Swing Push-Ups and 6 K Barefoot Run

I did some park workout followed by a 6 K barefoot run. It's a recent favorite combo of mine. Today I did swing push-ups. （To see what a swing push-up is click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmAgFUi_PHY）You put one hand on the seat of one swing and the other hand on the seat of another right next to it. As you push up, you bring the two seats inward until they touch each other. You can create peak contraction of your chest muscle this way. I tried an approach called "21" favored by Arnold Schwarzenegger. In this approach you start from the bottom position, push up halfway, instead of pushing all the way up. As you do this, of course, you bring the swing seats together inward. You creep down as you let the seats go apart from each other, and repeat. You do it seven reps. The next seven reps begin from the halfway position and end with the top position. Again the movement of bringing the seats inward is involved as you do it. The last seven reps involve full range motion. You begin from the bottom and push all the way up to the top as you squeeze the seats inward. I did this two sets before a 6 K run, and did another after it.

The 6 K that followed the park workout was refreshing. I love running in the morning. My body's will power batteries are fully charged. The air is fresh. And I'm full of legs. I am trying different running forms as I go along. It was shocking that I had a cramp in my thighs when I ran the Sakura Marathon this past March. I hadn't had any muscle problem whatsoever in major running races over the last couple of years. I was confident that I was strong enough to avoid problems of that sort. But the reality is that I was miserably brought to a halt because of a cramp in such a crucial muscle as the front thigh. The problem can be attributed to a number of reasons. It could be heat. It could be dehydration. It could be inefficiency in running form. It could be a combination of all or many of these. Anyhow, I want to fix something I can immediately get my hands on, that is, my running form. I can improve it when I run without shoes. This is because barefoot run is far more uncomfortable than shoe-clad run, and therefore you inevitably choose a running form that is least painful. And that is the form I want. Only that allows me to run a full marathon distance with least pain. I will continue this short test run. And when I feel comfortable enough with my running form, I want to increase mileage.