Today was a nice summer’s day, not super hot or humid, but still nice enough that I worked up a good sweat on a three plus mile run. I wanted to see how the GRR8s did on the dry dirt road down-back and work on posture and lean (for the first time this cycle).

One of the things I am noticing this time as I start the ChiRunning process is that I am not really looking at my pace, heart rate or thinking about what kind of cadence that I am doing until after the run. Even then it is more just to see what I am doing than putting a whole lot of brain power into worrying about what they are. Today a couple of my splits were slower than usual, the h/r higher and the cadence was down about 4-6 SPM (which has been about where it has been all week for all three), which I attribute to focusing on maintaining my posture and today attempting to find the right lean.

Nothing serious that is for sure, but any time I do something different from my normal running routine or stride and have to focus more on what I am doing, I do get tired more quickly both physically and yes, mentally. The ChiRunning focuses are new (again) to me and like most other things it takes time for our bodies and minds to adapt to the new way of doing things (if we really ever do?), to where it becomes automatic versus having to constantly think about what we are doing.

Looking for the lean and then maintaining it was harder than I expected. I have been a run tall runner for so many years and have ankles that are not all that mobile, so that getting a consistent lean from them was not as easy as the books make it sound.

The good news was that this was the first run since late July that the Periformis was not complaining a whole lot. I did lose focus on my forms for a couple of minutes when I felt the hamstrings feel a little tighter than they have been in a while. I got to thinking about the Running Yoga video I have doing this week and how I have been pushing the legs pretty hard while doing it. As a result of what I thought about, I decided to skip Yoga today because the hamstrings were tight, not a bad way, just tight from being stretched and were gently letting me know they needed a day off from it.

I am trying to listen to the body a little more and I want the hamstrings to get stronger, but at the same time I also know that they do need rest too. So maybe Yoga 5x per week is enough and take a break when the hamstrings need it.

The GRR8s did fantastic down-back. While I wouldn’t want to wear them down there when it is raining until the road gets settled in a bit more, in the dry conditions they had enough cushion to not worry about all the smaller rocks (the bigger ones I avoid) that I can feel with other road shoes I have that do not have some kind of a plate underfoot.

Overall, a good run and I am taking my time to slowdown and focus more on the process than I have in my other attempts to run with the ChiRunning method. If nothing else comes of it, I will have better posture. Which is a good thing.