Pose Method Pace vs. Heartrate graph

Running Pace vs. Heartrate Graph

On the graph above, the square, black points are Pose data from my standard, 4-mile run course. All of the other data is the same course using my former heel-strike gait for different periods over the last couple of years. Fall of 2004 is the most efficient so far (I was training a little more then), but the Pose best-fit line is closing in fast.

I've noticed that the pose data reflects lower efficiency the longer I run (not shown on this graph). I think that will become less pronounced as my calf muscles get stronger and my body (and mind) adapt to the new stride.

Museum of Aviation 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday was my first race using the Pose method. Seven friends (which is a huge crowd for my small, rural county) and I drove to Robins Air Force Base to run the Museum of Aviation Half Marathon. I didn't really race, I stayed with a friend, Jamie, at an 8 min/mi pace for the first 10 miles or so. It was windy and pretty cool (about 42 degrees), but the course was very flat. The course is essentially one lap around the base on the exterior patrol road. Jamie and I had an interesting conversation while running the first several miles as we talked with Jim Marshall, our local congressman. He had a good race and we enjoyed speaking with him about all things running.

At mile 8 or 9, my calves started to noticably fatigue. The longest Pose run I'd done was 8 miles, so I was in uncharted territory. At about mile 10, we crested a small hill (one of the few rises on the flat course that could even be termed a hill). Jamie slowed for a drink, and I kept my pace. My calves were so fatigued, that I felt I would not be able to accelerate if I slowed to wait for Jamie to catch up, so I kept going. After another 1/4 mile or so, I gave up on the Pose method for the day. I was happy I'd made it almost 11 miles using it, but could not sustain it.

That's when in interesting thing happend. I guess I began to use some fresh muscles when I changed back to heel striking, or maybe I was just using muscles differently. Whatever the case, it felt like I'd just reclined in a Lazy-boy lounger! My pace shot to about 7 min/mile and I felt very fresh physically and mentally. I finished the race at about a 7 min/mi pace at 1:42:56 and felt quite fresh at the end. Congressman Marshall had pulled away from Jamie and I at about mile 6, but I caught him right before the finish. He probably shaved 30 seconds off my time as I used him for a carrott during the last mile.

Even if unintentionally, I guess I found a new strategy by starting with Pose and finishing with my old-faithful heel-strike when the Pose tank was empty. Whether that will be a long-term strategy, I don't know -- probably not -- but it worked yesterday.

Everyone else in our group, Jamie, Adam, David, Betty Jean, Suzanne, Pam, Cristina had good races also -- there were several PRs in the group. Even though I didn't race the course, I learned a lot about my new stride, had a very good early-season training day, and had a great time!

Orca/Half Marathon/Power test confirmation data

• I called FreeFlite bike shop in Buckhead to discuss the purchase of an Orbea Orca. I found out two interesting things. One, it's pronounced Or-bay-a, not Or-bee-a like I thought. Second, the salesman said I'm likely to fit a 51cm Orca. I ride a 56cm Trek 5200 now and it's slightly too small for me, so 51cm doesn't sound right. He said they measure them using an unusual convention. Evidently the owner has a blue Orca just like the one I want. So I'm probably going to ride up there next week and test ride it.
• We (my wife and I and about 5 or 6 friends) are road-tripping to Warner Robins on Saturday morning to Robins Air Force Base to run the Museum of Aviation half marathon. It's a fun race. I ran it two years ago with Abby White, a tri-friend who has moved to Florida. It's a fun, low-key run around the air force base on the patrol road. Quite flat. It's the first time that we've had a group this big going to a race together. It's nice to see that local interest in running is growing. We actually had 9 or 10 people doing a training run on Rock Eagle Road last Saturday. That's pretty unheard-of for around here.
• I'm in the process of doing confirmation runs of my bike cadence vs. power testing data. Originally, I did tests 150 bpm rides at 70 rpm, 90 rpm, 100 rpm, and 60 rpm. My power was consistent (about 175 watts) at 70 at 90 rpm, was about 30 watts lower at 100 rpm, and about 25 watts higher at 60 rpm. The re-tests are slightly higher so far at 60 and 70 rpm, but pretty close to the initial test results. The increase is probably due more to recent training at lower paces and higher intensities than to lack of tesing precision. I'll probably run two more tests, one at 90 rpm and one at 65 rpm to populate the graph a little more densely at the low end. I'm curious to see what 50 rpm would give me, but from a practical standpoint, I don't think it's very useful. If I rode any significant distance at any significant wattage, my knees would probably blow out!

Pose Method 8-mile run

My experiment continues... About 4 weeks ago I quit my old running stride cold turkey and started running using the Pose method. It was almost impossible at first. The first time I ran 3 miles I could hardly walk the next day. But I've stuck with it in hopes of increasing efficiency, decreasing the chance of injury, and better using my calf muscles on the run leg of triathlons.

Yesterday I did my first long run using Pose. I ran 8 miles at about an 8 min/mile pace. My heartrate was about 3 bpm below what it was for heel-strike running a month ago. So even though my body is still adapting to the new stride and I have not even begun the video analysis of my stride to make sure I'm really doing the Pose method properly, I've already seen an increase in efficiency. Four weeks ago I though the attemp was futile, but it appears to be working.

