Tag Archives: injury-free running

50 Miles of Gratitude: (8) Altras & Meeting the Co-Founder

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….and My Story Runs On….

I love meeting people while running. Sometimes people run past you and just say hi or good job and sometimes they will chat with you.  I have personally found that trail and ultra runners tend to be a bit more laid back and more open to a quick chat while in the middle of a race.

So while Elaine and I were in Waterhole Canyon after the 28.5 Aid Station, we found ourselves in a bit of an obstacle course.  There were several ladders that we had to climb to get up and over some of the cliffs.  At one point, we were right behind this guy….and after he got over the ladder, Elaine went right after him…well, it wasn’t the easiest ladder to get up and over so while he was still there, she asked him to help her up.  He was very nice and helped her…and I needed help too.  I remember hearing him say something about “your hat” and “your shoes” but I was concentrating on not falling off the ladder.

One of the ladders we had to go over. (picture courtesy of http://www.runningwithoutlimits.com/antelope-canyon-50k-not-always-what-you-expect/)

One of the ladders we had to go over. (picture courtesy of http://www.runningwithoutlimits.com/antelope-canyon-50k-not-always-what-you-expect/)

We ran a bit together and Elaine asked him, “Why did you mention the hat and shoes? Are you an Altra Ambassador?” (Elaine had her Altra hat and I had my favorite Altra Lone Peaks shoes).  He was pretty humble about it and said…well, I’m actually the co-founder, Jeremy Howlett.  Whoa!  How cool was this?  As a running coach, I’m not one to be tied to a particular brand of shoes but if there is one brand that I tend to use the most, it’s Altras. I was so excited to have a chance to meet him! I told him I was a ChiRunning Instructor (we tend to like Altras because they a natural shoe for your foot: Zero Drop™, wide toe box) and how much I love the shoes.  He said he knew Danny Dreyer (the founder of ChiRunning) and mentioned what a great guy he was and how supportive he is of the shoes as well.

Met Jeremy Howlett, the co-founder of Altra shoes ;)

Met Jeremy Howlett, the co-founder of Altra shoes 😉

We chit chatted with him for awhile and then started running again. We leap frogged with him a few times and then we lost each other.

I met a few other cool people that I’ll be blogging about. I’m very grateful for my Altra shoes and so glad I had the chance to run and chat with Jeremy!

My current Altras: 1 pair of trail shoes, 1 hybrid and 1 road shoe

My current Altras: 1 pair of trail shoes, 1 hybrid and 1 road shoe

altras

My friends love their Altras too!

For any of my local peeps that like to support our local shoe stores, you can find them at I-Run and Sole Sports!

(I am not an Ambassador for Altras….yet…might have to look into it though!)

50 Miles of Gratitude: 50 Posts about my first 50 Miler

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

50 Miles of Gratitude: (1) ChiRunning

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

I think one of the reasons I want to write a post a day for 50 days is because I want to keep reliving this amazing, life changing experience I had! I promised these to be short and sweet.  Please note that these are not necessarily in any order although ChiRunning is in the top 5 reasons why I had a successful race.  How do I measure my success?  Well, not by speed, obviously! I measure success based on how I felt during training, the race and after.  Although there are several other factors that contributed to my success, ChiRunning is a HUGE part of it.

It was just last year that I suffered from plantar fasciitis and had to take several months off from running due to overuse and not listening to my body.

I would never even consider doing this race if it weren’t for ChiRunning.  If you are a ChiRunner already, you know what I’m talking about. If not, I highly suggest you look into it.

First and foremost, it’s about proper running form. Technique is the key to success with any sport.  In ChiRunning, you learn to minimize using your legs to run and use your core and gravity to do the work for you. When you use your legs less, you are less prone to injury and you use less energy which in turn can translate to better recovery time, speed and/or distance.

Most people run upright, overstride in front of them and use their legs way too much! This causes most running injuries and is an inefficient way to move forward.

Most people run upright, overstride in front of them and use their legs way too much! This causes most running injuries and is an inefficient way to move forward.

I had no pain while training and I was averaging 50+ miles a week for awhile.  I had no pain during the race at all even though we were in sand most of the time and climbing because I knew how to use my body properly for these (you learn to adapt your technique to the environment you are running in).  Of course, I did quite a bit of ChiWalking as well!  I’ll admit that the day after my body was a bit sore and I was waddling around but on Monday, I barely felt any soreness. I know this is also due to my conditioning but I know my technique had a lot to do with it.

