Chi Running workshop review

Fiona with Danny Dreyer, the inventor of ChiRunning®

Last Saturday I attended a ChiRunning® workshop in Zürich, held by Fiona McLellan.  Fiona is a Chi Running and Chi Walking certified instructor, of which there are only two in Switzerland.  She achieved her certification in May 2011.

Fiona is originally Scottish but has been living in Switzerland for many years.  She usually runs her courses in German but also provides explanations in English as required.  There were 5 of us in the course last Saturday, and as most of us were English speaking she held the course in English.

The first thing Fiona wanted to know was what our reasons for attending the workshop were. Three of the participants came in the hope of finding a way to run injury free, one was hoping to learn better technique and then there was me.  I was there because I am interested in finding out about running trends, so that I can tell you guys (and ladies) about them.  I recently did a similar review of Pose Method® running.

What is Chi Running?

Chi Running teaches safe and efficient, natural running technique, with the aim of reducing injury and improving performance.  It is a method of running instruction developed by Danny Dreyer, an American ultra runner and t'ai chi practitioner, and it has been around since 1999.

The workshop

After a theoretical introduction, Fiona started with a series of simple exercises to get us to start focussing on achieving the correct posture for Chi Running.  The correct posture for Chi Running involves contracting the muscles at the front of your pelvis and maintaining a strong core, whilst keep everything else as relaxed as possible.

Gravity should be used to assist your running and acceleration and deceleration is achieved by either increasing or decreasing the lean of your body.  The lean should originate from the ankles and not from the waist.  The neck should be long and the chin level so that a C shape is formed by tracing from your chin, over your head, down your back, and then from the back of your pelvis towards the front of your pelvis and up to your navel.  The runner's ankle, hip-bone, shoulder and ear should be in a straight line when landing.

In Chi Running the arms are considered very important.  When running on the flat they should be doing just as much work as the legs (50-50), and that changes when running uphill or downhill.  When running uphill, Fiona told us that the arms do 70% of the work and the legs do the remaining 30%.  The effort should be made to swing the arms backwards rather than forwards, as they will naturally come forward by themselves unaided, due to the pendulum effect.  The angle of the forearm to the upper arm should be 90 degrees and the hands should be cupped as if holding a butterfly inside your hand that you neither want to squash nor to let escape.  The arms should not cross the centreline of the body, as Chi Running teaches that any movement not in the direction of movement is inefficient.

The steps should be small and quick and the whole foot lands at once, so as to help absorb impact (but in minimalist shoes or when running barefoot, Chi Runners land on the forefoot first and then immediately come down onto the whole foot).  To take off is simply a matter of lifting the heel as if peeling off a plaster.

After doing exercises to practise using the lean, getting in the C shaped posture and contracting our core, relaxing the rest of our bodies and minimising unnecessary effort, we headed outside to the park.  Here in the park we started putting everything together, and then Fiona told us about the Chi Running recommended cadence.  Chi Running teaches a cadence of 180 steps per minute (the same as Pose method running).  We used a metronome to practise running at 180bpm.  Some of us in the group found this cadence very natural and others found it too fast.  In general the ones that found it too fast were prominent heel strikers.

Chi Running teaches not to reach out for the ground in front but rather to open the stride out at the back. Fiona told us that when she was first learning Chi Running technique they practised running over logs, not by lifting the foot up at the front but by lifting it up at the back.  This is the opposite of what most of us would probably do naturally when faced with a log in our path, but if you try it you will see that you can also get over a log this way too.

Chi Running also teaches that the legs begin just under the ribcage rather than from the top of the leg alone.  We did an exercise where we had to run normally, then stop running and walk as fast as possible then run again.  What we found after fast walking was that our pelvis continued to rotate slightly whilst running.  This, Fiona says, helps us to achieve a slightly longer stride and is a good thing to do.

