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Barefoot Running
Posted by:
Don
When:
3/26/2010 11:00:23 AM
Views:
183
Here is my take. I have read "Born to Run" and it happened to be last year after the Garden 10 mile that I injured my left hip at as I could not run at all due to the injury and had plenty of time. Prior to that injury I wore NB1063's or similar shoes. Saucony, Ascics, LaSportiva Wildcats etc. After that injury I could not even walk in my 1063's. Now I am somewhat recovered from that injury, I can use the 1064's, but still get more of a pain in the hip with them than any other. After reading Born to Run, I decided to start trying lighter, less cushioned shoes. NB790's, Ascics Hyperspeed 2's, and now NB100's. When I got to a point that I could run at least at a slow short pace I would use these lighter shoes. They felt better, and I eventually got to my current point of being "recovered". (knock on wood) Other than my screw shoes which are NB 875's, most of my running is now with these lighter shoes. I think my hip likes my foot hitting the way it was meant versus the way the shoe company would like it to hit with the more cushioned shoes. With these lighter shoes I have of course adopted the mid-foot strike. I pretty much had it before, but would over-stride and heel-strike like when I injured myself at the Garden. The last couple miles of that race I picked it up pretty good and was hitting paces of under 6 min/mile. (while overstriding and heel striking: the reason for my injury) I can still get to paces close to those, but now I make sure I never heel strike. It is easier for me to keep from heel striking in the lighter weight shoes as they let me know if I even come close to a heel strike. With the heavier shoes, I find myself getting closer to a heel strike especially in a shorter faster race. Matt has an example somewhere that talks about minimizing the time your foot is on the ground. He mentions standing on a treadmill and putting your foot down normally, and then doing it with a quick return. He also says he likes lighter road flats as they cause him to pay better attention to where his foot lands. (I think he would do that regardless) I now do that, along with a quicker turnover, and have found I barely ever roll my ankle any more, and seem to be faster. Before with the more cushioned shoes, I would land on a small rock, and not really even feeling it underfoot, would roll an ankle. What all this boils down to is in my instance I love the lighter shoes. I get more miles out of them than the more expensive/ cushioned shoes. Did they help in my recovery? Not sure, but I say they helped so I am sticking with them. Would I ever try to be like Barefoot Bob? (or whatever his name was) Nope!
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Barefoot Running
By Rick - 3/24/2010 1:43:12 PM - 187 views
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