How to run your way not everybody else’s.
It is amazing how people who train together often develop the same running style. We need to make sure we do not make our running style rigid and inflexible. Yeterday I suggested we would do well to run like a child, with the same physical freedom and relaxation of a child. But this doesn't mean "running around like children with their heads cut off." It does mean using our adult wisdom as to how and where we run.
There is a massive amount of pressure to conform, pressure to buy into other people's ideas. Consider the evil of consumerism for example. The following advertisement is very persuasive and very evil. Beware what others say to you. Ask yourself first, what are their assumptions? What are their motives?
The above assumes we are all part of the competitive consumerism rat race. And it suggests that yet another credit card is the answer! Very evil indeed.
So don't just take any advice at face value. Work it out, in the company of like minded people, for yourself.
I like the idea of re-discovering child-like flexibility, because that can become a starting point for establishing new and better patterns of training. Starting from scratch is sometimes a lot easier than making minor corrections. To style, to attitudes, and to training habits.
An example of this is the person who "hasn't missed one" of a particular racing series so has to run the next one, despite being seriously under-prepared for it. We need to break whatever pattern of thinking is causing such irrational actions.
Sometimes a shock is just what is needed.
This is the final shocking despair poster.
