How important is posture for running? "Form is to be worshipped": A FreeRunners mantra

" How important is posture?" should be the question and not only for running. "Walk as you Run", maintain posture 24/7 is the mantra. Why is it so important? The human body with a straight spine is designed to perform perfectly only if the spine is erect. Unfortunately by habit most of us ignore it while doing our daily work and soon get "comfortable" with our reclining and slouching form, whether we are seated at our work spaces or in front of the TV in our homes/ dining table etc. Sitting for a long time is just not natural, we should be up and about most of the time with sitting breaks in between. During sitting also, we should try and maintain an erect spine. We have to try and make it a habit to make our spine erect at all times. Posture correction does have other benefits, just try walking tall with chest out and stomach tucked in for some time, you will realize what I am trying to tell. Just look around and if you see someone walking that way, don't we admire the person for a wonderful and pleasing personality? How do we achieve this? 3 things to remember:-

(a) Practice , (b) Practice and (c) Practice :Basically 24/7 keep your mind aware of your posture and keep correcting whenever you are finding yourself slouching. Fix a poster in your room with the correct posture and put in block letters "WATCH YOUR POSTURE". Tell your family members to check you if you are slouching or reclining in wrong posture. Remember 21days of practice makes it into a habit and surely, the posture will change and the body will become very efficient. "Sow a thought, reap an action; Sow an action, reap a habit;  sow a habit, reap a personality;  sow a personality, reap a character " Quoted from the book "MegaLiving" by Robin Sharma, the author of  "The Monk who sold his Ferrari".

Look at good runners and try to copy their form. Everybody learns by imitation of their superiors, we call them mentors, teachers, parents etc. but finally we are imitating them or sub-consciously we start walking, talking and behaving like them because they affect us in a very subtle manner. We become our environment. So it is very important to identify the correct people in our lives to emulate and treat as role models when it comes to posture correction. Try and spend more time with these people.

A person learns only when he unlearns his/her past. It is very important to accept intrinsically that there is improvement needed. There are a lot of us who have run many marathons and maybe ultras too, but still have a poor form. Change is the only constant in life and we have to be ready for it if we want improvement. And all of us must want improvement always.."Runs will always end.. but running will never end." We have to move on and ahead..better timings, greater distances , better form, better strength etc.. the more we push, the more we realize is achievable.

DNF Run...Where I gave up...

What pushes you to continue......?

I had registered for Airtel Hyderababd Full Marathon and have been preparing for it. As luck would have it, I had a commitment on Saturday at Mumbai due to which I decided  not to go to Hyderabad. Although I was in Mumbai, my heart and soul was in Hyderabad. I finished my job on Saturday at about 2030 hrs and on my way back home, picked up gatorade bottles, vaseline(WPJ), and started making plans as if I am going to actually run a FM on Sunday. So I had ,my dinner at 2130 hrs and slept off at 2200 hrs with the alarm set at 0345 hrs. I decided to get up early and be ready for the run as per the plan of starting at 0500hrs. I woke up earlier on my own at 0320 hrs and started getting ready. I realised that I had no helmet so I possibly cannot drive my scooter to Marine drive. I had planned to drive to NCPA, park my scooter there and run till Navy nagar and back which would be approx 10-11 K and then go for a 30K with Savio's group. This plan  just fizzled out. So my next plan was to start running from Navy nagar reach NCPA, go till the end of Marine drive and turn back to NCPA and then join with the group.

 As I started running, my mind was on maintaining a comfortable pace which I can sustain for at least 4-4.5 hours. I was also constantly checking my form to see if my legs were not getting loaded unevenly. Slowly the rhythm set in and I reached NCPA in about 35 minutes. I started running at 0410 and reached NCPA at 0445. I then continued to the end of Marine drive which took me exactly 29 minutes for 4.5 K, yes , my pace was actually slower than my usual pace. At this point in time, I changed my mind, I wanted to run alone and focus on my form and meditate while running. So I did not turn back and continued to run towards Peddar Road.  But one thing was troubling me, I was perspiring too much, my shirt and shorts were totally dripping and it was as if I was carrying weights. I juggled with the thought of running shirtless, then gave it up saying it's OK , Ill get used to it soon. But as I reached Haji Ali juice centre, I couldnt resist stopping and removing my T shirt and I squeezed it dry and then tied it around my waist and started running shirtless. Wow, what a feeling, I felt as if a huge weight had been removed...I actually felt very comfortable initially. As I crossed Worli dairy and came to the main traffic signal/ crossing after Worli Dairy, I saw this gorgeous runner getting ready to start her run and she offered Enerzal to me, I politely thanked her and refused and continued. I was on a mission to run self supported as much distance I can, and I was carrying gatorade in my bottle belt around my waist.

