Enough to Break Contact with the Ground

Enough to Break Contact with the Ground

The above title says what amount of effort should be put into lifting your feet from the ground. The emphasis is on getting the feet off the ground quickly rather than driving the toes into the ground. That is not to say that we do not push at all, our bodies do push us along, our subconscious knows exactly how to utilise the elastic return of muscles, tendons and suchlike; it also knows how to time these movements and exactly how much tension or pressure to apply to limbs and when to do it. If we try to control our limbs, then we simply slow the process down. We need to learn to trust in our subconscious for the most part. In running (as I understand it) it only makes sense for us to attempt to control our falling forwards and the pulling of our foot from the ground. Of course these actions become second nature as we pick up the new style and it is logged into our subconscious.

Tonight I went for a run thinking about a friend who I am helping with their running style; he asked me how much to pull and how much effort should go into getting the feet off the ground. I immediately answered “enough to break contact with the ground and no more”. As speed builds while you are falling forwards then the legs start to build momentum and range of movement increases on its own, thus we need very little effort to start the feet on their journey bumwards.

The Barefooted Truth

I have seen and heard several people reason that judging by the way they wear out their shoes then running barefoot would be dangerous because, surely their feet would wear out just the same as the shoes!
The whole point about running barefoot versus shod is that we run much lighter because we can feel the ground better (with some exceptions!) thus our feet develop just enough toughness on the soles to survive the rigours of running. It has to be

said that some people’s sensation in their feet is so bad after years of wearing shoes that they cannot feel the impact and are still running with a heel strike well in front of themselves. Clearly then, people should be very careful when they start to run barefoot and they should make sure that they are running with a better, less injurious style before they persist with barefoot.
From my personal experience with barefoot running I can say that it is a very enjoyable way to run and it really helps you to develop a good running style. Sadly the pavements are full of glass and other dangerous objects so in most places it makes sense to wear some sort of protection such as Vibrams of Tera Plana EVOs, the EVOs I am enjoying wearing very much indeed and I think I may have actually found my ultimate barefoot experience shoe.
Here is another interesting article about barefoot running…