mandag den 5. november 2012

Vestjysk Half Marathon 03-11-2012



Time 02:00:56

Cool weather, ran well for the first 13km (5:35 pace) despite problems with my achilles tendon. Achilles problems forced to to walk/hobble a fair bit of the rest of the race, putting paid to a sub-2:00 time... 10.467 Km/t | 00:05:43 Min/km, 5:43/5:52 split.

onsdag den 19. september 2012

Viborg Half Marathon 19-09-2012


Time 2:02:08

City marathon with a couple of hard hills. Ran comfortably, fatigued again about 17km, last 2km were hard going. Amanda's first organised race, came through with a good 5k time! 5:49/5:48min/km negative split!

onsdag den 5. september 2012

Running gait analysis, Vibram FF September 2012





I shot this video in slow motion in September 2012 to check my running form. Landing seems to be good mid-foot landing.

mandag den 20. august 2012

Hjerl Hede Trail Half Marathon 11-08-2012



Time: 02:20:59


Hard run, extremely difficult hills and terraen, lots of gates to open. Stopped a number of times and couldn't figure out which way to go... Difficult to even see the path at times! Hardest run I've ever done, this kind of run requires a lot of concentration and probably isn't the ideal race for me. Had hoped for a 2:00 time... 8.979 Km/t | 00:06:40 Min/km.

tirsdag den 15. maj 2012

Skjern Å Running Challenge Half Marathon 28-04-2012




Time: 2:11:13

First half-marathon, four months after starting minimal running. Gravel/dirt roads, cold - good run, fatigued at 17km but sprinted the finish. 6:13/6:14 min/km split!



tirsdag den 1. maj 2012

Principles of Natural Running

Instructional video on natural running, by Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, Director of the Natural RunningCenter. naturalrunningcenter.com




torsdag den 15. marts 2012

About the way I run

I run in order to slip as soon as possible into my personal, zen-like sweet spot of a 75% pulse / 6:15min/km pace, where my worries disappear and my body is working optimally.

My feet (barefoot or in minimalist shoes, such as Vibrams Sprints) flex and pump blood through my legs, my heart works hard yet comfortably pumping oxygenated blood through my musckes and brain.

At this pace, I can maintain this sweet spot for hours, the by-product of distance covered as easily as the grass deflects the wind. As the miles slip by, I am as rejuvenated and refreshed after 10km as I am after 20. My goal then, is neither speed nor distance, but the running itself.

fredag den 9. marts 2012

Zen – Grass – Running

Zen: self-realization through meditation. “Try the meditation of the trail, just walk along looking at the trail at your feet and don’t look about and just fall into a trance as the ground zips by." – Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums.

Grass: Tall trees will break if forced, but the grass blade will bend and survive. - Buddhist proverb.

Running: Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain. ― Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.




Zen-Grass-Running is the way I describe how I run in order to slip as soon as possible into my personal, zen-like running "sweet spot", which I can maintain for hours, leaving me as rejuvenated and refreshed after 10km as I am after 20.

Zen-Grass-Running is best achieved at a physiologically optimal 180bpm cadence, using a low-impact forefoot "glide" and in minimal shoes or barefoot. Heartrate is maintained at an unstressed 75-80%. There is no strained breathing - Zen-Grass-Running is carried out at a tempo which permits breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth. In Zen-Grass-Running there is no competition, and there are no records - there is only being and doing.

Having trained Tenshinkan karate for about 5 years, I began to understand some its principles: to counter an attack like the grass counters wind by bending. I have transferred the same principles to my running, by countering the effects of distance and strain to the body by running as efficiently as possible, using "natural running" techniques.



After-run stretching comprises a Karate kata such as Heian Nidan, carried out in slow-motion (count ichi - ni - san - chi - go between each movement), or Tai-Chi. Kata are fomalised movements of attack, defense and evasion, in which every positioning of the body focuses on the current state as well as the coming state. As such, slow Kata are excellent to train balance, fluidity and awareness (key elements of Zen-Grass-Running) while stretching all the muscle groups both dynamically as well as statically.



Finally, there are no rules in Zen-Grass-Running - the above merely outline my experiences. This blog is my record of my own personal journey into Zen-Grass-Running. If you already are a runner I hope you find something useful in it. If you are beginning running, I hope you find the open road as inspirational as I do!