Lessons in physics on a Wednesday night…

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One of the greatest lessons I got out of ChiRunning is awareness. I’ve learned a lot over the past few years just by doing nothing more than paying attention.

I got a few lessons on an otherwise normal Wednesday night. When I was taking my buddy’s two oldest skating, I got to thinking about speed on ice.

If you ever saw anyone skating with long blades, you know you can get some pretty decent speed on those things. Ever wonder why and how? Well I did…

It brought back memories of friction from grade 10 physics (or was it grade 12?)! The less friction, the better when it comes to speed and velocity. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, really…

The same applies to running but most people forget that fact. A nice high cadence can really reduce the amount of resistance/friction. If you think about it, heel striking provides a lot of friction and time spent on the ground.

I got to thinking about the same principles when I was swimming last night. It’s not really about pushing yourself further and faster, it’s really about cutting the drag. It took me a long time to figure that one out.

Anyway, all that to say that when you’re out doing some form of activity, think about what provides resistance and ask yourself if you could do it for a few hours. The answer might be very helpful in terms of efficiency for the long-term/distance!

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Hot off the press! (Or so it says)…

See the link for some commercialization of some recent Harvard research by Lieberman. As always, there is some good and some bad. If you’re going to make the transition, please do it the baby steps way (gradual progress)…

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