My Forum

Wow, I remember reading this a couple of years back, always wondered how he'd get on.  

 Tough luck Alex, sorry to read it didn't work out for you fella. I know how injury and illness and determination to finish a mara can f*** you up.  I'm still paying the price for finishing the 2007 FLM when the smart move would have been to pull out, haven't done a proper run since! Ah well, hindsight's a wonderful thing.

 Are you still running Alex?  Just wondered how close you got to the 2.30 target.

Si

Wow, cheers guys, didn't expect a big response like that and so quick too!  It doesn't seem quite so crazy now, encrouraging to read Kicked-It's post about the guy who did 3/4 miles without a heelstrike.

 A few months back I did (albeit briefly) look into the Pose method but it seemed to me you take pretty short strides and your knee is over your foot during at impact, I don't think I do that, my stride is pretty long and the other difference from my "normal" run is where I take off and land.  Its very springy and bouncy, looks kinda silly but you do feel like lightning running that way.

 I have heard that Gebrselassie is a natural Pose runner, I've tried watching on youTube but his legs are so fast you can't see whats happening.

I might get my friend to film me running on the treadmil, but my calves are still screaming from Sunday's massive 4 minute run!  

I think you guy's are right, I need to check out properly the Pose technique, is it expensive to learn? Anybody here done it?

 I'm sure my marathon days are long gone but if I could crack this and be able to run 10k's again, that would be wonderful, I could even go back to my old running club.

 You might get a link to a very dull youtube video pretty soon

a) Standard running, very flat footed, loads of nasty looking knee movement, thump the ground pretty hard, very loud and stompy, you can hear me coming a mile off. Real ugly style I know. 

  b) Sprinting -  take off and land on my toes/ball of feet, my heels don't come anywhere near the ground, very little knee movement, very light on my feet and I'm almost silent.  I've been told when I run like this my style is a lot better.  

I've got a niggling knee pain that nobody in London can diagnose let alone fix, I've tried literally everything for 2 years and thrown some £8k at it but to no avail.  I have noticed however when I run style b) I never get any knee pain. I don't know if the faster but simpler running action puts less stress on the knees, no idea. Problem is I can only run 400m tops in that "sprint" position, after that I'm not out of breath but my calf muscles give up and I can't prop myself up on the toes anymore and I go back to the slap-slap-slap-thud-thud style a).  

 The point of this drivel is this, do you think its possible to run a long distance race say 10k in a sprint style b)? It doesn't have to be a quick pace, but still in that "sprint" position. just wonder if I build up the biggest calf muscles in the world whether it could be done.  I've looked into Pose running but I think what I'm trying to do is different.  

So far I've managed to increase my max distance to half a mile up on my toes, I've done that a couple of times but both times my calf muscles have been killing me for 6 days afterwards, and I'm a little scared my little experiment is gonna F*** me up!   Do you think it can be done? Am I likely to absolutely destroy my calf muscles/something else? The way I see it, its the only way I can run cos of my crap knee.  I'd like to think that if I can do this I'll shatter all my PBs too as there seems much less drag and friction when you're running gazelle like on your toes.

 All advice appreciated!

Looking to cancel my monthly subscription to the mag but can't see how to do it on this site, even when logged in.

 Do you have to ring up to do it?

For the people trying these, can I ask how long did it take for them to work and what sort of niggles did they help with?

 Always meant to try them but got told they take 6months to kick in.