One of the reasons I love ChiRunning, is that the more you focus on it, the better you become at it. I’m a Master Instructor and have been teaching it for 6 years. I focused heavily on my form on my training runs with my ChiSchool audios and ChiRunning app and have felt a huge improvement in my form and efficiency.  I felt great pretty much the whole time during the 50 miler.

ChiRunning is great for beginners wanting to learn to properly the first time around and also elite athletes that are looking at getting better/faster at their sport.  As we say, “Practice Makes Progress” and you never know how a little tweak in your arm swing or your head position can negatively impact your running form….and when you are running 50 miles, you want to be as efficient as possible.

ChiRunning just used this comment in one of their facebook posts and I wanted to share: “ChiRunning and Total Immersion share the belief that you are ALWAYS working on your technique, because you can always improve on some level, whether it’s getting more physically fit, focusing your mind, elevating your mood or learning the art of internal stillness in the midst of activity.”

And for the record, ChiRunning has changed my run but more importantly my life in so many ways! I highly recommend checking it out if you are a runner! Imagine the possibilities!

I personally don't want running to be hard...why would I keep doing it? The easier it is on my mind and body, the more likely I'll keep doing it and be able to do it!

I personally don’t want running to be hard…why would I keep doing it? The easier it is on my mind and body, the more likely I’ll keep doing it and be able to do it!

50 Miles of Gratitude: 50 Posts about my first 50 Miler

 

 

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

Week #6 Recap- 50K/50Mile Training

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

This was my 50K training plan for the week:

Week Of Week Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Miles
12-Oct 6 0 4 6 6 0 18 10 44

Here is how my week went:

  • Monday is a rest day and I’m really starting to enjoy these.  I love not having to schedule my alarm and I let my body/mind sleep as long as I can. I got 8 hours and 37 minutes according to my Jawbone (this also gives me 3 sweepstakes entries for Krowdfit!)
  • Tuesday: Did 5 trail miles at South Mountain with my friend Vicki. I focus on some hiking as I know I won’t be running the entire time during the event. I also started on some sandy washes since Antelope Canyon is 30 miles of sand.
  • Wednesday: I woke up later than I wanted to (Running for Brews the night before) and it was tough to get motivated. Did 6 road miles.  Focused on Y-Chi as I learned some new things between Danny’s ChiSchool webinar and the lesson for that week. Had some great aha moments with it!
  • Thursday: Training plan called for 6 miles today and was trying to figure out how and when to get them in..had an epiphany before I went to bed…so I ran to my track workout, coached my peeps, ran to my parents for breakfast and then ran back home! (I always get less mileage than my track participants as I’m coaching them individually on technique)
  • Friday: Rest day (traveled to Tucson for a free ChiRunning clinic on Friday night and a full workshop on Saturday)
  • Saturday:  I knew there was no way I was getting 18 miles in since I had a 4 hour ChiRunning workshop from 12-4pm.  My original plan was 12 (I figured I would do 12 on Sat and 12 on Sun).  My friend Lori happened to be down there visiting her family so we made plans to check out the Sweetwater Preserve (I’ve been there once but remembered how much I liked it).  The plan was to meet there at 6:30am….unfortunately the rain and lightening kept us from starting at that time and I almost blew it off because I fell back asleep but thankfully she texted me and said “Let’s do it.”.  Her nephew Joey, an avid runner came with us to explore the trails that we hadn’t been on.  We were going for 6 miles since I needed time to get ready for my class but somehow we got lost and ended up doing 8 beautiful miles with a bit of rain as well.  I had to rush to my class but it was a beautiful run.
  • Sunday: My goal was to do 12-14 miles at McDowell Mountain and do part of the 50K Frenzy course.  A few friends came out with me and we did another gorgeous trail run…thankfully the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of it and we explored another new trail.

My training for the week finished like this:

12-Oct 6 0 4 6 6 0 18 10 44
0 5.3 6 6 0 8 12 37.3

I did a little less of the weekly mileage than I was supposed to do but still happy all considering.  As always, I foam roll my calves almost nightly, do leg drains and hit the hot tub a few times just to loosen up the muscles.

