Of late I've become interested again in the activity of running, in whole because of a book I just finished called "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougal. It's a fantastic read and I recommend it without pause to anyone regardless of whether they run or not. But my relationship to running as a "fitness" activity is a pretty mixed bag. Olson Sensei would be correct in pointing out problems with doing something just for "fitness".
But history aside, i'm finding links between running and what we do on the mat.
The big key thing here is getting our moving bodies off our heals, which are only for supporting our standing weight, and onto the ball of the foot. In general, modern shoes have made this harder and harder to do with all sorts of high-tech wizardry.
Research is showing that padding under the heal and all encompassing arch support is weakening our feet to the point that our feet alone can no longer can reliably support us. Injury rates for runners have skyrocketed in the last 30-40 years, and are proportional to the price you pay for the shoe. Translation: more and more engineered shoes are actually hurting, not helping people.
On the mat this means lots of things for our feet. Your feet may hurt. You may not be able to stay balanced while moving, or may not be able to freely move in any particular direction at a given moment. Towards the goal of understanding these problems, and how to address them I'm going to study in and out of class these 4 pieces of my personal puzzle.
- foot placement
- running technique
- mat/running surface
- balance
FOOT PLACEMENT:
On the ball...on the ball...on the ball...
RUNNING TECHNIQUE:
"The shorter your stride the better" is one good running form motto.
SURFACE:
The firmer I feel the surface the better.
This translates into wanting a harder mat surface...sorry Sensei.
BALANCE:
I'd like some more of it please...
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