last few days

So the DVD arrived, I watched it, and started reading the book. It seems like a clinic is the best way to go, but there isn't currently one scheduled anywhere near me. So I went ahead and started learning the drills. After about 5 days of just doing drills and short runs, I was not feeling any shin pain. Pretty exciting, considering how inflamed they were when I quit running a week or so earlier. I went ahead and ran a mile around the track, just really enjoying the lack of pain.

After posting a video and getting some opinions from some Pose veterans at the forums on the posetech site, I decided to go with the advice of a really knowledgeable guy, Jack, on the message boards. He suggested sticking with a few basic drills for a while, and running only 30-40 meters after performing a drill. I could do a little more running, but only barefoot. I pouted about this limited program for an evening, and then decided that it was preferable to injury.

Here's my day by day workouts, you might have to get the book or DVD to decipher the lingo if you're not a Pose person.

Friday: 2x30s. each leg, pose stance; 2x30s pony & change of position; 4x10 meters forward pony & forward change of position; 40m run after almost every drill, incorporating what's going on in the drill; 4 laps easy barefoot jogging on the track/grass. I feel as though I made a very small breakthrough in that I felt a quicker pull--that part made a bit more sense today.

Saturday: I did drills about the same as Friday without the barefoot running. I was at a mini track meet that my running club put on to help time the races. It started before I got started with the barefoot jogging.

I slipped up big time on my pledge to focus on drills, and volunteered to run the 800 in a sprint medley relay because a team was missing a person. It was probably not smart, but it sure was fun. I ran the first lap in 86, trying to focus on the pull, and mentally preparing myself to get passed by a faster teammate who I had a 30-40 meter lead on when I took the baton. As I was approaching 600m, I still hadn't been passed and was feeling pretty good. My competitive insticts kicked in and I started kicking pretty hard around the turn. I really did not want to get passed on the home straight and I went all out through the line. I didn't get passed! I ran a 2:43 split, so I ran 86-77, some serious negative splits. I was concerned about breaking 3 minutes, so it was nice to know I had a little more strength than I had imagined. First 800 in 10 years. And most importantly, I never felt the shins. J said I looked good, but I definitely appeared to pushing on the home straight.

Sunday: Same as Friday, but with 5 laps of barefoot jogging. I was pretty distracted during the jogging because I was watching these three guys do a workout. Two of them got completely broken down only half way through it, and I felt sorry for them. Anyway, I think my form suffered a bit because I could not seem to concentrate on the pull, and I felt the faintest of shin twinges towards the end of the last lap. Have to work on that concentration.