The Running Thread

[pgher]

After living in my current place for over four years, I have finally discovered that, in addition to the river walk that greets me when I turn right out of my front door, there's an associated canal walk that greets me if I turn left. Four years! And it was just a few blocks away!

The canal walk is a superb place to run. The canal is built to be flat, so there are no hills. There are no intersections. It is wider than the river walk, with big patches of grassy banks so I can get off the pavement and avoid crowds. There are bridges across the canal to a new park being constructed, which looks very nice, and it goes about a mile and half before running into the big highway that transects our city, so out and back is a tidy three mile run. I'm so pleased! I love not having to dodge traffic and not needing to brace myself for hills. I love it!

That's awesome! Good reminder to look for new trails. I live by a park that has a trail. I've figured out 3 different loops that use the trail plus sidewalks, with slightly different lengths and hills. I need to find other combinations so I don't get bored.

[mamselle]

The concierges at local hotels often keep files with measured running paths in their area, for guests who want to get their daily run in before the day's meetings begin. They may be online, for printout, or available at the front desk, if you can pretend to be a guest, and ask nicely for one...

Also, I neglected to mention an alignment issue that may be useful...

Pronation and suppination are really secondary problems that come under the heading of toe-knee alignment.

Some folks may already know this, but in running, walking, or dancing, knees should be aimed between the great toe and the second toe, or just over the 2nd toe, to prevent micro-twists of the tibia and fibula beneath the patella. These can strain the tendons and ligaments, and scratch the back of the patella.

Dancers, gymnasts, and skaters run into this problem when extreme turnout of the feet is taught without reference to their alignment with the knees.

But it's equally pernicious in the smaller doses that occur with slightly splayed or pigeon-toed use of the feet, repeated in so many running steps over an hour or so.

The 'triangular alignment' with heel, small toe, large toe landing in that order while walking, has a similar corrective effect.

Walking is nearly always heel-first, although some dance walks are toe-first; I won't wade into the heel-or-toe-first flame war that rages (raged? Used to rage?) among runners, but whichever one lands first, knee-heel-toe alignment needs to be attended to, avoid torque in the upper part of the lower legs.

Sometimes one side is more "off," too, which can also be tied to hip alignment issues.

LT---->T.              BT <---LT
\                                   /
   \                               /
    H.                        H. 

If a doctor or podiatrist has told you otherwise, listen to them, not me; I'm neither.

But as both a movement instructor and a dancer who benefitted by learning and applying these types of awareness, I thought I should share them.

Lulu Sweigard's book, "Human Movement Potential" based on her movement lab studies for dancers at Juilliard in the 1950s-60s, is still the gold standard for these therapeutic interventions.

She basically took dance teaching apart and put it back together again, with a wide view to the broader applications of her work elsewhere.

M.

[ergative]

That's really interesting, mamselle. I remember when I was in middle school I noticed that some of the 'cool kids' walked with a slight outward bend to their toes, and so I tried to duplicate them, but my feet persisted in relaxing back to straight forward and back. I guess in retrospect it was good that I did not have the strength of character to insist my knee-toe alignment match the cool kids' strides.

Or maybe my efforts then, however quickly abandoned, are what is now responsible for my pronation? Or maybe it's my history of rolling my ankles, which has led me to avoid the outer edge of my foot in my stride, hence interfering with my ability to follow the triangular alignment method? Anyway, I've got some new shoes coming on Monday, which are (advertised as) super-arch-supportive, so we'll see how that goes.

[downer]

That's great Ergative! Canal paths can be great -- though sometimes they are a bit muddy. If you do it at sunrise or sunset you might also catch more wildlife.

[ergative]

If you do it at sunrise or sunset . . .

Not this sluggabed! Wave to the bunnies for me.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I squeezed in a run yesterday morning - first of July, and only facilitated by a slight break in the weather. I learned that I'm in terrible shape (at least relative to where I was a couple of months ago).

[traductio]

A few days into July, I realized that if I put my mind to it, I could run 100km by the end of the month. So I set that as my goal.

I'm happy to say I hit 102km two days ago, and 107km today. I had actually meant to run 10km today, but the run just wasn't working (I felt lightheaded, which is unusual for me), so I cut it short. But I made my monthly goal, which I'm more than a little pleased about.

[mamselle]

@ ergative: The links between pronation, weak ligaments and tendons, shoe structures, and foot-knee alignment are chicken-and-egg-y at times. They all interact together, but sometimes one thing starts the cycle, while in another person, it's a different point on the arc.

But, yeah, just as well you didn't force yourself to walk too pigeon-toed, that wouldn't have helped.

