I wrote the following for the Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer in Raleigh; it appeared in both papers on Tuesday, Sept. 17. It runs here with links. Check out my personal take on Chi Running, which I wrote about last week.

The best way to get the most out of running?

“Look at the way you used to run as a kid,” says Pat Reichenbach of Angier. “They’re constantly taking quick steps and leaning forward to let their body, not their legs, do most of the work.”

In a way, carefree children have been pioneering what is emerging as the next big thing in running: Chi Running.

Chi (pronounced “chee”) Running borrows from the Chinese martial art form of tai chi and is becoming increasingly popular for everyone from beginners launching into their first zero-to-5K program to longtime runners frustrated by successive injuries.

The essence of Chi Running and its main selling point: Running and injuries needn’t be synonymous.

It’s a good pitch considering that an estimated two-thirds of runners suffer an injury serious enough to curtail their training in any given year.

“It was life-changing,” said Amy Peacock, 42, who endured a litany of common running injuries – shin splints, heel pain, plantar fasciitis – after running her first marathon in 1997.

The Charlotte woman heard about Chi Running in 2005, attended a clinic and hasn’t been injured since. She became so enamored of Chi Running that she became an instructor in 2006 and works with everyone from long-time, competitive runners to newbies in a zero-to-5K program she began teaching last week at the YWCA Central Carolinas in Charlotte.

To the uninitiated, its ties to tai chi may suggest an eastern philosophical bent, but really it’s about common sense and good form.

As Chi Running founder Danny Dreyer, of Asheville, says, “Running does not cause injury; incorrect or inefficient running technique is the true culprit.”

That may mark the biggest difference between the Chi approach and traditional running: There’s a much greater emphasis on form than you’ll find with more traditional running programs.

“It’s a very efficient approach that made a whole lot of sense to me,” says Dan Heyl, a Raleigh engineer who attended a Chi Running clinic two years ago.

“You don’t think twice about good form being essential for golf and tennis,” says Reichenbach, who, like Peacock, became an instructor shortly after taking the course. “Why not running?”

6 main principles

Chi Running’s approach is based on six key principles:

• Correct alignment and posture. Much of the instruction focuses on getting your body in line while running to avoid injuries associated with certain parts of the body absorbing too much of the running load.

• Landing with a mid-foot strike. This dovetails with the premise of Christopher McDougall’s 2009 best-seller, “Born to Run,” which is widely credited with sparking the current running revival.

Runners became injured, McDougall wrote, because plush running shoes promoted a heel-strike stride that was the antithesis of our natural running form and encouraged injury. The foot’s bone structure, McDougall and Chi Running proponents agree, is built to handle the pounding of a mid-foot strike.

Many Chi runners tend to use less-padded shoes than traditional runners.

• Using a “gravity-assisted” forward lean. The big advantage here: Leaning forward lets you take advantage of gravity, which saves energy. It’s not so helpful on uphills, but a noticeable plus on flats and downhills, say practitioners.

“It’s tremendously helpful on downhills, says Tim Whitmire of Charlotte, who with the help of Chi Running has resumed his quest to run a marathon in all 50 states (he’s currently at 26). “I release myself and let gravity take me downhill.”

• Engaging core strength for propulsion, rather than relying on leg strength. This concept gets a little more physiologically esoteric, but basically by engaging your core by sucking in your stomach and tightening your abdominal muscles, your core assumes a greater workload, keeping your legs fresh.

• Maintaining a short stride and quick cadence. Doing this does several things, say instructors. It encourages a mid-foot strike, it keeps your center of balance over your feet (especially helpful for trail runners, says Peacock, who are more prone to tripping on tree roots and rocks), it makes hills easier and it puts less stress and demand on the leg muscles.

• Connecting the mind and body. For most runners the transition to Chi Running doesn’t happen overnight. “It’s a lot to learn at one time,” says Reichenbach, whose workshops generally last five hours.

“I’m still a student,” says Heyl, who took Reichenbach’s workshop two years ago. “I’m constantly doing a body scan, feeling the road, my ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, what I’m doing with my arms.”

He says the scan is quick and doesn’t detract from his run. “It’s not a distraction. It’s very quick. It’s like a finger snap.”

In addition to reducing injuries, Chi Runners say the approach enables them to run longer and more frequently. Perhaps more importantly, though, a passion that due to injuries had devolved into a labor of love has dropped the downside.

“It’s made running so much more comfortable,” says Heyl. “It’s made running a lot of fun.”

