臨近澳門銀河馬拉松不到3個月的時間,身邊朋友也開始關心起跑步這件事,到底「跑步,該怎麼跑?」,迷馬4.2公里輕鬆跑應該沒有問題,可能對於距離沒有太多概念而感覺不安吧。半馬21公里比較有挑戰性,全馬的話,如果之前沒有持續練習,我想志在參與就好了,不要受傷就好,因為5小時內完成真的有難度吧。我個人也太擅長補習速成,大學讀完都沒進過補習班,而且我一直都是在思考怎樣跑步可以不受傷這個問題,至於跑步速成術這個關鍵詞,幾乎都沒有思考過。不過有時在松山跑步,偶爾都會聽到松山大叔分享經驗之談,我想活用這些經驗法則,多多少少會有幫助吧。
1) 松山大叔:「啊X你,你隻腳伸咁出,咪下下好似刹制咁囉!」語氣助詞是髒話,不過考慮過直接省略語氣助詞的話又會大大影響了松山大叔講話時的神韻,所以還是以X打出來,不過就省略不翻了。意思是每一步跨步太大,著地點離開屁股總質心太遠會有刹車效應發生,我想雖然松山大叔不知道總質心是什麼,但從經驗來看,他知道腳跨步太大,容易造成腳痛或膝蓋痛等等不良效果。總之先不管前足著地(forefoot)、中足腳著(mid-foot),還是腳跟著地(rarefoot),又或者是腳掌後枱往前擺動的著地方式,都不要跨步太大。
2) 松山大叔:「你企到咁X直,點跑啊!」企就是站的意思,能是語氣助詞,意思是站太直,沒辦法跑。當然,松山大叔這句話的事實陳述其實有點不對,站得太直,不代表不能前進,只是效率欠佳而已,我想松山大叔只是語重心長地告訴朋友要創造前傾,讓前傾的力量幫助你前進。我想松山大叔應該不知道什麼是角度決定速度,更不知創造多少前傾角度代表增加多少速度,不過經驗法則來說,他知道前傾一點點比較好就是了。
3) 松山大叔:「X你,唔洗咁心急啦,跑順左隻腳就會自然識跑架啦!」依舊語氣助詞省略不翻,意思是不用太急,慢慢跑,跑順了之後就會自動前進了。我覺得這個經驗法則很有見地,跑者通常很少會注意到慣性牽引的前進動力,最近看到Steve Magness的文章,以下節錄一部份給大家參考一下:
The most important information you will ever read about Running Form: Passive vs. Active
「Passively is a little more complex. You can subdivide passive into passive mechanics, and reflexive. Passive mechanics are things like momentum or inertia, where it doesn’t matter really if it’s a human or not, objects will act in various ways. Think back to your High School Physics class for this stuff. Reflexive is exactly as it sounds. It’s those things that happen without you actively thinking or doing anything. It happens as a result of something else. The common example is the test where they tap right below your knee in the doctor’s office and your foot kicks out a little.
If we look at the various passive mechanisms we have in our body, you’ll see things like the stretch reflex. Which should essentially be thought of as a rubber band. The muscle-tendon unit is stretched and then snaps back really quickly. You’ve got the stretch shortening cycle, which basically means that if you stretch the muscle a bit before contacting, you’ll get a bigger power increase. The typical example is the calf muscle during any sort of hoping. When you hit the ground, the calf is stretched, storing energy, and then contracted as you push off. A practical example would be a counter-movement jump. If we were to measure jump height, what would you do? You’d start standing, then squat down and immediately explode upwards. If you instead squatted down, held it for a few seconds and then exploded upwards, you would not jump near as high because you didn’t take advantage of the SSC.」
裡面有提到主動跟被動的肌肉運作模式,松山大叔累積數以多年的經驗也多多少少注意到這個現象,如果動作正確的話,身體某些機能是能夠將著地的力量轉化成部份前進的動力,可是重點是要跑順了才可以,為什麼是跑順了,這就揭示了這個技巧松山大叔叔的身體並沒有100%記憶起來,每次跑步都需要摸索一段時間才能夠再次發動。通常一開始大家肌力很好,每一步都會主動使用肌肉,但運動時間持續一個小時以上,肌肉開始疲累後,可以進入這個被動模式的可能性相對較高,而且效率(好像)不比主動活動肌肉時的效果相差很多,當然這是指長跑而言。
4) 最後,我自己的想法是保持節奏,如果目標是完成比賽,2個半小時跑21公里,最慢7:00pace也是可以來得及完成,通常第一次參賽,受到馬拉松氣氛的影響,大腦不自覺會有爆衝的念頭,早段速度通常會比預期快一點,到後段由於累了,速度就會大幅掉下來,完成賽事就會比較辛苦一點就是了,所以記得要維持自己的節奏,不要被其它人影響了。