ThinkRunning

All the technology that surrounds me and I always start writing something in trusty old Notepad!

Born to Run isn’t particularly easy to read, nor is it edge of seat, can’t put it down material yet I am still reading with interest.  I get the feeling that there is a rag-tag bunch of trail hardened lunatics out there in Mexico who do nothing but get high on life, running and maybe the odd beer or two. I feel slightly tempted to go and see what they are up to one day if for nothing else but to meet the charismatic Caballo Blanco.

I have learned a lot from the side stories about how Barefoot Ted came to be simply because he couldn’t tolerate wearing running shoes or at least his back couldn’t. The large running shoe companies have a lot to answer for too so it seems – or maybe that’s unfair because it does look like Nike shoe designs were steered in the direction of lightweight moon boots by  by Bill Bowerman. I think the consumer is as much to blame though because we just avidly buy whatever there is to be had without much thought – we should be more intelligent about our life choices methinks and not take everything we hear or read as gospel, check up a little, it is so easy to do nowadays especially.

It is interesting how things can happen that alter the whole course of where the public consciousness goes.  Bowerman concluded that running heel to toe was probably the best option for long distance runners apparently. To start with you can understand how Bowerman came up with this idea and I guess that once the Nike Machine had spent millions on marketing the idea and the shoes it spawned then that was it. More importantly though, millions of people around the world were wearing over padded shoes and landing on their heels because that was “the right thing to do “. Oh dear!  At least now though the tide seems to be turning and Nike again are spearheading this new minimalistic approach to shoe design.  Any business is driven by demand though and this means that all shoe companies will make shoes in the style the market wants. Educating the customer is the best way to change what shoes people wear which will have a direct result on injury statistics.  Running is not bad for you, running badly is bad for you and that starts with the shoe, run in shoes that stop you being able to feel the ground and you will hurt yourself.

Analysis Paralysis

Why is running so complicated?  It isn’t, it is people who complicate it that make it complicated. I have over thought, over analysed and generally sent myself slightly mad with it this last year or so.  I have learned that running is very simple. Learning how to run is the difficult part because we tend to assume, over think and over complicate. We try to find reason for and in everything and try as we might we find it difficult to accept that there are no magical or mystical properties behind running that we cannot see. What we cannot see is hidden in plain sight and obscured only by our fractured view of the world around us fashioned from years of misconception about what running actually is. When we look at photographs of people running we see knees pointing forwards, legs striding out in front and a picture of exertion on the runner’s face, all indicating that there is considerable muscular effort going into it which of course there is. The important part is which muscles do we use though? Unfortunately when we think back to how we were taught to run at school or how most helpful folk will have you believe we have a picture of a strong push off with the toe, high knee lifts etc all of which makes us use quads, hip flexors and calf muscles to push like hell in an effort to move us forward. Of course we move forward as a result of this altbeit in a very exhausting, inefficient and potentially injurious way.

I think the single most damaging factor over the last 30 years or so is shoe design and how it has damaged our proprioceptive abilities.  After a little research of my own I found this interesting article which suggests that as far back as 1988 people knew that athletes could probably run better with less cushioning in their shoes. A study seemed to confirm that as the shoes wore more and the cushioning became less effective then the runners seemed to have more control.

Quite simply I think the evidence is building that if we cannot feel the ground then we hit it harder in a subconscious effort to be able to feel it. Basically we need to be able to feel the ground beneath our feet in order to run properly and naturally. It is also very important however that we do not become trapped in our own over thinking when trying to run properly. Maybe all we have to do really is take off our shoes and run?