new video/old frustrations

I had rather high hopes for the new video, but I don't think it represents much progress, objectively speaking. I am at a point where I believe that my understanding of what constitutes good Pose technique has advanced past my ability to execute the technique. Looking on the bright side, I am glad that my understanding of Pose has improved. I can take some satisfaction in the fact that I know where I need to go, whereas before I had trouble seeing much of anything in the video. I have learned a lot, even if my body can't quite put the knowledge to use yet. I am very much looking forward to the Pose clinic.

In watching J at the second PA cross-country race of the year, I was able to check out the downhill running form of the guys as they pounded down a long, steady downhill at the end of the race. It wasn't too steep, and it was interesting to notice how several of the guys who seemed to be picking off other guys were using a pretty high cadence, while some of the guys looking like they weren't doing so well looked kind of like those antelope that spring upward quickly and then glide through the air for a long time before taking another step.

breakthrough or broken?

I worked out today and started telling myself to think about pulling before the foot actually hits the ground. I think this worked well, I think I was pulling a lot faster. Or, I was doing that dreaded "flipping" thing that Jack was talking about. I will have to get J to take some video to find out. Maybe we'll do that when he gets home from work and I can post to the pose message board and see what people think.

The suspense is killing me.

It hasn't been perhaps the best week since I last blogged, but we're all about highlighting the positive, so here goes.

I had a nice time in Am. Samoa, but conditions were not great for practicing pose. I was super busy with work, and there were a couple of times I could have gotten outside, but for the insane tropical storms with sheets of rain. Then there's about two days shot due to travel. I think I only worked out twice in 11 days. So it's good to be home, and good to be back to my schedule. Today I did about a half hour of drills and finally started to understand what's going on with the Switch drill. I'll have to keep playing with it, but I started to get the idea.

I am going back to a more or less single minded concentration on the quickness of my pull. In browsing some pose forum topics recently, I read one of Jack's that was a kind of mini-breakthrough from a theoretical standpoint. He was talking about how the pull has to be quick, or else the body ends up too far forward of the legs, making it necessary to use the hip flexors in getting the leg back up again. Today I had some very quick cadence going as I worked on getting the pull as quick as possible. It felt pretty strange at times, and I think that the crowd of triathletes that was at the track thought it was pretty weird too, based on how they were looking at me.

In more good news, I went ahead and signed up for the Pose mini clinic in southern California next month. I was hesitating because of the cost of airfare for a four hour clinic, but then I found a pretty good deal on airfare, so I figured what the hell. I won't even have to spend the night, so that will make it cheaper. I'm really looking forward to getting some expert advice in real time, even though all the online help has been great. I feel like I'm due for a bit of a breakthrough, and I'm hoping that the clinic will help with that. In looking at others' videos, I'm starting to get a feel for what my errors are, and how they're different or the same from others' errors.

Dr. Addicott to the rescue

I am in a university program right now and Dr. Addicott, although not the most exciting lecturer around, has become one my favorite professors. He has a really special way of teaching some incredibly important, yet intangible aspects of the job that have proven to be helpful to both me and my clients. Not to sound cheesy or anything, but I didn't quite appreciate just how important positive feedback was until I went through one of Dr. Addicott's exercises that is designed to demonstrate how powerful it can be.

I go into all that because of a revelation I had on the track today. I am being way too negative about my Pose progress. Dr. Addicott would be appalled if I was even a quarter as hard on my clients as I am being on myself when it comes to learning Pose. So I have decided to adapt the aforementioned exercise that Dr. Addicott designed, and focus on the positive. (In the original exercise, you're not allowed to say anything negative about your progress in learning this particular difficult-to-learn skill. I might want to make the occasional critical comment.)

So, I can do the Pony with my arms totally relaxed without my even thinking about it. I can stand in the Pose stance for 25 seconds really easily. I can run short distances without any pain in my shins. These are all improvements.

