I've heard a lot of crappy running advice over the years. Let me share it with you.

In case anyone was intensely worried about the state of my calves today, they were much, much better thanks to Cathe's PHA workout.  And the betterness was also thanks to the fact that I foam rolled the crap out of 'em before I went to bed.  Now, foam rolling wasn't something I bought into initially; I thought it was absurd to buy a $20 piece of cylindrical foam just to roll it over a body part.

But I was wrong.  Foam rolling is glorious, and it was the best piece of advice my students who also happened to be on the cross-country team ever gave me when I was teaching.  But the advice I've received over my 7+ years of running hasn't always been good; in fact, some of it I should have ran from the minute I heard it.

Don't run from this advice - run WITH it.

Let's take a look at some of the worst advice I've ever been giving in regards to running:

1) "Runners should only run, not lift weights."  I mentioned this in yesterday's post, and I respectfully do not agree with this tidbit.  And by "respectfully" I mean "refraining from using really bad words right now."  You have to have strong muscles to hold yourself up during a long-distance race and endure for as long as it takes you to run.  And the strength you need, I've learned, does not magically come through running the entire time during training.

2) "You should breathe out and in on certain footfalls."  This was stupid advice I found in a Runner's World magazine when I first started running.  Back then I was convinced I was not running correctly at all and needed to fix my broken running self.  Needless to say I found that breathing like a normal human during running suited me best, especially since I have a dedicated part of brain that serves to control my breathing without me thinking about it in the first place.

3) "You should land on your forefoot and hee striking is an absolute NO-NO." Just like breathing, I found out early on in my running journey that my natural foot strike (kinda-sorta-heel striking) is the best for me.  (Found out issues I was having at that point in my running had to do with weak muscles, not how I was landing!)

4) "Barefoot running is AMAZING and if you're wearing shoes you're a running WIMP."  I had a pair of those fancy foot gloves they called minimalist shoes.  I no longer have them.  Enough said.

5) "Running will ruin your knees."  No.  It won't.  Although your knees will try and secede from your body after your first marathon (don't let them).

6) "You gotta have the expensive gear."  For the most part, nope.  You should pony up for a nice winter jacket and running tights (and shoes, of course), but for other gear you can go to TJ Maxx and be just fine.

7) "Running is boring.  Why do you do it?"  *Sigh*

Did we learn anything people?  Maybe....

• I kept typing "hell striking" when talking about heel striking.  Sometimes typos make a post way more interesting.
• Foam rolling is pretty awesome.  Well, after it's over it's awesome.  It hurts like crazy the first time you do it, but life ain't all unicorns and rainbows, people.
• I can't be the only one who fell for the whole barefoot running thing.
• I'll lift weights if I want to and you can't stop me.
• Why do I run?  That's a question for another post to answer.

Tomorrow's workout: An easy 3-miler because I have to leave my house at 5:30 AM tomorrow.