tall. Head erect. Breathe. Keep my form. These words will go with me now and for all my future marathons, races, and daily runs. I hear their voices along those last six miles saying: Focus. Relaxed Form. Stay smooth. Flow. Breathe. Super-Four and Psyching Trance have given me my Sky Hook. I am feeling Lighter Than Air Feelings I will see Balloons along the way. They help me to float lightly in the breeze, blowing me closer and closer to the finish line. They are filled with lighter-than-air helium, lifting me up. I can see them, lifting me because I am lighter than air. Head up! Eyes on the horizon! Along the course the Psyching Team has placed many balloons to remind me that attached to my Sky Hook is a giant helium, lighter-than-air, uplifting, floating, 251

carrying me to the finish line. It carries me and balances my neck. Shoulders relaxed, During the last 6 to 10 miles each time I see a balloon, my helium filled uplifting balloon attached to the crown of my head slightly elevates my head so my eyes are on the horizon. My neck is aligned and balanced on my relaxed shoulders and my mind says, "I can feel the muscles relax in my lower back. I balance my head and relax my neck and shoulders while keeping my eyes on the horizon. I love balloons that make me think of being lighter than air. Some of the balloons I see along the way will be imaginary All this happens when I see a balloon along the course of the marathon. Each balloon is there to help me keep neck, shoulders, jaw, eyes, lower back balanced and moving gracefully. At times I will breathe to the rhythm of my mind singing on the out breath. Out breath "Head" (silent and relaxed inhale) Out breath "balanced." (silent and relaxed inhale) Out breath. “Jaw” (silent and relaxed inhale), Out breath.” Relaxed." I want to help the Psyching Team. Along the course I will say aloud using my own name: (My name), Relax Shoulders! I know that there are others around me when they hear me telling myself to relax my shoulders, they will thank me for reminding them. I will smile to myself and laugh inside that I helped them in their trance state. I will feel good that I’ve helped these fellow marathoners by talking to myself aloud and saying: Relax Shoulders. Sometime I will catch myself laughing aloud by these people thanking me. 252

James Cox wrote: How do I treat blisters and how can I prevent them? Great question. Treat them with love and respect. You are their creator. Best way to prevent blisters is to stop the friction that causes the blisters. You might not want to call yourself a blister aborter. Your question is too vague for rec.running to be truly helpful. The assumption rec.running readers would make is that the blisters are on your feet...somewhere. One thing I just learned from someone who walked a hundred miles of the Compostella was when she punctured a blister with a needle she had it threaded and pulled the thread through the blister leaving about half an inch of thread on either side of where the needle went through. Covered it. The thread allowed the blister to continue to drain. To help you be more specific, here's a list of blisters: These are some of the locations for blisters on the feet and for each one there is a great deal of folklore to assist you:  Tip of toe blisters. Leaning too far forward? Digging in with toes? At the end of a marathon if the head droops the center of gravity is thrown forward.  Blood blisters under the toenail. Clawing with toes when tired or poor form?  Blisters on the bottoms of the toes. Which toes? What’s causing the friction? Clawing? 253

 Blisters between the toes. Which toes? Splay footed? Bunions? Shoes too tight  Blisters on the balls of the feet. Where on the balls?  Blisters on the arch. Wear orthotics? Area of normal insole of shoe?  Blisters on the heel(s) Overstride? Heel sliding when shoe stays still?  Blisters on the back of the heel(s). Shoes moving up and down in back? Heel striker?  Blisters on the outside of the foot. Where? What is rubbing? What’s happening to the foot to create that friction?  Blisters from shoes too tight. Added friction as feel swell?  Blisters from shoes too loose. Friction caused by shoe moving too easily?  Blisters on top of foot. Where? Laces too tight? Something on inside of shoe?  Blisters caused by nylon seam rubbing.  Blisters caused by glue glob irritating skin through sock.  Blisters caused by sock seam. Socks too thick or get too wet with sweat?  Blisters caused by sock(s) sliding down into shoe. Running form and style?  Blisters caused by running on extremely hot surfaces. Running on lava bed again?  Blisters caused by soap not being rinsed out of socks. Detergent bug? So once we have more of a specific location rec.running make be able to help you. 254

Some folklore on shin splints and ways to think about what causes shin splints. Here is a different way to think about shin splints and some things to do about them. I continue to believe that the shin splints come more from the overstriding and deceleration. I think part of it has to do with the overstretching of the shin that should be relaxing. However, it hasn't had time to relax or is semi-contracted. The contracting calf muscle is then stretching it. I define an overstriding as landing on the back of the heel of the shoe. If I were jumping up and down, I would never land on the heels of my shoes or on my heels if I were barefoot. So why run landing on the heels...and by this I mean the back of the heels if one were barefoot. For me the image remains that as I place my foot under my center of gravity, the rest of my body is catapulted forward from that platform. This means that the calf contracting isn't pushing the entire body weight forward. The body weight has been catapulted forward by the glut/ham on the planted foot (the platform), the thrust forward of the elbow/shoulder of the platform side and the quad/psoas of the leg coming through to counterbalance the torque of the platform side. Anyway here, as you mentioned would show up in a few days, some of the shin splint folklore that I have shared with several thousand people over the past 2 decades. In case you didn't see the post above or didn't get others on your ISP, I've compiled them: Shin Splint Folklore by Ozzie c. 2000 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. Folklore #1 Shin splints are from the posterior and anterior tibia getting tight and holding on and not letting go. Every step becomes a pain in the shins when running. Remember that the problem may be the calf muscles. That means the shins 255

have to work against muscles that only partially relax putting all kinds of strain on the shin. See article mentioned in #3 below. As you run and walk, let your toes relax. Often going up on the toes means the shin is being elongated...and if it is tight and holding on, the calves have to overcome the tightness in the shins...gradually the shins from being overstretched, tighten even more...and then your body realizes that it is even difficult to walk. As you stand during your day practice standing so that you can wiggle your toes at all times. Lean forward and notice how the toes dig in. That posture can also be a problem spot for the shins that get chronically tight and the running when the shins should be relaxing...that is when the calves are contracting...the shins only partially relax and the pain is that of ripping a muscle that doesn't want to let go. The ultimate muscle though which we have all passed goes from 0 cm to 10 cm. Now you realize the need to focus on relaxing as the crown pushes against that muscle attempting to force it to go to 10 cm too quickly. Breathing and relaxing can relax against that pressure. For the shins, it's also teaching the shins to let go. Everyone (except a few of us) attempt to strengthen and make the shin stronger rather than release the tightened and bound shin muscles. Folklore #2 Get on all fours on a carpeted floor with the feet off the edge of a step. Place a tennis ball under one anterior tibia. Keep most of the weight on the other knee and hands. Move foot easily up and down as you put more pressure on the tennis ball and roll it slowly over the belly of the shin muscle. Do the other foot the same way. See which foot is giving you the most pain. Folklore #3a The picture is of the railing I use. Hand high upper rail and a middle rail. Face the railing. Turn the feet and entire body so that it is 45 degrees to the bar. Place the anterior shin over the bar so that the shin muscle and NOT the shinbone rest on the rail. If rail is too high, use the middle rail. Slowly make a 256

small circle with the foot and slowly slide the shin down the railing. Do once or twice and then switch, facing the rail but turning 45 degrees in the other direction to do your other shin. Remember if you go too hard, too fast, too much, you'll only end up causing added problems, as your muscle will tighten up even more to protect itself from your intensity. Go for the grace. Also remember that folklore means that if something doesn’t' work for you, give it no power or energy but rather find someone who makes sense and whose folklore works for you. Folklore #3b One thing I've found over the years is that the peroneus, the muscle that runs down the outside of the leg - it everts the outside of the foot - often gets pulled and to protect itself it tightens- i.e. shortens. After the healing of the ligaments around the ankle, that peroneus (longus and medius portion) can remain in its semi-contracted state. This means it doesn't fully relax when the posterior tibial - its counterpart - lifts the inside of the foot up. Way to loosen it with someone else helping. Have your partner start about 3 inches above the anklebone. Hold as if you are going to strangle - fingers wrap around the lower leg, thumbs pointing toward each other or one thumb rests on the other thumb (if more pressure is desired). Have your partner use light pressure by pushing in with their thumbs as you make a small (emphasis on small), smooth (emphasis on smooth) circle. As you make small smooth circles with the foot your partner strangling your leg, slowly slides the thumbs up the peroneus muscle. The idea is that you can loosen the muscle from any adhesions and also you can loosen up the fascia which may be holding the peroneus from relaxing and going through it full range of motion. Usually after 3 or 4 times of small circles and your partner holding, walk. More often than not, you'll feel less pressure around the ankle as it can move more freely due to the freeing of the peroneus higher up the leg...which takes the tightness off the ankle area. The peroneus and posterior tibial are often called stirrup muscles as they invert and evert the foot. They are also postural muscles and therefore slow twitch, in that they help maintain correct posture when functioning properly. 257

To do the same thing, face a railing with a middle railing (see picture from web site). Turn your body 45 degrees and place the peroneus side of the leg on the bar, usually the lower is better unless you're very tall. Do the same foot movement as mentioned above to loosen the peroneus and the fascia that may be constricting the ankle from its full range of motion. Get back to us and let us know how it works. The web site picture where I have a group of people using the railing to loosen the belly of the calf muscle, gives you an idea of how to use the railing. The railing you want to use is the middle railing: http://www.mindfulness.com/of1.asp Folklore #3c > I have for the last couple of weeks had a pain just above my right inside ankle. If I hold up my leg and roll my foot to the inside, it causes the ankle to hurt. Snip- --- If I had that pain I'd look first to see if the posterior tibial had tightened up in response to the hill work. Second, I'd have the "deep tissue cross friction message" read: "Please do some work on my peroneus, especially the longus; and show me a few ways of how I might do that myself." >From what you've said, I'd look at my form to see where I was landing on my foot. I have been a strong proponent for ball/heel or midsole landing. That way I know that there is no overstride. Probably you're getting some overstride in you heavy workout, which causes the braking effect and causes the problem you mention. Folklore #4 I'd look at the posterior tibial, that muscle behind the shinbone on the inside. 1. You are seated. 2. Left leg crossed on right thigh so outside of left leg rests on right thigh about 3 or 4 inches above right knee. 3. Place right thumb below left shin bone closest to you so it rests on the posterior tibial 4. Right hand rests on the shinbone. 5. Place the left hand next to the right hand on the shinbone so that the left thumb rests on top of the right thumb. 258

6. Make small (emphasis on small) and smooth (emphasis on smooth) circles with the left foot so there is no (spelled NO) jerkiness – otherwise you're just straining tendon. 7. As you make the circle and the left toe goes downward, push in with the thumbs. With each circle move the thumbs about a quarter of an inch further up the leg. 8. Find the spot that creates most pain and push more lightly at that spot so as not to create excruciating pain and then move thumbs away first upward and then away downward, pushing harder so that you can feel the muscle under your thumbs let go. 9. If you push too hard, go too fast, wince the face, stop breathing because of the pain, go too deep; you'll get the reverse of what you want. 10. What you want is that posterior tibial to let go so that your circle can move easily. Usually if it is bruised, the blood came from up above where the muscle tear took place and gravity let it settle where the bruise is. 11. You'd like also to make sure that the posterior tibial is not flush up again the shinbone. There should be some space where your thumb can go up that groove between the posterior shin muscle and the shinbone. Or gradually work to get it back, since if it's not there, then your shin is holding and probably the fascia won't allow the muscle to go through its range of motion and also the micro tears of the muscle or at the muscle tendon junction of the posterior shin muscle has scarred and also decreases the range of motion for the posterior shin. Let us know how it goes and what you learn so that we can all learn if my folklore worked for you, or was just folklore that needed to be discarded because it didn't work. Good luck with your experiment of one. Also during my training runs I often stop and work shins, calves, haves and quads loose so that my training run might be broken up by 10 or 12 stops to massage out or rub out the sore spots. I can use almost anything along my running path to assist me as a tool to release or massage tight muscles. 259

6/27/94 Robert J. Racusin wrote: When I run, I noticed that my foot often hits the opposite shin, leaving smears of mud or dirt or even bruises. I have heard that this is a sign of being out of shape. Is that true, or is it just something in my stride? Some folklore. If you look down at your feet in the morning are they splayed out like "10 to 2" feet. Probably one foot is a little pointed out more than the other. What happens is that the splay along with the lower leg swinging forward catches the opposite shin/ankle as it swings forward from the knee. Something I heard from/read by LeRoy Perry years ago. As you stand brushing your teeth in the morning look down at your feet. If they are splayed, don't bring the toes in to get the feet straight; rather rotate the heels outward so that your feet are straight ahead (i.e. if you looked in a mirror, your heels would not be seen because they would be hidden behind the front of the foot). By doing this you have rotated your hips a little. Now bring your feet one or two inches in so that you are standing directly over your feet. Your knees can bend easily. Your feet, knees are aligned straight ahead. You've also slightly realigned your hips. About the shins/ankles getting kicked, I think it has more to do with the lower leg swinging forward like a pendulum because there is little or no knee lift. I think the shin kicking has to do with your overstride. It's during the overstride and the little or no knee lift that the splayed foot's heel swings forward and catches the opposite shin/ankle. Someone measured the splay of feet and found you'd run so many more steps per mile then if your feet were straight ahead. If you'll put your feet together so your toes touch a line in front of you, and then splay your feet a few degrees and then a few more, you'll see what I mean. 260