When I temporarily switch back to my old heel-striking form, it feels like I'm speed walking compared to my new stride.

Slow Pace Pose running and a little beagle

Yesterday was my longest Pose method run yet, 5.75 miles. I took it really easy and ran with Betty Jean. I'm sure it't partially mental and partially physical, but it seems to be getting gradually easier. However, my average heartrate was higher than expected based on pre-pose method running data. That may be due to the very slow pace (9:11 min/mi) or the fact that I was about 4 pounds heavy from all the Christmas food.

My next 'experiment' will be to do a pose run at about 7 min/mi. That will give me data across a large spectrum. It would not surprise me to find that the pose method is less efficient for me at 8:30 pace and slower, and more efficient at 7:30 pace and faster, and about the same from 7:30 to 8:30 pace as heel-striking.

We (Betty Jean and I) picked up a passenger on our run yesterday. At about mile 1 on Jordan Road, we found a young beagle that was about to starve and/or freeze to death. Of course, we had to drive back to get it after the run. It's beginning to eat and drink now, and I think we've found a home for it. Tim says he's been looking for a dog -- now he has one!

Frost Run

8am Saturday morning, Christmas Eve, 22 degrees. Jamie asked me last night if I'd be interested in running this morning with David and him. I agreed, and wondered earlier this morning if I'd made the right call. It was rough leaving the heater and the new Nine-inch nails song in my Jeep.

But after the first 1/2 mile, I warmed up quickly and was very glad I'd been 'led' on a Christmas-Eve run. I ran about 10 miles with Jamie and David, and they continued for three or four more. I figured since I'd only done one long run lately, and it was only 8 miles, I'd better work my way up the mileage chart with care. I was glad to hear that both of them are considering racing the Rock 'n Rollman half iron in June.

About 25% of the time, mainly on uphill grades, I ran using the Pose method. The rest of the time I ran heel-strike. It's the first heel-strike running I've done in about 2 weeks. And although it did feel somewhat more comfortable than Pose, it had a distintly clog-footed feeling that I hadn't noticed before experimenting with Pose. Maybe I'm making progress?

Second Pose run a little easier

Five days after my initial try, I did another Pose method run. It's two days later now, and the calf soreness is mostly gone. I guess I'll try another one today at lunch. I think I'm into the tougher phase now -- making the new gait second nature. My guess is that it may take several months. I'm not sure how I'll handle running with my friends on the weekends. We've planned to to long runs on Saturday mornings to get ready for an April marathon, but there's no chance I could run more than a few miles using Pose.

Either it will get much easier soon, or I'll just alternate miles between pose an heel-toe. Another thought: I'll have to recalibrate my Polar pace module for my new stride.

Trying the Pose method

This one has been tough. I've known for a long time that I'm a heel-stiker, that is, I land on my heels when running, then roll forward to the balls of my feet and eventually 'toe-off.' I've also know for a while that there is a negative force vector when my heels stike -- I'm actually pushing myself slightly backwards for a split second before I roll forward on my foot and begin to push myself forward. Obviously, that is not a desirable thing if I want to get to the finish line quickly and efficiently. Another disadvantage to landing on my heels is the stress it places on my ankles, knees, and hips. The heel impact causes sort of a jolt with every step.

I've known about the Pose method for at least a couple of years now. The developer of the method is Nicholas Romanov (he's from eastern Europe, I think). http://www.posetech.com It's more complicated than I'll get into here, but one of the big differences in it and the way I run now is that in the Pose method I would land on the midfoot/ball of my foot, not on my heel. The idea is that there is less impact on the joints, less foot-time on the ground, and a recruitment of muscular elasticity as a power source to facilitate forward motion. It's supposed to increase efficiency while reducing the chance of injury.

I bought the book a couple of years ago and got fired up about the new style after reading some of it. The next day I eagerly tried to go run using the Pose method. I didn't make it 100 yards down the road before I felt so much like a cartoon character that I gave up on it. My heartrate skyrocketed and my calves ached.

Last week, Tony told me that I really could benefit from altering my running gait to incorporate Pose method ideas. So I have decided to go cold turkey and quit the heel-striking if it kills me, and it might. My first Pose run was 6 days ago. I made it 3.5 miles. It was tough, but I toughed it out. For the next 5 days, my calves were too sore for me to run again, but I could tell that it was just training soreness, not the kind of pain you get from a joint or connective tissue injury.

Yesterday I tried it again. It was still very difficult to do, but this time the soreness is much less the first day after the run, as might be expected. I wore a heart rate monitor this time. I ran at about and 8-minute mile. During the run, my percieved effort was higher than with my old heel-strike method. I had to concentrate quite a bit while running to do it right. I expected my heartrate to be higher for my given pace than with my old method.

But when I downloaded the data and graphed it -- surprise! the Pose method in all of its awkwardness on my second run was slightly more efficient from a heartrate standpoint than recent heel-strike runs. I have concluded that once I run enough with the Pose method to make it second nature and to properly strengthen my calves, I should definately pick up some efficiency.

Another benefit is that for triathlon, the more I can use my calves to power the run, the better off I will be after getting off a quad-burning bike split. I'll keep you posted on my progress.