Chi Running is been a breakthrough for many runners. If done
properly and diligently, the Chi Running forms can greatly reduce and even
eliminate injury while potentially increasing speed and endurance. For those of
you who don’t know what I’m talking about, check out this website and learn
about a form of running that could help extend your running career for a
lifetime.
But this blog is for people who practice or are thinking
about practicing Chi Running. Let’s call it a reality check. Or more to the
point, my reality check.
First off, I’ve been diligently practicing Chi Running since
2005, ever since an ill-fated marathon training regimen resulted in painful
shin splints, strained hamstrings, and wobbly ankles—all leading to an abysmal
Boston Marathon in which I bonked at Mile 16 and cried liked a whipped
nine-year-old at the Finish.
As a result, I scrapped my old way of “power” running and
picked up the gentle lean, rapid turn-over, and mid-foot strike of Chi
Running—all in an effort to never run hurt again. I read all of Chi Running
inventor Danny Dreyer’s books, took a couple of workshops plus a few refreshers
over the years and through repeated gait analyses have confirmed that my
running form is near-perfect. (Keeping in mind that Chi focuses do require
constant attention and are not easy to master.)
So, the reality check, based on my 9 years of experience:
Does Chi Running eliminate injury and improve speed and endurance?
- · Injuries. For the most part, I was injury free until last year. I did have occasional calf and hamstring issues, but those were mainly a result of insufficient warm-up and careening down crazy rock-strewn trails covered in ice. I blame my stupidity, not Chi for those mishaps. More seriously, I had knee surgery last year, caused mainly by a slight congenital hip misalignment that subtly altered my foot strike, which over the years increased the torque on my knee, leading to a meniscus issue. The surgery went fine, but my knee is again acting up and I’m back on the shelf for a few weeks. The verdict? Chi Running has greatly reduced the aches and pains of running, but the bottom line is, however gentle and efficient, running—even Chi Running—is still an impact sport and any slight physiological weakness or imperfection will surface over time as an injury. Chi Running is good—but it’s not perfect.
- · Endurance. Many Chi runners insist that they can run farther with less effort with Chi Running. In my case, I don’t see it. The farther I run, the more tired I get. However, I didn’t start doing Chi Running until I hit age 51, so maybe I was hitting a point of diminishing returns anyway. While I wasn’t running farther with less effort, I was running as far with no increase in effort. Maybe Chi helped me somewhat offset the aging process.
- · Speed. Again, no difference there. My speed didn’t increase or diminish. My first marathon using Chi was just as fast as my personal record set two years earlier using my old running form. Maybe the aging hypothesis proposed above as applied to endurance also applies to speed. I am certainly not faster—and at age 60 I am slowing down.
The takeaways—at least for me—are these:
Chi running has greatly reduced my aches and pains, even if I haven’t enjoyed
speed or endurance enhancements. I’m pretty sure my results are not on account
of form issues, because my Chi form is pretty righteous.
I’m thinking that perhaps the
purveyors of Chi Running may over promise a bit. You can still get hurt doing
Chi Running, because your feet are still hitting the ground, regardless what
style you use. And while I’m sure
people with really crappy form before starting Chi do see improvements in speed and
endurance when they adopt the efficient Chi form, learning Chi Running is not
necessarily a panacea.
Chi Running, as with most things,
falls a little short of being a miracle. But I still think that what it does offer
is pretty great and it has certainly prolonged my running career—and it could
have the same effect on yours!
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