Someone also pointed out that the knees and toes are right angle hinges. With a splay the force vectors are still at right angles but the toes and feet are a few degrees off zero degrees. That pressure pushes at the joint. The irritation over the years causes a development of more cartilage at the first metatarsal that gradually calcifies. Maybe bunions are not genetic; it is just that we are great imitators at an early age of our parents and other role models. If you lock your knees using your quads and tighten your gluteus maximus you can feel how the glute max rotates you thigh to the outside. Most people do not know that the gluteus medius and minimus are medial rotators and help rotate the thigh inward. Update: With the Pose Method of “Pull” that is using the hamstring to pull the heel up into the “Pose” position one can no longer kick the opposite shin. If you find that you do kick yourself and leave marks, mud or bruises on the opposite shin, you are overstriding and landing on the back of the heel of the shoe. The more significant issue is that you are lifting your body with a vertical vector. That means you are lifting your entire body weight up so that you can swing your leg through. You hit the ground harder with each step. You decelerate with each step. Finally, if you lift yourself a quarter inch more than necessary each step, then every 48 steps you have lifted your body weight one foot vertically and that energy waste did not help you go forward. With Mindful Running like Pose, Chi, and Barefoot, you can do the same amount of training and reduce a marathon time by 20 minutes to an hour. Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton bought the ChiRunning book and used the 180+ cadence and “falling forward” concepts. In his book on Barefoot Running Step by Step he says: “By increasing my cadence and simply shifting my body weight —especially my hips —in front of my feet, I could feel gravity pulling me forward. Despite being exhausted and aching, I finished nearly an hour faster than I had six days earlier in Boston! 261

To know how to wonder is the first step of the mind toward discovery.
Louis Pasteur, chemist/biologist
The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.
Oswald Spengler, philosopher William Shultz wrote: Ozzie, Are you familiar with this problem? I think a lot of people mistake it for Achilles tendonitis. Any tips for controlling or curing it? I have five running friends who have had corrective surgery (with varying degrees of success) that involves pulling the tendon and bursa to the side and smoothing down the offending spur or calcium deposit. All had rather long painful recovery periods. Your thoughts? Thanks, Bill Dear Bill, The writing is in process. But wanted you to see what some of my thinking is on this matter. The following is written with an awareness of my biased thoughts, the self righteousness of my shadow side, and a continual drive that I have to understand 262

and to teach. My writings are best summarized as folklore. If my thoughts help you educate yourself, then use them. If not, don't resist them, just chuck them out and find someone that makes better sense and whose folklore works for you. When you do, share it back with me so that I can use that information to questions my own answers, learn, grow, and change.
The Drive To Teach
GAPO a truly zealous runner expressed his wish to teach others the truth about running. He asked his mentor what he thought about this. His Teacher said: Wait. Year in and year out GAPO would come back with the same request. And each time his Teacher would give the same answer: Wait One day GAPO said to his Teacher When will I be ready to teach? His Teacher said: When this excessive eagerness of yours to teach has gone. I believe that a lot of runners, a lot of orthopedic surgeons and a lot of sports medicine specialists mistake problems with the muscles of the lower leg for Retro-calcaneal Bursitis and Achilles Tendonitis. The problem to these muscles and their surrounding fascia are brought on by the various issues of tightness, imbalances, and injury that result in such symptoms as Retro-calcaneal Bursitis and Achilles Tendonitis When the only tool you have is a scalpel, soon everything looks like it needs to be cut. Where I go when injured or send an injured runner is to Tim Noakes’ Lore of Running to read his 10 Laws of Running Injuries. When I treat the symptom and don't see or diagnose the problem, I deal with the symptom and miss what causes it. A man is sitting by the riverbank just after the river makes a sharp turn in its course. Deep in contemplation, he is awakened by the screams for help. He takes off his shoes and shirt and jacket jumps in the frigid water and pulls out the 263

helpless victim who is in shock. He lays him down on the ground and makes sure he's breathing. When all of a sudden comes another screaming voice for help. He jumps back in the water and with great effort pulls the fully clothed woman to shore and attends to her. He is exhausted and is beginning to shiver when yet another scream is heard from a man further off shore being swept down the river. Our hero jumps back in, and with Herculean effort pulls this man to shore where he lays next to this most recent victim attempting to catch his breath. Up walks a man, who commends him for his bravery and courage in the face of such problems. When you catch your breath, you may want to go with me around the river bend and attempt to stop the man who's throwing all these people in. (As told by Lee Rice, D.O. Sports and Preventive Medicine, about change the medical field must make toward integrative medicine.) Like all other connective and supporting tissues, cartilage consists of cells called chondrocytes and intercellular material (ground substance). There are 3 types of cartilage: fibrous, hyaline and elastic. Fibrous cartilage is very resistant to all kinds of forces-traction, pressure, and shear. When this cartilage is put under continuous pressure, the collagen fiber content increases. Hyaline cartilage consists of numerous collagen fibers embedded in the ground substance and covered by it. (My layman's view is of collagen fibrils as roots growing into the bone substrate) Elastic cartilage consists of collagen fibers and a network of elastic fibers embedded in an amorphous ground substance. These elastic fibers make the flexibility of this type of cartilage possible. The common properties of cartilage: 1. Contains neither blood vessels nor nerves 2. in joint cartilage from synovial fluid. 3. 4. Nutrition provided by diffusion from capillaries on the cartilage surface or Aging process leads to decrease in cartilage's water content which leads to decreased elasticity Cartilage is tissue of low metabolism and limited regenerative powers 5. the activity and cortisone decreases it. 6. Activity of chondrocytes is affected by hormones. Testosterone increases If chondrocytes are stimulated by increased load requirements (e.g. traction) they respond by increasing their metabolism and adapt by increasing the synthesis of collagen and ground substance. Functional Anatomy In Sports by Jurgen Weineck 264

Year Book Medical Publishers, 1986: pp. 12-15. So from this information about chondrocytes from which the catchall problems of the knee get lumped together and called chondromalcia I come to this perspective: The more the increase in the synthesis of collagen and ground substance that is cartilage, the more cartilage is laid down. The further away cartilage gets from its nutritional sources, the more it will calcify. If the cartilage continues under extreme pressures more cartilage will be laid down on an ongoing basis. That build up is what shows up under x-rays and various scans as bone spurs and abnormal calcium deposits. My contention is that bone spurs and calcium deposits are the body's normal way of making sure that the tendon attached via the non calcified cartilage will not pull away. So the bone spur is nature's way of increasing the substrate under a tendon that is continually under stress because the muscle is in a chronic contracted state. If you are an orthopedic surgeon, you remove the result of the problem, the bone spur. However, the cause of the problem may never be addressed. Why is exercise so important to bone growth? Simply stated the muscles pulling again the tendon pulling against the cartilage pulling against the bone sends a message to the body to lay down more calcium so that the bone and the cartilage will be able to bear the stress exerted by the tendon. The chronic tension to the cartilage is either due to a mix of the fascia (the sausage skin around the muscle) being shortened and remaining shortened due to previous injury, poor mechanics or posture and/or the actual muscle remaining in partial contraction due to lack of flexibility from injury, previous injury, shortened fascial sheath, poor mechanics, or posture. Or the fascia of one muscle attaches to the fascia of another muscle or the fascia of the bone nearby. With your five running friends you begin to see some of the problems of not dealing with the cause of the problem from the outset. And also the conclusion that one can draw about what is the real problem You may begin to see why I talk a lot about massaging out the calves and shins, and talk about the fascia, and posture, and form and style of running. After you have thought about that, here are some other folklore chapters: 265

Caring for Our Friend, The Achilles Tendon Some Magic On Rehabilitating Sprained Ankles: Free the Peroneus Dealing with And Preventing Injuries to Calf Muscles Dealing with And Preventing Hamstring/Quad Injuries Healing Shin Splint Folklore and Prevention Posture: Its effect on Quads, Hams, Gluts : And Some Things to Do About It Proper Running Form and Style Prevents Most Injuries: A Non-medical diagnosis of a medical diagnosis 266

10/28/95 The problem is that the quads are extremely strong. They should be strong and elongated, but with all the running and then to add weight training, the muscles of the quad, and the hamstring (often because of all the sitting we do in front of our computers answering and asking questions) get shorter and stronger. The quads need to be massaged out. Remember that fascia is connective tissue that can shorten and can be stretched. So if the muscle is strong and shortened the fascia (the body stocking around that muscle) will tend to hold it at that length. So you can stretch but often you are not stretching the tight/shortened part of the muscle but the part of the muscle that can elongate---and you over stretch and it joins the tight bundle. Anyone have some dynamite or the hands of a Rolfer to loosen that connective tissue...and then the muscle. Anyway, some non-scientific thoughts about those grinding noises. See this chapter for more information: Knees Need To Be Kneaded 267

2/17/98 Steve wrote: I posted this last week but my news reader doesn't seem to get all messages at times and I'm left wondering who said what in the missing holes. “A weight bearing muscle cannot stretch...just another morsel for thought.” One of my favorite stretches is one I do after running and my calves seem to thank me the next morning. I stand with just my toes on a stair tread facing the stairs. I slowly lower my heels then raise up on my toes. I can't imagine that most of the muscles in my calve area do not bear weight during this, yet I believed that I've been stretching all this time. Could you explain the mechanics involved. First let me give you a la Aaron Mattes some stretches that he feels are contraindicated or questionable stretching techniques. Your muscles lengthen (antagonist) and are stretched more easily when the opposite muscle group (agonist) contracts/shortens (concentric contractions) and moves the joint in a shortening contraction (flexion). This lengthening of the antagonist muscles and its connective tissues is done without any active tension.
A word about eccentric contractions (called a lengthening contraction).
Eccentric contractions are the gradual releasing of the concentric contractions. An example of eccentric contraction would be you lowering yourself slowly from the balls (concentric contraction of gastrocnemius and soleus lifted you onto the balls of the feet) of the feet back down to the floor. The confusion about eccentric or lengthening contractions is the misinformation that "lengthening contraction" communicates. In most cases the muscles (which 268

have been contracted) do not actually lengthen, they simply return from their shortened (concentric contraction) to their normal resting/tonic length. The awareness here is that when you stretch a muscle you are going beyond eccentric contraction. If a muscle is performing a lengthening contraction is going back to its normal resting length. In a stretch of that same muscle you have gone beyond its eccentric contraction and now that muscle has to be in a relaxed state. Mattes talks about endangering the myostatic (stretch) reflex which protects the muscles. He sees this action and the holding of a stretch position for more than 1.5 to 2 seconds causing the muscles being lengthened beyond their tonic/normal resting length to receive greater tension. Remember you have gone beyond the stretch reflex because you are now straining/stretching muscles to their normal elongation. Now it becomes a danger to the muscle fibers being forcefully elongated. (Some of you have experienced overstretching a hamstring and noticing the next day how much tighter it is.) Now going back to you Steve standing with your heels off the tread of the step. You are lowering yourself so that your heels are now below the horizontal of the step. If you understand the above, then you have gone beyond your stretch reflex and the muscle, gastrocnemius/soleus which you are stretching are being strained under the weight of your entire gravitational body force. If there are knots in the soleus or gastrocnemius, (fascia wrapped tightly around portions of those muscles which were injured through overuse or being overstretched...and contracted to protect themselves from further injury), you are overstretching/straining good muscle fiber that when overstretched can be damaged. The end result of this good feeling stretch is that there will come a day when you will say, stretching does not work because you have a calf muscle which is almost totally bound up with fascia which like a tourniquet will not allow the muscle to move through its full range of motion (ROM). As John Jesse noted: “Fascia has a strong tendency to contract due to age, chilling , poor posture, injury to the muscle it surrounds, and muscular imbalance.” Contraction of fascia reduces the range of movement in body joints. You can begin to see why fascial release which is practiced by Rolfers and people of similar techniques works so well to assist someone get back to better balance and fuller range of motion by allowing those adhesions to be loosened from where they are holding unnecessarily to other fascia/muscles and/or bone. Something I'll mention but won't go into fully since I don't comprehend it enough to fully explain is the reality of "The Kinetic Chain." 269

In movement there is a chain of nerve firings that take place at various moments in the movement of any body part. After a surgery on the knee as part of physical therapy they use a machine to move the joint through its range of motion. Without straining any muscle it takes a joint through its range of motion so while healing there will be no binding of the surrounding muscles and tendons. In walking/running when the muscles within the chain of movement reach the correct position, the nerves fire to set in motion the next part of the chain. Simply by putting your muscles under an intense stretch, you can interfere with the normal firing of nerves in those muscles. The result is your normal, graceful body movement can be impaired. There is an elementalism that invades exercise physiology and kinesiology. The tendency is to look at each element and break it down into further and further micro-movements. In stretching you can see the same problem, like looking at the stretch of the muscle you are doing on the step. Isn't it interesting that the very words "Physiology of Exercise" and "Kinesiology" addresses the body in movement. It teaches what happens in movement but it's easier to post to rec.running and ask what other individuals have experienced...and with no sense of what the plantar fascia, or peroneus, or agonist/antagonist, or what is the normal range of motion of a particular joint, or becoming mindful of doing things right/correctly...of going slow to go fast, of realizing that running is one of the most graceful dances which man can do...when it is done correctly...and that is measured by lack of injury over time. Hopefully that gives you some ideas to think further about. Take care and keep the dialogue going so that as you understand further, I need to write less and less....and can just repost the verbal pictures. 270