Today I did some drills at the track in American Samoa. It's so weathered, that it looks black from a distance, but I realized that it was actually a red all-weather track at some point. The track is super torn up, but so is just about everything else around here, when it comes to public facilities of any kind. I will post pictures sometime this week.

new video

This video was taken a little too late in the day, so the light is bad. Then the way that iMovie compressed it seems a bit choppy. Anyway, here it is...pose comments appreciated.

recent efforts

I have to admit, I am not feeling so gung ho about the pose method and running right now. I am feeling like my progress is too slow, and I really want to get out and train. But I am staying the course, generally. I did drills yesterday and today, although I have not done any barefoot running for a pretty long time. And I think I probably won't do any for quite a while because I will be leaving for Samoa soon on an educational/work trip. I'll be on American Samoa, where they really don't have any beaches, (tropical island without beaches...go figure.) They certainly don't have extensive lawns. They do have one track, which is some sort of older all-weather surface, but it seemed to be mostly locked last time I was there. It could end up being kind of a spare week and a half for Pose learning.

Well, it was not a great week as far as consistency goes, but I did drills and short runs at the Southern Oregon University track in Ashland yesterday. It was way too hot, but the track was nice, with really nice landscaping, and even annual flowers right around the oval on the turns. Today I worked out at my familiar Sacramento spot, and it too was too hot. I did drills and skipped grass running because I had to go to the store and then be back to pick J up after his long run. Things are feeling very good. I am beginning to get the feeling of muscle elasticity doing some of the work of pulling for me. It can be fleeting at times, but I can definitely feel the difference. I also seem to be able to run at a nice slow pace much easier now as well.

vacation posing

I've been on a driving vacation to escape the heat of the central valley, and I've done some spectacular runs along the way. In Fort Bragg, I did drills and short runs along a paved road that was closed to traffic right along the coast, north of town. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect. Then in Arcata, I used the track at Humboldt State which is set in a grove of redwoods. Again, ideal running weather. The next day, which was last Tuesday, I think, we went up to Prairie Creek in Redwood National Park and I did drills and short runs along a mostly flat trail through an old growth redwood forest. It was incredible to be running through the giant trees, and very quiet and peaceful. Apparently the premiere run there is to start at Prairie Creek and run to Fern Canyon and back for around 8 or 10 miles. We did visit Fern Canyon later that day and it was amazing. We ended up in Eugene by Wednesday afternoon and ran on the Adidas-Amazon trail, which has one mile and one kilometer marked loops on wood chips. It was really hot, but the trail was about half shaded, and it wasn't so bad. I did a couple of laps around the 1k loop, doing drills and short runs. On Thursday, we pulled into Portland around midday and ran around a golf course. Not the best spot for running. There's another golf course with a nice trail around it that we thought we were going to. I did drills and short runs and ended up doing some of it in a residential neighborhood because the golf course was too crowded with golfers. We did two runs at Forest Park in Portland, which is, without a doubt, the best city park for running that I have ever encountered. The Wildwood trail is 20 or so miles long, and much of it is marked for each quarter mile. It is a beautiful trail through thick forest, with a mostly smooth dirt surface. Leif Erikson is a dirt road, also with mileage markers, that goes through the same forest. It's kind of rocky, but it allows you to make a loop with the Wildwood on various connector trails.

The second time we hit Forest Park, I ended up doing around 5 miles. I did a few drills, but I wanted to run so badly, that I just gave in. I stopped every mile or so to do a drill and regroup with my form. A couple of things were noteworthy. One, I ran in the H-Streets the whole way and they were absolutely fine whether on the rocky Leif Erikson road or the smooth, but narrow and twisty Wildwood trail. Two, I ran a very fast downhill mile at the end of the run, and was able to stay very comfortable with regard to knees and joints by using a very fast cadence and my current interpretation of the pose method. It was a steady, but not steep downhill grade, and I was doing 6:40 pace, and it felt effortless. In fact, all the running felt pretty easy. My perception of pace is way off with my new running technique. It feels so easy and slow, and then I realize that it's actually a pretty good clip. 8:00 min/mile now feels like 10:00 min/mile.

Today, we left Portland and are presently in Bend. I think we were burning the candle at both ends a bit in Portland, so now we're both feeling a little under the weather. I think we will probably skip a workout today and get some extra sleep, and then do some mountain biking tomorrow. Should have plenty of time to find a nice place to do some drills.