I have never run a 10k.  The idea of six miles of pounding pavement appeals to me about as much as a waist-down hot waxing. 

Until October, it was easy enough to avoid.  No one asked me to run 10ks, and I never volunteered.  Then something changed.  In small Lucida Grande type, set above a picture of Annie Sakamoto, CrossFit was telling me to crank out a middle-distance run.  Engaged in a heated battle for a dress-less Toronto Certification Seminar, I bristled at the thought.   A 5k earlier in the month had left me with enough lateral knee pain to cripple a horse, and I had no desire to repeat the experience.

Even more, everything I knew about physiological effects of distance running pointed to a scratch.  Habitual runners, reflected in my mind by the recreational marathoner, suffer from a general lack strength and power that runs contrary to every athletic goal I have.  The mental image of emaciated limbs slogging through 8-minute miles put me smack in the middle of the training floor, barbells set for a go at "Linda".

In November, the seeds of change were sowed.  I received an invitation to attend the CrossFit Running and Endurance Certification, taught by Brian MacKenzie and Mike Collins in Newport Beach, California.  A chance to learn the POSE Method of running overcame my longstanding distain for endurance sports of all kinds, and I booked a flight.

Brian stood in front of the room, half-full of CrossFit Affiliates and fire breathers, looking decidedly punk rock.  Tattoos, punctuated by skulls and fire, decorated the length of his arms, their menacing appearance offset by an easy smile.  He asked us to explain ourselves.

We each stood in turn, describing variations on a theme of dislike, pain, and injury.  In a room of otherwise competent athletes, we admitted our inability to execute the most basic of functional movements--locomotion. Brian picked up the common thread and hammered home the point of the Certification.
 
"There's a reason you don't like running," he said, "You suck at it."

Unlike the rest of our movement catalog, we were approaching running as a skill-less activity.  Our clients were sent to the road without instruction.  Inevitably, our undirected charges embraced ideas like increased stride length and power to the ground, letting intuition lead to injury.  Instead of working with the forces of nature--gravity, momentum, and elasticity--they fought them, pushing against the road and braking with the heel during every stride.

Brian, a veteran of Ironman Canada and the Western States 100, pointed to his shoes, displaying a pair of flat-soled Adidas, and then to ours, highly cushioned and reinforced with energy-absorbing technology.  "Running shoes are airbags to save you from your shitty form," he said, eliciting a laugh from the soon-to-be reformed crowd.

Michael Collins, a small guy with the focus of a sharpshooter and the owner of Multisports Orange County, took the lead.  According to Mike, POSE running is based on a very simple set of ideas.  Rather than fight gravity, we work with it, striving to use our falling bodyweight to create forward motion.  Rather than push our feet into the ground, we pull them off it, changing our support leg at a cadence that allows maximum efficiency.  Employing gravity, ground reaction, and the natural elastic tendencies of our muscles, as well as good posture, we run farther and faster with less fatigue.

Employing these ideas requires training, but we weren't going to get it quite yet.  

Mike and Brian herded us out into the street for a series of six 400-meter sprints, setting up video equipment to capture footage for a post-lunch analysis session.  We lined up in two groups, taking off at five-second intervals with the directive to maintain our pace across every sprint.

Hardly.  By the fifth iteration, my legs were on fire, every step jolting my winter-built body and screaming for me to quit.  I was running the only way I knew how, driving my feet into the ground and cycling my arms at breakneck speed, employing the teachings of USA Track and Field in pursuit of good splits.  With a best-to-worst disparity approaching twenty seconds, it was obvious that my technique was lacking and my ability to pace was raw and poorly honed.

Back in our seats after a trip to Trader Joe's, Brian proceeded to pick our performances apart, looking for the hallmarks of the POSE method:  the telltale figure-four, forward lean, and proper landing that indicate good technique.  Most of us did not pass muster.  Feet were landing out front, reaching for ground contact and disrupting forward momentum.  Trailing legs were fully extended, betraying a push method of generating movement and inviting injury.  Tension was omnipresent, embodied by fully dorsiflexed feet, hunched shoulders, and excessive torso rotation.  

We took turns laughing at each other's ineptitude, marveling at our struggle with an activity that we'd taken for granted.  It became clear that Brian was offering us a path to improved performance without the drawbacks of long mileage and strength loss, and we began to understand the tremendous gift we'd been given.

Reunited with Mike's group of newly minted runners, we launched into a discussion of injury.  According to Mike, injuries are caused by biomechanical breakdowns rather than environmental factors.  Braking with the heel leads to a multitude of syndromes, including plantar facitis, sore calves, shin splints, and IT band tightness, while driving into the ground elicits blown hamstrings.  In each case, the athlete is fighting gravity and creating unnecessary leverage, contradicting the low-energy, high skill tenets of the POSE Method.