George Sheehan talked about chondromalacia as a catch all term that basically says no one really knows what the problem is. If it's not a meniscus tear, or some issue inside your knee joint; it might be the muscle above the point of pain. Follow the tendon to the muscle above the pain point. Take your opposite hand and place the fingers under the thigh if you are sitting and the point of the thumb into the muscle. Push the leg into the thumb until you feel the pain where the muscle is holding and won't let go. Hold for about 4 or 5 seconds and relax allowing the thumb to sink deeper into the inner quad muscle. Push leg into thumb again for about 5 seconds and relax allowing thumb to go in deeper as the muscle relaxes. Do two more times. Or push inner quad muscle into thumb and hold for a minute, kind of an acupressure until pain diminishes or the muscle relaxes and lets go. Here are some of my thoughts/folklore on the quads. Most often when there's nothing that shows up on x-rays and various scans rolling the quads can be of great help:
Article 1
Jerry freedman wrote: I wrote here a few weeks ago. I had just started running and had a bad cramp in one calf in the soleus and Achilles tendonitis in the other. Ozzie replied (Thanks again) along with others who pointed me to Ozzie's stuff. I took a few weeks off, did all the stretches, the marching exercises, the "stirrup" squat and started back running (quietly). The good news is that my calf problems are gone. Even with the running my AT gets better everyday. The question I have is about my quads. To run quietly (as recommended) with a ball/heel strike I find I have to maintain a 271

sort of crouch. This is very hard on my quads. I am doing 2 minutes run/1 minute walk for 20 minutes and my quads can barely take it. Is this something I work through? Is it a technique problem? I already lift weights including squats and dead lifts. Jerry, If you were sitting on a bicycle seat and pedaling, you could sit erect and pedal. That's the idea in running so that you don't have to crouch. However the knees are bent. The idea is that as you run, you have to stretch to touch the ground. It's as if your hook in the top of your head makes it such so that you stretch to touch the ground. The picture above is where the people are on hands and feet with the quads across the lower railing of a handrail would be a way to massage out the quads. You can use a rolling pin on the ground or a piece of PVC, inch and a half or two inch. Most of the weight is on the forearms and toes and knees. Gradually you allow the railing/rolling pin/PVC to sink into the quads as you relax and allow the quads to let go by taking weight off the forearms and toes and knees. Do it lovingly and gradually. Then you can begin to roll forward or backward to work the quads loose always keeping most of the weight on the feet, knees and forearms/hands. Also continue to breathe and keep the face and shoulders relaxed otherwise you are transferring the tension from one part of your body to another. The various techniques of breathing used in helping women prepare for the birthing process follow the same idea of keeping the body relaxed completely. Regarding loosening up the hamstrings to release the quads more, here's a piece from a previous post: When sprinting, in the acceleration the quads (antagonists) get overstretched by the hamstrings and glute max (agonist). My folklore regarding hamstring pulls is that the quads are strong and shortened and the hamstring loses the battle against the quads. It is not about making the hams stronger, it is about getting the quads elongated and freeing up 272

the fascia around them. I read in John Jesse that hams and/or glute max account for 55% of the forward thrust when sprinting. (Ed. This percentage may have changed based on the work of Romanov, Dreyer, myself, and others who view running as falling) As they contract to catapult the body forward, the quads and the iliopsoas are supposed to be relaxing and stretching to their max. But if one's posture is prone to slouching, then the psoas is shortened and when overstretched as happens in sprinting, it contracts or tightens to protect itself. That tightening when joined by the iliacus is deep and often one feels it in the origin of the iliacus at the top of the iliac crest of the pelvis. It may be the symptom of the hamstrings having also tightened because they were strained because the quads only partially relaxed when they quads were to have been totally relaxed. So. Get two baseballs. Or more gently start with two tennis balls. Sit on a chair and let the tennis balls rest in the middle of the hamstring. Or you can go up toward the sit bones of the pelvis and roll across the tennis balls by moving your body side to side over the tennis balls. Up toward the sit bones you'll feel yourself going over tendons, feels like going over pieces of rope. Just sitting on the tennis balls can act almost like acupressure, which can let the muscle's tight spot or trigger point relax. If you want to see how tight one of the hams is, sit on the EDGE of the chair. One leg has the foot on the ground with the foot under the knee, as most of sit anyway. The other leg is out straight resting the heel on the ground. Close to a 45-degree angle between the ground and the leg. Stay slouched and lift up that straightened leg. Now sit up straight so that you are sitting on your sit bones and the body is erect. Now lift up your leg and you'll see that it's harder to lift up the leg because the lifting muscle iliopsoas has to now work against your hamstring that has been stretched by you sitting up straight. So work on the hamstrings and loosen them by massage with the tennis balls and them gradually go to the baseballs. Also practice sitting up a quarter-inch straighter during your day. Remind yourself to do it ten times a day and know that it will only last 20 to 30 seconds each time. This way you're not straining the hams or the psoas and gradually you'll elongate those muscles. But they're much easier to elongate if you're doing the rolling with the tennis and/or baseballs when you're sitting at your desk at your computer. Sit in a chair that has no back and no arms, so that you are practicing the erect posture of a good runner. Gradually as you stretch the hams, and psoas by good posture, it will affect your running so that the tone of the quads, hams and gluts will be such that their range of motion doesn't restrict the range of motion of the agonist muscle group(s). Let us know how you continue to progress. 273

Article 2
"Neil Riddoch, wrote: I am looking for a bit of advice. I have recently started to increase my mileage (outdoors, mostly on road) and in the last month or so my right knee has started to give me grief after running. It is a generally feeling of stiffness, slight discomfort not localized in any particular place but across the whole knee. It is particularly noticeable when going down stairs. It doesn't give me any problems when running but a couple of hours after and the next day it seems to stiffen up. From what I’ve read it seems to be "runners knee", I think I roll my right foot more than the left but whether that is the root cause I am not sure. I have read some of Ozzie's posts on this or similar, (Sept 1st on rolling pins and fascia release) and that is a long-term cure/relief, what I was wonder is what I should do now? Stop running for a couple of weeks. Cut down on my running. Only run on soft surfaces or treadmills. Wear a (neoprene) knee support. Seek medical advice. Or none of the above. Neil, The rolling of the quads or massaging them is extremely helpful in loosening the quad fascia. Once that happens, the muscles relax. With the pressure off the tendon the pressure is taken off the knee. The muscles going through their correct range of motion ease the compression of the joint. If the muscle only partially relaxes, the tendon pulls and compresses the knee joint. As I've mentioned in other posts, during a training run I may stop 6 to 10 times to keep loosening the quads or hamstrings. Freeing the quads and working on the hamstring by using the edge of a chair on them or sitting on a tennis ball or later a baseball as a way to acupressure the hamstrings will take any strain off the tendons and allow them to do what tendons are suppose to do: attach the muscle to the bone. Remember muscles relax and contract. If they only partially relax, then the tendon has to take up that tension. Tendons can stretch but that is not their function. It is the muscles that relax and contract. Loosen that which is supposed to relax and unnecessary tension to the tendon disappears. 274

If you are hitting on the back of the heel of the shoe as you run, as in heel striker, then you are giving your joints a beating. We are back to the exercise of lifting the knees and marching in place to see what running is about. Lift knees, lean from the ankle and gravity will do the work. If you are lifting your center of gravity with each step more than is needed, then you are coming back down to earth with a rather hard jar to the knees. If you are landing on the back of the heel of the shoe, they your running is also a deceleration with each step because of the overstride. Overstride defined as your foot is landing in front of your center of gravity. I do not know your weekly mileage so I do not know about cutting back. Practice lifting your knees as if you are marching in place. Then you lean from the ankle. Your feet will still be marching and gravity will begin to move you. Land softly ball then heel. As soon as the heel touches that triggers the lifting of the other knee. The transition means you don't have to jump up and down with each step. I'm for running on uneven ground so as to get the foot/ankle and leg able to do what they're suppose to do, adjust. I have an article somewhere that talks about FSOS (Flat Surface Overuse Syndrome) We will be watching as you play with finding out what works for you. As mentioned many times my stuff is folklore. If it works for you, use it. If it doesn't don't give it any (read: ZERO) energy and find someone that does make sense and whose folklore works for you. And when you find that, come back and share it with the others and me so that we can educate ourselves better. And finally when you can't find any good folklore, create what works for you and then share it back here at rec.running for all of us to play with and test and experiment with.
Article 3
Phil Margolies wrote: There are a number of popular stretches which are either unsafe for everyone or unsafe for anyone who isn't very flexible to start with - these include the hamstring stretch mentioned above, the "hurdlers stretch" (seated, one leg forward, the other tucked back under the body I've heard that this was an unsafe position. What exactly is wrong with this stretch? Is it too much stress on the knee? This alternative stretch does not stretch the quads. Am I doing it wrong? Phil, 275

First with the quads, I have people grab above the ankle so they are holding onto the lower part of the foot just above the ankle. My reasoning is that they can grab the foot but then they try to pull the leg backwards...which in my mind or way of looking torques the pelvis and doesn't get a good quad stretch. I have the people keep the knees parallel to each other. Often they pull the leg out to the side and that minimizes the stretch/elongating of the quad. So I have them knees close, imagine that they are pushing that knee into the ground and very slowly rotate the pelvis under which allows for the quad to be slowly stretched. Foam rollers are a great place to start, gradually you will find that fascia takes a great deal of effort to be teased away from where it is adhering. Do it lovingly. Know it will take time. Oh, the feeling of fascia letting go is similar to when someone gave you an Indian burn on your wrist. That was fascia letting go. But for the quad I am still the advocate of advocates for using the rolling pin, or piece of PVC, or round stick or wooden dowel and lay on it. As you do imagine that the quad sinks onto the PVC as you roll back and forth (consciously and without pain) to gradually work the fascia around the quads loose. You can do the same thing for the ITB. Someone said I should name my book: "Stretching the Imagination: Hanging around bars, gutters and dark stairwells with Ozzie." Ozzie teaching a group of runnersow to roll in the gutter to work out their quads or IT Band . It will be an underground classic in that the folklore works once a person gets the idea of what fascial release, releasing adhesions, deep tissue release mean...and realize that trigger points (it hurts when you push them) are where we hold tension...unnecessarily...and once the tension is gone, proper movement can be worked on more easily. For the hurdler's stretch, the rotation of the joint when the muscular structure around it is fighting from being strained often leads to other problems with ligaments and strain of muscles and tendon. Research showed that people who put their leg up on a table or bar so the leg was at 90 degrees to the standing leg...and then leaned forward grabbing their 276

ankle or foot...over an 8 or 12 week program of doing this 3 times a week gained about 3 to 5 degrees of more flexibility of the hamstring. Another group did the same stretch but did not lean forward at the waste. After the 8 or 12 weeks, their flexibility was between 9 and 11 degrees of greater flexibility of the hamstring. Reason: When you lean forward from the waist, you throw the pelvis in a counter rotation. This occurs when you lean forward from the waist. The pelvis rolls back and shortens the distance between the origin and insertion of the hamstring. You are stretching a shortened hamstring. If you keep the body erect and lean with the pelvis so the body moves with the pelvis, the pelvis (origin of the hamstring) is going further away from the insertion point of the hamstring. Images I use are if you lean forward from the waist it is more like a U-bolt. If you keep the body erect, the pelvis and upper body are like a lever pulling the hamstring further away from where it's attached. Think of your body as a pocketknife. The upper body and pelvis are one. The bend forward comes from the pelvis doing the bending and not the waist. Best way to do it is to sit on a table, so one cheek is on the table and the other leg is standing on the ground. (Use Telephone books or coffee table books or anything to allow your leg to stand and touch the ground. The leg touching the ground is straight ahead (foot and knee) and not toed out. Gradually as the hamstring stretches, you'll be able to move the standing leg further behind the pelvis. At first many people will have the standing leg straight ahead and out in front of the pelvis because the ham of the leg on the table is too tight. Or if it is really tight, then have the lower leg over the side of the table to start. The leaning forward comes from the pelvis and not the upper body. Just keep the upper body erect. To feel the hamstring stretch even more, push the heel away. The focus is on pushing the heel away and not on bending the foot back. Another way to get into this hamstring stretch is to sit against a wall or the front of a couch as you watch TV. Walk your sit bones, those bones on your pelvis on which you sit, back as close to the wall as possible. Most of us will find that the wall/floor is at 90 degrees. The curve of our back and our tight hamstrings do not allow us to bend at right angles with the wall. There is space between our butt and the wall. Use the wall as a buttress to hold the spine erect. Walk you sit bones toward the wall so you feel the stretch in the hamstrings but not letting them feel strained or pained. Gradually you will elongate the spine and lengthen the hamstrings so that you can sit at 90 degrees with the wall. Gradually you will be able to move your erect chest toward your quads. The hamstrings are elongating and allowing the pelvis to bend forward. 277

After you can do that fairly easily, then you begin to separate the legs continually walking the sit bones back. Gradually in a year or 6 you'll be able to rest you body on the ground between your legs. Once you start to get towards the closing penknife you can use cushions to allow you to rest and lean forward with little or no strain...using the cushions as support to take you to a stretch but not a strain. Should you strain, your muscles will protect themselves by.... you guessed it...shortening. Once you can get your legs separated a little and to help with opening the pelvis the working on the adductors, those inside groin muscles, you lay on your back on the ground and walk your butt towards the wall until you feet are up the wall and your butt is as close to the wall as possible, you’re sitting on the wall and your back is resting on the ground. Gradually you allow your legs to slide down the wall. Start || legs up the wall, then gradually legs \/...and finally you will have arrived ...it takes 4 to 12 years to get _ _. If you go any faster, you will have allowed your mental images to destroy your body's capabilities. Remember if you try too hard, you will always get the reverse of what you want. Like you can't push the river...patience is a virtue...or running like stretching is a dance. You can do it gracefully or clumsily. Go for the grace. The last piece of this is that once your hamstrings allow you to sit up straight, you can sit erect and balance yourself on your sit bones. You will not need a back of a chair. You will find yourself sitting on the edge of the chair on the sit bones. You begin to realize that when you sit back in a chair you are sitting on your hamstr ings and that allows the pelvis to tilt backward… shortening the hamstrings. All the above is folklore. If it works for you use it. If not, find someone else who makes better sense and listen to their wisdom.... or slowly listen to all with the belief that we all have a bit of truth and find your own way and share it with others...in places like rec.running to see if it makes sense. After 4 years, thanks to Yonson Serrano for passing the baton of the FAQ to me...Yonson later told me that no one else applied...feel like "Will someone please step forward and volunteer"...and quietly everyone else took a step back and unbeknownst to me, I volunteered. The truth of it is that I volunteered because I have loved this part of my life and learned so much...that it was time to have my answers questioned. And they are...and my folklore has become more grounded and better tested and tried, and re-tested and re-explained and debated, dialogued and discussed and reviewed and reexamined and experimented with to see if it worked. Remember: The knees need kneading. 278