Fiona then went on to touch on the topics of hill running, and breathing when Chi Running.  These topics are covered in more detail in advanced Chi Running courses, but she told us that in terms of breathing it is good to breathe through the nose as much as possible, because when we breathe through the nose we naturally tend to use our stomach to breathe, rather than using purely the upper area of our lungs.  The part where she touched on hill running was extremely interesting, because I asked her how you should run up a really steep hill when you are unable to put your ankles down (because the gradient is just too severe).  I have never seen anything like it before, but she showed us that you should turn sideways and run up the hill.  It looked rather odd but it may be worth trying next time you are running up a really steep hill, because running on your tiptoes is very tiring and you won't be able to do that for hours on end.

In the final part of the lesson Fiona filmed us running and then we did some video analysis on the computer.  She gave each of us individual feedback, and my feedback was that I don't really use my arms at all and that I should try to use them more actively.  I also reach out slightly for the ground in front rather than opening up my stride at the back.  If I worked on these 2 points, apparently I would have a good Chi Running technique.

I found the workshop extremely informative, and if you too are interested in doing a Chi Running course in Zürich, the next one will take place on the 25th August.  Fiona will also be offering advanced courses as of the 22nd September.  You can visit her website www.runwithfiona.ch for more information.

Pose Method® and Efficient Running Workshop Review

Gravity is your friend in efficient running

In the article below I attempt to give an unbiased review of the Pose Method® and efficient running workshop that I attended yesterday in Richterswil near Zürich, led by Jeff Grant of Hillseeker Fitness.  In the past I was of the mindset that running is something that should come naturally to us and is not something that needs to be taught.  I started running myself at the age of seven.  However, I went into the workshop with a very open mind, determined to see if the Pose Method® could be another useful tool that I could use in my drive to become a quicker, more efficient and injury free long distance runner.

Background

The Pose Method® is a system for teaching human movement, developed in the 70's by 2 time Olympic coach Dr Nicholas S. Romanov.  Whilst the system can be applied to all sports, most are still in the theory stage (cycling, swimming, speed skating and skiing for example).  Pose Method® running on the other hand is well developed.  The aim of the Pose Method® is to improve training and performance, and to reduce injuries.

Description

The Pose Running method is all based around the "pose", a position which every runner will attain at some point during their stride pattern.  This position is characterised by one leg on the ground (ideally slightly bent) with the other leg bent at the knee and hanging underneath the hip.  The aim of the method is to reduce the time it takes the runner to get to this position from the moment their foot first strikes the ground (time to reach Pose), and to reduce the time it takes to get from "pose" to the point where the back foot leaves the ground (time from Pose to air).  The "ideal" time to reach pose is one 30th of a second.  The way to check this is to record yourself and then play back the video at 30 frames per second.  Click here for an example of fast pose running by Dr Romanov.

In addition to the time to reach Pose and the time from Pose to air, there are several other key ideas that I will describe below.

1) Conservation of energy

Any energy that does not help to propel the runner forward should be conserved.  The term Jeff uses for this is minimum effective dosage or M.E.D. The top half of the body should remain fairly still (other than the arms), the head should remain as level as possible and not bob up and down, and unnecessary tension throughout the whole body should be eliminated.  The arms should also not cross the body.

2) Foot strike

Ideally the runner should land on the forefoot and then the heel should come down and "kiss" the ground.  Theoretically it would be faster if the runner remained on their forefoot without bringing their heel down to kiss the ground, but this is extremely tough on the Achilles tendon and the lower calf muscle and so for anything other than than a short sprint it makes sense to let the heel kiss the ground.  Heel striking is the worst possible foot strike as it carries the highest associated risk of injury due to the increased jarring effect.

3) Cadence

The ideal minimum recommended cadence is 180 foot strikes per minute.  This is closely related to muscle-tendon elasticity, and making use of the natural spring effect of our bodily tissues.

4) The pull

The idea of the Pose Method® of running is that to take quick steps the runner should focus on pulling their foot upwards in the groove underneath their hip rather than focussing on pushing the leg down towards the ground.  You can go out and try this by yourself.  Try to run up a flight of stairs quickly and you have 2 ways to accomplish it.  Either you focus on using your legs like a piston and pushing them into the ground using your quads or you try to keep your foot muscles and quads relaxed and focus on pulling your back leg up quickly using the hamstrings.  If you listen to the sounds made by these 2 different methods you will notice that the first is a lot noisier than the second and so has a higher associated risk of injury.

