Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if that would do anything for my plantar fascitis... I made a mistake in shoe choice for a vacation one year, before I knew how much my wife absolutely insists on walking at least 10 miles a day. That was 8 years ago and I still have pretty severe pain almost every morning.
Take this with a bag of salt, but I've heard people get notable improvements in joint, feet, leg health from switching to barefoot shoes. They also tend to be extremely comfortable. I've been using them exclusively ~5 years and ran a half-marathon in them. For what it's worth, a physical therapist told me my feet are remarkably muscular. I like the UK manufacturer Freet, btw.
How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
141–150 of 206 posts
Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if that would do anything for my plantar fascitis... I made a mistake in shoe choice for a vacation one year, before I knew how much my wife absolutely insists on walking at least 10 miles a day. That was 8 years ago and I still have pretty severe pain almost every morning.
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Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The idea that your muscles have enough strength on the upstroke to contribute meaningfully to cycling is actually a bit of a misunderstanding. Absolutely not, and there are plenty of easy counterexamples. If you've ever raced track, team pursuits start from a dead standstill. You have to expend a ton of force to turn a huge gear, and the contribution of the lifting leg is crucial to getting up to speed. Of course i…
>the contribution of the lifting leg is crucial to getting up to speed This might feel true, but it isn't. Buy or borrow a dual-sensing power meter (Garmin Rally, SRM X-Power etc) and you can see for yourself - there's practically no useful power in the upstroke. Toe clips or clipless pedals can extend the power stroke, but only by a few degrees at the bottom of the stroke. https://bythlon-pedal.myshopify.com/pages/t…
Time yourself on a max-effort sprint in a high gear from a standstill. Don’t pull up on half your efforts. Pull up on half your efforts.
The effect isn’t subtle.
I’m not particularly convinced by power meters not showing much here. The biggest reason being that pulling up has the effect of allowing you to push even harder down. Without pulling on the handlebars or pulling up on the rear pedal, the maximum force you can exert on the pedal is a function limited by your weight. By pulling up on those three points, your ability to push down harder is significantly greater.
Another simple counterexample is hills. There exist hills in my city that are physically impossible to climb without clipless pedals. You can stand on the pedal all you want, but your body weight is not enough to overcome the downward pull from the slope. On clipless pedals, while pulling up, you can climb the hill.
Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mmmm, not quite. The ones you and I can buy have a single plate, and stack height of 36mm. The ban was for shoes (like the VaporFly prototype) with >40mm stack height and/or multiple plates. Not that this article clears the matter a whole lot, but there is more information (sorry, couldn't find a succinct article on the topic): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nike-vaporfly-running-sneaker-n... I've used them (as a ~3:00…
I wonder if that would do anything for my plantar fascitis... I made a mistake in shoe choice for a vacation one year, before I knew how much my wife absolutely insists on walking at least 10 miles a day. That was 8 years ago and I still have pretty severe pain almost every morning.
In my case, I needed shoes with more support around the mid-foot so the feet didn't rotate in or out too much. The flip side is that as soon as I wear the wrong kind of shoes my feet let me know within a couple of workouts.
I also wear superfeet insoles in all my casual shoes.
The brand that works for you may not be the same as mine but Hokas work well right now and Saucony ProGrid Omnis worked really well too in the past. Saucony unfortunately keeps changing the names of their shoes but I think the current "Grid" type shoes are similar.
Asics, Mizunos, Brookes, etc. were all useless to me.
So, I would say keep trying different pairs of shoes.
I'm usually a big fan of sports medicine and physical therapy, but in this case those fields were pretty clueless about deducing the cause beyond general platitudes.
Edit: To add, my symptoms were first caused by wearing the wrong kind of shoes because Saucony stopped making the ones I was used to and I tried another brand on someone's advice.
Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if that would do anything for my plantar fascitis... I made a mistake in shoe choice for a vacation one year, before I knew how much my wife absolutely insists on walking at least 10 miles a day. That was 8 years ago and I still have pretty severe pain almost every morning.
I had it for years, even had to get cortisone shots in the bottom of my feet. The only solution that worked for me was stretching. When you are standing on a step, let your heel hang down as low as possible one foot at a time. Do this for both feet and do it with straight legs and bent knees multiple times a day. It only takes about a minute and does an amazing job of curing plantar.
Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#146Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Take this with a bag of salt, but I've heard people get notable improvements in joint, feet, leg health from switching to barefoot shoes. They also tend to be extremely comfortable. I've been using them exclusively ~5 years and ran a half-marathon in them. For what it's worth, a physical therapist told me my feet are remarkably muscular. I like the UK manufacturer Freet, btw.
Consider my perspective: I switched to barefoot shoes to prevent problems I didn't have and wrecked my knee to where I had to quit running entirely for ~6-7years. I'm finally able to run now again though but I'm never trying that experiment again.
Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#148Haven’t similar devices been around for ages https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_stilts
I wonder, do these things add endurance ? Or do they maybe require the use of otherwise-little-used muscles, reducing endurance ?
Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Take this with a bag of salt, but I've heard people get notable improvements in joint, feet, leg health from switching to barefoot shoes. They also tend to be extremely comfortable. I've been using them exclusively ~5 years and ran a half-marathon in them. For what it's worth, a physical therapist told me my feet are remarkably muscular. I like the UK manufacturer Freet, btw.
Consider my perspective: I switched to barefoot shoes to prevent problems I didn't have and wrecked my knee to where I had to quit running entirely for ~6-7years. I'm finally able to run now again though but I'm never trying that experiment again.
Tendons and ligaments do not adapt at the same rate as muscles. Nor do articulation patterns.
Re: How to run 50% faster without external energy (2020)
#150Or you could ride a bicycle.