Dedicated to Doug, Mike, Denny, Robert and You, Friends who continue to question the answers of answered questions and unquestioned beliefs on rec.running.
Bruce Abrams wrote: Thursday night I did 6 miles at roughly a 9:00 minute pace. Took Friday & Saturday off and did 4 on Sunday at about a 10 min pace (there was a light coating of snow on the ground. I felt great yesterday morning and worked out on the cross trainer at the gym for 40 minutes. About10 yesterday morning I got up to get some water and had a very sharp pain in the bottom of my foot, kind of where the front of my heel meets the back of my arch. It hasn't gone away or gotten worse and doesn't hurt if I'm just sitting, and doesn't hurt if I walk on my forefoot only. But, as soon as there's any weight placed on my whole foot, it feels like a knife cutting. Any ideas? Remember
The Stirrup Muscles (Peroneus and the Posterior Tibial) Are There to Protect the Plantar Fascia
When the peroneus longus and medius on the outside of the lower leg and the posterior tibial along the inside of the lower leg, behind the shin bone become weakened or chronically tight, these muscles, often called the stirrup muscles since they invert and evert the foot, don't act as they should. This problem with these muscles can allow the plantar fascia that is suppose to hold the arch of the 279

foot in place to take the pressure because the stirrup muscles are not working properly. This is one reason some coaches have runners balance on one foot on a two by four or perpendicular to a step and bending the knee a inch or two. This is the reason you see all the balance boards and balance tubes being advertised. Some coaches won't have their students even think of doing speed training until they can balance on one foot with no vibrations or trembling of the ankle. Other coaches have the individual lift off the heels about an inch and balance on the ball of the big toe and the ball of next two toes. They then while keeping the body erect bend the knees and lower themselves as far as comfortably able and then back up. They do several repetitions. Gradually they are able to balance as they go all the way down and then back up. The idea is that even when balancing on the ball of the foot, one can still wiggle their toes. The toes are not part of this balancing on the ball of the feet. The plantar fascia is taking the slack when the stirrup muscles are not working correctly and properly. The above is folklore. If it works for you, use it. If it doesn't work, then give it neither energy nor added thought. Rather find someone who makes sense and whose folklore works for you.... and use it. Or create your own and share it on rec.running to see it stands the test of being questioned. 2. Some Folklore to Relieve the Pain in the Arch Next, I would get a piece of water hose about 2 feet long. While standing with your feet straight ahead i.e. | | and not \/ easily move from one foot to the other with the hose ---|--|---- in the middle of the arch. Step on it so as to not create pain but to see how tender the arch/plantar fascia is. Start behind the ball of the foot and stepping from foot to foot, work down slowly the arch slowly. Stepping on the hose work your way down until your feet are stepping on the hose just in front of the heel With socks on, stand on a stair with the balls of the feet over the edge. (You are facing down the stairs) Slowly commence wiggling the toes and slide one foot slowly down the edge of the step. As the foot slides down the edge of the step you can put more pressure on the outside of the arch but just enough to feel the tightness...and NOT to create any pain. As the arch slides down the edge of the step, the toes will be pointed toward the step below at a 45 to 60 degree angle. | 280

-\ Side view of the foot sliding down the edge of the step. These are two pieces of folklore that have created numerous miracle cures from extreme tightness and pain. Let us know if they are of help to you. The same sliding downward motion of the calf can help loosen the calf muscles and alleviate the pain experienced by many in the Achilles tendon. 3. Some Exercises to Strengthen the Stirrup Muscles and Protect the Plantar Fascia Here's an exercise to help work these muscles Posterior Tibial and Peroneus (stirrup muscles) which help stabilize the ankle and are suppose to be working so that the plantar fascia does not have to take any excessive strain. Stand with feet about four inches apart so that the feet are || and not \/. Bend knees and place left foot so it is straight ahead and left heel is about 6 to 10 inches ahead of the right toe...and still maintaining the four inches apart. | =Left foot ...| =Rt. foot Allow your legs to straighten and shift weight so that weight is between the two feet. Lift onto the balls of the feet so that the heels are off the ground three-quarters of an inch. While on the balls of the feet, you should be able to wiggle your toes to prove you're balanced on the ball of the foot. (That leaning forward so that the toes have to dig in can be one of the causes of hammertoes.) 281

Keep your body erect, hands resting at the sides of the body, eyes ahead and on the horizon, and head erect. Keeping your body erect and balanced between the two feet, slowly lower the body as far as comfortable. At first you may need to touch the back of a chair, or wall, or table with one hand to maintain balance. At first you may not be able to go down very far because of tightness in the knees. (See Knees Need To Be Kneaded) Do 10 bends with the left foot forward and then 10 bends (as far down so that there is no knee strain) with the right foot forward. Do twice a day. Each day add another single bend of the knees until you get to twenty. Great little exercise to do while waiting in lines. As you get better you'll find that you can go down deeper and that also you don't wobble as much. The muscles you're using are the two muscle groups that keep you from overpronating: the peroneus and the posterior tibial. You are also working the shin and calf plus the bending of the knees with the body erect allows for the elasticity of the knee joints and the flexibility of the thighs. 282

Some thoughts about the healing and medicinal qualities of soaking your legs in cold, frigid water after a marathon or long run. There are a number of personal stories about why over the years I have practiced soaking my legs in cold water. 1. In the mid-80's I was invited along as a resource speaker to talk to a group of executives and their spouses about walking and running in good form and style. They held the weekend at the Alasal Ranch near Solvang, CA. We went for an evening to a horse ranch called the Flag Is Up, where we watched the owner show us how he could saddle an unbroken horse in less than half an hour. He also talked about how he taught his son a lesson when his son had not watered his horse. He gave him an empty glass and had him fill his horse's trough 12 ounces at a time. I was amazed to see him going with the horse's resistance. I watched him doing what the horse wanted to do until the horse didn't want to do it any more and then go with whatever the horse wanted to do next...and next...and next.... and next. Most of the time it was going one way and then the other way around the circular corral. Finally it stopped, and then watched as the horse did what Monty had told us he was going to do before the demonstration began. What amazed me most however was out in back of the modern stables was a pool of water. They lead a horse down into the pool that came up above the animal's haunches. The horse started moving in place, and that was when they told us that the horse was walking/running on an underwater treadmill. I don't know if they came up with the idea or what but it was amazing to see this horse running in place. They said that at first the horses would be a little spooked. However, once they got used to it, they loved running in the water and could go for quite a long time. The benefit for injured horses was in that the buoyancy of the water kept the weight off the troubled leg and the cold water was helpful in the healing process...and the horse could remain active. They also mentioned that when local runners from the junior college in the area were injured, they would come out to the horse ranch and run on the horse treadmill to rehab their injuries. 283

2. Tad Kostrubala once told me that when a deer or elk was injured or wounded that it would soak itself in a mountain stream. 3. In Del Mar where the Surf Meets the Turf, the trainers used to take the racehorses down to the beach and trot them in the water or just go into the water and let the horses stand. 4. Rich O'Leary from the Bronx was in the seminary with me my first year at Villanova. He had twisted his knee rather badly in a football game during our recreation time. He was placed in the infirmary. That night they put an ace bandage around his knee and wrapped a heating pad around the injured knee. The next morning Rich awoke in extreme agony. His leg had ballooned almost to twice its normal size. They later found out he had torn one of his knee ligaments plus some other damage. The doctor said that it would have been best had the heating pad not been used since it only increased the inflammation. 5. The world's best finish line is at the Catalina Marathon. One has to continue on for less than 100 yards to be in the cold salty water of Avalon Bay where you walk out to soak the legs and finally submerge to feel the cold water bring life back into an exhausted body as the core temperature starts to be lowered a degree or three and where the cold soaks its way into muscles that have been overworked. The cold waters decrease any swelling from damaged or injured muscle fibers. If the injured muscle swelled too much it could cause damage by putting too much pressure on uninjured muscle fibers. Yet over the years there have been very few people who've availed themselves of the healing waters. 6. Avenue of the Giants is one of those spiritual runs. When you do it, and especially when running under the canopy of the redwoods, there is the realization that a three-hour marathon or a four-hour marathon is not even a single breath in a life of one of these mighty giants. From the story that Tad had told me about the deer bathing in the frigid mountain streams, I decided one of the years to go sit in a small side stream. The water was so cold that I could only sit in it for 4 to 6 minutes at a time and them had to get out and wait for about 5 or 10 minutes before going in again. I did that for about 5 dips. I felt the difference the next day. I could walk down the stairs without my legs collapsing. When I sat down on the toilet seat, I didn't drop the last three inches as when the quads would go any further. Wasn't there a woman collegiate runner who jumped off a bridge during a run some years back and severely injured herself...or was it my imagination? Anyway, I remember at one point later in the race, running across a bridge where the stream filled by spring run off was fast flowing, clear and a blue green. It crossed my mind to jump off the bridge into the water to cool myself off. The cooling waters called me to relieve the ache of the soreness in my legs and the heat in my entire body. I remember actually wanting to jump...but something 284

broke the trance and I continued over the bridge and into the shade of the redwoods once again. 7. Many years ago, a group of us went to run a marathon created by Tad Kostrubala. It was the Lake Mary Marathon in Mammoth CA on August 15th, the feast of Mary's Assumption into heaven. The marathon was run on a 2.2-mile loop around Lake Mary that is a little over 9,000 feet. My wife had to leave that evening of the marathon for Santa Cruz to do a Y Workshop for Exercise Leaders. It was a drive by Greyhound from Mammoth to Reno to San Francisco to Santa Cruz. After the marathon we soaked for over an hour and a half in a glacial stream feeding Lake Mary. We'd be in it for about 4 or 5 minutes and them out for 8 or 10 minutes. She was amazed that after the marathon and the 8 or 9 hour bus ride with layovers, she arrived at Santa Cruz not feeling the effects of the marathon on her legs. For sprains, strains and other muscle injuries the acronym by the American College of Sports Medicine is RICE: Rest/Ice/Compression/Elevation. The icing is to keep swelling down since it can cause more damage to the injured area. When people are in heat stroke or when a child has an elevated fever, the recommendation is ice packs or cold compresses under the armpits, around the neck and in the groin area to lower the body's temperature by cooling the circulating blood. In heat stroke the fear is death or permanent damage to the brain or kidneys. The ice compresses dissipates the heat. Running around Mission Bay with Dave Groce we got on the subject that water dissipates heat. He mentioned some kind of pump that can empty an Olympic sized pool in a just a few seconds. He went on to tell me that when we see all the billowing smoke when a rocket would take off from NASA, it was really steam as the base of the launch pad is flooded with water to dissipate the extreme heat generated by the rockets. Sounded good to me. 285

Over the years at Rec.Running the issue of sprained ankles continually arises. Sometime, years after a serious sprain the pain around the outside ankle continues. Some feel it as an impingement, a pinching or tightness around the outside of the ankle. It becomes something that you just endure. That bump sticking out on the outside ankle is the end of the fibula called the malleolous. When one sprains their ankle by rolling to the outside of the foot, the peroneus longus and peroneus brevis attached to the outside of the fibula get strained or overstretched. To protect themselves they contract and the connective tissue around them may shorten and thicken to help in the healing process. That connective tissue is called fascia. Fascia plays an important role in causing an ankle pain to remain, long after the healing has taken place. Think of fascia as the stocking or sausage skin around a muscle Once the healing has taken place with the ligaments and swelling is gone, people often notice the discomfort around the ankle. They feel it around the outside of the ankle where that bump is. Ida Rolf talking about the impact of an injury or surgery on fascia says: The fascial tissue tends to become tenser and shorter as it heals, as all of us can verify from old or new scars. ...This fascial web connects and communicates throughout the body; thickened areas transmit strain in many directions and make their influence felt at distant points, much as a snag in a sweater distorts the entire sweater. To protect the strain or injury to the peroneus muscles, the fascia aids in the splinting of the muscle so it will not be damaged further. Remember that fascia has a tendency to contract due to injury, age, poor posture, and muscle imbalance. So the fascia around the peroneus remains shortened and unnoticed. What is noticed is the tightness or sense of pinching around the ankle. 286

