This just in.....Pole Running? Old News? or New?

I am not sure where October has disappeared to? Tons of great things have happened over the last couple weeks. It has been 5 full weeks (except 1 afternoon of mountain biking) since I have done anything that involves pedaling. Yesterday was the first day since Austria that I had some thoughts about the bike. I am still not planning on doing anything about that thought for at least another month to month and a half. As much as I like riding bikes, I like other stuff too. I have been doing a good amount of running, 90-120km per week, part road and part trail. I try to keep the longer stuff off piste and with poles. People usually look at you with a weird intriging look on their face as you zip by them, easly manouvering the most technical (and sometimes wet) sections on the bruce trail with ease and stability. Pole running is a amazing cross/fall/winter training workout for a couple reasons.

1) It lowers the impact forces that are put on your body by a enormouse amount, meaning you can run longer miles with less fatigue and stress on your body.
2) Stability, poles give you double the number of contact points with you and the surface you are running on, lessening the chance of a slip or fall. (I will second that, poles have saved my ass a couple of times).
3) It fires more muscle groups than traditional running, raising your heart rate easier to your target hr zone. (burns more kcals).
4) It is faster. Simply put, pole running is quicker than regular running/jogging. (Who doesn't want to go faster?).

You don't need to go drop $200 on the most expensive poles that you can buy (although if you have cash to burn, than a nice set of carbon poles that are stupid light would be worth the investment). A simple set of downhill ski poles will work for most people. They are usually crazy cheap if not free from the lost and found at your local ski hill.