Thoughts on Running

In this last year-and-a-half during the pandemic, I've had lots of time to think about various things. In some cases, my mind has changed on certain subjects. One of those subjects is running.

I used to think that with other fine options like using a rower, a bike, or a ski erg, that running wasn't necessary for general fitness, especially since you can match similar cardiorespiratory demands and many of the muscle groups are the same (even if the movement patterns are very different). But I've changed my mind. If you care about movement, you should be running.

Now let's clarify a few things: You can indeed be very healthy without ever running. But take note: I wrote if you care about movement, you should be running. Running is an essential movement pattern. Along with walking and carrying, it's one we've been doing for millennia. It predates any gym-based movements by multiple hundreds of years. I'm also not saying you need to do it a lot. You just need to be able to run, and to do it pain-free.

A couple ground rules:

1. If running causes you pain, walk, then progress to loaded carries, and if you can do it, seek out a running coach who can guide you in learning proper mechanics.

2. When you're finally able to run pain-free, pace or distance is absolutely not important when first starting out. Think microdoses. I coached someone back to running who came to me with two knee surgeries and lots of residual knee pain. It took a long time and we were never in a rush and running wasn't (and still isn't) a central part of his well-being. But we wanted him to regain full function, and running is a part of that. Our first major victory was to run back and forth across a parking lot (40 meters in total) three times during the course of a conditioning workout. We did that for weeks pain-free and progressed slowly from there.

The irony of all of this is that I don't even care for running that much. But it's so important if the goal is full function. Just to be clear, I'm referring specifically to running as a stand-alone activity. I'll run all day if I'm playing tennis, basketball, flag football, etc. I'll do it as part of mixed modal conditioning work. And I do two types of sprint work: max speed and conditioning. I alternate my sprint work and try and get in one sprint workout per week. So one week I'll do speed work and the following week I'll do conditioning work (the format and distances are not that different but the rest periods sure are).

It doesn't need to be complicated and it doesn't need to be a lot. It just needs to be done.