Awesome Running

Yesterdays run was marvelous... 1hr20minutes of running along Jericho Beach, UBC and SW Marine Drive. The weather was perfect, clear skies, sunny, not too hot, not too windy. My shin splints have been gone for quite a while now, mostly due to 5 months of work on my technique/form/gait than a magical miracle. Cadence is always slightly above 90, maybe 91/92/93, midfoot strike, heels high on the return… It’s hard to describe, but my last couple of runs have been effortless, fun, fast, pain free, floaty, just magical!

Training with some sort of physical injury is doable; I used to run 30km a week on shin splints and left knee pain for about 4 years. There was nothing I could do that would stop them (or I that’s what I thought at the time). I tried many different shoes, running surfaces, treadmill, strengthening the lower legs, everything! My run splits went down during that time, but mostly due to fitness gains, and little because of consistent running. I was forced to take 2 weeks off at the time, just to come back, run another month, and repeat. My running had to be spaced out with 2 to 3 days in between; otherwise my shins would not take it.

Last December I had enough; I took 4 weeks off from running, and was not going back to the same old story. Technique was the key for progress. I wanted to run better, faster, pain free. Feel that “float” that runners talk about, run effortlessly for once, feel running like I feel when biking; smooth, natural… I slowly started to work on cadence and foot strike, then moved into relaxing the lower body and straightening my upper body to the “ideal” position, keeping my heels high on the return, driving my knees high, landing my feet underneath my center of gravity. Well, it worked… I have seen huge changes in my running form, endurance and speed over the last 5 months. Running finally feels GOOD, and running splits are going down drastically.

Running this week (current training week ending tomorrow)
-Friday: 50min Track (5x2km main set)
-Saturday: 0.5hr Tempo on Treadmill at 5%
-Sunday: 1hr Treadmill increasing speed every 5 min (moderate to fast)
-Monday: Off
-Tuesday: 1hr20min Long Run
-Wednesday: 50min Track (10x1km main set) (Coming up later in the afternoon today)
-Thursday: Off

Message to take away: If your running is giving you shin/knee pain, your swimming is giving you shoulder pain, your biking is giving you low back pain; look at your technique and form and find improvements. Once you do, you will be more comfortable, smoother and faster…

Facundo