Re-learning how to run

I attended an interesting clinic on Sunday at my local running store, Sports4 on Bank Street. A handful of runners attended the clinic on the merits of minimalist running shoes and mid-foot running styles. It was led by Bruno Lafontaine, of KinO2 consulting. He's an experienced runner/triathlete with lots of qualifications, so he knows his stuff.

If you have the opportunity to attend the session, do it! There's a lot of great info on the merits of minimalist running shoes. If you've read Born to Run, then a lot of the talk will sound familiar. You know, the evolutionary evidence that we evolved into distance runners. And the fact that some of the world's most successful running communities started from humble, shoeless (or practically shoeless) beginnings. There was also a lot of interesting information on the act of running and how heel-to-toe footstrikes are counter to the forces created by your body when you run. Another interesting discussion focused on how the cushioning and motion control features of modern running shoes could be contributing to injuries by impeding the brain's communication with the nervous system and muscle groups.

The clinic doesn't try to make you throw away your shoes and frolic in the snow barefoot. But it does have a lot of logical arguments to support transitioning to minimalist running shoes, trainers or racing flats. It's certainly not something you can do overnight. Bruno recommended gradually increasing your training in the shoes over time... 5 minutes one week, 10 the next and so on.

We also spent some time working on developing a midfoot strike. Oye. This was tough to do in my Adidas 1160s, as they're designed to faciliate a heel-to-toe footstrike. I'm sure our group looked ridiculous in front of the Supreme Court on Sunday morning galloping around in hugely exaggerated running motions. But the drills were very helpful in reminding us how running should feel and how to land on the midfoot, how many footstrikes we should have per minute etc.

When I got home, I spent a bit of time running barefoot in our hallway. And boy, I can tell you that I feel it today. There are definitely some underutilized muscles in those legs of mine. It really made me think about what I'd learned in the 2 hour clinic on Sunday morning and left me wondering if now is the time to make these changes.

Born to Run

I'm back from Hawaii! It was a wonderful vacation, full of sun, sand, and surf. Actually, I didn't go surfing, but spent plenty of time snorkeling. My foot feels much better and I am starting to test its limits by wearing heels for a bit during the day and walking for 30 minutes. I'm proud to say both were pain-free!

I must admit that the first two weeks of no running were pretty easy to swallow. The pain and extra-strength tylenols drove home the message that I was in no way, shape, or form, was I ready to run again. Now that the pain's gone, I want to run again. I head to the sports medicine clinic tomorrow for a follow-up. Hopefully I'll get some good news.

I spent a good deal of my vacation time reading. One of the books I'm currently polishing off is Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher MacDougall.

The main argument in the book is that modern running inventions and gadgets may have improved running times, but that running shoes cause more injuries than they prevent. Running shoes disconnect our brains from our bodies and that by interrupting this vital communication, runners get injured because they are unaware of their body's limits. Now he's not saying that everyone should throw their shoes out the window and prance down the street in bare feet (though that'd be pretty hilarious). But he does say that trying to follow the Tarahumara (the Hidden Tribe reference in the title) way of running and living can pay off if you can do it. He also debunks the claim that humans weren't mean to run long distances.

It's been a very interesting and informative read. The book does a great job of giving the reader an overview of the history behind ultrarunning (50K+ races) and how the sport has evolved over the past 20 years. The author chronicles his own adventures and his evolution from injured runner to ultrarunner. His journey is convincing evidence that the Tarahumaran lessons can pay dividends if you apply them correctly to your running and way of life.