Outrun the reaper

Remember - Keep the hands loose, wrists cocked and pull down and back.
Swing the arms straight now, don't cross the mid line or you'll start to rotate the shoulders and lose forward momentum.
OK, now, run tall, upright posture, core switched on - good, now engage the glutes and rotate pelvis underneath.
Nice, now, easy strides landing midfoot and -

Dammit!

I had forgotten to keep swinging the arms properly.

Ok, remember, lose hands, cock the wrists...


Jeez, there is a lot to this running gig!
Last Saturday a small group and I had a run technique session with Tony Benson and Thursday night was my first real chance to put some of the lessons into practice. Needless to say, there was a lot to try to remember and, as I got one component of my run dialled in I would notice that another one was slipping.

When I was younger, I seem to recall, we used to just get outdoors and run. When did it get this technical?
Our shoes were canvas high tops and they had a zero heel to toe drop (I guess we were ahead of the game on that one at least) and running was just something you just did; on the playground to avoid getting "it", to tag someone so you were no longer "it", or to distance yourself when "it" hit the fan.
Fast forward 20 or so years and her I am, slapping the L-Plates on and trying to unlearn something I thought I was just starting to get good at. (well, let's say better at...)

The main reason I signed up for the run technique course (1 session a week for 6 weeks) is that, on race day, I can hold my own in the swim leg, on the bike I can make my way up toward the lead and pass most of those who got away early, and then watch them all tear away when we switch the cleats for running shoes. I find I spend a good proportion of the final leg of a triathlon trying to limit my losses and read the category numbers on  the calves of passing runners.
There are then the constant questions: "How many other guys are still up the road"; "Did that guy just push me off the podium?"; and "Why did I have to introduce him to this sport?"
It get's kind of annoying, so, I figured this is where I'm likely to get the greatest gain. Well, that and losing a few kilos of course!

This morning, I found a new reason to fix my wayward running style, seems that it might also help me outrun the reaper.

Reading my copy of Triathlon and Multisport Magazine on the train to work I came upon an article "Getting Old Staying Fast". This coming season I'll be moving to a new age category, so part one of that title is being fulfilled. If I were to boil the article down to the takeaways I got I would have the following points

• Performance declines as you get older - but continuing to run slows the decline "drastically"
• Your physiology deteriorates over time - but running and training reduce the impacts
• As you age, you may need to reduce your volume of running - but you can maintain some intensity
• People who continue to run in later years tend to extend their lives - but...no wait, that was a good thing!

So, it's Saturday again, session 2 of my run technique program. I'll be out there again, learning to swing my arms the right way, learning how to run tall, how to incorporate my core and force my feet to land the right way without actually forcing them (it apparently just happens when you do everything else right!)

I will be learning how to run stronger, faster and more efficiently and incidentally, longer and with less bio-mechanical stress.

Perhaps with some practice a good measure of effort and a healthy dose of consistency, not only will I begin to outrun my competition on race day, but there is also a chance to put some distance into old Grim as well.