good feeling with the ground

'When we were young, we ran barefoot, look after our cattle. We developed strong ankles, you know....(gesticulating with hands as feet)we  had good feeling with the ground' Rudisha 2010

Pretty much nails it in one sentence. There are only two parts of our body that have evolved to be in contact with the ground namely our feet. That is it, there is no need for lengthy discussions about reasons why our feet need to be in contact with the ground. Our bodies evolved to be upright, to work with gravity, to be IN gravity (John Stirk and Gary Carter) hence and therefore, the body needs the signals from our feet (mainly) and other sensory inputs to keep upright, to keep in balance, to body sense balance.

Many times over the years I have shared the sentence above with the 'killer' video clip and the vast majority of folk nod. They may not have heard of David Rudisha (800m Olympic gold 2012 1m 40") but get the emotional connection with that word 'good'. Quality of movement begins from the ground up. 

Running and walking should feel good. However, when you watch most folks walk there is not a real sense of ease of movement and lightness of feet, not a 'good feeling with the ground', not a sense of 'in gravity of with gravity' but a sense of effort and drudging acceptance as a form of locomotion.

The quality of ground varies of course, consider the nature of the ground you run and walk on. In the developing and developed world we have flattened our environment, steam rolled out the lumps and bumps, even trails are flatter. I do understand access for folks here but consider our range of movement just in our hips as we climb over things and move across the landscape. Understanding our terrain and moving over it is a strong evolutionary drive. Wayfaring is a great expression (Out of thin Air, Crawley, 2020), it is how we move across the landscape that is as important as point A to point B.

Running and walking intelligently means coming to our senses and tuning into the landscape around us. Feeling and moving with ease, not fighting yourself, or fighting the watch.

 

 I stressed this next observation maybe two years ago but worth sharing again. When observing runners I listen first. Generally if I hear them with their feet and/or the quality of the breath I don't really need to look, I know what I need to look for. When I look at the runner I notice the overall shape of the runner moving as a sense(not fat/thin etc)and where the focus of runner is, where the eyes are, the head is, where they place their attention. I notice excessive movement, rolling and small instabilities, all of these observations come rushing in over a short period of time.  I then have enough information to work with. 

 

Tuning into the runner and getting the runner to tune into themselves will allow them to develop good feeling with ground.