As the person makes a circle with their foot, why do they feel the tightness in the ankle? What is happening is the peroneus longus and peroneus brevis tendons that go around the malleolous and attach at the first and fifth metatarsals, respectively are being strained. This strain is due to the peroneus muscles not being able to stretch fully since their sausage skin (fascia) is shortened due to the injury a month or 10 years ago. So often the sprain is gone but those muscles and fascia that splinted to protect the pulled muscles and strained ligaments do not let go. Those muscles that hold on are unknown by most people. They keep thinking ankle and forget the ankle residue of tightness and/or clicking may be a symptom. Those muscles and their fascia (the thin transparent film you see between the skin and the meat on a chicken breast) must be worked on through transverse friction, deep tissue massage or fascia release. Once that muscle group on the outside of the leg is freed up the ankle joint is freed up. T person feels immediately a fuller range of ankle motion. he ankle’s ease of movement almost feels like a miracle has happened. There’s no clicking and the I continue to maintain that the problem of the continual re-spraining of one's ankle is more a function of the peroneus remaining shortened by the original sprain and the fascia holding the muscle in that shortened state. Back to my soapbox about my reason for having people train on unpaved roads, grassy or uncompacted dirt is to train their stirrup muscles that are postural muscles (peroneus and posterior tibial) that respectively evert and invert the ankles. If people keep running on flat, level surfaces that are concrete or asphalt the level, flat surfaces create an overuse syndrome that never let the ankle act as the semi swivel (not anatomically correct) it is. My reason for having people run on grass and unpaved surfaces is to allow the ankle to do what it was make to do...adjust to the terrain. I wrote somewhere else about F-SOS for Flat Surface Overuse Syndrome. Paved roads create an overuse syndrome because those muscles never get taken through a wider range of motion and therefore shorten and the fascia then locks them in that position. (Ed. With Barefoot Running being championed by Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton and proper running form by Romanov, Dreyer, Abshire, and yours truly with Mindful Running and the research by Dan Lieberman at Harvard, more people…and shoe companies are realizing that getting closer to barefoot is in the best interest of the runner. If companies lookout for the best 287

interest of their customers because they care, the bottom line profits will take care of themselves) I think that the solution is counterintuitive. It's not the unpaved and uneven surfaces that are the problem. It's the paved even surfaces that never allow for the variability that the ankle needs to experience to maintain its range of motion and muscle flexibility. What To Do About The Tight Or Clicking Ankle Using A Partner Have your partner start about 3 inches above the anklebone on the outside. Hold as if they are going to strangle the outside of your lower leg- fingers wrap around the lower leg thumbs pointing toward each other or one thumb rests on the other thumb (if more pressure is desired) on the fibula and therefore on the peroneus. The thumbs are pushing in and upward to make the skin taut. Have your partner use light pressure by pushing in with thumbs as you make a small (emphasis on small), smooth (emphasis on smooth) circles with your heel. Remember we are trying to get you to stretch the ankle out of that constriction. As you make small smooth circles with the foot your partner slowly starts to slide their thumbs up the peroneus muscle. The feeling is that your skin is being pulled where the thumbs are holding the skin taut. The idea is your revolving heel is getting the fascia to slowly leg go. Your partner is just holding so that your rotations can the fascia to leg go millimeter by millimeter. Remember to keep on breathing and keep the rest of your body relaxed. You do not want to transfer that tension to any other part of your body. As you make the small circles, your partner is slowly sliding their thumbs up the peroneus as you feel your heel circles the pulling your skin as it slides under their thumbs. The idea is that you loosen any adhesions where the shortened fascia was holding the peroneus from going through it full range of motion. Stop after 3 or 4 times of small circles with them holding and sliding up the peroneus. Walk a few steps. More often than not, you'll feel less pressure around the ankle as it can move more freely due to the freeing of the peroneus higher up the leg. That takes the tightness off the ankle area. Now the tendons of the peroneus are not being strained since the peroneus has an increased range of motion. The peroneus and posterior tibial are often called stirrup muscles (from days when transportation was by horse) as they evert and invert the foot, respectively. 288

They are also postural muscles and therefore slow twitch, in that they help maintain correct posture when functioning properly. Just occurred to me: Were heeled shoes made so that the foot did not slide through the stirrup? Doing The Loosening On Your Own To loosen the peroneus on your own, face a railing with a middle railing. Turn your body 45 degrees and place the peroneus side of the leg on the bar, usually the middle bar is better unless you're very tall. Do the same foot movement as mentioned above to loosen the peroneus and the fascia that may be constricting the ankle for its full range of motion (ROM). As you make the small circular movements slide the outside of the leg slowly down the railing. Start about 3 inches above the anklebone and go to about the middle of the lower leg. If the circle made by the ankle is to big, it will be a jerky circle and you’ll just be straining tendon since the muscles won’t be letting go. So small circles start penny size. The circle is not made with just the front of the foot. The bottom of the heel is scribing a circle also. Imagine your foot is the bottom of an upside down pie plate and you get the idea how both the front of the foot and bottom of the heel are circling. As the foot makes the small circles at first imagine you’re screwing out the foot so there’s more space in the ankle. When the peroneus loosens up there is a better range of motion in the ankle. Remember to do this lovingly. If you make big circles, or do it too hard or too fast, your body will remember the feeling when it was originally hurt, and tighten up even more to protect itself. 289

Lisa Kenas wrote: I have sprained my ankle last night and am wondering how long I should leave it before I start running again. I am training for a half-marathon at the moment and don't want to leave it too long...any suggestions? Depends on how back the sprain is. Right now I would do RICE: Rest, Ice, Compressions, and Elevation. If you are able to walk but are limping, take small enough steps so that you do not have to limp. You're setting up neuromuscular patterns you don't want. I sent the post below to a fellow about a sprain that happened about a month before his post. His letter follows mine. Let me know if it is/was of any help.
When you sprained your ankle it was most likely on the outside. By that I mean your ankle twisted (bent) to the outside. It overstretched the ligaments and strained the peroneus longus and brevis (stirrup muscle) going up the outside of the lower leg. I have found that it is that stirrup muscle on the outside that few ever talk about. The tendency is to focus on the ankle. With the sprain, the stirrup muscle contracted from being overstretched and also as a way to help protect and splint the injured ankle. As the ankle healed, the stirrup muscle did not let go as the fascia (connective tissue which can stretch and contract) stayed contracted and was not worked on to let go. So with that muscle tight, you continually feel the tightness around the ankle. To start to loosen up the peroneus longus and brevis: (assuming it's a right ankle sprain, reverse if left) 1: sitting in chair, cross right leg over left so you can grab the right shin with the left hand. 290

2:The back of the left palm rests on the right shinbone (three inches below the knee). The fingers wrap around so you can grab that peroneus muscle. If you bend the outside heel upward, you'll feel the peroneus muscle tighten under your fingers. 3. To get enough leverage, use the left finger tips into the peroneus and the palm of the right hand rest on the back of the left hand's fingers. Imagine one of those hinged nutcrackers. 4. Bring right ankle up and bend the foot slightly out.(right toe and right outside of the heel rotate up/out ¼ "). You will feel the peroneus move (tighten) under your fingers. 5. As you relax the ankle, squeeze with both hands while the fingers move across the peroneus about a half-inch back and forth. (The physical therapist gives it the description of transverse friction) We will call it "rubbing back and forth across" the peroneus. 6. You should find that it is sensitive. 7. Make a very small circle with your right ankle, so that there is no jerkiness. As you feel the peroneus under your fingertips, squeeze a little harder and use transverse friction to begin to loosen up the muscle and the connective tissue around it. 8. The image is that the muscle is an onion with many skins. You only want to go through one layer at a time. If you work on it too hard, or too fast you will only irritate that muscle more and you'll get the reverse of what you want: the muscle will get even tighter and you'll end up spraining you ankle again...and again...and again. 9. Do no harm. Remember it is not "a badly sprained ankle." It is an ankle owned by and attached to the body of Lisa Kenas. If you find the right spot and massage it back and forth and then do the small circles (so small the foot scribes a perfect circle with no jerkiness or vibration) you should feel the difference after 3 or 4 minutes. (The ankle should not feel as tight as it did before when you walked on it.) Reason: muscles are supposed to relax and contract. Your peroneus could only contract and partially relax, thereby giving the feeling of tightness around the ankle. It may take 5 or 6 days of gradual loosening. When it feels tight work on in for a few minutes. Otherwise do it 2 or 3 times a day 2 to 4 minutes each depending on how it is loosening up for you. Remember this is all done with no hard, 291

extraordinary effort. Once you have loosened up the upper part of the peroneus, you can move your hands down the leg about 4 inches and as you make small circles with the foot, slowly squeeze and let go as you slide your hands slowly up toward the knee. The feeling is more that your leg is sliding away as you are holding it with both hands. It will be interesting if I have communicated the idea to you, so that you can get the feeling and the results you desire: a more flexible ankle or less or no pain at the 1st metatarsal (insertion of the peroneus longus) or at the 5th metatarsal (the insertion of the peroneus brevis). If I have or have not, please let me know. If you try the folklore and it has some positive effect, let me know how I could better word it so that you could have pictured it easier. If it works: it's a gift to you If it doesn't: Folklore David Tobin wrote: I sprained my ankle about one month ago playing basketball and it still feels awkward to walk on. I had x-rays taken and there are no broken bones. The swelling is down almost completely. The doctors have told me that it will just take some time to recover; just stay off the ankle and apply heat occasionally after the swelling goes down. Before the injury, I was running 30-35 miles/week and now I'm having exercise withdrawal. Other than rest and heating, are there any other ways to speed up my recovery? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 292

Anita wrote: I don't know much about anatomy and physiology so maybe someone here can clear this up for me. I am having a discussion with a group of people. Some say that only muscle tissue can be strengthened and connective tissue cannot be strengthened. Others have the opposing view. Which is true or are they both true? Are there any texts on the net anyone can point me to? Muscle tissue can be strengthened. Fascia is one form of connective tissue. Ligaments and tendons are other kinds of connective tissue. Connective tissue also includes: bone, cartilages, joints, aponeuroses (sheet-like tendons) as well as other tissue that surround the cells and tissues of the muscle tissue system. Fascia has a strong propensity to contract. This may be due to age, chilling, faulty posture or muscle imbalance. This contraction limits the range of movement and motion in the body's joints. Think of a body stocking that covers your whole body. Ida Rolf talking about the impact of an injury or surgery on fascia says: The fascial tissue tends to become tenser and shorter as it heals, as all of us can verify from old or new scars. ...This fascial web connects and communicates throughout the body; thickened areas transmit strain in many directions and make their influence felt at distant points, much as a snag in a sweater distorts the entire sweater. Fascia is connective tissue that forms a sheath around muscle. It is pliable and can stretch, but from injury or faulty biomechanics or bad posture the fascia can also shorten. When a muscle is injured, fascia shortens and acts as a splint around the injury. When the injured muscle heals, the fascia if not worked loose 293

can remain shortened and therefore constrict or limit the muscle's ability to move through its full range of motion. Fascia is similar to the long sleeve of a shirt. Your arm moves freely and you can bend your arm easily. If I grab a handful of the shirt and twist it like a tourniquet, you can't move your arm as freely. So people that do deep tissue massage or fascial release like a Rolfer, work on the fascia to loosen where it is adhering to muscle or to the fascia of another nearby muscle or bone. The feeling of fascia letting go is similar to the experience of an Indian burn. Stand up and place the back of you hand on a table. Push down and forward on the back of your hand so the skin is tight and won't slide any more. Now keeping the pressure, start to move your fingers attempting to touch the wrist or as close as you can to it. As you move the fingers you will notice that you can feel the pulling of skin on the back of your hand...you will know the experience as similar when you have a pair of tight pants on and you try and bend over. If you keep working on moving your fingers you will find that after several times of stretching this way, your fingers are much more supple and pliable. 294

c. 2001 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. & Lorne Sundby Over the years, the regulars who visited rec.running created a great place to try and figure out what was going with all things running. It was a place to go when they were experimenting with various training regimens. Looking at their shoes or different ways of improving their running, Playing with racing strategies, marathon training or new gadgets or software programs. A big part of time, however, was attempting to figure out what was at the root of an injury. What you have here is Lorne sharing all that he has been doing. He shares his concern for the impending marathon, and losing valuable weeks of training while figuring what is going on with his injured leg. Lorne Sundby wrote: Two weeks ago I started feeling tightness in my left calf. The first run, it went away after warming up, second run it wouldn't go away, third run it hurt like hell. So I threw in multiple rest days, lowered the mileage, iced the calf, etc. Officially now, two weeks of marathon training are in the toilet. It still hurts when I run. I carefully researched the pain to find out what it was. I believe I know what caused it - I foolishly tried to stretch the mileage on shoes. I was up to 475 on one pair and 425 on the other and was just about to switch to new shoes. I think both pair were on their last legs and the highish mileage (40+) I did for 3 weeks prior to the injury combined to cause the problem. I looked through dozens of web sites matching my symptoms to the descriptions and after thorough 295

research and analysis I've concluded I have an Owie on my left leg. Seriously, I think the symptoms it comes closest to are medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) more commonly known as shin splints. Peak Performance Online is a good web site, and based on its description I believe my problem is moderate at this point. Tomorrow was supposed to be a race - a 1/2 marathon, and the best 1/2 in the city, the race I enjoyed the most when I ran it last year. I went out for a trial run this morning to see what the leg would tell me and although it felt better today than in the last 2 weeks it still began hurting at 1 mile (better than a week ago when it hurt after 10 yards). So, stupid common sense will prevail and I will forego the race tomorrow. (Why do we always feel weak and inadequate when we do that?) Now the question is what to do next? Unless I get other inspiration, I plan to totally wipe out the next week of training. I'll cycle, do some circuit training focusing on upper body, and do some strengthening & stretching which targets MTSS. Then I'll try another short run and see how it goes. With luck I can start increasing my miles again, but then I have another problem that is how to organize the last nine (or less) weeks of training to the marathon, given the three weeks that have been toasted. Edmonton, Canada Lorne, I would first look at the left peroneus. If the left peroneus is tight due to residual fascial tightness due to a sprain a month, a year or 10 years ago and not ever released, the posterior tibial may have to work again your semi-contracted (when it should be relaxed) peroneus in addition to possible tightness in the gastrocnemius (Have always loved the sound of that word)/soleus area. If you are not bringing your right knee up and through fast enough, because of the tightness in the right quad or ham, it may be less of a counterbalance to the planting of the left foot, causing an overpronation which in my mind means your inside arch drops (see Note to myself below) and that pulls on the posterior tibial, which is already tight and not letting go because of the strain it is protecting you from and that you unknowingly created. For working on my posterior tibial, this is the folklore I use: 296