5) Gravity

Using gravity to our advantage is the basis of efficient running.  Leaning forward by opening the hips (and not just leaning forward with the head), we can take advantage of gravity to help us run faster.  The next step is not to stop that forward momentum when our foot strikes the ground.  As we land our centre of gravity should be over our foot and not behind it, and our foot should have as little contact with the ground as possible.


The Hillseeker Fitness Workshop

There were 7 of us in the workshop, 3 men and 4 ladies.  After  a brief introduction Jeff took us outside to record videos of each of us running.  This was before we had received any instruction on Pose running so that he could assess our natural styles.

When we went back inside he started to go through our videos and provide us with feedback.  I was a little nervous when it was my turn, because I was wondering how my technique was going to look on video, having never recorded myself running before.  It was also a chance to confirm whether I was a heel striker (like I used to be), a mid foot striker (which I thought I am now) or a forefoot striker.

Overall my style was not too bad.  Playing the video frame by frame at 30 frames per second revealed that I was definitely a mid foot striker and my cadence was more or less 180 strikes per second.  The frames to reach Pose was 2 (recall the ideal figure is 1) and the frames from Pose to air was 2.5.  On landing, the weight-bearing leg remained bent, which Jeff says is good as it reduces the chance of knee injuries.  The constructive criticism Jeff gave was that I carried a lot of tension in my upper body, my steps were louder than they needed to be and I was pulling back my toes and reaching out for the ground meaning that my centre of gravity was slightly behind the foot when landing (causing a braking effect).  He wanted to focus on reducing the tension in my upper body, get me to land more on my fore foot and try to stop me reaching out for the ground so that on landing my centre of gravity would be over my landing foot.

The rest of the day consisted of the theory behind the ideal efficient running technique, interspersed with lots of technique drills.  Each drill focussed on one aspect of efficient running technique at a time and then now and again Jeff would give us time to try out consolidated runs where we tried to apply everything we had leaned from each of the separate drills together.

The technique drills included buddy starts (where you hold your buddy while he leans forward and runs on the spot and then let him go so that for the first few steps gravity is assisting him), heel holds (where you hold your buddy's heel while he tries to pull it up snappily several times on each foot and then he goes off for a run where due to the lack of resistance he now ends up pulling his heel up very quickly), barefoot running in the agility ladder (to encourage forefoot running), running with your hand in front of your belly button and trying to touch it but never letting your hand touch it (to encourage opening at the hips), running with your hands on your bottom (once again to encourage you to open up), running up flights of stairs (focussing on quick and quiet steps using fast pulls of the foot upwards rather than loud piston like steps where the leg is pushed downwards), doing sidesteps then turning to run forwards (so that gravity assists your first few steps), running with bungee cords attached to your feet (to encourage quick snappy pulls of the foot under the hip and precision) and framing (where you run with a buddy behind you holding on to your shoulders so that your chest is open and so that you don't kick excessively backwards).

Each person in the group found that different drills worked best for them, and I think my personal favourites were the sidestep into forward running and the running with your hand in front of the belly button trying to catch it but not allowing your hand to touch.

Afterwards we recorded new videos of each of us running so that we could see if the session had helped us to run more Pose like.  Most of us noticed some differences in our before and after videos, except for 2 of the participants who were seasoned runners and for whom I guess it would take a lot of time and effort to make changes to their running form.  They were definitely heel strikers before and definitely heel strikers afterwards, and they were also overreaching with the front foot both before and after.

In terms of my after video, the tension in my upper body was somewhat reduced (although I was still clenching my left hand in a fist), my foot strike changed more towards forefoot than mid foot and my centre of gravity on landing shifted over my foot rather than behind it like before.  My steps were also somewhat quieter and my frames to reach Pose came down from 2 to 1.75 and my frames from Pose to air came down from 2.5 to 1.5.  You could say that after the session I ran more Pose like than I did before the session.