Aha moments this week:  

  • I may have been a little tight but overall not sore at all!  I really attribute this to ChiRunning as my goal is to always be as energy efficient as possible and use my body correctly so I don’t re-injure myself as I’m adding miles.
  • As mentioned above, focused quite a bit on YChi and had some great aha moments, the biggest one was feeling total leg relaxation as my mind/body were so focused.
  • ChiRunning Form Focuses: working on peeling my feet (especially in sand) rather than pushing with my calf muscles which takes up a lot of energy and more potential for injury.

Fundraising update: I’ve set a goal for myself to raise $5,000 for Girls On The Run.  I’m on their Board of Directors and this is a charity I’m really passionate about as running has changed my life and I wish I would’ve started earlier.  I sent a blast to my newsletter about various ways people/businesses can help out with the charity.  From that email, I received two $50 donations.  Find out more here.

Previous blogs posts in this series:

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!
)

To Plan or Not To Plan? That is the Question!

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

Should you set a goal before a race or not?  Many runners do…..I always tell new runners not to worry about what everyone else is doing and do your own thing.  Running is social for me so I don’t tend to set many concrete goals before I do a race.  Read my blog and/or watch my video to find out about my last race;)

 

This past Saturday night, I completed my longest run in a long time…since dealing with my plantar fascitiis.  It was the 25K Javelina Jangover with Aravaipa Running (15ish miles).  A night trail run that started at 8pm.  I used think people were crazy to do night trail runs but now they are my favorite type of run.

Last year I did this same race with a few friends and we had a blast. It was their first longest race, and at night.  We had not any goals and completed it in 3:57.

This year most of my friends weren’t doing it and since I love this trail, I decided to go for it (I have been training for it).

As I said, I rarely go into a run with a solid plan but this time was different:

Needless to say, I was craving a nice long run where I could really focus on my form… and more importantly energy efficiency.   Here was my plan:

  • Beat last year’s time with a goal of 3:27
  • Not wear my Garmin so I could run strictly by body sensing rather than having the time/mileage rule my mind. I wrote another blog about this before.
  • I actually looked at the map. I new the first half of the race was hillier and that my 2nd half would be easier (was hoping for negative splits-when the 2nd half of your race is faster than the first half)
  • Be as energy efficient as possible by using the ChiRunning form focuses as much as possible. I also wanted to focus on applying the rule of matching my running to the environment.

I’m happy to report that my plan went very well:

  • I ended up with a 3:16:28 time (ended 7th in my Age Group out of 27 other women).  I averaged a 13:02 pace for 13 miles which I was happily surprised with.
  • I looked at my Garmin a few times to gauge the Aid station but happy that it did not “rule” my run.
  •  I was alone most of the run, didn’t listen to any music and was happy to run into a friend after the aid station and we chit chatted for a bit which helped the My favorite part was working on all my form focuses! Time went by so fast. You have to be very present when night trail running already but when you focus on form, it gives you something to work with as well.  My abs were pretty sore at the end which means I focused well on my posture the entire time and allowing gravity to pull me forward.  I focused on letting the trail pick up my feet and did a lot of work with my upper body. I focused on not rotating my upper body. I strategically ChiWalked up every hill which is very efficient and used short strides and my upper body to do more of the work. I focused a lot on breathing, especially nose breathing.  I never focused this much on breathing during a race and I have to say, this paid off. I felt great the entire time and I believe it was the breathing that had the biggest impact.  (I also give credit to Dr. Al Lundeen, my chiropractor, from Fast Forward Chiropractic who I’ve been working with for several months. We are working on some of my posture issues that effect breathing).
  • My other favorite running meditation is to focus on all my senses and be present within each of them.  Try it next time.  Focus on what you hear for a bit, what you see, smell, feel and taste.

I’ve ran quite a few training runs and races but I have to say, that had to be one of my best runs ever if I were to measure it specifically on energy efficiency. I felt great during the run and after the run.

AHA Moment:  It’s up to you if you want to have a plan or not.  But if you do have a plan, don’t get too attached to it.  Sometimes things happen that are out of our control…I’ve seen this happen where people make plans for an event and they couldn’t keep the plan and then they are beating themselves about it for days. It’s not worth it.  Make a plan and see how it goes.  If it doesn’t go as planned, figure out why and use it as a learning lesson next time. No need to beat yourself up about it!