I reached old passport office and then decided to run towards Shivaji park, I actually have never run till this point before. I was amazed at the place, it is so beautiful. I took a complete round of the road outside the park and started my return leg. I met up with some Shivaji Park runners who were running till Mela restaurant and back. I was comfortable and reached Worli Diary. I saw the Savio group runners who I felt were in much lesser numbers today and I reached Mela. A funny thing I always realize in long runs is that as the distance increases, especially after 21K, you seem to feel that you have run a lot but actually there is hardly any distance you have covered. I don't know but this is something that I have experienced always. I had this Strider runner with me on the Haji Ali sea phase and then the climb up Peddar road which I claim to have easily conquered, strangely, uphill is where I feel more comfortable and my pace naturally increases, though I do lose some breathing if the climb is too long and I have to readjust.. As I reached Babulnath turn, I hit the WALL. I did not have cramps, I was not feeling giddy, no nothing, but somewhere I felt as if all my energy is drained out, I was feeling very weak all of a sudden as if my battery was on emergency and any time it could switch off and I would black out ..... 

This is a testing time for most runners... I now pose this question, if I was in a group or if I was running an event, there is this trigger that pushes you to continue... Here I was.. all alone, I looked back to see if Savio's saviours were coming back, but no one was in sight. I stopped at the temple near Babulnath and bought a couple of bananas and some water and had it. I felt better. I decided to start running again. I went till Wilson's college and was feeling as if i was just pushing myself for nothing.. I started walking, my mind was playing games. I told myself, come on.. you cant be doing this, you can easily run for much more distance.. So I started running again only to stop after another 1k  after crossing the flyover. This is the point where I decided that I shall actually do a DNF and i hailed a cab and went back home. I felt miserable initially that I did that. It was not that I could not have run, but somewhere there was this demonic mind telling me that what is the point of pushing yourself to run till end of marine drive, just finish and go back... I also had a train to catch to head back home to Pune... so a mixture of thoughts running in my head. But what was the real reason for the DNF.--> (a) I still need to make my mind stronger (b) Running with group helps in such situations as you get motivation, and (c) if it was an event, completion would have been the absolute aim. I am not saying it has to be a paid event, but an event managed by a self group with the distance and route marked and fixed. Having a target distance and route well before a long run is an essential task. My logic of just running along and deciding the distance may not always work especially when the weather and conditions are not very conducive.

So Guys, here is the story of a DNF which has taught me many a lesson for me to train and run harder and achieve self goals and beat myself to better targets each time...See you in Satara HM hopefully...

Form Correction is the key or is it...

Well a lot has been said about "form" at least in the FreeRunners group. we all worship form. Still not many of us are able to master the form. Sportsmen have a natural form or are able to learn much faster as they have better motor skills and can make their body respond faster. For non-sports people, this is a difficult task and time taking. 

Why do we have to get the form correct? It is always better to start slow and with lesser distances till the form is mastered correctly. The memory of the muscle has to be fed with this form slowly and steadily and let it become a part of the daily routine, walking, standing, sitting etc. Only then it is possible that while running you will get the correct form. I have run 1FM, 09 HMs and many long runs ( >20K) in the last 06 years. But only this year I truly understood the importance of form. I was searching for that one thing to make my run feel very easy even if it is greater than 35k. I was extremely comfortable till 25K but anything greater and I used to get pain/stiffness in my thigh muscles. What was essentially going wrong was that the entire load of running was being taken by the poor quadriceps and leg muscles. Running form should ensure equitable distribution of load on body, and if the form is correct, the hips and glute shall be the forerunners and the legs should just follow. This way, the quads and hamstrings will always be relaxed,. Along with this, the shoulders and arms also move to give smooth propulsion. Breathing of course has to be rhythmic from the stomach with inflation and deflation of the diaphragm with inhalation and exhalation respectively. Thus maintaining a good form will enable the run to be easy and injury free and hamstrings/ quads will never get tightened. I realised it when I was able to run longer and still recover very fast and was able to run much stronger.

Even though I seem to know all these facts, my form tends to get spoilt because of old memory trapped in the muscles. I am again trying to unlearn and correct my form. Muscle memory is a big game master and keeps pushing my body back to the old wrong form especially when  talking while running and thus not conscious about own form. That is why during a long run, if you are on form correction mode, it is important to be alone or with your body so that you never lose the consciousness of your form and try and maintain the correct form throughout the run and especially after crossing more than half of your scheduled run. Form correction takes a long time and effort but spoiling of form takes no time. It is just like gaining and losing weight. So Runners, let us all improve our form and become totally FreeRunners and capture larger and larger distances at our best timings. So how does a runner improve form. We have to learn to walk as if running, the posture and form. Even while sitting, we should be conscious of our form. Habits take time to unlearn and then learn. It is a painful and long process, but one that sets you free for life so that you can run, walk etc. Etc.  freely without any pain.

So I am sharing my thoughts because I have to work hard at improving my form and hopefully this would benefit some one else too. Thanks a lot to my gurus Savio and especially Jeetendran Nair, who showed me the light towards running properly. 

Tip: When you have the correct form you shall feel it in your abs and your legs shall feel much freer and lighter.