Summary

Is there one technique that can be applied to all runners?  I am not sure, but for me personally a lot of the things in the Pose method® seem to make sense.  On landing it makes sense to me that the Centre of Gravity should be over the landing foot and not behind it, and it also makes sense to me that heel striking is never a good thing in terms of injury risk.  Regarding the cadence, it may seem too fast for some runners, but as the before and after videos showed I was already running at a cadence of around 180bpm before even receiving any instruction, so for me the recommended minimum cadence seemed fine.

Does it make you a more efficient runner?  This is where some of the anti Pose method® camp say that the technique fails.  They say that after applying the Pose technique some runners have shown a reduced running economy in tests.  The pro Pose method® camp say that maybe the runners did not learn or apply the technique properly.  This for me is an interesting open question.  Either way, there are a lot of things to remember in order to fully apply the Pose technique to your running, and for some runners attempting to change their running style so drastically may cause their running performance to be reduced at least in the short term.  I myself however enjoy trying out different running styles, having already transitioned myself without help from a former heel striker to a mid foot striker, having already started touching on barefoot and minimalistic running, and so for me, applying aspects of the Pose technique to my running will be another of my interesting experiments.  Some people enjoy the simplicity of running, and others like me enjoy treating it as a science experiment and trying out different styles, reading about the biomechanics of running etc.

Whichever way you view Pose running, Jeff leads a very interesting workshop and even an anti Pose method® runner should consider going into a similar workshop with an open mind and seeing what they get out of it.  Maybe nothing or maybe something, but it can't hurt trying.

I would be interested to hear your personal views on Pose running, both for and against.  Or maybe your thoughts on one of the other schools of running like Chi running or Evolution running.

The last 2 days - hill training and shorter faster runs

Ready to head out for tonight's run with Negrita

Tuesday, having arrived back late the previous evening from a long weekend in Madrid I decided was to be a rest day from running.  I was too tired to face yoga at lunchtime as well, and as it turned out the class was cancelled anyway.  However, when you are training for an ultra like the Ticino Trail you can't afford too many rest days like that, so I decided to kick start things again as of yesterday.

My training yesterday was split between a lunchtime 3k timed run and the group coaching session with Jeff in the evening.

At lunchtime I got confused by the fact that my Garmin was reading in miles instead of kilometres, and ended up going off way to fast, before I realised what had happened.  Then I didn't know how far I should run in miles in order to have run 3k, and didn't want to play around with the settings whilst running, so in the end I did just over 3k.  To be precise I did 3.13k in 12:24.

Then yesterday evening was my weekly coached session with Jeff Grant.  It was the first lesson of Series 4, and Jeff decided to focus on hill training.  After a short warmup we did a benchmark test that he will use at the end of Series 4 to see if we have improved.  It was a short run around part of the field that is next to the Saalsporthalle and then at the end there was an uphill section.  The final section was steep enough that if you hadn't paced yourself well till that point and left some reserves, you were a little bit screwed.  I completed the test in 6:04 and at the end of Series 4 I will post my new time so you can see my improvement (or not as the case may be).  There were 3 people who beat me in the benchmark test.  Two of them I thought might beat me and then there was a new guy that turned up.  He was a short Mexican guy and he ran like Speedy Gonzales.  I bet he had consumed a few handfuls of Chia seeds before starting.

After the benchmark test and a huge hailstorm (the weather is so unpredictable at the moment), we started with hill sprints using a series of cones laid out on 3 spokes.  One of the "spokes" was actually downhill and it may surprise some of you, but downhill running can actually be a valuable tool in your training repertoire.  For a start, running downhill makes you good at running downhill.  This can be important if you are going to do a race that includes some downhill sections (which the Ticino Trail will in copious amounts).  Running downhill also helps to increase your leg turnover speed (which is why it is often used by sprinters), and last but not least it makes your muscles stronger and so you are less likely to suffer from DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).  Like any new element of training it must be added gradually to your schedule to avoid risk of injury.  Too much too soon can be a very bad idea.