It’s also given Heyl, who recently turned 50, a carrot to keep him active into old age.

“It’s so easy on the body,” he says. “I was looking for something to do into my 80s and I really think this style of running will let me do that.”

* * *

More info

Chi Running, which puts far more emphasis on form than traditional running, is growing in popularity. Proponents say there are fewer injuries because runners land mid-foot rather than on the heel. For more info:

• On Pat Reichenbach’s Chi Running clinics in the Triangle area: www.patspersonaltraining.com or call 919-753-5734.

• On Amy Peacock’s eight-week Chi Running Training course at the YWCA Central Carolinas in Charlotte: www.ywcacentralcarolinas.org or call 704.525.5770.

• On Chi Running in general: www.chirunning.com.

The post Chi running: Run like a kid again appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

With few exceptions, I experience what I write about. It makes it easier to describe the experience. It also makes it easier to sniff out the potential BS factor. This comes in especially handy when writing about new fitness trends and classes. It came in handy a couple weeks back when I started reporting a story on Chi Running for the Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.

I was especially intrigued by this assignment because I am a runner. The type of runner for whom Chi Running is intended. Some quick and hopefully not boring background.

One December morning in 1977 I woke up, rolled out of bed and discovered I weighed more than 200 pounds, about 40 pounds more than I weighed three years earlier in high school. I put on some sweats (they still fit), laced up my neglected Chuck Taylor All-Stars and went for a run. A short run. The next morning I did the same, running ever so-slightly farther. By that summer I was running five miles a day, weighed 155 and invested in a pair of Nike Waffle Trainers. For the next decade, I was a runner, focusing on 10Ks, usually finishing in just over 40 minutes.

When I hit 30, those years of 30-mile weeks using the then-popular heel-strike approach — encouraged by a succession of cush, fat-heeled running shoes — had taken their toll. My knees hurt, my back made getting out of the car a 10-minute ordeal. I switched to swimming and later cycling. Both fulfilled my basic fitness needs, but I desperately missed the endorphin rush that came with running.

Then, in 2009, I like so many other lapsed runners, picked up Christopher McDougall’s “Born to Run.” McDougall, too, was an injured runner. But he refused to give up despite his doctors’ insistence, so he set out on a quest to find out why some people could run forever but not others. What he found was that the run-forever-set had not been lured by the shoe companies into a heel-strike approach accommodated by $100 shoes. The minimalist, injury-free, mid-strike revolution began, and I was at the forefront, burning my plush running shoes, spieling the minimalist doctrine to anyone who would listen, running 5Ks and ramping up to my first half marathon and 20-mile trail race.

“Born to Run” had revived my running career but it had not made me immune to injury. I had an IT band injury in late 2010 completely sidelined me for four months; it was a good six before I felt comfortable racking up mileage. Chastened, I cut back.

Then, at the beginning of this month, I spent an hour with Pat Reichenbach. Pat was a gymnast in college, always enjoyed running as part of her fitness regimen, but eventually fell victim to the pursuit’s niggling injuries. Time passed, she heard about Chi Running, she took a clinic, she started running again, she became certified and started teaching the technique. Much to the amusement of patrons of the Whole Foods on Wade Avenue, she gave me an impromptu clinic on the sidewalk out front. What she showed me made immediate sense (at least the parts I understood; some of it is physiologically beyond my mental reach). I started incorporating it into my runs.

In the subsequent interviews I did for the story, with runners who had been through a Chi Running clinic, I could almost anticipate what they were going to say before they said it. My infatuation after just a couple weeks was understandable. These runners had been at it for at least two years — and they were still ardent followers. Granted, I had gotten their names from their instructors, who weren’t likely to refer clients for whom Chi Running didn’t take. But these were dedicated runners, people who took the time to learn the system, practice it, stick with it. And at least two years later it was providing the promised results: injury-free running with better performance.

I won’t go into specifics about Chi Running — you’ll have to wait for the story to appear in both papers on Tuesday (and if you don’t have access to the Observers, I will rerun it in this space Wednesday). I will tell you, though, that even with a rudimentary one-hour introduction I’m noticing a difference. I’ve run three times already this week and plan to head over to Umstead State Park for a 5 1/2-mile run when I finish here.

If you’re an injury-riddled runner, if you’re a lapsed runner, if you like the notion of running but have shied away because of the threat of injury, read the story next week. While I like to think that all of my stories are helpful, this one really could be. So block out a couple minutes on Tuesday. It might just make a difference.

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