A Taste of Heaven

Today I got outside to run for the first time in a couple of weeks after a calf injury kept me from running. I got back to training two days ago, but I only had time for treadmill runs the previous two days. Today I rushed home from school, got the gear on, and headed out the door, and ran. It had turned dark before I finished, but it was still a bit like heaven, running again, outside, on a warm November day.

As I person of faith, I believe that someday I will be up in heaven. When I get there, I am holding God accountable for that "getting a new body" thing that He promised. I intend to get in line for the lean, fast, and powerful body type and I am going to make doubly sure it has perfect biomechanics. Then one of the first things I am going to do is run like the wind on those "streets of gold". I intend to run a sub four minute mile and then go off and run a sub 2:10 marathon and because there is no pain up there, I am going to turn around and do it again just for fun. I want to "feel" how if must feel to run so fast and perfectly. When I am done, I will then know I am in heaven and will sit on my cloud and play my harp. And while I am getting a new body, I am sure it could not hurt to get a better looking one too! Then on my harp, maybe I will start playing "Where the Streets have no Name." When "I go there...I want to run... where the streets have no name." Now that is one of the all time great songs. I have not seen this video for years!




Here on planet Earth, where I have to continue to run with my messsed up biomechanics, I am putting together a hodge-podge "best of" plan to get my body working better and it is good to get things rolling again. I like the Feldenkrais, but I had limited myself to just that and running since August and I need to put back into my routine the other things that may work best for me in the right combination. So I have a mix of Feldenkrais, Z-Health, Yoga, trigger-point work, and Kettlebells that I am doing with a few additional strengthening and stretching routines that target certain muscle groups. It sounds busy, but I have "faith" that I can still improve on my running mechanics. My plan is to continue targeting my hips and back with the Feldenkrais and use what I have learned through Feldenkrais to better inform my movement patterns using the other methodologies. Some of the work I have done has really helped me understand movement patterns and while far from perfect, I feel so much better and in control as I reorganize the way my body works and moves.

I am not sure if it will make me any faster, but at least I want the running to be more enjoyable. However, if you hear of me running these outstanding world class times any day soon then it "must be a mistake" because "Heaven Can Wait"! Remember this old Warren Beatty movie?




Wasn't Beatty a football player in the movie? Did he die while running? I can't remember. I saw this film years ago with the Wheaton College Cross Country team during a preseason running camp in the Northern Woods of Wisconsin. We geeky runners loved it, and like any college age group of guys we used lines from the movie as jokes all that year. We really thought that "I'm just memorizing your face" would be a great line to use with the girls!

I wonder if any of my teammates ever tried that line. Here we are trying to be a bit more macho! I am 3rd from the right and I know I never did!

Bone Rhythm: An Interesting Way of Looking at Movement

I have been thinking about the skeleton a bit in terms of my posture and mechanics. Is it my bones and skeleton that produce my imbalances or is it the muscles, tendons, fascia, or even the neurological way I have wired myself for movement that create the imbalances? As I relearn movement patterns through Feldenkrais lessons, I have been applying some of the movements and pacing to joint mobility work through Z-Health. I have found that I understand and can use the Z-Health joint mobility work much more successfully and in a more targeted way than I could previously. I recalled some interesting lessons from the more advanced Z-Health S-Phase DVD I got earlier this year. I basically watched it from a curiousity standpoint as much of the DVD was too advanced for my body. If I was a young athlete I would find it very useful particularly if I was playing sports with lots of athletic moves. I am not young and just want to run straight ahead so I just keep it in my collection. I did find one concept very interesting and that was something called "bone rhythm". It is an interesting way of looking at the skeleton when performing movements like lunges and squats. The idea of bone rhythm is to get the timing of the joints down so that they work together. You don't concentrate on the muscles, but on the movement at the end of the bones.

Here can see a quick video off the Z-Health DVD that explains bone rhythm with squatting that focuses in on the femur.



This video shows bone a rhythm variation using the lunge. Bone rhythm can be used with other joints.



I don't know how or if it will improve your running, but it gives an alternative way of thinking about movement when exercising. If you start out with Z-Health you should start with the R-Phase DVD unless you try the Quick Start DVD which is an introduction. This is the only DVD I don't have so I don't know what four exercises are highlighted. I have had the Z-Health R Phase DVD for almost two years now and still find it useful as I refine my use of the drills.