Oz's do-it-yourself exercise for a tight posterior tibial (shin): Exercise 1: Pushing a point using a clock metaphor for a time 1. I sit in a chair, erect. 2.I place left outside ankle above right knee. Figure 4 with left leg crossed on right knee. 3. My posterior left shin is in front of me like a keyboard on my lap. 4. I place my hands on shinbone keyboard so my fingers are resting on anterior tibial. 5. I place my thumbs on posterior tibial so tips of my thumbs are barely touching. 6. I point my left foot down and sweep it down and make a slight arc upward going from 6 o'clock (left foot point down) to 3 o'clock (counter clock wise). 7. I push in with my thumbs on the posterior tibial. 8. As I sweep from 6 to 3 o'clock, I can feel the posterior tibial activate under my thumbs. 9. At 3 o'clock I push in harder and keep pushing as I go clockwise back to 6 o'clock with my foot. I do that repeatedly, slowly and with enough intensity until I feel the muscle fibers start to let go and I can push my thumbs in a little further. (Again, I am not pushing to cause pain, but to use my thumbs as the most sensitive feedback mechanism attached to my brain.) 9.a As I do the pushing in from 3 back to 6 o'clock, I slowly move my thumbs from the lower part of the posterior tibial up to the upper part of the posterior tibial. 10. Once I can feel the posterior tibial let go after numerous small sweeps from 3 to 6, I then go from 6 to 8 o'clock. I now use the peroneus on the outside and the antagonist of the posterior tibial to stretch it. I continue to press into the posterior tibial to gradually get the muscle fibers to stretch in the knotted area. 297

A mindful thought to myself: This is all done with extreme love and care because it is the only left posterior tibial I have, and it is hurting from whatever misuse I've created for it. It is hurting and I feel its pain, because I have probably misused it over tens to hundreds of thousands of steps and the pain now is the accumulation of that knotted muscle afraid of letting go because I've hurt it so badly, it doesn't trust me. A Note to myself. When my feet splay out from the ankles that splay causes the posterior tibial to stretch. And since this muscle is involved in creating the medial longitudinal arch, when it is stretched, the arch drops.) 11. After several minutes of the above, I walk a little to see if I can feel the difference, which means the posterior tibial is letting go and I don't feel the immediate pain I normally experience when it is tight and not letting go and transmitting the tension from the semi-contracted muscle to the musculo-tendon junction. Often I remember the miracles I have created in people that the pain is gone after a few minutes of the above laying on of their own hands. Thank you GAPO. 12. All the above takes place after the initial inflammation, swelling and injury/bruising are gone. I use the above during my initial walk/runs of a few miles. At Mission Bay, I'll stop as soon as I start to feel the posterior tibial and find a bench or picnic table and work it out immediately. Gradually, as I can go further, I need less and less stopping to work out the shin. During all of my other training stops, I'm working on the muscles: quads, hams, calves, gluts, adductors, IT track and lower back. For those who have run with me, the hangouts are well known: bars, gutters, park benches, picnic tables, low walls, steps, and banked surfaces. 13. Once I know I need to get in deeper to knead the posterior tibial I simply place one thumb over the other thumb and can increase the pressure on the smaller area two fold. Hands are such marvelous feedback mechanisms. 14. When the fish is caught, the fowl is snared, the animal is trapped, and the net or snare or trap is forgotten. 15. People say about a good teacher: He/she has taught us well. When talking about a great teacher people say: We did it ourselves. Next article will look at: Oz's do-it-yourself exercise for a tight posterior tibial (shin): Exercise 2: Using a thumb plane or a plain thumb on knots in the shin 298

Rob Akee wrote: I have an aching pain about 4-6 inches above my knee. I ran 3 miles yesterday but it didn't hurt when I ran. Today, it hurt bicycling, and now as I sit here. Could it be a muscle problem? I have not had any incidents of late that I would think could cause this pain. Rob, The area you are describing sounds like the point where the musculo-tendon junction of the quad is. That is the point where the muscle blends into the patella tendon. If the muscle is tight and won't relax, it is pulling on the point where the quad inserts into the patella tendon. If you relieve the muscle you will relieve the tension of the muscle on the tendon.
Work On Quads
Get a broom handle; mop handle or some kind of rounded handle or a piece of 3/4" PVC. Lie on the floor and place the PVC or handle so your quads are across it or the handle is perpendicular to your quads and right in the middle of the quads. If you have a step to hang your feet off, all the better. Allow your quads to relax over the handle. Leaving the legs on the ground, stretch the right leg out as if you were going to lift it off the ground using the glut and hamstring. As you lift it, don't lift the leg but allow the quad to sink onto the handle even more. Normally the quad would be stretching when it is the antagonist muscle to the hamstring. 299

If you have a rolling pin, you could lay on it. Most of the weight is on your forearms and knees and toes as you lay on the ground. The more you take the weight off the knees, forearms and toes, the more the pressure goes onto the quads. You are attempting to get the quads to let go after being overstretched or being overworked because of tight hamstrings yesterday, especially during the last 3 or 4 miles of the half marathon. During the above exercise, remember to keep breathing and do not grimace but keep the face muscles relaxed. Otherwise you're transferring the memory of that muscle tension to another part of your body.
Work on Hamstrings
Sit on a ledge that you can slide off of. Wear some sweat pants or actually any kind of pants. Start to slide off the ledge and you'll feel the ledge's edge pushing against the hamstrings as you slide over the edge. Do that a few times to relax the hams which in turn will allow the quads to work easier as they're not fighting the hamstrings. In distance racing, the muscles are tighter on the second day after the event. Do some self-massage of the calves, shins, quads and hams. Sit on a tennis ball with the butt muscles to relax some of those muscles. The pictures show you some ways I've had people massage out the muscles using railings and gutters. Remember any of the above is not to cause pain. If you do it too hard, too fast, too deep, too painfully, you will only damage what you are attempting to relax. Remember these muscles tightened up to protect themselves. Muscles are strong and when stressed beyond their limit, they hold on and also they contract tightly to protect themselves. The fascia around the muscles also shortens to protect and splint the contracted muscle during injury. The pain you feel when someone works on a muscle that is not experiencing acute injury pain, is the pain of getting the muscle to let go. 300

What Others Do To Work On The Quads
Something else kinesiologists will do is have you sit on the floor with your legs straight ahead. They will take their thumbs and push in at either end of the quad muscle and push the two ends of the quads toward each other. They will then have you slowly lift the straight leg without lifting it off the ground. That is to activate the quad and get it to contract. As it contracts, they'll have you relax it and keep lightly pushing the quad together. They'll have you lift the straight leg, 3 or 4 times without lifting it off the ground. Once it is contracted the will have you relax it as they continue to lightly push the muscle ends together. Often this relaxes the muscle enough to reduce or totally take away that knee pain you are feeling.
Trigger Point
Another thing some therapists will do is trigger point. They'll feel around the quad until they find the point in the belly of the muscle where there is pain from the muscle holding. They will then push a knuckle or thumb into that spot slowly until you can identify that if they pushed harder it would hurt and be quite painful. They then have you continue to breathe. As they push into the trigger point where there is the knotted or painful spot on the muscle, they will have you slowly lift the foot off the ground without lifting the leg, that is just enough to get the quad to contract, which they will feel under their thumb. These therapists will have you relax your face, continue to breathe and relax your quad. As the quad relaxes they will go in a little deeper just behind the relaxing muscle, but never enough to cause pain. Discomfort yes, but not pain. They will do that 4 or 5 times. Each time going in a little deeper behind the relaxing muscle. Each time they will stay at the last point where the muscle relaxed. They will again have you tighten the quad. Each deeper level they can get to means they are getting the knot of the muscle to relax. When it is relaxed enough, often you heave a big sigh of relief. You've just let go of muscle tension you didn't know you had. You identified it only as a pain about 4 inches to 6 inches above the kneecap. 301

c.2001 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph. D. Gleshna wrote : 4. The Gontang-in-a-nutshell view of improper stretching. If there is a knot in a muscle and you stretch that muscle, the knot remains because you don't know that you even have a knot. You stretch good muscle fibers on either side of the knot. You proceed to overstretch the good/healthy muscle fibers on either side of the knot until they get overstretched and to protect themselves from your unthinking/unfeeling stretching they tighten to protect themselves and in the end join the knot.  One more time. What is a knot in the muscle actually?  So one should stretch because there might be a knot in the muscle?  A knot in the muscle can effectively be removed by what? The knot might be: 1. Scar tissue when a portion of a muscle was pulled beyond its limit and muscle fibers were torn. 2. Trigger point: a spot in the muscle that has contracted to protect itself and continues to hold from injury, chronic strain or tension. 3. The fascial constriction around a muscle injury that has healed. The sausage skin-like (enveloping sheath around muscle, connective tissue) that has the tendency to contract and stay contracted due to injury, poor or faulty posture, aging or muscular imbalance. My folklore holds that it is extremely difficult to stretch out a knot. Remember it is muscle or fascia which doesn't want to let go and protected you while your own body was healing the actual injury. 302

It got that way from its reaction to being pulled beyond its elasticity. From an injury, chronic poor posture or muscular imbalance the muscle or fascia at that point where it holds is unable to completely relax and let go (i.e. the ability of the muscle to go through it FULL range of motion (ROM). The muscle(s) contract(s) and only partially relaxes - thereby passing on the tension created by the antagonist muscle and the bundle of agonist muscle tissue that is chronically in a state of contraction. That strain is transferred to the muscle tissue that has more elasticity. If the elasticity of the muscle is limited by muscle bundle that is chronically contracted, the tension is transferred to tendon or tendons that hold the muscle so that it can work the various parts of the body to which it is attached. Tendons are NOT supposed to stretch. Tendons have little blood flow to them. You can see it when comparing the white gristle of a tendon to the muscle rich in red blood. Now you may begin to get the picture of why tendinitis is so hard to heal. Most people and many doctors still have not put together the connection between letting fascia and muscle move through its full range of motion and the problems with injuries when muscles and/or fascia pass the tension on to the tendon.... And then the tendon starts to pull against the bone. Now the body is pretty smart and my body says. Yo, Ozzie, you're trying to pull the tendon away from the bone, and we are not going to let that happen. So with every one of the million tendon pulls against the bone, the bone gets the message to lay down a little more cartilage...and a little more, and a little more. Little by little that little more lays down more and the little more that was first laid down that is cartilage is further away from the blood source. As it gets further away from its source, the cartilage that is made of calcium begins to harden...little by little. A millionth of a centimeter by a millionth of a centimeter. And one day you say, "The doctor looked at my X-rays and showed me the bone spurs which I have developed." Now when's the last time someone tried to explain in an easy to understand manner what is going on with the knots and bone spurs in your body. Sorry Bob, GAPO just got the better of me. I get carried away from time to time behind my velvet green electronic curtain. It's all folklore anyway. Some how it seems that our IQs are inversely proportional to our BQs. That is the smarter we are, the less we listen to the wisdom of the body that has survived since the brain was miniscule when compared to our brains today. The brain thinks it knows better and does not stop to think about the care and nurturing that the body needs. The brain continues to be rational and cognitive and cannot stop long enough to quiet itself so that the feeling and thinking body can teach it something. 303

A knot caused by contracted fascia or a portion of the muscle in chronic contraction basically cannot be stretched back into shape. That is why I use the term knot to describe it. Tie a knot in a half-inch rope...now try to untie it by pulling it. You get the idea. Also once the muscle bundle is chronically contracted, the fascia around that area can no longer be stretched. The fascial sheath needs to be kept supple by regular stretching that means the muscle is able to move through its full and total range of motion. Once the fascia is contracted, it holds like a tightened sausage skin. I had a revelation about a month ago when visiting one of my members in Vistage 29. Dave was trying out his new electric smoker and was preparing some ribs to cook. As we talked at his counter he struggled to pull off the white sheath that in on the inside of the pork ribs. He actually was unable to pull it off. He tried to cut it, and it just as difficult to get this knife through. Then I realized that what he was attempting and failing to peel away was… You guessed it: fascia. Greatest example I have seen since Dan Denenberg took me to UCSD and we dissected the leg of male cadaver in his 60’s who was thin and sinewy. I never realized how strong fascia is and how strong tendons are. Think about it. The patella tendon attaches the quadriceps via the upper part of the patella and then by the patellar ligament into the tibia. You can imagine how strong the insertion point of the patella ligament is as not to pull off. Most tears in adults will take place at the point where the quads come together with the patella tendon. The people who deal in the fascia are people who know the fascia as a big body stocking that can get glued to the muscle and bone that it contains. Physical Therapists who know, Massage Therapists who know and do deep tissue work. Rolfers and all those offshoots work at releasing the shortened, contracted, holding fascia and chronically tight muscles. You can effectively remove the glued together muscle bundle with its contracted sausage skin sheath by hands, knuckles, elbows (one's own or another's), using rollers, edges, ledges, The Stick, or baseballs, blunt objects, or anything that can help release the trigger point or knot or constricted muscle bundle AND release the fascia around that area so that the muscle can once again achieve its tonic state where it can achieve maximal stretch without any strain or stress. That 70+ percent of the people with whom I've worked didn't know they had a knot in their calf until I had them roll the belly of the calf muscle back and forth on a railing. This tells one a lot about how little we give to the actual biomechanics, physiology and kinesiology of the container that carries the brain around. The 304

brain is too busy to listen to the thinking body and instead perceives its life-giving container as an unthinking body. This is the body, the unthinking body, which many take to the doctor or someone else who takes money to give them things to do and medicines to take to heal their unthinking body. The only problem is few people take the time to assist you in creating the thinking body that injures itself infrequently and when it does, the thinking body and its wisdom stored in the brain knows what it needs to do to heal itself. Bob thanks for asking the question. I have another beginning chapter for my cat to ghost author. My cat was telling me yesterday at breakfast over a bowl of Meow Mix and Kashi about Iyengar's yoga/ stretching is something he has practiced his entire life. My cat said that everything Iyengar learned he learned from watching his cat stretch all the time. It was an interesting conversation. 305