Upon completing the hill sprints we headed back to the Saalsporthalle to do a few stretches (even more important than usual after hill training) and then the lesson was over and we dispersed as quickly as we had come together one hour earlier.

Todays training also consisted of 2 parts.  At lunchtime I ran 7k with 3 of my colleagues (if you recall I have a lot of colleagues who have taken up running in the last half year or so).  Then tonight I went out for a 6k run with Negrita - why walk your dog when you can run with your dog I say.  Negrita has had a new haircut as you can see in the photo above, and looks ever so smart and cute.  I am sure it is also better for her to run like this, as she won't get so hot as before.  It also shows off how lean she is.  A lean mean running machine.  Both runs were down in my Vibram Fivefingers.

What will tomorrow's training include?  I am not sure yet, but most likely I will run to work and then I have my one to one Pilates class in the evening.  There is also a fitness store opening near work, and they are giving people the chance to try out Kangoo Jumps, so I may go there at lunchtime to try them out, and drag along one or two of my sporty colleagues.

"Coming out" as a barefoot runner

Up till tonight I only had two barefoot runs under my belt.  Both of those were on the Finnenbahn in Irchelpark, and they were very short.  I felt like a challenge tonight.  No longer did I want to hide from the strange stares that one expects to get when barefoot running on the streets.  It was time to get out there and run barefoot in public, with my head held up high.  I decided I would officially "come out" as a barefoot runner.  It is nothing to be ashamed of.  In fact it is more hardcore than shod running.  I could also argue that I am saving the environment ever so slightly, because it is one less pair of socks to have to wash :)))

I had two companions with me on my run.  One was Negrita and the other was my iphone, allowing me to take some short video clips whilst running on different surfaces.  The first part of the run was on asphalt and that was no problem for my feet except for one section where a lot of small twigs had fallen on the pavement and I had to pick my way gingerly over them.  Once I reached Irchelpark I joined the Finnenbahn, so the surface then was composed of wood chips.  They are a little more challenging to run on than asphalt, but also more stimulating for the feet.  Next came the grass.  That was my favourite surface as it was softer than asphalt and woods chips for my feet, yet still stimulating for them.  You do have to be careful in the long grass though, as it would be easy for pieces of glass and dog excrement to be hidden amongst the blades. After the grass I tried a section of gravel/ small stones.  There is no other way to describe that surface than painful, at least until my feet toughen up.  I left the stony section as quickly as humanly possible and reverted back to the asphalt for the return journey home.

Whilst I did see some people on my way to and from the park, and whilst several people did look down at my feet briefly, I did not get the strange comments or really intense stares I had been expecting.  I am sure I could get those by running barefoot down Bahnhofstrasse if I wanted (note to self for something to do when I am feeling I am not getting enough attention).

Below are some short video clips I took tonight whilst running:

Having a shared hobby can strengthen your relationship

It is really great that Anny and I can enjoy running together, and now that she has followed my lead and bought a pair of Vibram FiveFingers it is even more fun.  I have now gone one step further and started running completely barefoot from time to time, and whether she will ever follow this lead I don't know, but at least she can enjoy some of the great sensations (of feeling the ground beneath her feet) that I am getting.

Today was the first time she has been out in her VFFs.  She wanted to start using them gradually, so we went running for 5km first, with her in normal running shoes and me in my VFFs, and then we stopped and changed, with her slipping into her VFFs and me going completely barefoot.  She decided to wear Injinji toe socks inside her VFFs as she had her nails painted recently and wanted to protect them.  It took her quite a while to get her feet into the shoes, and I reassured her that it will become easier the more times she does it.  It is probably easier to get them on when you are not wearing socks, as there is slightly more room and your feet can glide over the fabric.

Before Anny set off I gave her a few words of advice regarding the difference between running in normal shoes and in minimalistic shoes like VFFs.  I told her to try to land on the ball of her foot and to focus on small, light, quick steps rather than bounding.  I didn't want to spoil her fun of trying them out though, so after those few words I left it to her to experiment for herself.  Also I am by no means an expert.  Quite the opposite in fact.

