I Never Really Enjoyed Running
It's true. I loved to chase a ball. Or somebody who had the ball. A dog, maybe. My little brother. But whenever Coach asked us to run as a way of getting in shape for a sport I, like most of my team mates, groaned.
Later in life I took up running just to stay in shape, but the only type of running I actually enjoyed was sprinting. So I trudged and trudged and trudged through my running workouts, taking solace either in the health benefits or, after I moved to Colorado, in the camaraderie with my running buddies. And once we started piling up the miles through the mountains, I had some bragging rights to keep me motivated.
But the running itself? It was the agony in pursuit of the ecstasy.
Being kinda dumb, I never wondered why, if the activity itself in all of my other sports was inherently satisfying (skiing, surfing, basketball, soccer, martial arts, bicyling, even walking), why wasn't running inherently satisfying?
It took Nicholas Romanov, Ph.D., who invented the POSE method of running, to explain why. It's because I don't know how to run.
doh!
I've been practicing the POSE method over the last few weeks, and last Tuesday I had a small breakthrough. I still need to learn a lot more and practice a lot more, but at one point in my run on Tuesday I felt it. It was the same flow that made sprinting so enjoyable. It was the actual pleasure of running. I still had two nagging injuries, one in each foot, too much weight (225lbs), and not enough conditioning (11min miles) to get the full effect of the technique, but I couldn't stop smiling. Running, the actual motion of running, had become a pleasure.
photo courtesy of Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/18922711@N00/615001867/
More later.
I thought I posted a comment earlier, but don't see it here.
Anyway...
I've done a little reading about the POSE method and was wondering if you are learning how to do it out of a book or if you are getting actual instruction? I was considering buying a book, but was skeptical that reading alone could help me learn POSE.
Thanks
Posted by Donovan Conrad on January 29, 2009 at 04:31 PM EST #
Donovan,
A running buddy of mine introduced me to it. He learned it while I had moved back East. When I returned, I noticed his running style was much smoother. After he told me a little about it, I tried it out. He gave me a couple of tips along the way. Then I bought the book.
I really think the book is worth it. It's long-winded and pedantic for today's reader, but it's got excellent information *and perspective* in it.
Posted by Richard Ramsey on January 29, 2009 at 05:00 PM EST #