While I am no doctor and am not licensed to provide a medical opinion, I say go barefoot, strengthen your feet, and work to improve your feet and legs. Don't take the "easy way out" that may do mare harm than good down the line...
The other week the New York Times had an article about orthotics, and if and how they "work". As someone who is all about minimalist shoes and going barefoot, you could accurately guess that I'm anti-orthotics or any support for that matter. (The only exception I would make is for people who have physical disabilites, like two different leg lengths, club foot, etc.) The article talks about whether orthotics really work or not, and if so, why? Orthotists usually have different opinions from one another on what type of insert would work on a certain patient, categorizing orthotics as an art form rather than a science.
While I am no doctor and am not licensed to provide a medical opinion, I say go barefoot, strengthen your feet, and work to improve your feet and legs. Don't take the "easy way out" that may do mare harm than good down the line...
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I recently checked out an article from Outside Online magazine about one man's firsthand account of Erwan LeCorre's MovNat course. MovNat is an outdoor fitness program that teaches you how to functionally move in the real world, completely different than confined movements most people do in a gym. While Barefoot Benny Boot Camps are awesome (I spit at modesty in the face), Erwan's MovNat retreats sound extremely fun and badass. As a gift to myself I oneday want to attend a week long course, just to see how tough I really am (I'd like to think my chest hair makes me hardcore!)
I had the opportunity earlier this year to meet Erwan at a barefoot running clinic on the Brooklyn Bridge, and he definitely knows what he's talking about when it comes to primal fitness. Have an awesome new year, and I hope to see you out at a Barefoot Benny Boot Camp in 2011! Nike recently came out with photos of a prototype stick-on foot protector, probably for no other reason than to lift the spirits of the barefoot/minimalist running crowd. Are they for runners, gymnasts, or for fashion? Who knows.
These sole pads come in contact with the ground where the majority of your foot touches, saving them from dirt and street grime. The midfoot and arch will still get dirty (this is a fact based on my barefoot running experience) so these aren't totally that smart. Maybe if Nike came out with a full-foot concept design it would gain more traction (no pun intended.) I am skeptical of the practicality of this new release, but am also encouraged that Nike is taking an interest in minimalism beyond their "barefoot" (read not minimalist by any means) Nike Frees. If Nike or any other shoe company needs a tester for their minimalist products, don't hesitate to contact me. I have a marathon to train for in 2011 and will racking up the miles, mostly in my Vibram Five Fingers. Oh yea, thanks to Melanie for the heads up on the foot pads. She rocks! Last night as I sat on my computer scouring the internet for barefoot running related information (because that's how I roll on Thursday nights), I came across a recent Dave Letterman interview with actor Jake Gyllenhaal. John Durant's website, called Hunter-Gatherer, posted the video in which Gyllenhaal talks about running in minimalist shoes (I'm assuming Vibram Five Fingers) on the streets of New York. He also mentions how his brother in-law run completely barefoot, and how it's better for your body. While he didn't get into any biomechanical details nor mention Pose running, it seems as if he's onto something. Check out the short clip, and have an awesome weekend! My star client Melanie recently sent me over a general interest article written up by the New York Times about the popularity of barefoot running. The article came out just in time for this past Sunday ING New York City Marathon. Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the race this year, but I can imagine there was a solid number of either barefoot or minimalist runners in the throng. I only have to complete one more New York Road Runner's race to get guaranteed entry into next year's marathon - woo hoo!!!
The short article is worth the quick read, and even provides a link to the Barefoot Runners Society, of which I am now a member. I just finished reading an article about Alberto Salazar, a former competitive runner and now coach, who is a stickler for proper running form. If you're a running enthusiast, exercise scientist, or just curious about why you're slow (kidding, kidding) , then check out the article which discusses the scientific aspects of training and form.
