When You're Green, You're Growing

I started running seriously about 2.5 years ago, which has essentially been all minimalist running. When I started minimalist, or barefoot, or natural, running, I was hard pressed to find resources about the subject online. Today there's a lot of quality information available about the subject, but with it has come an ever increasing white noise generated by people talking about the subject and passing themselves off as experts. As this noise has gotten louder, I've found I'm just not as interested reading about the subject as I once was. In fact, I can remember the last time I was really excited about a new barefoot running resource.

A couple of days ago my friend Alan T. posted a video title The Principles of Natural Running, by Dr. Mark Cucuzzella on Daily Mile, which is available from Dr. Cucuzzella's website Natural Running Center and is embedded below. After watching this video of Doc Mark running barefoot, I felt like a klutz, this guy is amazing, but more than that, he explains some of the things that have been sussed out by barefoot running guru, Barefoot Ken Bob (BKB) and many others. For example, the 180 steps per minute cadence, this is a principle that BKB discussed well before barefoot running got the attention it currently has. In this video, Doc Mark explains this as being our natural rhythm, one that can be seen repeated in many activities that we do, such as jumping rope. I found this video to be very informative. It reiterated things I've known, reminded me of things I've forgotten, introduced things I didn't know or really understand, and made me aware of several flaws within my own form. This is the first running resource I've been excited about in awhile and I plan on making use of the source website to improve my running, which I believe will result in making me a faster more efficient runner.

Update 2/11/12:
I ran another three miles today and I tried to apply some of the principles discussed in the above video. During both of these runs I've felt as though my lungs were the limiting factor, which I mentioned on Daily Mile for both of these runs. Not knowing what I was talking about, I thought I needed to increase my lung capacity, but, thanks again to Alan T. who pointed me in the right direction, it looks like it's a diaphragm strengthening related issue. During both of these runs I felt a slight pain in my right side under my ribcage, which I just assumed was a cramp, but was actually a stitch, which I found some information about here: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni10a1.htm

I wanted to add this bit to this post because I feel it's related to the above. I have a sense of being ready to advance to the next step, one I don't think I was really aware of other than having a desire to reach what I believe is my potential, which in simplistic terms would translate to a faster pace. Until know, however, the way hasn't been clear.