All Night Dancing!

When you get the feelin' deep inside your bones

Dancin' is the thing to do

Step into the lights, it'll take you to new heights

Dancin' is the thing that you do

Fantasize that you're the greatest

Close your eyes and make believe

You know you can do the latest dance

So dance with me, won't you do it with me

All night dancin'

I think about it all day long

All night dancing

Think about it all day long

Copyright: Lipps Inc 1981

That song's been buzzing around my head all morning. Forgot how good it was to dance to that music. What a group!

I'm on a running spree. Covering an easy 14.28 k every morning during the week and adding a couple more k's for the weekend. So far I'm healthy and injury free. I had hamstring tendinitis on my left leg which seems to have eased off by sitting on a tennis ball at work all day! Now I'm dealing with a problem with my right Achilles tendon. I suspect that a good stretching session will take care of it. It's all thanks to a change in my running form.

If I knew then, what I know now! Hindsight is 20/20! As clear as a cool northern brook. As obvious as a hangover after a night of shots. How youth is wasted on the young.

By changing my running technique to follow a more forefoot/mid-foot strike, my knees have miraculously healed themselves and my running has relaxed. It's about finding the dots (which I'll explain one day).

That's me above, I think it's close to the tunnel, finishing the Mississauga Marathon in 2013. As you can clearly see, I'm landing on my heels. I was tired and it's natural that I'm not as springy towards the end of a 42.2 k run as I would be near the start. But I'm noticing that if I concentrate on form even when I'm tired, I'm able to conserve energy and move a bit smoother.

Fantasize that you're the greatest

Close your eyes and make believe

Because when you're tired, you forget form. You forget all about your posture. You have to consciously remember to relax, get off your heels, and step back lightly.

The theory is that when you land on your forefoot, or mid-foot, there's minimal vertical impact. Minimal braking force. When you land on your heels, it's as if you're applying a braking force with each step. As though you're pressing on the accelerator and the brakes at the same time.

The ankle is plantar flexed (as opposed to dorsiflexed) when it lands. It lands close to the centre of gravity, not in front as it would in the braking motion. The body is moving horizontally above the landed foot. As the heel starts to come down to the ground, the Achilles stretches (loading like stretching a rubber band or a spring).

Then the body moves over the foot, not too much vertical motion. As it prepares for take-off, the Achilles shrinks back, lifting the heel off the ground.

The energy that the Achilles gets from stretching is then released as it shrinks. Allowing the toes to push off. The other foot is swinging forward on its own. Not because of force from the hamstrings. It will land also near the centre of gravity, not forcing itself forward and stretching out.

Source: https://sites.sas.upenn.edu/biol438/files/barefoot_running.pdf

It's about finding the dots. The simple way of doing things. The atomic, essence of the thing. And in running, this means the simplicity of slowing down and taking easy steps.

Think of skipping. You can't do that on your heels.

Think of dancing.