Progress report on the Evolution Running DVD, the Newtons and that turning back the clock thing.
The shoes are 6 weeks old in two days. I'm pretty comfortable running in them now. The Evolution training is slowly progressing. I do pretty well on the uphills, but the downhills are tough. It takes courage to lean down and roll down the hill without doing the stair step breaking thing. I'm committed because I'm pretty certain that's how I hurt my knee the last 3 times. Overstriding and breaking on downhills is not good.
Doing some in place running a the beginning now to get the feel of where foot strike should be--under the hips, not out front. The hip exercised on the DVD and some of my own are providing a little more hip flexibility and I'm at least aware that the quads are just for support--not propulsion.
When I finally get loosened up, I try to put it all together and get tempo up. One tip is to focus on signs--if you're doing very little vertical movement over the stride, you'll be able to read signs quite easily. Your head will move parallel to the ground with no up and down. I used to do that when sprinting. Predictably when I increased tempo it gets a little smoother.
Still struggling with wind--all this Evolution technique makes you run faster--it doesn't guarantee the wind will be there to support it.
Really going to get the bike in the next week or so. Riding is the best way to get the wind back and will be good cross training.
I'm going to enjoy the early sunrise now that daylight savings is over. Hate the time change--too long in AZ where they don't do it (did one year in 70's and quit--bar owners complained about lost business).
Oh, I'm going to buy trail Newtons this week too. The mesh on the Gravity model is so open that EVERYTHING gets inside the shoe. Not horrible on the street, but dirt roads, etc. are a problem. Beach running would be a big problem and I sometimes run on the beach in the winter when the sand is hard.
Walking going fine--doing a little over a mile every evening and actually getting a little faster--never been a fast walker, but improving. I think it helps the knee and when I can't run, I'll be ready to go.
