Run like a caveman

If you want to run correctly, take your shoes off. Head out for a short jog maybe 50-100 meters (make sure there is no broken glass or sharp objects to hurt your precious footsies). Does it hurt your heels, knees, hips, or back? If so, you are probably running incorrectly. From a young age we are taught to heel strike with every step. The running industry has made billions selling shoes designed to absorb the shock of heel strike running. Nike is full of air and Asics is gellin’, but your knees are still swellin’.
When you run without shoes, heel strikes are very painful. Our heels have little to no natural cushion, and are not made to take the force of a blunt hit to the ground…much less recurring hits during a run or jog. If we can live through our heel pain, we will eventually notice pain moving up through our other joints. Think ankle, knee, hips and back. One or all of your joints have to absorb the shock you are inflicting with every step.
From a physics standpoint, heel strike running doesn’t make sense either. Why would you try to increase the speed of a forward moving object by placing something in front of it? Try rolling a ball forward. Now place something in front of the ball. What happens? The ball stops. When we run incorrectly, landing with our heels in front of our bodies, we are momentarily putting on the brakes and slowing our forward momentum. We then have to push off again to regain speed.

So now what? When you run without shoes, you are forced to run on the balls of your feet. The balls of our feet are naturally padded, and our arches are designed to give and spring with each step. When you run, do so on the balls of your feet. Don’t get over zealous and run up on your toes. Allow your foot to land on the ground directly underneath your body. Make sure you hit between mid to fore foot and allow your heel to barely kiss the ground. Don’t think of pushing off with each step. Your goal is to leave your foot on the ground as little as possible. Concentrate on pulling your foot up and off the ground immediately. To clarify, run in place. Nobody pushes off the ground when you run in place. You pull, pull, pull. Now try pushing off with each step: I bet you look funny and feel even funnier. You want to pull your foot off the ground as you run.
Your speed is depicted by the angle of your body leaning forward. You don’t want to fall on your face right? The lean is your entire body angle. Don’t lean forward from the hip. If you want to speed up, lean forward. If you want to slow down, keep a more up right angle.
This technique is extremely helpful on tough up hill runs and painful, knee-biting down hill runs. It’s called the Pose method, and takes so much pain out of running. Watch these two videos for a good intro explanation:

Pose Part 1

Pose Part 2

WOD 3/8/2010

A. Overhead Squat 1RM

B. For Time:
400M Sandbag Run
20 Sandbag Squats
300M Sandbag Run
30 Sandbag Squats
200M Sandbag Run
40 Sand Bag Squats

C. Optional Oly Lifts:
Hang clean 3-3-3
Front Squat 3-3-3
Jerk 2-2-2

CrossFit Rugby

A. Back Squat 4-4-4
Thruster 4-4-4

B. For time:
21-18-15-12
400M Medball Run
Thrusters
Pull-Ups
Sit-Ups