"You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough." - William Blake
Monday, August 3, 2009
Barefoot running
I would say the jury's still out on it - but I am definitely going to have some time with the Vibram "toe shoes" in August, even if people might look at me like a lunatic if I wear 'em on a treadmill at the gym!
I'm not sold at all. I agree with one quote "But I believe it is a huge advantage to be born into a society that only runs barefoot, in which its people run a huge number of miles before adolescence."
But that it is also highly individualistic, in my experience (n=1) my orthotics have helped with injury prevention - presumably I went from less structure to more structure. I don't see how going the opposite direction would help.
When I was a teenager, I was OBSESSED with barefoot walking - I was very regularly walking around in my bare feet, I think it is related to my very strong dislike for socks! And in middle school when I was still playing on sports teams I would almost always do my warmup mile or so run (i.e. before the evil lacrosse practice which I hated) with bare feet - it was mostly a function of not having at all the proper shoes, but I liked the feel of it very much. Ankles perhaps do better with a bit more support, though - and I would think that short-distance barefoot runs are more plausible than really long ones. My feet get DISGUSTINGLY hot in socks and running shoes on a long treadmill run, though, so I really am going to see if the Vibram shoes might suit me for that - seems like you get a lot more air passing through!
3 comments:
Good luck with those. I bought some Nike Free shoes to try out after my next tri is behind me.
Baby steps!
I'm not sold at all. I agree with one quote "But I believe it is a huge advantage to be born into a society that only runs barefoot, in which its people run a huge number of miles before adolescence."
But that it is also highly individualistic, in my experience (n=1) my orthotics have helped with injury prevention - presumably I went from less structure to more structure. I don't see how going the opposite direction would help.
When I was a teenager, I was OBSESSED with barefoot walking - I was very regularly walking around in my bare feet, I think it is related to my very strong dislike for socks! And in middle school when I was still playing on sports teams I would almost always do my warmup mile or so run (i.e. before the evil lacrosse practice which I hated) with bare feet - it was mostly a function of not having at all the proper shoes, but I liked the feel of it very much. Ankles perhaps do better with a bit more support, though - and I would think that short-distance barefoot runs are more plausible than really long ones. My feet get DISGUSTINGLY hot in socks and running shoes on a long treadmill run, though, so I really am going to see if the Vibram shoes might suit me for that - seems like you get a lot more air passing through!
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