Friday 25 November 2011

Improve your running form - run with your eyes closed!

This is not as crazy as it sounds, providing you can run on a beach or some other wide open space, for obvious reasons.   I tried this a few weeks ago while when visiting my parents who live by the sea - an early morning run there is great.

What does it fee like?
Strange, first of all.  But it makes sense after a bit.

Why?
Try and find out for yourself.  I was more conscious of my body taking strides and knew exactly how my feet were falling onto the sand.

And?
I stopped after a minute and looked back.  I could see my footprints in the sand and my path was far from straight.  I tried again but paid more attention to running with a bit more "precision"

What happened?
After another minute or so I again stopped, looked back.  This time I could see I had run in a straight line.  It's a good way of examining for yourself something about your running form, how in-tune you are with your body.

Anything else?
Yes, try it for yourself but pick the right place!  For me it was amazing to do this and concentrate on my running form.  If you can, look behind you to see if you have run in a straight or curved line.

4 comments:

  1. You're mad running with your eyes closed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have you actually tried it?

    I would be mad if I ran with my eyes closed along a road or something like that but it's pretty harmless on a wide open beach.

    So why not have a go yourself and then decide if I'm mad - take the challenge and tell me about it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i always run with my eyes closed/very squinted and earphones in!! i feel so relaxed that way (haven't ran into anything yet)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anon! I'm pleased there is at least one person out there who agrees with me on this. I can't believe it is almost one year since I wrote this post and yes, I have run along this same beach with my eyes closed a few times and thoroughly enjoyed improving my running form.

      Delete