Found in the middle of the woods with no children for miles, was this sign instead telling me that running with bad form will make you slow? Or perhaps it was a reminder that, still recovering from injury, I should take today's run slow... No, this isn’t a 2,000 word essay on listening to your body, avoiding injury and running safe. It’s just a picture of a silly little sign that I saw today on the drive through the woods to the trailhead. Normally I’d simply consider this... (more...)
Last week, a new article over on the Runner’s World website caught my eye. Authored by William Roberts, MD, it appeared in their Ask the Sports Doc section and was entitled The Mechanics of Barefoot Running. I’m always excited to see something on the topic of barefoot running appear over there, or in their print magazine, because it means that the subject is getting mainstream exposure. There have been pro-barefoot as well as no-barefoot articles that have appeared, and there is... (more...)
Photo by Justin Bastien, snagged and cropped from scottjurek.com Scott Jurek, vegan ultramarathon athlete and seven-time consecutive winner of the Western States 100 (really, that’s just the tip of the iceberg) just alerted his Twitter followers to a great article about him in today’s New York Times. Diet and Exercise to the Extremes, by Mark Bittman, takes a quick look at what it’s like to have “training weeks of 140 miles and more, ‘easy’ runs of 40 miles and... (more...)
Roderick with *gasp* a shoe! By now, if you’ve been following the postings on this blog, you’ve realized that barefoot running is more about the biomechanics of running barefoot than it is about running completely free of all footwear. Sure, there are purists out there who swear by barefoot and barefoot only – skin to ground, and never shall the two be parted – but when it comes down to it, barefoot running is worth pursuing because of the modifications that it naturally makes to your stride,... (more...)
While traveling through Pittsburgh, PA on my way toward West Virginia, I decided to take a short detour to Fleet Feet Sports, a shoe store in Mt. Lebanon Upper Saint Clair, just south of the city proper. Nationally, this franchise chain has nothing but the best reputation. They claim to have expert staff that exhibit an attention to detail and the unique, personal needs of each customer. To help accomplish their individualized recommendations, they conduct gait analysis in-store. It’s this... (more...)
One of the most important weapons in the arsenal of any athlete, be they amateur or professional, is sleep. Regular, deep, quality sleep. In fact, sleep is one of the most important periods of the day for any person, be they athlete or not. It’s when our bodies recuperate, rebuild and repair the damage done, both physically and mentally, during our demanding waking hours. Knowing first hand the strong sleep requirements that can be demanded by the body, I was particularly blown away... (more...)
Today was the day. All the variables fell into place, and for the first time since my injury, I went for a run. Here’s a quick video update regarding the experience. You’ll have to watch the video for more details, but if you simply can’t wait to find out how it went, consider this: After today’s testing of the waters, I headed to the gym for some more cardio work. While in the locker room, one of the trainers asked me, out of the blue, “are you a runner?” After... (more...)
A common complaint about Vibram FiveFingers is that they are difficult to get on your feet. I’ll admit, I found it a bit awkward to get them on my feet the first time in store, but the learning curve is not exactly steep. If you put them on, oh, say, twice, you’ll probably be good to go, having discovered the easiest method for yourself. In the above video I show you how I put two Vibram FiveFingers KSO on my feet in under ten seconds (okay, maybe twelve, depending upon what you... (more...)
Maintaining a high-caliber and fairly consistent vegetarian diet for 16 years takes less work than one would think. Yes, you need to think about your food, but we should all be doing that, regardless of your diet-of-choice. It’s true that many people eliminate meat only to eat junk, and call themselves vegetarian. I suppose they are, but I certainly wouldn’t nominate them to be in the club… Though there’s less work involved than many people think, there still persists... (more...)
A great article appeared in the April issue of Running Times entitled Much Ado About Minimalism. The author did a great job of capturing the goal of minimalist running. A goal that I wish many of the zealots would keep in mind. “Away from the hype and the extremes, the minimalist movement is rightly correcting decades of drifting in the other direction when it comes to running shoe design. At its core, minimalism asks the runner to look for the least amount of shoe he or she can safely... (more...)
