POSEing

Today, if the flight went well, I'm at a CrossFit Running certification in Boston, where I'll learn the POSE method of running from its founder, Dr. Romanov.  I've been hankering to attend this training for more than a year!!

For more information, check out Dr. Romanov's web site, http://www.posetech.com/, or his many videos at http://www.crossfit.com/.

Here's the BLUF:  Human movement is an interaction between the body and gravity, and gravity effects your movement more than your response to gravity does.  The POSE Method attempts to optimize your body position so that you waste the least amount of effort opposing gravity, and gain the greatest benefit from gravity.  In running, this means keeping your feet underneath you, which means taking fast, relatively short strides, and landing on the mid foot (vice heel), which in combination with a fast foot turnover captures the elasticity built into your body already - and that's likely not an accident.

The catch is that running shoes, with their big heel wedges and thick soles, make it nearly impossible to run well.  Part of the skill of POSE running is in the proprioceptive loops which start in the sole of the foot - insulate the sole from foot fall impact, and you begin the cascade of problems that results in an un-natural stride. 

In short, a Russian PHD javlin thrower is proving via science and practice that Zola Budd and the Tarahumara had it right.  My goal is to master POSE so that I can run pain free despite significant arthritic damage in my left knee - and to give this method of less effortful, more natural running to as many as I can.