What To Do With A Pain In The Outside Of The Foot Karlovitz wrote: A couple days ago I ran a couple miles on a treadmill. I do not run often (2 a month) but am trying to do it on a regular basis. The day after I ran I started to get a sharp pain in the outside of my foot. This only hurts when I walk not when I apply pressure. Does anyone know what this could be and about how long until the pain stops, I am going skiing in a week. Facts:     Relatively new shoes (not worn out). Running/Jogging on treadmill 5.5 - 7 mph on a 4 incline. 3 miles. Not overweight. Thanks in advance for the help. With a "Sharp pain in the outside of the foot" the first thing would be: Be more specific. The problem is: You didn't tell us where on the outside of the foot The possibilities are:  By the pinkie toe  Behind the 5th metatarsal and on the outside of the joint  Behind the 5th metatarsal and under the joint on the outside  Halfway between the metatarsal and the outside ankle  Just in front of the outside ankle  Directly under the ankle bone  Just to the outside and behind the anklebone. When students asked Lee Thayer he was counseling: "What should I study?" he would reply: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Often they would answer: "I don't know." and he would reply: “Then study anything." So in keeping with Lee's observations: "The pain is going to stop when the pain stops." Or another way of looking at it is: "The pain will stop when you do something to alleviate or stop what is causing the pain." Without knowing where the exact pain is, I can offer no advice. If it were me and I was having pain on the outside of my foot, these are some of the things I would 306

do based on the folklore I picked up over the years and also not being a medical doctor. Two things I would try knowing where my pain is located: Stand on a tennis ball directly in the arch of the foot and lightly push down on the ball as a sort of acupressure on the arch. Wiggle my toes. I would read: Understand & Prevent Plantar Fascia Injury If the pain is located toward the back of my foot, this folklore might help me: Rehabilitating Sprained Ankles: Free the Peroneus And finally the pain may have to do with my anterior shin being tight and causing other muscles to work harder leading to my outside of the foot pain: Healing Shin Splint Folklore and Prevention And finally if I am running splay footed \/ and overstriding, i.e. landing on the back of the heel of the shoe, the pain on the outside of my foot may be the result of my arch dropping and straining the posterior tibial (stirrup muscle behind the shin bone) that's causing the symptom due to the strain on the outside of my lower leg (Peroneus) Your Piriformis May Effect Your Splay Feet and Bunions: Thank You Leroy Perry And finally it may be compensation as my foot adapts to my running. But as Alfred Adler said when talking to a group of psychoanalysts.
"When you have done all the research and know the exact cause of the illness or problem, you must say to yourself: 'It could be different'"
As my dear friend and colleague in virtual reality, Doug Freese, says in his signature line: Caveat lector. (Reader beware) 307

Practice makes permanent Perfect practice makes perfect
~ Anon
We do not learn from our experience We learn from our interpretation of our experience
~ Lee Thayer Motivation is something that many people continually seek. We may seek it from books or magazines. We may look for motivation from videos or audiotapes. We may look for it from people we admire. I have always been interested in this thing called "motivation." Motivation is a noun. Often when one takes an active verb and turns it into a noun, it is called a nominalization. That is, one names an active verb and then defines it as a noun (person/place or thing). By naming something one allows oneself to remain on the surface and not get involved with the feeling or emotion associated with or by the verb. So "motivation" is the condition of being motivated. So we look further and find that "motivate" is defined as providing motive. And finally when one sees that a motive is "the goal or objective of one's actions" one realizes that one's actions occur when one has set a goal or objective for themselves. Therefore motivation cannot be externally delivered. It occurs when the individual sets a goal or objective they want to achieve. I cannot motivate you to be a concert pianist or a prima ballerina, or a top professional in golf, or tennis, or Formula One racing. It, motivation, occurs from within. No one can make you do anything. No one can make you do nothing. You set a goal or an objective that you would like to reach and decide to do the necessary actions for you to reach that goal or objective. Here are some thoughts Dean Brittenham talks about to athletes of all levels at the Scripps Clinic Elite Athlete Program. 308

"
Our brains are wired to either solve problems or reach goals. The brain needs clear-cut goals, objectives or problems on which to work. The goals that our brain seeks to achieve are mental images, or mental pictures, which we create by the use of our imagination."
~ Maxwell Maltz, MD If you want to get the results that winners get, you must first think like a winner thinks." W.D. Stables summarizes it very well when he talks about "Think Like A Winner!" So how does a winner think? Here is a list of the ten core beliefs that are unique to all peak performing men and women. Consider each one carefully, and imagine what your world would begin to look like if you held the same beliefs and made them a part of your day. 1. Winners are not born they are made. 2. The dominant force in your existence is the thinking in which you engage 3. You are empowered to create your own reality. 4. There is some benefit to be had from each and every adversity. 5. Each one of your beliefs is a choice. 6. You are never defeated until you accept defeat as a reality, and decide that you are defeated. 7. You already possess the ability to excel in at least one key area of your life. 8. The only real limitations on what you can accomplish in your life are those you impose on yourself. 9. There can be no great success without great commitment. 10. You need the support and cooperation of other people to achieve any worthwhile goal. Finally, a much used phrase: If you think you can or if you think you can't, you're right. 309

Sorry I couldn't give you any motivation. Some of thoughts that may or may not be interesting. Hopefully, you now have some thoughts to give you a motive to do what you need to do to accomplish what you set for yourself to accomplish. I have one last point of interest. The word "act" comes from the Latin: ago/agere/agi/ actus. The Latin verb means: "to do." So if you act at it long enough, there's no difference between your acting and your doing. So in coming full circle, let me say: Motivation starts from within. 310

Int eresting where one’s thoughts end up being shared. I was looking up some info on Barefoot Running and came across this quote quoting me from a 2001 post of mine on Ball/Heel/Ball Is The Correct Way To Run . I am pleased to have an impact on barefoot running and teaching that there is a proper running form. In a March 30th, 2004 Yahoo Group on Running Barefoot post Jon commented on an article on Barefoot Running principle of barefoot running. by Runner’s World editor, Amby Burfoot. As a postscript he added that ball/heel/ball lessons I shared has become a primary Welcome Amby to RunningBarefo ot.org’s Yahoo Listserve. Over the years, from long before RunningBarefoot.org days, many of us have been able to enjoy very much your articles and reading of your running achievements and races, including friends along the roadways such as Barefoot Charley “Doc” Robbins (which notes Ken has posted on the RunningBarefoot web site). Incidentally, during those years, we’ve found out that Amby is short for Ambrose, but we’ve never been able to figure out Burfoot. Now we know! - jon ps - we sincerely hope that, even with your Runner’s World and many, many other time consuming duties, you’ll be able to check in once in a while and, if time permits, share some of your vast knowledge and experience with us. For exampl e, I don’t think
rec.running FAQ founder and San Diego Marathon trainer Ozzie Gontang is a barefoot runner but his ball-heel-ball/forefoot landing lessons
have become our primary principle of barefoot running. 2 Comments... What do you think? 1. 311

Barefoot Ken Bob said on November 24th, 2009 at 11:30 pm Ozzie, You’ve had an impact on reducing impact for barefoot runners. Twelve years ago, you and many others helped me prepare for my very first barefoot marathon, which, though it was on mountainous trails, with log-jumping (later crawling under), stream crossings, rocky trails, and pleny of mud, I finished half-an-hour faster than my first (and only) shod marathon 11 yea rs prior… Thanks for all you contribute to running barefoot and otherwise. 312

June 14, 2007 / Posted in Mindful Running , Running Form & Style The following are collection of running coaches who have focused on running form and style. They have shared their thoughts and wisdom through their writings and websites. The caveat being: Runnicus be wareacus. I am more and more leaning to the import of gravity in running and that it is gravity that plays a most significant role in horizontally moving one’s body at running speeds over the surface of the earth. If that is true and can be shown that there is no toe off/ push off as Romanov and Fletcher’s research holds, it will show the importance of a correct or proper running form to increase speed, or distance, while preventing injury. The issue remains that people will hold onto their positions and their beliefs. To confront means to search for the truth. And since our positions are always interpretations of reality, it is more a matter of a dialogue of increasing our understanding of the body in motion. DaVinci said several hundred years ago as he observed people in motion: Walking is a controlled fall. If that is true, then running is a controlled fall at a faster speed. So the issue: if elite runners can move gracefully over the surface of the earth, what stops all runners from adopting a sense of moving gracefully over terra firma without the firma creating the terra on the road to infirma…especially if one falls. Each runner is an experiment of one. If one will run mindfully one realizes that the less vertical displacement in horizontal movement the better. Weight lifters realize that in lifting mindfully the less horizontal displacement in this vertical movement the better. If you march in place you will notice that you do not hit on your heels first. Rather the ball touches first followed immediately by the heel touching down. If you continue to march in place by lifting the legs and touching down ball/heel, and you lean your erect body forward from the ankle a half a degree; you will still be marching in place and you will be living DaVinci’s observation…a controlled fall. The more the angle from the ankle increases the faster the fall and the more distance is covered and the quicker the following leg has to be brought through in order to maintain “a controlled fall.” 313

Oct. 26, 2003 These are the people I’ve come across who have been thinking and writing about the phenomena called running: If you think you’re doing something correctly and if incorrect it may be years before it shows up as an injury. As I’ve said for years: Running is a dance. You can do it gracefully or clumsily. Go for the grace! This is what I’ve collected in the past few year regarding people who have thought about proper running form and share those insights at various running and training venues. Update: People who are thinking & teaching about Proper Running Form and Style People I like who think: proper running form and style These are some of the people who I believe share or shared a life long learning process regarding proper running form and style: There’s a truth that weaves through all about being able to teach running as a skill, a graceful dance, and something that one can educate oneself to do. Besides liking my own folklore on running form and style, in no particular order, these are some others who I think have shared their view of good running form and style with a good many people: Dr. John Gilbody’s preserving of Gordon Pirie’s work: Nicholas Romanov, Ph.D. POSE Method Danny Dreyer’s ChiRunning Coach GP’s Run Tall Run Easy Luca Speciani’s Zen & the Art of Running Arthur Lydiard and his writings Hal Higdon’s coach Fred Wilt. Percy Cerutty and his writings 314

Tom Miller (running friend from the 70’s. He was a major in the Marines. Moved to Utah and got his Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology, also played with form and style. Developed an adult scooter) Programmed To Run. Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton TheRunningBarefoot.com David Sypniewski of BarefootRunner.com
Ozzie Gontang and Mindfulness Running: Proper Running Form and Style (ebooklet) based on my 36 years at the San Diego Marathon Clinic and 14 years as Maintainer of the rec.running FAQ, and 35 years as a Running Therapist Updated: Dan Lieberman Ph.D.
PI in Harvard’s Dept. of Evolutionary Biology on Running Barefoot Just Google: Barefoot Running Dan Lieberman Danny Abshire, Co-founder of Newton Running Shoes: Natural Running Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton: Barefoot Running Step-By-Step jon g wrote: 11-17-2003 Even though some of us have tested (albeit unsuccessfully) different variations (e.g. simultaneous ball/heel landing), the ball heel-ball motion provides the most comfort for barefoot runners - and heel striking is too painful to even consider. In addition to the valuable cites on Ozzie's post (the key, in this ball-striker's opinion, being his own), the following ball/heel/ball testimonials are taken from a handout prepared the July 2003 Seattle stop of the RunningBarefoot Summer Tour. Incidentally, as is becoming a barefooting tradition, several barefoot runners will be opening our 2004 season at the San Diego Marathon on January 18, 2004. In the meantime, other barefoot ball-heel-ball advocates can be found at the Dana Point, California Turkey Trot (11/27) and at various early December Jingle Bell Runs throughout the country. BarefootJon 11-29-2003 Following are some excerpted references to the ball-heel-ball technique provided to interested runners during the July 2003 Running Barefoot Festival at the Seattle stop of RUNNINGBAREFOOT Ken's Summer Tour. Ken Saxton (RunningBarefoot.org founder/webmaster): "It is not the lack of artificial cushioning, but rather the artificial heel first landing, encouraged by modern shoe design, that has led to the epidemic of impact injuries among runners. The body has natural shock absorbers that surpass any modern shoe's ability to absorb and return energy to forward motion. These consist of allowing the foot, ankle, and knee to bend naturally, instead of trying to force our running 315

technique to conform with the design of a running shoe, which, for the most part, is designed for fashion, not function. The key to longevity and speed is: Land soft. Push hard!" Hal Higdon. "Run Fast." Hal Higdon Communications (1992) Roadrunner Press, P.O. Box 1034, Michigan City, IN 46361-1034. TEN TIPS ON RUNNING FORM #3. heel-first is quite incorrect . . . it jars the body excessively and can be done only at very slow running speeds. BALL/HEEL/BALL the Correct Way To Run, Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D. (1998) http://www.Mindfulness.com/ Director of the San Diego Marathon Clinic and maintainer of FAQ on rec.running on the Internet. - Man is meant to run Ball/Heel/Ball!!!!! Heel running on the back of the heel of the shoe is way behind the actual heel of the foot. Run bare foot to see what I mean. Almost all running shoes worn by the mass of runners have very thick heels and soles and don't let you feel where you land or how hard you land. From: Applied Kinesiology by Clayne Jensen & Gordon Schultz 1977 McGraw Hill p. 290-291 ". . . at full speed only the forward part of the foot contacts the surface. The sprinter runs on the ball of the foot." Strength, Power and Muscular Endurance for Runners & Hurdlers by John Jesse 1971, Athletic Press. ". . . optimum performance with economy of effort: , , , (c) ball-heel-ball-toe action of the foot" The Running Pose is . . . on the ball of the foot. This creates forward movement, with the least cost (energy use), and the least effort. The end result is faster race times . . .. http://PoseTech.com/pose_method/index.html
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Dec. 29, 2000 Thanks to Erik Sten for reminding me about Bunions. The bunion is usually a result of the feet \/ rather than | |. Keeps pushing out the cartilage out and the cartilage calcifies and voila, le bunion. You might want to take thee to a Rolfer or someone that does postural integration and the problem more often than not is in the hips that create the splay. Leroy Perry had people rotate the heels out first to straight the hips and then bring the feet together so they were aligned | |.
Piriformis
What it does: Piriformis rotates your thigh laterally (turns it outward). Piriformis abducts (ab (Latin) from/away from; duco=lead, direct [ad=to or toward]) or turns the thigh away from the body when your leg is flexed. Piriformis is attached onto the front of the sacrum (origin) and inserts into the top of the femur (insertion) - sort of at the top and inward on the greater trochanter. Piriformis does most of the work when you turn your leg outwards. You now can see how the hyper-tense (overly tight) gluts which has as its job of laterally (outside) rotating the thigh. That rotation or turning the thigh outward So if the piriformis does most of the work when you turn your leg out along with the gluteus max which laterally rotates the thigh, when these muscles become hypertonic (overly tight) they assist in rotating the entire thigh...and the lower leg and foot also go along for the ride. So more than likely, you'll often see that when you stand or walk or run through some water and look at your running foot prints they look like: 317