1978 Falmouth Road Race: When Bill Rodgers was King

I recently found an old Kenny Moore Sport's Illustrated article on the 1978 Falmouth Road Race which you can read here. Not only was Kenny Moore a great American runner (fourth behind Frank Shorter in the 1972 Olympic Marathon) but he is also one of best writers when it comes to the sport. This was one of the many Falmouth road races that I raced and I found a few pictures of the race from my old Kodak 110 camera. This race is notorious for the heat that felled a young Alberto Salazar. He was famously read his last rights after suffering heat exhaustion. He survived and went on to suffer in the heat again at the 1982 Boston Marathon (a race I also ran as it was my first Boston Marathon). In the article, Kenny Moore laments the rapid growth of running:

Last week the Cape, or that 7.1-mile length of its triceps from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights, resounded to the footsteps of some 4,000 overheated runners celebrating the sixth renewal of the Falmouth Road Race. Afterward, the bended arms hoisted no-deposit, no-return bottles, solitude was unavailable and thoughtful distance runners were forced to conclude that their sport is rapidly outgrowing its Thoreauvian roots.

and ends with a note about what "spectacles" these running events had become with their "masses of runners" and "exploitive" entry fees.

There are runners now, usually those who have run for years, who no longer come to the big races, who feel them to be perverted simply by the crush, the leveling of numbers. "It's headed toward sin," said one New England runner who chose an obscure race in Maine over Falmouth. The New York City Marathon now has closed its lists with more than 10,000 entries, and Chicago expects as many, even with an exploitative $10 entry fee. So we may see the stream divide, one small branch slipping off into the forest. "The simple satisfaction of a good training run," said Bill Norris, "is now more enjoyable for me than one of these spectacles."

It sounds more like the "good old days" to me!

Here is a brief summary of the race from the Falmouth Road Race site.

1978 — Four thousand runners, and this year the race was called "the best road race ever in the United States at any distance." The list of runners read like a "Who's Who," with only Frank Shorter, coming off heel surgery, missing among the world's elite. Sports Illustrated's Kenny Moore called the 1978 race "the best organized race of this size I've ever been in." Bill Rodgers, in the midst of a streak which saw him win 16 races in two years, including two Boston marathons, two New York City marathons and a pair at Falmouth, was at the top of his game. He outran the star-studded competition and shaved two seconds off his course record (32:21). Salazar made news again, but this time for collapsing with heat exhaustion at the finish and being rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He recovered and would have his day in the sun in a couple of years. For the first year, the women's record stayed intact, as Joan Benoit won, but couldn't eclipse Kim Merritt's 1977 mark. Records would come later for Benoit.

2nd place finisher Mike Roche near the 6 mile mark

3rd place finisher Craig Virgin

my high school teammate Bill Hobbs came from New York to run (with 78 BAA marathon champion Gayle Barron)

Gayle Barron finished in 6th place

me getting an autograph

71 year old Johnny Kelley

Here are the results. I came in 435th place in 45:47. I was a little over one minute slower this year 31 years later in the 2009 version of the race.

2010 Boston Marathon

I have great hope that my mechanics will be in great form by April next year, so I just entered the 2010 Boston Marathon. Of course, I am having a hard time walking today! It has nothing to do with running two marathons over the previous two weekends. I am fiddling around with putting pads under the metatarsals of my big toes. It feels real good walking as I easily have more balance. The goal is to keep my left foot from rolling to the inside and everting out, throwing off the balance of my left leg and the left side of my body. Simply put, this could be due to having Morton's foot, which is not always a longer second toe (not true for me) but a longer second metatarsal (very true for me). I was purposely taking this week off, but ran a few miles on the treadmill Wednesday. I felt my left calf tightening up and stopped. Today I went for a run (how could you not in the warm weather?) and felt good for 3-4 miles, then the calf started tightening again. As I neared my house after 6 miles, it was getting too tight to even run on. Now I am limping around in worse condition than after either marathon I just ran. I sort of expected something like this and I think it is due to the pad under my left toe's metatarsal helping that foot be more stable (a stability I could feel right up my leg and into my hip). Because it is stable the foot wasn't rolling to the inside edge and everting to the outside as much. I could push off with the foot and used the inner side of my calf for a change. That is what tightened up from overuse. I have a lot more fooling around to do to see if this is going to work for me, but I have all winter for that. Hopefully, by April I will be running strong. It will also be ten years since I finished in last place at the Boston Marathon. I sure hope I can improve on that finish!

I am using Spenco Molesking to build a pad under the head of my first metatarsals. I got the idea from this book Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts in the Foot by Dr. Burton S. Schuler. It is a quick and easy read about Morton's Foot. The doctor isn't selling anything. He is just giving an easy accomodation for a common problem that can cause lots of pain throughout the body. It is explained thoroughly in the book and a cheap remedy is shown. You can find the remedy here if you don't want to read the whole book, but obviously the book goes into more detail. Here is the website for more information on the book.

