Having survived Phase 1 of my move from Port Credit to London, Ontario, Canada, it took me no time at all to finding my new barefoot running trails AND ‘swimming pool’!! No – not another Great Lake to match my Lake Ontario ‘pool’ but at least fresh water close to our new home. After one day recovering from the chaos of the moving process, I headed out from ‘345’ to the Medway Heritage Park system in Sherwood Forest all of 5o metres from the front door! Sweet…!!!
It was a hot, humid morning – perfect for a tree-lined trail run into the creek valley. The initial section of the trail is lose stone covering a dirt path – ultra sharp stone – just what I needed to activate my feet.
After a gradual decline, I hit the first of MANY inclines (above), indicating to me that intense hill training would also be at my back door.
Of course,with each incline comes a rather steep decline over a combination of rough asphalt, sharp stones, and dirt paths inundated with huge roots, tree branches and logs – perfect barefoot running conditions!
As I climbed another section,along came my new friend, Paul Gill, age 74 and an avid trail walker. Originally a teacher from the Punjab region of Indian, Paul immigrated to Canada 45 years ago where he entered trade school, graduated as a tool & dye mechanic and worked for Magna Industries over 25 years before retiring. He has lived in our ‘new hood’ for 20 years and “loves it”! This made me feel more welcomed knowing that I had a neighbour who at least regularly walked the trails.
Just to ensure that you know I ran the trails barefoot, you will notice my foot resting on the wood railing in the photo below. This took me to yet another path that I hoped would lead to the Medway Creek.
Not quite BUT it DID lead me into a fantastic sunrise along a spectacular stretch of dirt trail with dense forest on either side. This being a naturally protected area, the giant trees that fall are left as ground cover. Of course, all I could think about was “what a GREAT natural method training ground”! I’ll take that on before the snow flies!
As I exited the area, the next section of trail FINALLY led me to a rocky drop-off to the edge of the Medway Creek. I took a few selfies just to give you a feel for the venue and why my new ‘pool’ is SO inviting!!
The above shot is downstream – I swam down to the natural ‘damn’ and back upstream to my starting point. Believe it or not, the water was just over my head for most of the 750 metres I covered. Not bad for a first ‘go’ at unknown waters. The good news?? No calamities for the old coach!
As you can see from the selfie above, I was no worse for wear. Of course, there was NOBODY else in swimming with me and those who saw me coming out of the creek simply shook their heads. From what I found out from neighbours later, the creek is considered “severely polluted – not even DOGS swim in it!”. Oh, well, after 29 years of swimming in Lake Ontario, how bad can it be in the Medway Creek? I guess only time will tell.
After running back to our street, I realized my mini-Bexhill training hill was right beside our house.
The steeper hills are in the park system but this is a good alternative if the trails are too icy in winter. Can it get any better? Well, even though I DO miss the old ‘hood’, this isn’t too bad a replacement…thus far!
Future updates will be forthcoming. In the meantime, get barefoot as often as possible on different surfaces to keep your body activated and balanced.
coach Jeff
Louise (above) whom I trained along with her son, Patrick (who could not attend), for the Mississauga Marathon (Patrick completed it as a 15 year old!), Rebecca (below), whom I trained from ages 12 
through this winter for various races (including the Mississauga Marathon as a 15 year old!). You will notice David Harris (the bald dude directly behind Rebecca) who trained with me for 12 years and completed many marathons during those years, Alicia (whom I trained to successfully qualify and complete the Boston Marathon along with many other races), her husband, Wes, who also trained with me for many years and big Mike (below and Casey’s best friend!) who trained with me many years ago for races from 10 to 42.2 kilometres.
Laurel (far right), Karen and Karen shared memories of training with me in various running clinics and successfully completing races such as the 30 kilometre Around The Bay and the Mississauga Marathon. My long-ago clinic member and friend, Judy, is seen pictured with Carole (one of my 
T-Team members, running clients and published author). 
