To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
1–10 of 63 posts
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#2Awesome! I'm so glad someone posted this link. I read Chris McDougall's book Born to Run recently and it was really eye opening. As a long time runner I felt that the key to avoiding injuries was good running shoes. The idea that no running shoes was actually the key would never have crossed my mind.
I found some of the statistics in the book to be really interesting. One guy researching bare foot running makes some sort of offer to pay anyone that can produce a single peer reviewed scientific study that shows that running shoes reduce the rate of injuries or make people faster runners. There are none! Think of all the crazy and only moderately applicable studies that have proven even the tiniest of facts while the huge assumption that we need running shoes has gone unproven!
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#3It isn't really about the shoe, strictly speaking. It's about running form. Good form means you land on the paw of your foot instead of the heal. If you have good form you will have less injuries. landing on the paw of your foot is something that is hard to do when wearing regular running shoes unless you are going faster. All these new sock shoes are doing is making it easier to have good running form since you naturally land on your paws at lower speeds when you are barefoot. this translates into absorbing the force of landing in your ankle muscles instead of slamming your heal into the ground with every stride.
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#4Awesome! I'm so glad someone posted this link. I read Chris McDougall's book Born to Run recently and it was really eye opening. As a long time runner I felt that the key to avoiding injuries was good running shoes. The idea that no running shoes was actually the key would never have crossed my mind. I found some of the statistics in the book to be really interesting. One guy researching bare foot running makes some…
Except for the fact that most people like to run on paved surfaces where you're going to rip up your feet and get a nail in your toe if you run bare foot. Running bare foot basically limits you to grassy areas in parks that are not also frequented by heroine users.
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#5Awesome! I'm so glad someone posted this link. I read Chris McDougall's book Born to Run recently and it was really eye opening. As a long time runner I felt that the key to avoiding injuries was good running shoes. The idea that no running shoes was actually the key would never have crossed my mind. I found some of the statistics in the book to be really interesting. One guy researching bare foot running makes some…
Except for the fact that most people like to run on paved surfaces where you're going to rip up your feet and get a nail in your toe if you run bare foot. Running bare foot basically limits you to grassy areas in parks that are not also frequented by heroine users.
Local High-school track is ideal for barefoot running. I have been running barefoot for the last 3 years. My knees don't hurt anymore. The ground up rubber surface provides a bit of cushioning.
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except for the fact that most people like to run on paved surfaces where you're going to rip up your feet and get a nail in your toe if you run bare foot. Running bare foot basically limits you to grassy areas in parks that are not also frequented by heroine users.
Local High-school track is ideal for barefoot running. I have been running barefoot for the last 3 years. My knees don't hurt anymore. The ground up rubber surface provides a bit of cushioning.
What kind of track are you running on? If you tried that in the mid-west in the dead of summer on a rubberized track you would probably burn your feet and get blisters. My younger brother has tried it and experienced as much.
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#7It seems a little suspicious that these articles and books about barefoot running were published at the same time Nike and a few other shoe companies come out with shoes meant to emulate barefoot running. The first thing I thought of when I read this article was "The Suit is Back!"
In any case, track and field athletes have always, and still do, wear paper-thin shoes with spikes.
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#8This reminds me of an article I saw in 5280 (local Denver mag), or some such, about an indigenous people in Mexico. Running is a big part of their culture and they run long distances and difficult terrain in sandals.
Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara
[edit]: Here is the 5280 article, which goes into some interesting details: http://www.5280.com/issues/2009/0905/feature.php?pageID=1691
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#9i wish these articles would die. i see the barefoot running guy at the big sur marathon now and then. yeah, check out his feet...this guy's wife probably tells him to put ON his socks at the beach so no one has to look at them.
these guys can't run very fast either. forget about a sub-3 hour time going caveman. what these guys do is a light trot, which is exactly what cavemen did unless their lives were threatened.
Re: To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes
#10It seems a little suspicious that these articles and books about barefoot running were published at the same time Nike and a few other shoe companies come out with shoes meant to emulate barefoot running. The first thing I thought of when I read this article was "The Suit is Back!" In any case, track and field athletes have always, and still do, wear paper-thin shoes with spikes.
To be fair, you'll never see middle/long-distance athletes wearing flats outside of the later peak/taper window (and this is just to reintroduce your body to featherweight shoes so you don't freak out when you change your shoes morning of). And those spikes & flats are ultra light for performance reasons; they're not made to promote proper form. The Frees are definitely nice, but your feet will hate you after you're running 100-mile weeks in them.