Mike explained that our view of elite runners, feet out front and flying far behind, was largely an optical illusion, created by speed rather than poor technique.  Popular media publishes still after still of runners in this position, thereby creating the reach-and-extend method of running practiced by the general populace.  In fact, this splayed position is a mid-air shot.  The well-balanced, bent-kneed landing is never shown, and the casual observer assumes that pushing is the name of the game.

Left with a beautiful quote--"Pain is the penalty for violating the rules of nature"--we headed outside for a day-ending tangle with "Helen".  Waves of CrossFitters tore through the workout, attempting to reconcile the POSE Method with all-out intensity.  Jeremy Thiel of CrossFit Central provided the highlight, turning in a 7:30 effort with near-perfect form on every repetition.  My own effort was modest yet satisfying, as I experienced the efficiency of using POSE mid-WOD for the first time.  The draining effect of Helen's 400-meter sprint was gone, leaving ample energy for the ensuing swings and pull-ups.  The record-destroying benefit of conservation without speed loss became clear, and the value of the Certification tripled in my mind.

The following morning, greeted by a gray sky and the threat of rain, we gathered to continue our education.  We were reintroduced to the idea of cadence, the rate at which the support leg is pulled from the ground.  In order to execute the POSE Method, the minimum acceptable cadence is 90, indicating a stride frequency of 180 steps per minute.  This frequency allows us to employ muscle elasticity and ground reaction, using the natural stretch-shortening cycle of our leg muscles to create motion.  At slower cadences, the shock of impact overpowers this internal engine, reducing running efficiency and requiring increased energy expenditure.

Following our discussion of cadence, Brian reminded us of the effects of pure aerobic work--increased cardiovascular function and fat utilization at the expense of speed, strength, power, and overall athletic ability--and told us his own experience with the anaerobic blast of CrossFit.

With virtually no reduction in long-distance stamina, Brian had replaced the majority of his roadwork with the Workout of the Day.  Inevitably, his output increased substantially in ultra distance events, newfound power and strength allowing him drop his pace by over two minutes per mile.  Even more, he found he was able to maintain pace throughout the events, no small feat during greater-than-marathon efforts.

This result flies in the face of traditional endurance training, which relies on a dogma of volume:  more output requires more distance. Solidifying his case for CrossFit, Brian told the story of one of his athletes, a young Amish-looking guy going by the moniker of "Rookie".

Rookie cranked through the WOD for six months before deciding to try his hand at distance running.  After a mere six weeks of POSE training, carefully controlled and monitored by Brian, Rookie completed a 50k race.  Prior to the event, he'd never run more than thirteen miles, and the vast majority or his training was anaerobic.

Inspired by Rookie's story, we headed out to the road, this time with a basic understanding of the POSE Method and enough drilling to get the basic motor patterns down.  Once again, Brian and Mike set up the video camera, accompanied by the CrossFit Media Crew and the ever-present Tony Budding.  Mike had given each of us a small tempo timer; a beeping device intended to keep us on cadence.  Twenty-plus athletes, each bleating like a time bomb, lined up for a second go at 400-hundred meter repeats.  

Concentrating on maintaining my cadence, leaning forward, and pulling my feet from the ground, I took off in my designated time slot.  With very little effort, I turned in a 1:11 time on the short course.  Over the next five intervals, my time increased a paltry four seconds, and the previous day's feeling of sluggishness and tension was gone.  Crossing the finish line on the last 400, I felt as if I could have run a dozen more.

My experience was not unique.  Gathered for the video analysis, we each described a similar feeling of reduced effort and pain, as well as increased stamina.  In forty-eight hours, we'd gone from hating running to wanting out of our chairs so we could do it again.  The video session showed marked improvements across the board, and the excitement in the room was palpable.

After going over several training templates for endurance athletes, we hit the treadmills for some technique work, ending the Certification with another chance to benefit from Brian and Mike's expertise.  Standing behind me and slapping my heel as I extended out the back, Brian gave me one last reminder of the need to pull off the ground quickly.

Sam and I said our goodbyes after a long post-Certification session of gymnastics with the Media Crew, heading to the airport to find Eva T., a cancelled flight, and an extra night of California vacation waiting for us.  My initial skepticism was gone, replaced by thoughts of powerful athletes cruising through WOD sprints with more speed and less effort, eschewing the negative effects of excessive roadwork for the benefits of high intensity training.

By combining technique with the anaerobic work of CrossFit, Brian and Mike promise to revolutionize the way endurance athletes train, opening the doors for an entirely new population to find CrossFit.  Given my experience in Newport Beach, they're my favorite new members of the CrossFit Community.

Gone is the fear of the 10k.  Next time it comes up on the Board, I'm going to do it, and I'm going to like it, utilizing the POSE Method to get through the previously misunderstood distance.  I might even get that hot waxing, provided it makes me faster.

Brian MacKenzie talks POSE.  For more information on the POSE Method, visit POSEtech.com or contact Brian and Michael at CrossFit Newport Beach and Multisports Orange County.