Barefoot running

'Born to Run' was an interesting read. The basic premise is that the high injury rate in running is due to the use of heavily padded running shoes. These mean that people are able to run with a heavy heel-strike, which in turn puts excessively high stress loads on the legs, ankles, knees & hips. Heavily engineered shoes were only introduced in the early 70's by Nike and people were running for centuries before then, so ironically those expensive technology-laden shoes could be causing more injuries than they're fixing. The answer? Barefoot running.

Of course it's not as easy as that. You can't just take your shoes off and run, as most feet have been softly pampered over their lives, although admittedly less so in Australia where thongs and waking barefoot are more common. I've been doing some digging around and I've had some suggestions from other runners, and the important thing is to very carefully transition into barefoot running. To the level of 'run 200m on concrete or tarmac and see if it hurts the next day. If it doesn't, increase the distance to 250m. If it does, rest until you feel OK and then run 200m. Repeat.'. That's the kind of exercise regime I can cope with.

It's a weird feeling running barefoot but it's quite gratifying. You very quickly adjust your gait so you're striking on the sole or toe area with your foot under your body, you increase your cadence to match and you become very aware of the road ahead. It's also incredibly quiet, instead of the flap flap flap of normal running shoes. My longer term plan is to continue to run trails once a week and slowly increase the distance I'm covering (in normal trail shoes), but also to try to include one or two short barefoot runs a week to improve my running style - and just because it feels good. I'll post up how I get on.

There are various shoes on the market which are 'minimalist' and which are supposed to either help in the transition to barefoot, or alternately give a slightly padded alternative. I already own a pair of Vibram 5 fingers which are very funky looking shoes - I got these as lightweight shoes to wear so I could walk around after skating

These would make it slightly more comfortable to run on rougher surfaces, but for now I'm staying barefoot as apparently you're more likely to develop a safe running style when there is nothing between you and the world below. Although I'm hoping to work up to a trail run in these later in the year. I'd leave yowie tracks.