In addition to the shoes, which I hope are helpful, consider doing ankle rotations, 'waving' with your toes, working through the foot front-to-back, ankle-to-toes (all while lying or sitting down), and bending your knees slightly while keeping the full foot on the ground, then rising up slowly--all to strengthen and make supple the muscles and connective tissue that support the arch, keep it from rolling about, and help align the feet further.


@ traductio: Cool beans! Good for you!

M.

[ergative]

@traductio: Bravo! I'm still patting myself on the back when I go three times a week instead of two, but I've recently upped my route to 3.5 miles, and that's a nice little level-up.

@mamselle: Thanks for the recommendations. I'll stick it in my warm-up routine which I've been doing now before running because of our last exchange.

[spork]

Taking a two week break from all running. I've got some kind of injury to my left calf muscle, probably overworked it in an unconscious attempt to compensate for tendonitis pain in my knee, which in turn is probably triggered by weak hamstrings and glutes.

[ergative]

Taking a two week break from all running. I've got some kind of injury to my left calf muscle, probably overworked it in an unconscious attempt to compensate for tendonitis pain in my knee, which in turn is probably triggered by weak hamstrings and glutes.

Ouch, good luck with the recovery.

I've also been taking a week or so off. I got my second Pfizer dose last weekend, and spent a couple of days recovering from that, and then Absolutive has been away so I've been kind of bored and lonely and lacking all motivation to do anything. Today I could do a run, but it's thunderstorming. I'm trying to tell myself that there's nothing wrong with taking some mental health time off, but it's been a frustrating week. Absolutive comes home tomorrow, though, so maybe things will return to normal then.

[traductio]

I'm trying to tell myself that there's nothing wrong with taking some mental health time off, but it's been a frustrating week.

Mental health time is important! (Although I, too, have to work to allow myself that time. I understand the frustration.)

On a different note, I've been watching with awe as Olympic runners compete. My regular run is a 5k, which I do in 24ish minutes. The Olympic runners have been doing the 5000m (so, a 5k) in 13 minutes. I can't wrap my head around it, although I admire the way they combine sheer force with grace.

[mamselle]

If anyone's stuck inside and wants some low-impact ways to stay fit, there are both "new" (as in, modern choreographies) as well as old standards for folk dances with good energy, enjoyable shapes, and some inbuilt challenges without being stressful. Here's one popular one:

1) Hine Ma Tov (not your mother's or father's version--or maybe it is, now!)

    a) Examples of how it looks in a group:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCVKpPRrrnE

        and

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GFv2PgnI80       

    b) Well-taught step-by-step instruction on how to get there:

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqa6oi5sqoI


The "old dances" are good, too, here's one of those (also Israeli, just off the top of my head, but there are many more:

    a) As seen danced live (Note, this group has more men than women dancing..!) :

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSNB_9-fYzM

    b) Instruction with demonstration at the end:

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYEk0qalvsU


To be more inclusive: French Canadian (I teach this to my French classes, but we do it much faster)

    a) Performed:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w6WJxNgSmY

        and (with double catch-steps, adds a bit of cardio...)

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0QKMEiq-tQ

        and (at the speed I'm used to):

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM1pyh1psUo

     b) Taught:

          I can't find the teaching tape I used to use online, but will be glad to send instructions via PM if anyone is interested!


And this African dance, Jerusalemma, is currently famous all over the world:

    a) Performed:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdFudLPyqng

        and

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7hkaK8uGmo

        and
         
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNQy2_9P0k4

    b) Taught:
         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6efHtpJK-Ns

        and (with more breakdown, step-by-step

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGd9dlCA5Ig

         
Many of the current teachers are former students of the choreographers and collectors of these dances; one becomes part of a chain of pedal transmission, as it were.

There are many more online dances, from many different places; glad to share.

There are also MANY online folk dance groups running (at least 1-2 every night that I know of) with attendees all around the world--the Tuesday night dance I attend regularly gets folks from both coasts, several states in between, Hawaii, Greece, Canada, and S./Central America--as well as teachers from all those places.

This site lists many resources:

   https://facone.org/

as does this one:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGd9dlCA5Ig

Most do simple dances as well as more complex ones, and the teaching quality is excellent.

Just an idea, if your running regime is being interrupted for any reason--or if you're feeling out of touch with the world at large!

M.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I was on vacation in a cool place last week and went on a fantastic run - not something I would usually do on a vacation, but I just had to take advantage of the nice weather. Now I'm back in my sweltering climate, in which it is usually too hot to run, but there is some possibility that it will be cool enough one morning this week for me to get out for an early morning jog.

[ergative]

Absolutive is home! I went for a nice run, and it didn't rain a drop on me until after I was home. Then we had more cloudbursts and thunderstorms, and I feel very smug.