../ \ ../ \ and not | ..| | ..| and when you stand up brushing your teeth in the morning or standing around not thinking about how you're standing and you look down at your feet, you will see: \/ and not ||. Now to correct this you you'll bring the front of your feet \/ together ||. But the problem is that, if you go back to what you've just learned from the info about the piriformis and the glut max, you'll say to yourself: "Hmmmmmmmm, if I turn the front of the foot inward, I won't have done (never good at English when I speak to myself) anything to the piriformis or the glut max. How can I best effect those muscles which may be a big part of my splay foot stance?" Ah now I see what Ozzie's talking about. And you'll say to yourself, "Oh, that's why Ozzie thanks Leroy Perry to this day for showing him some of his chiropractic intuition and folklore at a workshop which helped Ozzie understand how to effect the foot at the origin of the splay footed problem." When you are standing \ / and want to get your feet to align | | 1. View your feet. Note if the feet are \ / evenly or more \ | or | / or some ankle between _ _ and | |. 2. If your feet are \ /, turn your heels outward so that if you were looking straight on into a mirror you would not be able to see the inside of your heel like you can when you look at your feet and you're standing \ /. 318

3. Now that you can't see your heels because you're standing | |, lift one leg and bring it to a position so that it is directly aligned underneath your hip. Think of the legs as two columns upon which your pelvic is supported. 4. By turning out the heels first, you're countered the lateral rotational tendency of the piriformis and the glut max. (Now isn't that sweet.) Two more observations: 1. If you stand in front of a mirror and tighten your butt muscles you'll see the thighs rotate to the outside. You don't even know you're using the piriformis since it's so deep inside...just like you know you are using the psoas to kick a foot ball or kick your dog. 2. In "Preparation" in Tai Chi, you'll notice that you start \/ and then to get into your "Beginning" stance you rotate the heels out to get into | |. When that happens your knees when they bend, bend straight ahead. Ahhhhhh. Well maybe you don't say "Ahhhhhh" to yourself because you don't know what the hell I getting at. Okay, Okay. If you chronically have a tendency to have hypertonic piriformis and gluteus Maximus you can now relate to why people call you "tight assed." Now trying to run like that \ /, and now ever thinking that your legs and feet are suppose to track | |, gives you some sense of the system upon which you stand, walk and run, and realize that those unnecessary torques and twists do have their effects over the seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years because you're doing it all the time... unconsciously. You're practicing to stand in improper form and style and you're not even thinking about it, let alone doing something about except when you consciously stretch and workout... and when you compare that to all the unconscious exercise you do by the way you walk, stand, sit and move... you realize that 7 or 10 or 20 hours a week of exercise is nothing. Because if you worked out 20 hours a week, slept 56 hours a week, you still have over 90 hours a week that you're awake. Albeit unconscious, when you are sitting, standing, walking and moving without awareness: It's not what you do that gets you in trouble. It's what you do wrong and don't know that you do wrong or incorrectly...all of those unconscious seconds...that gets you in trouble. Every injury, every overuse syndrome, every ache and pain you have related to physical movement started with a millisecond of unconscious improper movement...that you did but didn't know that you did, 319

because you never thought about it because you were unconscious thinking or worrying or daydreaming about something else. It's not what you know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know that just ain't so. Sometimes it feels good to be a pain in the cerebral glutei and piriformis of people who suffer from psychosclerosis (English: hard headedness). I know I suffer from it, doesn't everybody? Never mind. ---end of article---- A post to rec.running from Rich Barkan: been there, done that I'm picking up this thread in the middle. I read with interest Ozzie's recommendations about foot position and had some flashbacks to my own nightmare. I had a piriformis issue back in 91-92; from what I recall, the muscle was essentially atrophying from underuse. The big muscles were doing all the work due to my logging heavy effort daily long runs without any real cross training, i.e., overuse leading to a breakdown in my form (which wasn't that great to begin with). After a couple of months of no running and physical therapy (including guided stretching, ice, electrical stimulation and voodoo), I was able to begin running again, paying attention to foot placement. The key to prevention of a reoccurrence has been a combination of awareness of my footfalls, my trusty leather orthotics, and, most important, consistent stretching (before or after the workout) and varied workouts. Mixing speed, hills, easy days and long runs. In short, proper training and the yoga-position piriformis stretch teamed with stretching of the other muscles in the area that the Dr. Maffetone has indicated. The proper stretch was the key, as I wasn't able to find the right position until the PT showed me. Regards, Rich Barkan not a doctor, just an aging runner. A post to rec.running from GILBOA who wrote: Good information from Ozzie. Just to throw in one item, and demonstrate that it's sometimes more complicated, many other muscles also serve as lateral rotators, including the psoas, iliacus, sartorius, some of the adductors, quadratus femoris, internal and external obturator, and superior and inferior gemellus. Most of these muscles, including the piriformis, are easily evaluated with manual testing by a skilled practitioner. Sorry to get carried away. And that's why I've hung around rec.running for 6 years: to have my answers questioned, clarified, illuminated, and rectified. Oz 320

April 12, 2001
Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
I.Clement Stone (or was it Moe or Curley?) While we speak about so and so setting world records, it can only be when someone creates a concept, and a static concept at that. It's like catching a piece of hurricane Hugo in a box to take home to show your friends what a hurricane is like...or catching a bucket of Angel Falls to share its power and majesty. For me world records are created to show what is humanly possible. The problem is that we then believe that someone is the best in the world and we treat them as if they're not of this world...are above all the others...and they begin to believe it. It's all about interconnectedness. Competition derives from "cum peto" or "seeking with others." The emptiness for many who competed or didn't compete in the '80 Olympics left many athletes never knowing who at one moment in time when competing with the best in the world would draw the energy to do what was before considered humanly impossible...at that brief moment in time. We continue to want to see people "break" world records. We don't talk about it but there's the unspoken assumption of beating, defeating, or winning at the cost of someone losing. It will be awhile before we find a society that looks at the creation of a "world record" as a tribute to all who have gone before and as a pointer or indicator of what this group called "the human race" can achieve once they conceive and believe that something is possible. Life is about "making" world records not breaking them. World records can only be made because someone drew a line in the sand and said, "This is the best in the world. This is the record." And someone said, "Ya wanna bet on that?" People are talking a lot about World Class athletes in this Olympic year. I wonder who will break the world record in the human race. The problem is that a world record or the human race are concepts and like space and time they are constructs or fictions that do not exist in reality. Things that exist in reality can only be experienced or intuited. As soon as we created "human race" we 321

removed by that generalization the unique individuality of each person existing. Something was lost. And something was gained. It allowed me to communicate what my thought was, but it also is not the same thought as yours since each of us has had unique experiences to get us to where we are. Welcome to Madison Avenue and in the same paragraph a little test drive around metaphysics. Anyway, I just watched VH-1's programs on the Legends and caught the program on the Bee Gees followed by another hour on Stevie Nicks. Having experienced all of their lives, the story they continue to live is that it is about doing what the "gods" have destined for us to do. Stevie's commented about not doing it differently if she had it to do over. To me that speaks about the biggest gift or world record that one can achieve: Living long enough to look back and realize that it is all about relationships and being and being grateful. It is all about the people who have touched our lives and inspired us. And we in turn being able to touch the lives of other and inspire them. They inspired us by the lives they have lived or the stories that they told us. Their inspiration started a flame burning within... that only extinguishes several minutes after one's last breath is taken. And for some by what we leave behind in story, poem, art, deed, or music we live on for ages to come. I spoke to the Rockin' & Runnin" group of the San Diego Track Club this morning after their 22 mile run. My talk was about the mental/psychological part of marathoning. As I walked away and got into my car alone, I thought: "After 25 years of teaching and coaching running and being, I am grateful for the being that the practice of marathoning has allowed me. Good night. And Jennifer thanks for the fish! You hooked my sole today. 322

©1998 Austin "Ozzie" Gontang, Ph.D.
Steven Lavallee wrote Is it true that Galloway advocates walking breaks every mile of the marathon? What's next, lawn chair breaks served with lemonade and back rubs. Get with the program folks, the marathon is run, not walked. Did Phiddipides (sp?) stroll to Athens with news of victory in the battlefield? If you cannot run the full distance, step aside and allow others who put in the extra training and preparation to complete the task properly, in the true spirit of the event. Diego Tamburini responded: I run with one of Jeff Galloway's groups and yes, he advocates a one minute walking break per each 5 or 6 minutes of running. The program is mostly aimed at people who are running their first marathon and therefore it is very conservative. It does not prepare you to become competitive, but it has allowed many of us to experience the thrill of
completing a marathon.
Yours is a very arrogant attitude. You know, some of us practice sports just for the fun of it (in the true spirit of the event, as well). If you were right, only Olympians should be allowed to practice sports. By the way, Phiddipides dropped dead when he arrived to Athens, according to the legend. And there are no rules about having to run all the distance. You are and elite runner, you should know that!
Sorry I missed the original post. The marathon for me is one of the last frontiers of personal discovery. In the true spirit of competition, "Competo" meaning "seeking with (others)" each of us run alone with hundreds or thousands of other runners. Here's a paragraph from N. Gardiner's Athletics of the Ancient World, Oxford, 1930: 323

"We have no means of estimating the performances of Greek runners or comparing them with those of our own times. The Greeks kept no records. We hear of a runner who could outpace and catch hares, of another who raced a horse from Coronea to Thebes and beat it. Various feats of endurance are recorded. Herodotus tells us how Phiddipides ran from Athens to Sparta in two days, a distance of a hundred and fifty miles. It was the same Phiddipides who is said to have brought to Athens the news of the victory of Marathon, a story commemorated in the modern Marathon race which is of course a purely modern event unknown to the ancients. But all this is too vague to be of any value for comparison. Such scanty evidence suggests that the Greeks generally attained a high standard of running, especially in long distances." p. 140 The gentleman, who without legs lifted himself the whole marathon distance, over 2 days, does not run. Linda (can't remember her last name) with Cerebral Palsy who walked the distance with her canes did not run. I remember seeing her finish in about 9 hours in London in '85. Talk to the people of the Achilles Track Club. Talk to the thousands of walkers from Teams In Training. These and all walkers who have completed a marathon have found something within and without. “The Spirit of the Marathon” has touched them. Each marathoner bear witness to the experience of covering a measured distance of 26.2 miles. From there it becomes the experience of each of us being called to be Athlete, Poet, Philosopher, Artist and Hero. You might call it the Marathon lifestyle. It is that "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." The marathon is the metaphor that a lot of us use to challenge ourselves in becoming world-class humans. You cannot talk about it. You do it. And in doing the marathon it impacts how we think and who we are on the road to becoming world-class humans. 324

This chapter will take you four hours to understand. Go to Archive.org
. Under Moving Images search for: Century of the Self. It was produced by Adam Curtis for the BBC in 2002. It is a four-part series about the impact Edward Bernays, the father of Public Relations, has had on the 20 th century in the United States and in the world of business, government and politics. His influence and that of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, was focused on us as a mass society needing to be controlled. The reactions of the 60’s was an attempt to set us free to expressing our individuality and uniqueness. However, both business and government used the marketing to the individual’s values and lifestyles to make us even more susceptible to being manipulated by outside influences rather than freeing us. If the Mindfulness Revolution as expressed in the book of the same name is to be a revolution, it would be good first to understand some of our history regarding the mindlessness we are experiencing. We have forgotten that we are herd/pack animals. And as such it is about social relationships and trust between a community of individuals. Lee Thayer’s words are true about us creating our culture through our ideas and explanations. And then the culture we have created creates us. In business, if you want to see the business you deserve; look at the one you have. If we want to see the culture we deserve; look at the one we have. We speak about being free here in the United States; yet what will be our impact on the rest of the world and on the future of our children’s great-grandchildren when as a consuming society we have forgotten that we are in this world together. Now watch the Century of the Self. So that during your runs you can become more mindful and less mindless. Remembering: 325

A short chapter that takes four hours of watching a documentary that is food for thought now and during your runs over the following years. After than it will be a lifetime of creating the future that is good for all mankind and us. 326