Form Part 3
Concentrate the mind; then empty it
As you can tell from the fact that this is the third time I’ve talked about form, I care a lot about it. Good running form engages your whole body, which means fewer injuries and more oxygen to your brain, which, in turn, means better, more cognitively engaging and refreshing runs.
From Roman Senators walking the forum while debating issues to Steve Jobs’ walking meetings, the connection between mind and body is manifest.
Cleanthes: the Original Form-Obsessed Stoic
The early stoics found this connection, as well. Last week I name checked ancient stoic Cleanthes, who supported his stoic studies through laboring as a water carrier at night. (Apparently college was prohibitively expensive even in ancient Greece.)
He found that the low-level physical labor allowed him to focus on his studies with a mind that was clear and a body that was refreshed from his labors. Although I can’t imagine he woke up feeling fresh and ready every day, his approach was so successful that he eventually became the leader of the Stoic school in Athens.
Imagine Cleanthes balancing his loads of water and picture what his form must have been like to carry them through Athenian streets. If you’ve ever tried to carry buckets of water, you might remember that it was first a matter of concentration: lifting the buckets and achieving balance. Then, to walk without spilling, it was a matter of emptying the mind. As you move forward, you focus not on the steps in front of you or the far horizon, but on the middle distance. You use more than just your sight to sense what lays in front of you. You feel the water sway in the buckets; you adjust your grip and step and posture to take it into account. You focus first, then empty your mind.
We can do the same thing when we run. We start out focusing on our form consciously, then, as we get into the run, we empty our minds. We start out intentionally but then relax and spread our concentration out to absorb the environment around us and how to move through it successfully. This approach to running allows us to move steadily towards both our immediate and long term goals, whether they’re concrete time or mileage ones or more abstract, large-scale ones such as becoming a kinder, more patient, and/or more creative person.
Where to Start
All that being said, it can be difficult to figure out how to start with form. Our muscles can seem like strangers to us, especially after injury or time away from running. To get you started, here are four ways you can start to focus on your form to train your muscles and benefit your brain.
Relax your jaw
Sounds weird! But your jaw doesn’t help you run, so there’s no point in clenching it.
I clench my jaw, so I know exactly how hard it is to stop. But you can, and, when you do, you'll notice that pain in your shoulders or the middle of your shoulder blades suddenly disappears! So remember: drop your jaw.
Harness your abs
Abs have a lot more to do with running than lots of people think. Lean forward a little, not back, when you run. Once you do this, you'll feel the pressure on your your upper two and middle abs. It’s weird! And possibly pretty fatiguing.
You might not be able to hold this form for more than a few steps, but if you build this strength up, you’ll be able to use your abs to pull your legs through your kick cycle more fluidly and with less effort than you're able to do when you lean back as you run. It seems like a small change, but it can be profound.
Swing your arms
By kicking your arms back, you’re setting in motion a twist in your obliques and down through your illopsoas, aka your hips, which helps you pull your legs through.
That oppositional weight between your legs and your arms helps you turn over stronger because you’re using your whole body to make the motion happen, instead of just trying to depend on your legs.
Start out focusing on this slowly, because it really does take a lot of core strength to properly control your arm swings. Don't get discouraged! You're becoming stronger every time you practice.
Lean into the hills
I feel like this one threatens to sound like a metaphor for life, and maybe it is, but here I really mean it literally. When you’re going uphill, angle yourself forward. Don’t crunch or curve over, but lean in. That will engage your back body more than depending on your front body, which works with gravity.
An example of this is when I was pregnant both times, eventually I could ONLY run uphill because I essentially lost the use of my front body as it bowed out week by week. But because I lean into hills, I could keep running up them up to the day I delivered. I had to walk down them all, because my pregnant belly was so heavy, but that was just the deal I had to make to keep running throughout pregnancy.
Try out these focus points, and, as I said above, don’t get discouraged. You have to first build up the muscles at these points and then train yourself to use them to the extent that you can empty your mind while doing it. That can take a lot of training! But it’s worth it, because when you run with correct form, you get benefits in your body and your mind.
I’m going to go into more detail about the iliopsoas in an upcoming post, and also get into how to pick the best shorts as we look towards spring and summer running. Thanks for the post idea
! For today, remember: go run.