Christopher McDougall author of Born To Run in Manchester Nov. 4

I just got an email alert that Christopher McDougall, who wrote "Born to Run" will be in Manchester at the Barnes and Noble at 7:00 tomorrow night(Wed. Nov. 4). I don't know if I will be able to go just yet, but I am hoping that I can be there. Someone else might be interested so I am posting this short notice. Website is here.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH
MANCHESTER, NH

7:00PM
Discussion, Q & A, and Signing
Barnes and Noble
1741 South Willow Street
Manchester, NH 03103

Quick Peeks at the Vivo Barefoot Evo Running Shoe

I love the Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot Dharma shoes I bought last January. I have worn no other shoe since then, except for my running shoes when running and my Vibram Five-Fingers when mowing the lawn. They are so comfortable I don't even want to take them off. Vivo Barefoot shoes are built to give you that barefoot feeling when you are walking. They have no heel, they have ultra-thin cushioning, and they have a wide toe-box to let your toes spread out. Unfortunately they are not really made for running. In the Spring Vivo Barefoot promises to come out with a running version of thier shoes, called the Evo.

Here is a video of Christopher McDougall, the author of the book "Born To Run", who advocates barefoot runing. At then end of the video you can see the Vivo Barefoot Evo running shoe.


Here are some more prototype pictures from the Barefoot Runner blog.

This podcast on The Living Barefoot Show covers the history of Vivo Barefoot and Terra Plana, speaks about Vivo Barefoot shoes in general, and talks about the release of the new EVO running shoe to be released in the spring of 2010.

Here you can sign up to be contacted as soon as the Evo is being sold.

Hanging Out at the Manchester Marathon

Last week I took an easy run through the Cape Cod Marathon. I felt fine afterwards and wondered what I would do this weekend. I ran 8 miles the day after the race and started thinking about doing the Manchester Marathon this week. Then my class at school got sick. By Tuesday, I had nine of my 27 students out (some with the flu). I did not think this was good for my health and felt a bit off (either a very mild case or from a Tetanus shot I got on Tuesday). I did not run again until Friday.

I had been rethinking things about my foot and ankle and decided to try something different for that run. There is a very short article in The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, Second Editionby Clair Davies on Morton's Foot (you can see the whole article here). I have a copy of the book from a few years ago and was looking into it again after getting some interesting feedback from an anonymous poster with similar problems as mine. It was on one of my silliest posts (or at least the pictures) and I often was tempted to take it down, but I figured someone could offer some good advice someday on it. I got some good advice.

While doing Feldenkrais movement therapies. I have been noticing that my back and hips are moving more freely (particularly with these movements as they are done lying on the floor). It got me thinking that maybe it is not my back and hips that are the problem and I was again looking at my feet. This poster advocated trigger point therapy and Posture Control Insoles. It was also suggested that I look at my TMJ joint. I had used the Posture Control Insoles a few years back. At first, I had incredible success, but then my body adapted and they stopped working for me. I also found that the insoles were rough on my feet and I developed many calluses.

Last month, I revisited them again and bought a different style from them called ProKinetics® Natural Body Balance insoles. I tried them for a couple of days a few weeks ago and did not like the feel of them. There is some gel under the heel. I got rid of the arch, but it still did not feel right in my shoes. I decided to glue the extra and thicker wedges onto my regular thin shoe insoles on Wednesday. I ran 8 miles Friday and felt wonderfully balanced with a much straighter left foot that didn't cave in. Of course, I also noticed my calves were a bit sore from the different push off and balance points.

The point of these insoles is to correct Morton's foot. Typically, Morton's Foot is diagnosed as a long second toe (compared to the big toe). I don't have this. Morton's Foot is really a long 2nd metatarsal. Well I do have that (by a lot! )The ProKinetic Insoles have a wedge shape pad to be placed under the big toe and its metatarsal so that the foot doesn't roll inward and turn the toes outward and create problems all up the leg. Clair Davies suggests using Dr. Scholl’s Molefoam® Padding to build up under that toe. It sounds a lot cheaper than the insoles (particularly if you only want to use the wedge). I also found some recent message board postings from female cyclists with similar problems here. One poster called KnottedYet on page 3 says you can treat this with both accommodations and corrections:

The pad under the first met head is an accommodation.
Stretching the tightened structures of the forefoot and strengthening the muscles of the foot (and really all the way up to the hip) is a correction.

She later posts some exercises to treat this and bring it under control;"

Dropped Met Head Program
To be done over the course of 6 weeks, and maintained there-after.

Consists of two parts: first stretching, then strengthening. Done in that order for every session.

Stretch by folding your foot like a taco shell. Hold your bare foot in both hands. One hand on the left, one hand on the right. Thumbs parallel on top. Line up your fingertips between the 1st and 2nd met heads or on the 2nd met head, whichever feels better. Press down with the heels of your thumbs while you press up with your fingertips. You are essentially folding your foot in half lengthwise. (restoring your metatarsal arch and then some) Hold for 5 seconds. Do 10 times in a row.

