This morning I had my one-on-one workshop with Certified ChiRunning Instructor Ryan Miller. It was a morning of Aha moments!

We started with a quick warm up run which gave us a chance to talk about some of my concerns:

• making sure I’m actually doing a mid-foot strike
• leaning from my ankles, and using the lean to control my pace, and
• managing hills (both the up and the down)

Ryan video-taped me running and then we worked through some exercises to help give me a better feel for the lean and wheel-like motion your lower leg should be making. It was clear that I’ve been running much more on my forefoot than my mid-foot. Ryan suggested that I think more about landing “whole foot.” He also suggested that I try running barefoot on a track so I can develop a better feel for my foot contact with the ground. He also agreed with my plan to shift to a more minimalist shoe with a lower toe-to-heel ratio.

We covered so much it’s really impossible to do it all justice in just one post. Some of my big take-aways included:

• learning to relax my lower legs
• when I hit mid-foot or “whole foot” I don’t hear the scuffing sound that I do when I hit forefoot, and my strike feels lighter
• using my upper body more to propel myself uphill and rotating from my hips to flow downhill
• finding comfort in the first gear and using the lean to both increase and decrease my speed

Ryan was great to work with – so patient and easy-going, and clearly passionate about his running. He had a great way of distilling a lot of information into manageable pieces. As we’d run, he could suggest just the smallest of adjustments and I could quickly feel a difference – and I was always surprised by how effortless it felt. He kept reminding me the goal is to “maximize momentum while lowering resistance.” We concluded our session with another video taping – I can’t wait to compare the “before” and “after” when he sends me the videos!

I left feeling like I now know what to be aware of, of how the run should feel. In fact, I was so psyched by what I had learned that as soon as I drove home, I went out for a quick 3-mile run. I went sans iPod, which is big for me, but I wanted to really tune in and listen to my footstrike and my breathing.

While watching the ChiRunning DVD is definitely worthwhile, having the opportunity to work with Ryan has really taken my understanding to a whole new level. If you are interested in learning more about ChiRunning, I highly encourage you connect with a certified instructor in your area or find a ChiRunning workshop nearby and make the trip!