The Lost Art of Running by Shane Benzie

Author:Shane Benzie
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9781472968111
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

New York, USA

‘I remember it so vividly. We were running over a bridge soon after the start. There was the dampened sound of footsteps all around us. I could tell that we were surrounded on all flanks. The metronome was ticking away as we moved to its beat. It just felt so comfortable and so smooth. We were overtaking people and we weren’t even trying. And there was heavy laboured breathing all around us. I remember that. But otherwise it was quiet. There were no crowds of spectators because we were on the bridge and it just felt really calm. Really good. Then I remember us passing some workmen on the right-hand side, and the voice on Strava kicking in to tell me our pace. I was shocked.

‘Caz,’ I said. ‘I think we should slow down.’

Eros Adamides started losing his sight at 20 years old, while studying in London, and was completely blind within three years. He now works as a software developer for a bank in the City of London. He and his running guide, Caroline Underwood (‘Caz’, for short), came to see me shortly before they ran the New York Marathon. I was not just delighted to work with them but also fascinated to see if I could help.

‘Before the session, Eros and I were running together side by side with a short tether between us and it was great fun, but running as a pair raised some serious challenges,’ Caz recalled. ‘We booked the movement session because we hoped to improve our individual technique but also for an analysis of us both running together as a pair.’

I’d met them at a park and immediately got them moving together so that I could see what this was like.

‘The outdoor setting meant that we could run together with the tether as in a real life situation, which it would not be possible to do on a treadmill,’ Caz remarked. ‘During the workshop we quickly identified areas where we could improve our running form. The focus was on cadence and posture to maximise the elastic potential of our individual bodies. In terms of running together, we were evidently in sync but heel striking and swinging our outer arms across our bodies like we were trying to hit each other. We worked on some visualisation strategies to address and correct the areas of weakness, both individually and as a pair.’

‘For me,’ added Eros, ‘the biggest initial shock was that what you think you’re doing and what you’re actually doing are two different things. You often imagine yourself being this athlete with graceful movements … but in reality you’re trying to punch your guide; and your guide is trying to punch you! I was imagining myself striking the ground with the ball of my foot and my arms making a determined square movement framing my body at 90 degrees. But the reality was very different.’

There were some obvious challenges in coaching. First of all, as Eros was blind, I couldn’t use my usual visual aids to get him thinking about his movement.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.