CrossFit Athletic Group

We have to be one of the most unsympathetic CrossFit gyms in Michigan. And when I say "we," obviously I'm not talking about myself because I would never make anyone run in the cold. But whatever tyrant that runs the Champions Club seems to include running no matter what conditions come. Yesterday, as far as I can remember, was a first though.

The 4:30 session - all 17(!) of them - ran in the snow, but the sidewalk was dry. Then as soon as said tyrant was going to send the 5:30 kids out for the run, it started to sleet and hail. That session consisted of Cory, Shaka, and Owen, so they did jump rope instead. Our 6:30 session had a collective 46 years of CrossFit experience and the "new kids" were Mrs. Tara and Coach Casey - two people who I really trust. So instead of making them do jump ropes I gave everyone the option to run if they wanted even though the ice made for very little traction on the sidewalk. Everyone except Mrs. Pip decided to run. Here's how they looked:

When you run on sand, ice, or snow your cadence automatically has to adjust. With sand and snow, if you leave your foot on the ground too long it will sink in and become more difficult to get out. On ice, the consequences for leaving the foot on the ground too long are a little more severe.

Another thing on ice to avoid is overstriding. When running on a normal surface this will cause your momentum to slow down with each step, and your meniscus to get cheese-graded over the long haul. When running on ice... this actually is doesn't happen. Or, at least to the extent it normally does. That is because, subconsciously, we'll get our feet up off the ground quicker, which ensures we land close underneath our hips. Everyone in the video normally has a slow cadence with the exception of Mrs. Tara; we didn't go over any technique before running and they all sped up quite a bit relative to their normal cadence and rhythm. And what does this do?

While not in perfect Pose alignment (her other ankle should be closer to the yellow line), Mrs. Tara, notorious over-strider/shin splint extraordinaire, lands almost directly underneath her hips. The landing in running is not something we should be thinking about. Instead the thought should be getting ourselves off the ground as soon as we feel the pressure strike the bottom of our foot.

Running on ice is not something I will probably allow again any time soon (especially today being way worse than last night). But one of the best drills to practice this is the Running Jump Rope we do. In place is great. Moving forward and backward is even better. Here's Mr. Carey and Conor from the team workout last Thursday.

Aside from a substitute for actual running, the running jump rope is a really good to practice a concept Dr. Romanov calls "framing" or Carl Paoli calls "blocking movement." This means it sets restrictions and barriers to force us into the right movement pattern. Or at least something really close to the standard.

What happens when your foot stays on the ground too long? The rope hits it.

What happens when your foot pulls too far back behind you? The rope hits it.

What happens when your foot steps down first? The rope hits it.

Doing this in place is usually pretty easy to get the hang of for anyone without the last name Jabara. But going forward and back really causes problems and makes us focus on the "up" part of running, not the "down." Adding speed makes it even more difficult.

Given the weather we've had for most of the winter, we're probably due for more crappy snow and ice days. So while we wait for garage door weather to come again, look out for more running jump ropes to help prime our technique for when we're ready to run again.