The group shot below shows Michelle (my barefoot running client whom I still train privately) in the background with Paul (one of my private running clients and Natural Method Training members), the host, Casey (on the far right) and a few others enjoying a perfect summer evening.
Of course, some of my favourite shots from the evening were of the ‘next generation of TOTTers’! The first 2 are
of Edison (age 31/2) who has actually run with me – his parents, Terry & Kimberly have trained with me for a number of years (and raced VERY well, I might add!) and Casey’s 5 year old son, Jack, whom I would have trained next year IF things stayed the same. Alas, it is not to be BUT I know they are 2 of the many of my clients’ off-spring who will get into running AND do very well.
opened their century-old home to a gathering of 25. Most of the group have been running with me on Saturday mornings form the Clarkson Tim Horton’s for the better part of20 years. The group itself formed in 1974 – if you can believe THAT – and one of the founders (Roger – age 80!) still runs regularly with us. He is on the far left of the photo below.
Another of the early members, 79 year old Eddie, showed off our official Southdown Striders T-shirt whilst enjoying the festivities.
The food was delicious and plentiful, the attendance of so many long-time running buddies who
became special friends (such as Wally, Helga and Kelly pictured below) was appreciated and the 
bantering back and forth amongst various members of the group was most definitely ‘over the top’! Of 
course, I was caught regaling Carole (photo above) with one of my many ‘tall tales’! Many of the gang shared stories training runs gone awry, races gone well and a future uncertain at best. Tommy
(pictured in the foreground above) is, at age 77, STILL competing in 140.6 iMs. He is another of the many LEGENDS who belong to the Southdown Striders. The presentation of funny (the ‘nail in the coffin’ running shoes that, as a barefoot runner, I would NEVER wear!) to a beautiful certificate signed by my Strider buddies) was left to Don (best known as Kaa the Scout Leader) – our resident event coordinator.
the least. Even Oakley (Joan’s and Andy’s ‘best friend”) looked serious (see him front and centre in the photo 2 above)! Once THAT was out of the way, I dug into one of my favourite past times – eating ice cream cake layered in butterscotch sauce – the dessert of champions!!!
Even though all members of my various groups could not attend for various reasons, the events left a lasting impact on me. It has made leaving my home area NOT EASY but EASIER, knowing that I can always come back for a team run or training session with dear friends.
Words cannot do justice to my feelings toward the ‘R-Man’ who is like a second brother to me. Of course, even though I run barefoot, the big man ALWAYS runs in coffins!!
I had trained the younger girl (Sabrina – on the right above) before in my T-Team circuit training programme but I had never trained either girl in proper run technique. I started by assessing their current run style and their ability to balance especially with eyes closed (proprioceptive).
You will notice from the photos above, even though the girls wear the barefoot-science inserts in their runners (which have helped with their posture and alignment), both have no idea how to control
their bodies against gravity. As a result, both came to me suffering from knee pain (Sabrina – written off as Osgood-Schlatter’s) and hip pain (Arquelle). If you notice in the photos above, both girls over-rotate in the shoulders, cross their arms over the mid-line, drop at the hips, over-stride and lock out at the knees (slamming too far in front of the hips and too hard on impact) and flail out at the feet (almost over-pronating). 
While we had a few laughs about the results (as you can see below), practicing to improve overall balance for running is no laughing matter!
During the balancing on 1 leg with eyes closed drill, both girls could only hold the position for 3 to 6 seconds out of a 15 second per leg goal. This shows a severe lack of proprioceptive balance that in turn negatively impacts safe, balanced running.The good news is all of the flaws can be corrected. 
The bad news is that they all contribute to the perfect storm of avoidable ‘itis’ injuries. After checking the girls’ body symmetry (notice Arquelle’s imbalance below with the right leg showing shorter), I 
put them through my body unlocking protocol (which includes the SkiEx Functional Chain drill to activate the Extensor Chain of muscles and the Health Bridges) for her right hip, pelvic girdle and lower-mid back, she lined up perfectly. As you will notice, Mom 
(Carole), who also trains with me, jumped in on the ‘fun’. These are critically important drills for ANYONE who wishes to be balanced and centered for safe, efficient physical activity.