Have you ever planned for a race?  How did it go?

 

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

What? The ChiRunning Instructor is injured??

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

A ChiRunning Instructors biggest nightmare….INJURY!  Please don’t let it be true….

Well, it is true and I’m feeling compelled to blog about it and share my experience with you. How can I be injured when I’ve been teaching ChiRunning for 4 years and I KNOW that my form is good?  Of course not perfect but good enough to know that it’s not my form that caused it.

First of all, let me preface this with saying that yes, we say ChiRunning is injury-free. These are two very powerful words in the running world and many people seek us out for this. And the ChiRunning instructors have had some great conversations on our secret facebook page about injuries and the words “injury-free”.  To summarize, ChiRunning does absolutely lend itself to being less prone to injury than “conventional” running.  From arm swing to foot placement to cadence, we teach people how to use their bodies correctly to move forward without injury.  But is it a gaurantee  that it’s injury-free?  OF COURSE NOT.

Why?  Because there are other variables that can cause injury that are not related to the form.  You could have a postural distortion that requires more correction than technique and need a physical therapist to help you OR in my case, you could’ve made some STUPID moves in your training. So now it’s time for….

Confessions of a ChiRunning Instructor:

One of the things I love most about ChiRunning is that it’s taught me to body sense, listen to my body and be my own detective. Sounds basic but this is not a skill that runners hone in on.  Conventional running tells you to run through the pain and fix it later….not a smart plan if you want to run for the rest of your life because this will backfire on you at some point.

So about a week ago and a half ago, I started feeling pain in my right heel.  I thought maybe I had bruised it since I have some new minimal trail shoes and maybe hit a rock and didn’t remember it. At least this is what I was praying for since I knew in my head what the other alternative was…..yep, you guessed it…. the plant!  I’m talking about plantar fasciitis.  Ugh, are you kidding me?  I already knew the symptoms but looked them up again hoping that my detective work was wrong…

Nope, pretty sure it’s the onset on plantar fasciitis.  If you’ve never had this, I hope you never get it. THANKFULLY, I feel I’ve caught it early enough to “fix” it.  Here is a great article about Everything You Need to Know about Plantar Fasciitis.

plantar_fasciitus

 

So how could this be?  Well, I know for sure it’s not my form.  I’ve been recently video taped by Danny Dreyer himself and I know I’m not heel striking, crunching my toes or toe running. So what could it be?  Here is what I discovered through my detective work:

  • I ran 15 days straight without taking a day off from 5/29-6/12.  (I’m training for a 12 hour event in July which will be another blog post). I got so sucked in to getting mileage and was having so much fun running (yes, crazy I know) that I just never ended up taking a day off.
  • Within this 15 days, I also hiked Havasupai.  11.5 miles in on a Friday and 11.5 miles out on a Sunday.  I didn’t train for hiking since I’ve been running so much and I’ve run more than that so I didn’t think it would effect me…WRONG!  There were some steep uphills/downhills and lots of wash (sand). So even though I really focused on my form, my body was not used to those conditions and I’m sure my calves were working harder than they have in years. Seriously, I don’t remember last time I had tight calves until this trip.
  • Within this time, my weekly mileage went from 33 miles the week ending 5/26 up to 52 miles and 43 miles for those 15 days.  REALLY LISA?  Is that a 10% increase in your weekly mileage?  NO! What the heck what I thinking?  I don’t know but I’m surely kicking myself now.

So even though I’m glad I had another aha moment (or as I tell my friends, these are signs of us “growing up”…lol) that I could learn from and write about, I’m annoyed at myself now because I have to take time off running! As much as it’s KILLING ME, I know this is the advice I would give any of my runners.  I also know better than to beat myself up about a mistake I made as a running coach in my own training.  Thank you for the lesson, Universe and thank you for making me a good detective, ChiRunning!

So I’m crossing my fingers that 5 days off along with a lot of stretching, rolling my foot on frozen water bottles (what I’m doing right now), gravel walking, and gripping towels with my toes, are going to make the difference. This is not the best time for this to be happening since I have a big event on 7/12 but it’s already put me in a place to make some different decisions about that event if I have to.

Please cross your fingers for me 😉

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)