Interesting Science video from NPR on foot motion running barefoot and otherwise.
Tag: Barefoot running
NPR: The Bare Truth About Running
Interesting Science video from NPR on foot motion running barefoot and otherwise.
Are We Born to Run?
I was watching this today before my run.
Christopher McDougall explores the mysteries of the human desire to run. How did running help early humans survive — and what urges from our ancient ancestors spur us on today? At TEDxPennQuarter, McDougall tells the story of the marathoner with a heart of gold, the unlikely ultra-runner, and the hidden tribe in Mexico that runs to live.
Ease Your Way Into Barefoot Running
Disclaimer: I own more than one pair of Five Fingers and I enjoy them a lot. I also have a standup workstation. And the fact that the author has a reference to thinking about walking that engages my fellowship. I walk a great deal, but have never thought about it, and like running, I might learn something thinking about it.
I haven’t made the transition to barefoot running although I have started and stopped a number of times. As a long term runner I am convinced that my muscle memory prefers my regular running shoes AND that barefoot running may ease a number of injuries and wear that one sees as well as improve my balance for other foot related activities. Of course I am going to start by running a lot of short distances for a long time to get my legs used to it. I had to at the beginning of each soccer season when I shifted back into cleats. The same with flat bottomed skating shoes.
But Mark’s Daily Apple talks about How to Make the Barefoot Transition. I just learned about the Lacrosse Ball (although I use another type) last year, and it worked as a speaking/performance opener so well that I read his whole article and will get started with these tips as well:
- Buy a Lacrosse Ball
- Strengthen Your Feet
- Think About Your Walking Form
- Use Linear Progression
- Sample New Ground Cautiously
- Swallow Your Pride
Feiyue Perhaps Instead of Five Fingers
Kevin Kelly of Cool Tools suggests Shaolin-style barefoot shoes instead of Five Fingers, read why below. Better yet, ignore this repost and read Cool Tools, that is a great blog!
Feiyue
From KK
Why do I prefer Feiyue to thepreviously reviewed Vibram FiveFingers shoes? Price is half of the benefit. Another 30% of the benefit is that they don’t look like Vibrams. You can wear them around and not get stared at. There are other barefoot-style shoes, such as Terra Plana, that look good but they are still expensive as sin. The final 20% of the benefit is in durability. I generally wear a pair of Feiyue from autumn to summer and then go through another pair in the summer when I walk everywhere—on concrete in Chicago. The soles aren’t exactly thin, but they allow you to feel a lot more without getting jabbed all the time. I have walked on railroad ballast with these and it’s not the most pleasant experience but certainly better than barefoot, and nimbler than with heavy boots.
Related articles
- Terra Plana Launches EVO Barefoot Running Shoe (treehugger.com)
- Born to Run But Crippled by Shoes (wired.com)
- Merrell Shoes Make an Impression with Webtogs (prweb.com)
- Barefoot Running: Thoughts on My First Barefoot Run (runblogger.com)
- Barefoot running, revisited (trueslant.com)
- Go Barefoot for TOMS Annual Day Without Shoes April 8 (Video) (treehugger.com)