I set up to train father and daughter for 2 reasons – to continue my work with Hatem and have him observe my transformation of India. I feel it is important for parents to observe me working with their children – they then more fully understand the process of creating an injury-free training protocol for their child. You should know that Hatem was an ATP touring tennis pro, a member of the Canadian Davis Cup team and a Canadian Men’s Champion from ages 16 to 24. I first trained him at age 15 in the All Canadian Tennis Academy. Thus, it is no fluke that India is also an elite athlete in many sports. He simply wants the best care for his daughter to reach her full potential.
When testing her ability to balance on 1 leg with eyes closed and to run on the spot for 60 seconds with eyes closed (testing her proprioceptive feedback), she could not hold the 1 legged balance position for more than 6 seconds on either leg (we use at least a 15 second hold as the norm)
and ended up moving 4 metres ahead of her starting point when running on the spot. She was shocked by this, thinking that she was remaining in the same spot for the full 60 seconds. This shows the dominance of her flexor chain over her extensor chain of muscles. This in turn leads to imbalance upon running impact and resultant soft tissue injury.
I explained that her lack of balance indicates a disconnect between her vestibular balance system in the brain and her proprioceptive feedback loop from the feet up the chain. This in turn affects her ability to protect the body from tendon irritation when running, jumping or any airborne action against gravity.
The unlocking process was next. India was shocked by how good she felt after I unlocked her hips, inner and outer thigh muscles, lower back and abdominal cavity using the Functional Chain Trainer, Health Bridges and manual manipulation. She was on her way to safe, efficient movement!
Upon retesting her body symmetry, she lined up perfectly – both feet level and hips also much looser! My goal was to have her learn my Squat-Scoot technique of tight, light, compact, forward running before we did the outdoor running drills. The end result, hopefully, would be a maintenance of her symmetrical body position.
The eccentric loading exercises were included next to give India a protocol that she can do at home daily on her own time to help fix her Achilles Tendonitis issues. This was combined with a series of balancing drills all done barefoot.
to help India improve her alignment, balance and muscle sequence firing. This then teaches her to keep the feet, ankles, knees, hips, back and shoulders fully in line by engaging her gluteal and leg muscles consistently. The action then transfers to her running, jumping, skating and turning actions.
We then ventured out to the hills for specific drills – my goal being a total transformation of India to safe, efficient, powerful running under control. The technical work centered around teaching India how to control her body when running up and down hill – especially important when she races cross-country. It became obvious that no coach had shown her techniques to control the effects of gravity when running period – let alone on hills.
The series of hill drills up and down that followed were specific to total body balance AND learning how to safely control hill running. Both Hatem and India caught on quickly – with India leading the charge!! She quite simply has an amazing engine capacity that translates into elite performance in many sports. After 40 minutes of intense drills (crossovers, 1-legged hopping, backwards, side-to-side, weaving and straight up and down), we headed back to the gym.
As you can see below, India was starting to fatigue (her head dropped to the right shoulder and her stride became too long (creating a braking action that was slowing her down and jamming her hips).
Once corrected, she flew uphill in perfect form (see below) – burying her dad in the process!!!
Just how difficult are the drills? Notice the intense look on India’s face below. There is simply nowhere to hide when doing the hill drill training BUT the positive results are well worth it.
Upon returning to the gym, I checked India’s body symmetry and, lo and behold, she was perfectly level. This meant that she held a balanced, symmetrical body position for the majority of our session.
In summary, as parents, you owe it to your children to ensure they know HOW to protect their bodies from gravity and avoidable soft tissue injury – that can limit their involvement in sports and, worse, turn them off from physical activity. Make sure that their coaches and trainers incorporate the things I do as highlighted above…or find ones who do so!!!
Natural Running Canada 