I've been reading wtih great interest many of the posts by Ken M. I've been especially interested in running technique and the philosophy of Evolution Running. I'm going to make a very concerted effort to learn to run using this method and I thought it might be interesting to chronicle my efforts here.

First the setup:
I'm a Clysdale.

Through and through. 6'2" 220-225 pounds in general, maybe about 10-15 pounds heavier than I could be. Ran my first tri a few weeks ago, and posted my results here. Not completely satisfied, but was overall was happy given that it was my first one.

12 years ago and 20 pounds ago I ran three half marathons and the NYC marathon.

I hate running.

Always have. Rowed crew in college, had to do it all the time. Really hate it. I'm big framed, and, well, I deserve the title Clysdale. Run a race with Secretariat? I don't show. Need a horse to pull the beer wagon - I'm your huckleberry.

The pounding I take when I run is awful. That's part of the reason why ER sounds so interesting.

Oh yeah this is important - I'm slow. I mean slow. When I was running 10 years ago, the fastest I ever really got was a 7:30 minute mile pace for 5 miles. In my half marathons - best I managed was 8:45 minute mile pace. It was really hard work for me. (I'm much faster on the bike, and in the pool, I'm decent in the water - not in the open water yet, but I'm working on that).

Enough setup.

Tonight was my first run attempting to follow the commandments and use the style, just from the posts I've read here. (I've ordered the books - they are on the way).

Conditions:
Raining fair amount, about 56 degrees. Running on my normal out and back from my house. It's a bit hilly, but not overly so.

Goal:
Really concentrate on how my feet fall, staying off my heels and keeping my posture correct and upright. (Can't do all 10 in one night...)
Run a (Zone 1) EN Recovery with a few 3min (Zone 3) AP (-) intervals thrown in for 45-50 mins.

Results:
Avg HR: 140
Max HR 160
Cals: 620 (310 Fat)
Overall: Felt much better than usual runs.
Was able to keep my feet much more relaxed than usual.
Once I started getting the transfer of the weight up into the middle of my foot, it was easy to stay there, but took effort at first not to strike my heels.
Perceived efforts were lower than usual. I could run faster at lower perceived efforts.
Right knee had been giving me trouble lately, but didn't tonight.
Getting up to 155-160HBM required me to run much faster than usual.
Ran uphill with shorter steps at higher cadence and control my HR a bit better.
Ok, so that's all mostly good. Here's the only weird thing: Even though my perceived efforts were much lower than usual, it did seem my HR scaled up much more quickly. It also scaled down much more quickly.
I could keep the AP- (Zone 3) easier than usual.
I had to concentrate to keep my posture upright.
I also had to concentrate to not overstride. The movements were easier and I had to at times work to prevent my feet from getting in front of my knees.
Was a little faster than my usual pace - Although I didn't really watch the pace, it felt much easier and I covered more ground than usual. I'm guessing I ran 9:00m/m or so instead of 9:30 or so for my usual EN R (Zone 1) pace. (Told you I was slow)
Felt really great at the end of my run - felt like I could have kept going for a while. Recovered quite quickly.

That's it for the first entry. Next one will come soon.