Improving Your Running: Using the Eyes

Have you ever thought about how important your head carriage is to your running?  Have you seen runners when they are tired or anxious begin to let the head come forward or down out of a balanced position?  Perhaps you have noted how letting the head look down contributes to hunching of the shoulders. The way we carry and use our heads contributes or detracts from all of our movements.  Remember the old sayings – keep your eye on the prize, keep looking toward the goal or don’t get ahead of yourself. These sayings can contribute to our continued development as runners. Have you ever thought that the head and its movements are influenced or even controlled by the eyes?  Note how the eyes direct movement in the pictures above. I can’t imagine the dynamic movement you see with Usain Bolt above occurring without good use of the eyes.  Note the eyes directing him down the track as he unleashes his amazing speed or the eyes directing his action as he crosses the finish line or even the eyes expressing his feeling when he hears the time for his race. Let these images of the eyes directing the whole person be in your mind as you do the following lesson.

·         Learn how you eyes can help your running.  If you wear glasses or contacts you can wear them while you do the following eye movements. Run a short distance for just a minute or two and notice how you do it. Don’t try to change your running, just notice.  

·         Now reflect on how your running felt.  Did your head feel balanced and easy to carry? Where were you looking when you were running? How did your shoulders feel? Could you look easily over one shoulder without perturbing your run? 

• Stand and look out about 60 ft.  Focus your eyes on what you see.  Do this a few times and focus on different objects in front of you at about 60 ft distance from you.

•   Now focus your gaze at about half that distance. Pick out several objects and then focus on them for a few seconds.

• Now without moving your head, look down with your eyes and focus much closer to yourself. Now do the same thing perhaps looking down at the ground but not moving your head.

• Go back and forth with your focus at all these distances a number of time.

• Perhaps like many of us you have developed certain visual habits. Perhaps you focus most of the time only on one distance at work. Perhaps you have a habit of looking down when you run.

• See how much of the ground you can see by shifting your eyes down. How much confidence do you have in your peripheral vision?

• Let you eyes drift a little to the left and right as you try out your focus at various distances.

• Remember that your eyes lead you to the “prize” or toward the fulfillment of your intention.

• What happens in your spine as you look out in the distance?

• Go for another short run. If the ground is even try looking out at various distances. How is your head being carried now?  Has your overall balance changed?

•  Don’t settle in to one pattern. Look a little to the left and then to the right at times. Look around. Let your head actually turn a little to the left and right from time to time. Don’t get locked into one pattern. Notice that if you only looked ahead and never scanned in other directions your running becomes more rigid. Experiment! 

•  Sometimes we tend to strain to look ahead. We may move our head forward out of good balance and use more energy than necessary.

• Try this: act as if you had eyes in the back of your head. Now see through those eyes too. Maybe your head might move a little backwards as you use the eyes in the back of your head. Look a little to the right and left and up and down with the eyes in the back of your head too.

•  If the ground if uneven try looking down a little more by using C1 the very top neck vertebrae and looking down by nodding down and bringing the chin a little close to the chest. You don’t have to fold your whole spine to look down. Try keeping a long spine and looking down with this small movement.

•  If the ground is very uneven, full of rocks and roots, then prepare to move more of yourself to clearly see and move over and around the obstacles. There is no need to adapt a rigid posture.

Finally:

 If you become more skilled a using the eyes it will be easier to improve your running. Practice patiently multi- distance focusing. Can you see any visual habits you have? How is your running now?

One more time go for a run. This time notice the whole experience of how you are running. Notice globally. Have you integrated the feeling of improved eye use? Can you let go of thinking? Do you feel any overall improvement? 

Practice this lesson as often as you want. And have fun!

Till next time –Scott

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