Music’s Ability To Speak To Us

When I started adopting the new running form that I and so many others have written about (you know – erect body posture, slight forward lean, 180 bpm cadence, yada yada yada) someone suggested that I leave the music at home.  That’s been a great thing.  I found I enjoy just hearing the sound of my breathing and my feet hitting the ground.  Running has become much more meditative.  I realized, in hindsight, that the music was a distraction.

Over the winter, however, I started using the treadmill.  I can’t go sans music there.  I have to have something to keep my mind going and get me energized.  I’m no spring chicken – so my running playlists tend to be from the “Classic Rock” genre:  Rush, Steely Dan, Genesis, The Who, etc.

The other day Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” started playing.  Given my treadmill running routine over multiple months this certainly wasn’t the first time this song had been played while I was running.

It struck me like a ton of bricks how apropos the chorus is for this method of running – one that involves leaning forward……..falling forward:

“Yeah I’m free………free falling”

The Hips Revisited

It’s impossible to count the number of times my PTs have talked to me about the importance of the hips.  It’s also impossible to count the number of times I’ve recommended to people in the forums they check out their hip function when they’re trying to overcome some issue.  It has been drilled into my head the hips (and core) are the foundation of the entire leg. 

When I’ve worked with my PTs on the hips it has mostly been focused on muscle activation:  “Is there cell phone coverage out there?” as one likes to say.  Can the neuromuscular system talk to the muscle effectively enough to activate it?  What we (meaning “I”) haven’t done a lot of is work focused on hip strength.  I was confident the hips were engaging, and I guess I talked myself into believing that was enough – that the strength would take care of itself.

One day recently I went to the gym for a little stretching and a very lite workout.  On a whim I decided to do some lunges.  I wasn’t aggressive at all.  It could even be described as lazy.  Imagine my surprise when, in the middle of the night, I could hardly roll over in bed.  My hips were really talking to me.  “What the heck did you put us through?!”

I knew I was onto something.  If they reacted that way after a lite workout I knew there was more work to do.  I continued the routine.  I run every-other-day and on my non-run days I’d do a variety of things.  In addition to lunges (and graduating to doing them with weights in my hands) I did a little core work on an exercise ball and also used the elliptical moving my feet in the backwards direction.  Dr. Emily Splichal, talks of the importance of eccentric calf strength when running with a barefoot/minimalist style.  She recommends walking backwards to build this strength.  I figured doing the elliptical backward would be basically the same.

Then, as luck would have it, Packerjohn posted the following link in a thread on the runnersworld.com forum:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/the_essential_8_mobility_drills

This site has some fantastic hip exercises.  So now my non-run-day routine involves going through these, as well as continuing to increase the weight used when doing lunges.  I’ve also significantly increased my time working on balance – using a Bosu ball as well as a balance disc.

So work the hips.  Get them strong.  Don’t just use weight machines, but do exercises that challenge your hips, core and balance.  It’s possible it could make a noticeable impact on your running.

Jim