While on vacation however, I was able to do some reading and ended up reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It was a fabulous book even if you haven't run a step in your life. If you are a runner then I would highly recommend reading this. It's main focus is on an indian tribe who reside in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. The Tarahumara. The Tarahumara can run hundreds of miles, through the desert, seemingly without getting tired. Add to it the fact that all they run in are these handmade sandals made with tire rubber and it really makes you wonder how they can do it!
This book came at the right time and completely re-inspired me with the running. I was doing really well until shortly after my 5K in mid-May. A few weeks after that I seemed to hit a plateau, right around 4/4.5 miles, that I just couldn't seem to break! Eventually I couldn't even make it that far anymore and I felt like complete and utter crap everytime I ran, not to mention... a failure. A failure at what exactly, I'm unsure but that's how the feeling registered. It was very frustrating and made me want to give up. I didn't and I'm proud I didn't but it wasn't a good feeling. Now I won't even get into the fact that I should have felt great being able to run that far when I started out barely able to do a mile but that's a story for a different day. I've always known I'm too hard on myself.
Anyway, when I ran before it was never easy. I have terrible knees, my left being the worst offender. People suggested I stop running and find something else instead. Seemed logical only EVERYTHING hurt my knee. Spinning, lunges, stairs, elliptical, you name it and there was a good probability that it would make it hurt too. So I stuck with the running and used a knee brace for every single run. Oh, and Advil was my BFF! It's amazing to me the looks and comments people would throw my way when they'd see the brace. Every run there was an incident and sometimes they were just so down right rude I would see red.
Now lets rewind and go back to the beginning and Born to Run. This book presents lots of evidence and studies to corroborate with their suggested technique: barefoot running. They talk from a scientific standpoint, a logistical standpoint and from their own personal experiences. When you start to read about barefoot runnng it really does make sense. Shoes are a fairly recent invention and the Tarahumara run in nothing but a thin, flat layer of rubber. The human foot was not designed with a shoe in mind. The more I read about it, the more it fascinates me. It really does make sense! Now this is a lot coming from me because I tend to stay away from the current trends since most are crazy and they all come and go with varying popularity. After reading this book, and hearing stories from others with running ailments, I decided to give it a go. Besides what did I have to lose.
In comes the "ugly" experiment part. To help accomplish this new technique I decided to cave and get a pair of these:
Hence the "ugly" addition. I personally don't think they are ugly, I think they're cool. Then again I've always had a thing for "loud" and different shoes. I do know though, that many people find them ugly and some find them so repulsive that they would not even consider wearing them. I did lots of research and ended up considering the Vibram FF and Merrell Barefoot shoes. Both of them had great reviews. Luckily the store that carried the Vibrams also had the Merrells. After trying them both on separately and then putting one on one foot and one on the other and walking around for a good 10 mins, I finally settled on the Vibrams. I thought the Merrells were super comfortable, and they look much more like a regular shoe, but they have a slightly thicker sole at the ball of the foot. Many like this because they say it helps them with attaining a mid-foot strike. I was looking for a shoe that was totally neutral and as close to barefoot as I could get which is why I got the Five Fingers.
I LOVE THEM! That says a lot too considering I hate flip flops because I don't like things between my toes. They are unbelievably comfortable and feel like a slipper. There is something very freeing about not having you foot encased in padding and rigidity. I love being able to actually feel the ground and the flexibility. I haven't worn them a whole lot since you need to transition into them to prevent injury. Basically running "barefoot" requires your foot, arch and ankle to all be much stronger. Wearing traditional tennis shoes for many years has caused these muscles to become weak so if you just start wearing the Vibrams, or any other barefoot shoe, constantly you can easily strain your muscles/arch or even cause stress fractures. It has been hard for me to do this because I want to wear them all the time! I have completely stopped wearing my regular shoes because I just don't like them anymore. My main shoe has now become my Reebok RealFlex shoes that I bought in May to replace my other running shoes which had become worn out. I guess I had already started to transition since these fall into the category of a minimalist shoe. They have been a perfect transitional shoe for me because they are much lighter, more flexible and less padded, the heel-to-toe drop is very small and the sole is not squishy like on traditional shoes. It was funny because when I tried those on for the first time I felt like I was putting on a slipper and immediately fell in love. Then with the Vibrams, that happened all over again.
Now you can google barefoot running techniques and get all the information that you'll ever need but I'll break down the basics. The theory is that the traditional tennis shoe, with it's arch support and huge sole under the heel, has caused us to start running with a heel strike. That has changed the way we naturally run because our heel no longer hurts us when it hits the ground first since there is a huge wedge of padding under it. When you look big picture this has caused us to lengthen our strides, hit the ground harder, and put more pressure on our knees. Now, when you run barefoot you land with a mid-strike because landing on your heel over and over would hurt like hell! This means that you run with a much shorter and quicker stride, knees slightly bent, and land much softer. Arguments have been made that this is how we would naturally be running if not for modern shoes and it's the way our bodies were designed to run. If you need an example, look at how toddlers run. That is how we should all be running.
Like I said earlier I won't get into it too much but it really is fascinating once you start reading about it. It really does make sense. As the days go on I am getting more and more sold on this theory. All I can say is that I have run 12 out of the past 16 days with no knee brace. This is a much higher frequency than I tend to run also, my goal before was 3 days a week. I have had the teensiest bit of soreness on a couple of runs but it hasn't hurt! I really am amazed but I'm being cautious with getting my hopes too high. I didn't start this little experiment expecting all the pain to go away, I was simply hoping it would get better so it wasn't excruciatingly painful anymore. I have been more than impressed and as the days go on it continues to rise. Now, I have been quite sore in general since trying to attain a mid-foot strike but these are all normal pains since my body isn't used to it and my legs, ankles and feet need to strengthen. For example, my calves are on fire almost every run!
I can only say what I know and what I know is that my knee does not kill me all the time and this is with no knee brace... at all! I also know these shoes are super comfortable. I'm so glad I read Born to Run and decided to give it a try. I think it may end up being a life changer!
No comments:
Post a Comment