Strengthen by working the muscles of the forefoot that support your metatarsal arch. Make a fist with your toes as tight as you can. Hold it for 5 seconds. Splay your toes out as wide as you can. Hold it for 5 seconds. Do 10 times in a row.

Week 1: do the session 3 times a day, spread through-out the day. (morning, noon, and evening for example)

Weeks 2-6: do the session 6 times a day, spread throughout the day. (every 2 or 3 hours, for example)

Maintain by doing however many sessions you feel you need to keep your met arch lively.

Interesting stuff that I am starting to do!

The ProKinetic Insoles add the idea of proprioception to the mix. Here is how they describe how the insoles (or wedge) work.

Friday night I debated with myself whether to enter the Manchester Marathon and try out the insoles during the race. I know that this is a real STUPID move to alter your mechanics so quickly, but I was feeling experimental. The weather looked nice for the race so I entered. Realistically I didn't think I would finish using the insoles. I was particularly worried about a knot it my fight calf, but you never know what will happen if you do not try so I entered at the last moment.

It was a great day for a marathon today. I drove up the road to Manchester and saw a few friends before the race: the highly trained Mike Wright and Carl Hefflefinger (who had a bit of an Achilles strain). At the gun, the runners (marathon, 1/2 marathon, and relay runners) took off together. Mike Ward caught up at about 1/2 mile and we talked a bit before he pulled ahead. Let me just say that this is one hilly race, and where did they get all these uphills with so few downhills? After about one mile, people started passing me. Lots of people kept passing me. I have never had so many people pass me like this. I was passing no one. I was feeling sluggish and trying to get a feel for if my legs would even work with these things in them. I also had a tight lower back, sort of like last week but not as bad. My hips were certainly rotating differently although I cannot say I was balanced. The course kept having uphills and people kept passing. I was running with people that I normally far ahead of in a race and I was unnerved by all the passing, but I just wanted to run comfortably and I didn't have too much confidence in completing the race at all. Whose dumb idea was this?

At about six miles after running through a wooded path (nice) for a while I came to some port-a-johns. Then I had to wait a minute to get in and lost about two minutes in all (but I felt better- I made another stop later in the race- I lost about 3 minutes in all). Finally, I passed some people, but I just felt like I was chugging along at a very slow pace. Fortunately, my calf wasn't hurting at all. My hamstrings were tightening up however from the changed stride. I passed Carl Hefflefinger and his Achilles was sore and he said he was going to drop out. Why can't I be that smart? Actually, I kept thinking it would be a good smart move on my part, but I knew my half marathon time would be so pathetic if I did.

At about 11 miles, a lot of the 1/2 marathoners were dying and I finally started passing people. I passed one person who had the same awful stride that I did so I chatted it up with him. I ran with him until the split where the 1/2 marathoners went to the finish and the marathoners continued on their way. I took the marathon turn and now I was committed. I hit the 1/2 marathon in 1:46:30 something and realized this was going to be a much slower day than the Cape.

However, once we got rid of the 1/2 marathoners I started enjoying the day. There were fewer runners on the course, but always a group in sight. I started picking off runners at a fairly good pace. In fact, from this point on, no one passed me (except two relay runners). As I gained more confidence in my legs and feet, I started running faster. I enjoyed the faster pace more and the constant passing of runners. It was still hilly, but there seemed to be more downhills. I enjoyed this section of the course and the miles flew by. I felt better during the last 6 miles than I did at Falmouth last week. I was running well, but was trying not to "kill" my legs. After a while, I realized that I had a chance of going sub 3:30. I kept passing people and tying to pick it up. I passed the 3:25 pacer (but he was off pace) and then with a 1/2 mile to go I passed the 3:30 pacer. He said he was on pace. From there I took it in and finished in 3:29:22. It was one of my slowest marathons ever, but I enjoyed the day (well the second half) and I was curious about what the course looked like and now I know! That was the hilliest marathon I had ever run, except maybe for a marathon I ran (some walking) in March 1983 in Newton, MA called the Garden City Marathon. My certificate says it was the N.E.A.C. Marathon Championships and that I finished 149th in a time of 3:34:06. It is nice to know that I can still run hills faster than I did when I was 24. I do not remember much about that race except that I used it as a training run for Boston, the many hills, the big houses, and the walking.

And my legs were trashed after today’s race! My hamstrings are quite tight and my calves and ankles are a bit sore. I survived the addition of the wedges, even though it was not a smart thing to do. So I made the good choice after all in running the race.

Here are the results. Mike Wright killed the course with a 2:54:24 and Mike Ward (who just turned 50) raced his second race of the year and finished in 3:19:17.