The barefoot section of our run was on the Finnenbahn in Irchelpark, and I really like running barefoot there.  It is now my second time running round it completely barefoot.  Today was slightly more comfortable than the first time, and I think my feet will toughen up very quickly if I continue like this.

I asked Anny what she thought of running in the VFFs compared to running in normal shoes.  She said that she enjoyed the sensation of feeling the ground beneath her feet and she felt the muscles in her toes were being engaged as the two main upsides.  When I asked her if there were any downsides she said not at present.  The key for her to continue enjoying the experience in my opinion is for her to go step by step.  Running in her VFFs on asphalt would not be as enjoyable for her as running on wood chips and also would be harder on her knees.  So I think that for the time being she should stick to the wood chips and increase the distance bit by bit.  I will keep you updated on her progress.

As well as running together, we are also going to start dance classes together as from tomorrow.  We have chosen to do a course of Kizomba, which is a dance originating from Angola.  It is meant to be a sensual dance that is easier to learn than tango.  If you are interested in knowing more about it, as I had never heard of it until recently, here is some more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizomba.  Dancing is of course a very enjoyable workout.

Finally in closing I would like to say that if any of you have recently took up barefoot running or minimalistic running I would be interested to hear how you are finding it.  What are the pros?  What are the cons?  Do you share it in common with your partner?  Has it made your relationship more enjoyable?

My first 100% barefoot run

Since I had to take Negrita out for a walk tonight anyway, I thought I would try some true barefoot running with her in Irchelpark.  There is a path that borders the park, which is made up of wood chips.  The Swiss call it a Finnenbahn and there are plenty of them scattered throughout Switzerland.  It is intended for use by runners/walkers who want a softer surface to run/walk on.  A perfect place I thought to try going completely barefoot.

I wore my Newton running shoes to get to the park and back, as I didn't want to risk stepping on a small piece of glass on the way to the park or on the way home.  On the Finnenbahn itself, there is much less likely to be glass, as generally people respect it's purpose and leave it clear of litter.

Once I got to the park I took off my shoes and socks and set off on the Finnenbahn.  Although the surface is soft on the knees, it is not that soft on the feet.  The wood chips lie at various angles and if you step on one that is lying on its side it can be a little sharp.  I was also a bit concerned about getting a splinter in my foot.

I focussed on my technique, trying to step as lightly as possible with lots of little steps.  Like this it was a little uncomfortable on my feet at times, but not painful like it may have been otherwise.  The Finnenbahn is not continuous the whole way round the park and is sometimes necessary to traverse gravel and stone to get to the next section.  I certainly noticed the difference running on gravel compared to running on the wood chips.  On the gravel it was hard to run properly at all, and it was almost like walking on hot coals (kind of like ouch, ouch, ouch).

Part of the Finnenbahn was muddy due to the recent rainfall and this was by far the most interesting section to run on.  It was beautifully soft and the feeling of mud squelching between my toes was just glorious.  I would have been happy to run on that surface all day long, and barefoot wins hands down over shoes when it is as soft as that.  I did around one and a half laps of the Finnenbahn, doubling back towards the end in order to avoid traversing the large gravel section for a second time (once was enough).

After finishing my barefoot run I put my shoes and socks back on and headed home.  Negrita was alone in the apartment all day today, so she was bursting with energy, and I thought it would be nice to really push the pace on the way back to the apartment and let her burn off some of that pent up energy.  According to my Garmin our fastest pace was 3:07 min/km, which is pretty fast, although it was downhill.  When we arrived back at the apartment we were both gasping for breath but her little tail was wagging and I felt pretty good too.

It only took just over 25 minutes to run from the apartment to the park, do a lap and a bit and then return home, so it is something I can easily do again another night.  Hopefully doing this maybe once a week or so over an extended period of time, my feet will become extremely tough and strong.  I am going to need strong, tough feet for the Ticino trail in August.

