Re: Now Nike tells you to run barefoot, or minimalist

Quoted message said:

Browsing the Aug. 2004 Scientific
American, I spotted a short article mentioning that the original
Olympic runners ran barefoot (in fact, naked).

Pervert.

Evian Shore said:

Sort of related observation. Browsing the Aug. 2004 Scientific
American, I spotted a short article mentioning that the original
Olympic runners ran barefoot (in fact, naked). The trophy the winner
received (see pictutre) was an urn with several painted images of
sprinters appearing to be running ball-heel-ball. Those athletes
probably had it all figured out.

So that, along with other reading and 3 injuries in 7 months, has
convinced me to switch from slow jogging with a heel strike to fast
running or sprinting with a midsole or ball strike. I hate trying to
run without joy.

What are you babbling about ? You can sprint and it will make you a better
sprinter. You can run distance and it will make you a better distance runner.

You can try sprinting for long distances, but it will leave you both very
exhausted and injured (assuming that you are actually able to cover a lot of
distance in sprints). You can try jogging (or even running at a moderate pace)
with a sprinters gait, but this is inefficient, and will also leave you
exhausted and injured.

If you're interested in changing your gait, you have to be strategic about it--
try to "ball-strike" for long distances without any prior strengthening of the
right muscles and tendons and you will get injured really quickly (one poster
injured himself within 30 minutes of trying it).

Instead, work on form drills like strides, to increase leg turnover, and make
your foot touch down lighter. Hopefully, your gait will automatically shift
and your footsteps will become lighter as a result.

BTW, that "Buddy Guy" poster is a dumbass.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Donovan Rebbechi said:

Instead, work on form drills like strides, to increase leg turnover, and make
your foot touch down lighter. Hopefully, your gait will automatically shift
and your footsteps will become lighter as a result.

BTW, that "Buddy Guy" poster is a dumbass.

Cheers,

Or, start running from scratch, with high turnover, naturally striking
somewhere towards the front of the foot. I used to be a heel striker
and I was an on and off 6months here 6 months there runner. I'd have a
great 5 months then shin splints would set in (the kind on the insides
of the shins). I like road an mountain biking as much as I do running,
so I just switched sports for a few years. since I started running
again, I've consiously done so with high turnover and forfoot striking,
building up from my first runs of 2 miles to now 10.5 miles. still
building miles and haven't scratched the surface of speed yet, but the
way I felt the last few times I've pushed the pace, I know that when I
do start tempo runs and some races I'll be faster than I ever was.
(goal will be a blistering sub 7 mpm half thon...this is a low hanging
fruit, because I've done a 70 minute 10 miler on less of a base. The
true test will be to qualify for Boston on my first try whenever I get
around to signing up for a thon).

gym gravity said:

Donovan Rebbechi said:

Instead, work on form drills like strides, to increase leg turnover, and make
your foot touch down lighter. Hopefully, your gait will automatically shift
and your footsteps will become lighter as a result.

BTW, that "Buddy Guy" poster is a dumbass.

Cheers,

Or, start running from scratch, with high turnover, naturally striking
somewhere towards the front of the foot.

Yes, the key is "naturally" -- if you run with a high turnover, you won't
have a heavy breaking action, even if you heel strike. As your pace increases
and the muscles strengthen, your footstrike will feel closer to the ball of
the foot. But people get themselves into all sorts of trouble when they
consciously attempt to "ball strike" (especially off a slow turnover!)

I honestly have no idea whether or not I "ball strike", and I've never really
cared -- but the distribution of the impact does not feel different if I
switch from my usual gait to running right up on my toes (like one runs when
barefoot). The skin under the middle of the ball of my foot is rock hard, and
my shoes wear fastest right under the middle of the ball.

There is not really a binary distinction between heel striking and "ball
striking" anyway -- it's a myth. No-one runs in shoes the same way that they
run barefoot. What happens is that the heel of the shoe touches down lightly
and compresses, then the ball absorbs nearly all of the shock.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

gym gravity <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Or, start running from scratch, with high turnover, naturally striking
somewhere towards the front of the foot. I used to be a heel striker
and I was an on and off 6months here 6 months there runner I'd have a
great 5 months then shin splints would set in (the kind on the insides
of the shins). (...)

I really have no idea what causes shin splints, but it
could be that your problem was no heelstriking as such,
but overextending.

BTW is your new running career longer than 6 months?:-)

BTW2 even Haile Gebreselassie - who, granted, was a rather
extreme case of a forefoot striker - had to adjust his
running style for the marathon. Which is not to say you´ve
gone from one problem into another one waiting you in the
future - but which perhaps should give you pause to ponder?)

Anders

Anders Lustig said:

gym gravity <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

I really have no idea what causes shin splints, but it
could be that your problem was no heelstriking as such,
but overextending.

Maybe. I was told I had flattish feet as a kid and wore orthodics for a
while. My father has flat feet. I was told I was pronating and I got
farther along when I started using motion control type shoes (nb 851).

Quoted message said:

BTW is your new running career longer than 6 months?:-)

yeah, just barely though, since November. In the past by now I would
have been "racing" with friends in every other run for a few months and
would be starting to break down.

Quoted message said:

BTW2 even Haile Gebreselassie - who, granted, was a rather
extreme case of a forefoot striker - had to adjust his
running style for the marathon. Which is not to say you´ve
gone from one problem into another one waiting you in the
future - but which perhaps should give you pause to ponder?)

Either way, right now I'm building more gently then I've done in the
past and using a high, smooth turnover that brings my strike up to the
mid/forfoot, and by doing so there is supposed to be less impact and
less straining. I've changed a few variables at once, and I don't care
if what I'm doing is right, just that it works.

What kind of problems should I watch out for?

gym gravity <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Either way, right now I'm building more gently then I've done in the
past and using a high, smooth turnover that brings my strike up to the
mid/forfoot, and by doing so there is supposed to be less impact and
less straining. I've changed a few variables at once, and I don't care
if what I'm doing is right, just that it works.

And the important variables are building more gently
and using a higher turnover.

Quoted message said:

What kind of problems should I watch out for?

None, really. Just watch that you don´t begin to
concentrate (too much) on forefoot striking and
do what comes naturally with a high turnover -
and once you´re well into your marathon training,
if you find yourself "returning to heelstriking"
don´t force yourself to fight it too much.

BTW problems are notoriously hard to watch out for
because it often takes longer for the first symptoms
to appear than for the injury to develop...

Anders