The latter two thirds of the article talk a lot about running form, basically all of it referring to Pose running. Pose breaks running down into three simple parts: the running pose, the fall, and the pull. Pose --> Fall --> Pull. Even simpler, all you have to do to run is to change support from one leg to the other by pulling the support foot from the ground. Here are a couple of excerpts that I found particularly interesting: On the importance of form: "In late 2005, Salazar began overhauling the Oregon Project. He recruited A-list racers, including Kara Goucher, while the members of the original team gradually left. He also abandoned the OmegaWave system and began to shift his emphasis from technology to form. The transformation was startling." Salazar discovers Pose: "Scrutinizing Bekele’s body on the screen, Salazar noticed that he didn’t arc his back leg up slowly between strides but instead retracted it sharply, like a piston. “While all these other runners had long, trailing legs, his foot was coming right up to his butt,” Salazar recalled. “I thought, Is that just coincidence? Or could that perhaps be part of why he’s so good?” Heels striking causes a braking motion: "Freezing the frame, Salazar targeted a wedge-shaped space between Ritzenhein’s thighs. That gap reflected both Ritzenhein’s tendency to heel-strike and the sluggish recovery of his trailing leg. “It’s only in slow motion that you can see it, but that’s braking him,” Salazar said." More on braking: "Salazar believes that a runner striking even slightly in front of his body will experience a momentary hesitation while the hamstring labors to pull his torso forward over the grounded foot. “It’s like having a square wheel on your car,” Salazar said. “Each time it comes around, there’s a moment where the car will lurch.” Salazar gets the last part wrong here. Efficient runners fall forward, they don't push off: “His hips are directly under his body, which is directly above his foot. So all that force is going up through his legs and hips into his upper body, to propel him forward. There’s nothing being lost there.” Dr. Romanov, discoverer of the Pose Method, will get his due some day. Until then, coaches will just keep trying to recreate the wheel Romanov's already perfect While I was running the Staten Island Half Marathon this past Sunday at 8:30am, a historic event was taking place on another island close by. John Durant, of www.hunter-gatherer.com, organized the first annual New York City Barefoot Run on Governor's Island, a small island off the southern tip of Manhattan. It's been used as a naval base and more recently the training grounds for the FDNY, but more recently it's turning into a park for New Yorkers. It's still mostly undiscovered by tourists, making it a great haven for us city folk to get away from it all.
The event had celebrities like Chris McDougall, author of Born to Run, and Barefoot Ted, as well as Dan Lieberman, the Harvard professor who did a study on barefoot running. While I can't chime in on the run since I wasn't able to attend, please check out the writeup on BirthdayShoes.com from two firsthand participants. Next year I'll make it a point to be there, though a part of me definitely regrets not being able to attend the inaugural run. If you're interested in learning how to run barefoot or in the Pose technique, check out my Running page and sign up for a clinic! The Staten Island Half Marathon is the fifth and final half marathon in the New York Road Runner's Half Marathon Series. My goal for 2010 was to run all five halfs in all five boroughs, and today I achieved my goal, and man does it feel good! (Though I'm wicked sore at the moment!)
I wasn't expecting to do well on this race for a few different reasons. First was that I hadn't had much time to train recently. My trip to Spain got me off my schedule, though I was able to get in three runs since I returned. The next reason is that my best mate Josh (I'm Australian for the rest of this entry) had his 30th birthday party last night, on 10-10-10 (FYI: 10+10+10=30!) I had to have at least a few drinks to celebrate. Finally, I started developing a stuffy nose and a foggy head Saturday morning, which unfortunately got worse throughout the day. All in all, I only got 4.5 hours of sleep last night, though I constantly woke up due to my stuffy nose. I woke up at 6am and felt like a piece of crap. I met up with my friend Mary at the SI Ferry and kept repeating how much I wanted to go home and crawl back into bed. But I had a goal to run all five half marathons, and I'd just have to suck it up and build some character. The air was very cool in Staten Island when we arrived at 8am, reaching only in the low 50's. I used the wonderful port-a-potties and then got into my corral with two minutes to go before the race. Phew! The first few miles went by fairly fast, and thankfully my nasal passages opened up and I was able to breathe, though I frequently had to make use of the pocketful of tissues I carried. The course was mostly flat, though there were of plenty of hills that kept things interesting