Longest run so far in my VFFs - 10km

Since I left UBS 8 months ago, some of my colleagues who never ran before took up running.  I had already decided when I woke up today that I would take my running kit to work with me and do a lunchtime run.  Then as I was heading to the changing rooms I bumped into one of my colleagues and he told me they were about to go running, so I thought I would join them.  We were the four musketeers.

I was planning on a short run as I decided to run in my VFFs, and 5km is the furthest I have run in them before.  My colleagues were planning on running 11km however, so I told them I would run with them part of the way then turn round and head back to the office on my own.  The route we took was the path next to the Glatt river and it is a mix of gravel and asphalt, although most of it is gravel.  Gravel is an interesting surface to run on in the VFFs, as you get a lot of the sensations you would if you were barefoot but without the pain.  I still had to keep an eye on where I was running though, as some stones can hurt if you tread on them.

The pace was pretty much 10km/h most of the way, but after I left my colleagues and headed back to work I slowed down initially so that I could do a nice fast ending.  As I neared the end my pace was 3:37 per km.  The turnover rate of my legs was very high, as when you are running in VFFs you naturally tend to take lots of little steps instead of bounding like you would in well cushioned shoes.  It really felt great zipping along the river with the feeling of the ground beneath my feet.

I haven't noticed any difference in my body after the run, other than my calf muscles are a little tighter than normal.  I certainly don't want to push my limits too much and get injured, but 10km in my VFFs seems just fine.

The only downside of today's run was that there is a lot of rape growing next to the river, and that stuff smells horrible when it is in flower.  It is really pungent and smells partly like bog water but worse, and partly like someone who has not washed for days and days.  Personally I think it should be banned, or grown in areas well away from the general public.  The only thing that smells more pungent than rape that I can think of offhand is marijuana, but I kind of like that sickly, sweet smell.  Next time I run the same route we did today perhaps I should run with a clothes peg on my nose.

First time running in my Vibrams

Today being a day off and all, Anny and I went to Bad Ragaz to enjoy the thermal baths.  Strangely enough in Bad Ragaz everything was open, including Coop and Migros, and it didn't seem like a public holiday there at all.  Even the price we were charged for entry to the thermal baths was the weekday price and not the public holiday price.  I thought that Labour Day was a holiday in the whole of Switzerland, but maybe not.

The baths were great to relax my muscles.  I woke up to another cramp this morning at around 6am.  My left calf muscle just started cramping all of a sudden and Anny was awoken abruptly by the sound of me begging for her help to pull back my toes and stop the cramp from getting worse.  Luckily she did it in time and other than being tighter than usual there was no problem with the muscle afterwards.

The coldest bath was 17C and the hottest bath was 39C, and we spent time in each of them, although not so long in the coldest one.  It was a really great way to relax and unwind and we came back to Zurich very happy and relaxed.

After we got back we put on our running kit and headed out for a 30 minute jog with Negrita.  I decided to run in my Vibram FiveFingers.  It is the first time I have run in them.  The other times I was simply walking in them.  I didn't really find it any problem to run in them, although I was looking very carefully where I was treading when I was on the gravel path next to the Limmat, as if you step down heavily on a large stone it will still hurt, despite the fact that the VFFs do offer some protection.  By the end of the 30 minutes my knees were aching ever so slightly, and I think that I wouldn't have wanted to run for much longer than that.  It did go surprisingly well though, and I didn't feel any soreness in my calves or Achilles tendon like some people have reported.  I will be happy to go running in them again in the next couple of days.

That's all I have to report for tonight, other than the fact that I finished eating the chia bread that I baked the other day.  It tasted delicious but I didn't really notice any huge difference energy wise.  What I think I may do is to take a handful of chia seeds with me on a run, and when I feel I am flagging a little I will eat them and see if that makes me feel any more energetic.  It is quite hard to tell the difference when you are not really flagging and are already pretty energetic like I am usually.

A nice hike up the Uetliberg

If you want a really nice hiking route up the Uetliberg, start from the train station called Schweighof then head up past all the allotments towards the shooting range just at the edge of the forest.  After a hundred metres of gravel or so, there is a series of steps leading up the hill and this is the route I took today.

