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Terra
= Ground. Forza = Power
"All good runners resemble
one another, but each mediocre runner runs in his/her
own mediocre way." *
At
my office, I watch dozens of runners pass by my window
all day long and the ones I see struggling along (most
of them) each has his or her own distinct style. The
above quote simply implies that if you are an average
runner in need of advice, you will be sadly disappointed
if you follow some general, canned advice. No, your
running style is uniquely you; accumulated through years
of injuries, errant coaching advice, and mental hang-ups.
So if you are an average runner, your stride has a fingerprint-like
specificity which I believe can only be corrected by
scrutiny from an advanced coach and then by working
basic, fundamental running drills over and over to reinvent
how you move.
I
have no problem mentioning that I am one of these mediocre
runners. Sure, I can run a sub 40 minute 10k now and
then, but my training buddies all run sub 34's. In my
particular case, I swim and bike in the top 5 percentile;
yet run only at the 40th percentile. So what's my problem?
That's a question I've been asking for nearly 30 years.
As a youngster,my dad, bless his heart, would tell me
to train by running in work boots and, since I had long
legs, to kick my legs way out in front of me in sort
of a leaping fashion. That proved amusing to others
but did nothing for my speed.
Later,
in my 20's, as I met elite athletes and began training
with them I'd ask for their advice. Invariably I'd always
receive the same advice from natural runners: "Just
run naturally." And so I'd try running in a natural(?)
way but to no avail. Then they'd say "You need to run
more." So I would run more! 50 mile weeks were my max
before breakdown -- still didn't get any faster. Some
would actually watch me run but none could ever offer
any substantive, speedy advice.
In
my 30's I took to books and research papers. But usually
the books were of the flavor of "How to Fun your Fastest
Marathon" and contained lots of scheduling, nutrition
and training advice, but never any actual running form
advice. The research papers usually dealt with Natural
runners and how they were able to lower their 10k times
to sub 30 minutes by doing such and such; little value
for me.
The
breakthrough for me came when I got my digital camcorder!
I started videoing anyone who was willing. I'd even
go to Univ. of Wisconsin track meets and film the stars
there. But the biggee came from filming myself; furthermore,
filming myself running alongside elite runners on a
treadmill at the exact pace and cadence. And then I'd
watch these videos over and over, day in, day out, until
I developed a really good eye for spotting discrepancies.
From there I would dream up specific exercises, lifting
and drills to rebuild, recondition, and reconstruct
my running style. And thus Terra Forza was born!
How it works
The way
Terra Forza works is that you get a specific regimen
of exercises, weights, drills and training runs which
will reconstruct your running style. (Nothing over 30
miles per week.) I make extensive use of videotaping
-- one can even be across the country if they just send
me occasional running videos of themselves -- and detail
exactly what the runners' shortcoming is and how to
correct it. I am not only targeting triathletes, but
high school runners, soccer players, even basketball
players. Best of all, if you don't get significantly
faster, I'll refund your money!
Please
contact me for more info.
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