and challenging. The first few miles abutted the water, making for pretty views. I don't think I ever really woke up during the race, but I do remember feeling pretty good until about mile six when I hit a mini wall. I noticed a lot of people passing me, but all I wanted to do was finish under two hours, so I didn't care. Run your own race Benny, run your own race. Things got a bit easier after mile eight, and I remember watching the slower runners go past me on the other side of the road after the turnaround. That kept my mind occupied and my body on cruise control. Around mile 10 I realized I could set a new PR if I hustled, so I stepped it up a tiny bit and planned for a burst for the last mile. I probably ran a seven minute mile on number 12, and before I knew it the race was over. My final time was 1:40:20 for a 7:40 minute mile pace, which was only 35 seconds slower than my PR at the Bronx Half Marathon in August. Not bad for feeling like crap and not getting much sleep! My feet felt pretty sensitive due to the rough Staten Island pavement, and I guessed I had at least one blister on my right foot (yup, it was a fairly big blood blister...ewe.) The race really wasn't all that bad, but I felt very tired afterward, and was grateful I didn't have to wait to catch the ferry back to Manhattan. I didn't see any other VFF-clad runners on the course, though I did see at least three while on the ferry. It feels great to have done five half marathons this year, and I'm really happy I made it a priority to complete them all. I'm also impressed that I sustained zero injuries this whole year (knock on wood), even though I've run more miles this year than any other my whole life. I truly enjoy running, and I couldn't have done it without Pose running and my Vibram Five Fingers. So this Sunday at 8:30am I'll be running my fifth and final half marathon of the year, thus accomplishing my 2010 goal of running all five NYRR 5-Borough Half Marathons. A few years ago I couldn't even run two miles without knee pain, but today I run pain free and HAPPY due to Pose running and my Vibram Five Fingers.
Today's Quick Workout Of the Day is just a run outside. You'll be doing a fartlek (tee hee), which is a combination of anaerobic and aerobic exercise. Basically you'll be running at your normal pace, then picking up the pace to a sprint for a short time, then back down to normal pace. It will give you a better workout than just running at one average pace, and it will actually make you a faster runner overall. Bring a stopwatch and give it a go - let me know how it worked out for you! QWOD for Saturday or Sunday, October 9th or 10th
I was in Spain this past week touring Barcelona, Sevilla, and Madrid for one of my last vacations before our daughter arrives in February. It was an amazing trip, and I got to eat new types of food, see some amazing architecture, and discover a new brand of minimalist shoes. Whaaaa?
Yes folks, there are a handful of alternatives to Vibram Five Fingers out on the market, with new brands popping up every week. New Balance and Merrell are just two of the major shoe companies coming out with minimalist shoes in the new few months. The pair that I found, similar to the Brazilian Jinga shoes, was the Brazilian-made Maz sneaker. When I saw them in the store in Barcelona, I got all excited because there was a pair on display rolled up in a ball, just like a sock. Sweet! After finding my size, I bought a pair of the green ones for 39 Euro, and went for my first outing in them later that evening. They fit great, and felt like a pair of slippers while walking around. The toe box is regular size, which means my pinky toe was a tad bit smushed into the other toes, but that's expected from all shoe brands (save for Vivo Barefoot shoes.) The flat, thin sole allowed me to feel the ground even better than with VFF's, so I was able to get a real "feel" for Spain (punny, but true!) Because they are light and not as robust as most shoes, they probably should not be used for running or anything too strenuous. I basically wore my new pair nonstop for the whole trip, and the front toe of my right shoe is starting to separate from the sole. Am I disappointed? A little bit. Am I surprised? No. I'd love to figure out a way to make them a little more robust so I could use them for all sorts of different activities, but for now I'll stick to just roaming the streets of Spain and NYC in them. My wife really wanted a pair, but they didn't have the right size/color combo in the Barcelona store. When we went to Sevilla, we tracked down the Maz store there, but unfortunately they didn't have the right size either. Then on our last full day in Spain, this time in Madrid, we went to the location of Calle Fuencarall (awesome street for clothes shopping, by the way) and she found an awesome pair of Maz's that she really liked. That night we roamed Madrid's streets in matching shoes (awww, how cute). She also really likes her new kicks, we both highly recommend Maz sneakers for the minimalist enthusiast. |
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