The route is fairly steep and is for able bodied people only, owing to all the tree roots you need to step over as you ascend.  There are a few places where it is quite muddy and at the same time steep, so you need to grab hold of something to pull yourself up, like a small tree.  It is not at all scary though, and even if you have a fear of heights I cannot imagine you would have any problem on this path.  The path goes alongside the large meadow leading up to the antenna that you can see when you look up at the Uetliberg from Zurich city.

There were a few points when Negrita looked at me as if she wanted me to pick her up, but I decided to continue and see if she followed.  Sure enough she found a way to get to the top without any help.  For a larger dog it would be quite easy, but with her short legs some of the natural steps are very high for her.  She loves a challenge though, and once she finds a way over the obstacles her little tail wags like crazy.

I was wearing my VFFs and it was really nice to feel the branches, tree roots and squishy mud beneath my feet.  I have done the same route a couple of times in the past wearing normal trainers and I did not enjoy it half as much as I did today.

On arriving at the antenna, we went to the viewpoint at the top for a couple of minutes to take in the stunning panorama, and then we took the train back to Zurich HB.  Below are some photos from today's hike.

Initial impression of the VFFs

I just came back from a long walk in the Zurichberg woods and I wanted to give my initial impression of how I found the VFFs or Vibram FiveFingers.  As I have already mentioned, looks wise they are strange and I don't think they will ever look sexy regardless of how popular they become.

Me in my VFFs

It didn't take me that long to get them on.  Contrary to some other reviews that I was reading, I managed to put each shoe on correctly in about 1 minute.  I am not sure why it took some people as long as 10 or 15 minutes.  Maybe the model that I chose is easier to put on.

As I walked out of the door I was already able to notice the texture of the pavement.  It is not the same as walking barefoot but you can easily tell what kind of surface you are walking on.  The other thing that I instantly liked was the fact that I could feel a breeze blowing through the glove.  I can imagine that in winter they would be a bit cold though, and that Injinji toesocks (the socks I used in the MDS where your toes are separated) would come in useful.

My feet started to sweat almost immediately in the VFFs and it will be interesting to see how long it takes before they start to smell.  The label says they are machine washable so at least it should be easy enough to clean them when needed.

For my 2 hour walk the shoes felt very comfortable - more comfortable than normal shoes in fact.  I cannot feel any pressure points and the only slight discomfort is the sweatiness of my feet due to the material, but this I can live with.

I walked over various surfaces in the forest, and there were only 2 times when I felt a little discomfort.  Both times this was when I stepped on a sharp stone, and it would have been much worse had I not been wearing the VFFs.  I think the balance between being able to sense the terrain beneath your feet and protecting your feet is very good.  I assume that after a lot of walking in the VFFs my feet would start to toughen up and small sharp stones would no longer be an issue.  Probably wearing the VFFs regularly off road would have been a great way to toughen my feet up for the Marathon des Sables.

Now that I am back in the house, my feet feel as though they have been massaged and they feel stimulated. It is almost as though someone woke them up from a long sleep.  Running in the VFFs is going to be very interesting as I can imagine I will have to be a lot more careful where I step with the extra impact of running compared to walking.  I will start running in the VFFs step by step and at first only for very short distances and for short times.  I will keep you updated on how that goes.

My new experiment - VFFs

I just went out and bought my first pair of VFFs (Vibram FiveFingers) and I am eager to try them out.  After reading lots of reviews I decided to go with the Bikila LS model.  My usual shoe size is 42 but it seemed 41 was a better fit with the VFFs.  Even with a 41 my big toe and the toe next to it fit perfectly, but there is a little extra length at the end of the other 3 toes.  However I couldn't really go any smaller without squashing my big toe.

Below is a picture of the Bikila LS model.  Mine are green not grey though, and it makes me look a bit like a frog.



I think I will test them out tomorrow and go for a walk in the woods on the Zurichberg with Negrita.  I can't wait.  My Newton Sir Isaac Guidance Trainers should be arriving shortly too.  It is a bit like Christmas all over again.