WHY ARE RUNNERS CONCERNED WITH WHAT TO DRINK, WHAT SHOES
TO WEAR, BUT NOT HOW TO RUN?
Isn't it an interesting question?
 The
list of runners' concerns could be easily extended, but the
concern of "how to run" still would not be there.
If I start teaching somebody how to drive a car from a perspective
of what he is supposed to drink, which shoes he is supposed
to wear and so on, but not from the point of view of technique
and skill of driving a car, I wouldn't last too long as a
teacher in this field, have no doubt about it.
But guess, how many people have a luxury of being a coach
in running without ever paying attention to running technique?
The answer is: a lot. Why it this happening? Because runners
just don't care how they run, but they do care what they drink!!!
They are concerned with how much mileage they run, and how
tired they get, what shoes they should wear to run with more
cushioning and stability, etc.
Coming back to the same question, it is interesting to look
at these priorities in terms of their senselessness. We consider
as our priority things which are secondary to something else,
but this "something" is sometimes not "visible",
illusive and even deceptive. Of course, I myself don't think
so, because what could be more visible than beautiful, harmonical
movement! There is only one obstacle here - you need to see
it to understand what I am talking about.
Yes, not all beautiful things are "visible", even
if they are always there, such as a beautiful sunset or sunrise,
but in order to appreciate it, your eyes should be not only
open, but also able to see it.
In comparison to this elusive beauty of movement, shoes and
drinks are very tangible and in your face. They have material
density, which technique doesn't have. Therefore our mind
is much more inclined to accept this as our most important
reality and put it on the top of our priority list. Our existing
environment is very conducive to such attitude and helps you
perceive the "importance" of these material things.
It is also easy to appeal to our primary needs - food, clothes,
shelter, because they are so obvious and self-explanatory.
Technique, on the contrary, is very elusive and not so obvious
in comparison to that, it requires much more mental and emotional
efforts from us to bring it to reality and achieve any benefits
with it at the beginning.
So in the absence of clarity of importance of technique,
it is easy to slide into something more tangible, obvious
and appealing, which also doesn't require any deep understanding
or perfection, any deliberate attention or action, and seems
to make our run simpler. The question is only, "Is it
really so?"
Why not to start thinking that the skill of doing (technique)
is the real way of making our run simpler, more harmonious
and beautiful and only after that start thinking about how
much and what to drink, which shoes to wear and how long to
run.
Dr. Romanov
Pose
running website
PoseTech
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