What do you run in ?

[Ruairi Quinn]

Recently I had the chance to watch the Zdyorovye slavic running tape, and found it very helpful in answering questions about gait and breathing.

One of the interesting points made was that many overengineered running shoes are counterproductive to healthy movement and encourage heel-to-toe foot placement and thus a greater pounding of the joints, as well as cutting off feedback from the ground to your feet.

Wrestling/grappling shoes, soft-sole shoes, japanese tabi and going barefoot are some alternatives. At the moment I am running in middle-of-the-road Addidas crosstrainers. I'd like to try going barefoot but I'm running on exposed beach and there's quite a lot of rain, sleet and the odd stone involved (call me a weakling if you will :lol ) so I'd rather avoid that for now.

My question is what do you guys wear while running? Any favourites, and what is the longevity of wrestling shoes for running?

[rbibbs]

Good question Ruairi, hope we get a spectrum of ideas.

In Honolulu there was a big open grassy park to run barefoot in. Another great flow exercise for balance and full-body was walking barefoot on piles of irregularly-shaped (but mostly smooth) boulders. But we can't all live in Hawaii (auwe!).

Using wrestling shoes outdoors will shorten their lifespan... buy the less expensive ones and consider them expendable. Or try moccasins, enough to protect you from weather and rocks but give you full feedback and they definitely do not promote the heel-toe rock.

Rick

[Ruairi Quinn]

Thanks for the reply, Rick!

There are quite a few parks in Dublin, but I'd hesitate to run barefoot in any of them due to the fact that we have a problem with junkies using them after dark. The odds of stepping on a needle are probably astronomical, but even so....

I will try and track down some wrestling shoes and see how I get on.

R

[SpearHead]

Ruairi,

I second Rick's moccasin reccomendation. I wear mocs regularly for training and professionally. Wearing similar footgear does a couple of things for you. In my experience, not only does it force your body to move more naturally, it increases your awareness... albeit from the ground up.

HTH

[Cilian McHugh]

I was going to post this in the 'New Year's resolution for RMAX.tv' thread, but perhaps it is more relevant here.

I'm really drawn to the UGS, I like the concept of placing as little interference between foot and surface, and I'm sure they would be ideal for running if they were tougher (I know that's not what they are for in there current incarnation) so perhaps outdoor UGS might be something people would like to see. I don't know if it's possible to make them sturdier while retaining the glove-like characteristics, but on a side note I did read recently that a laboratory in an Irish University had synthesised a material stron wnough to create a bulletproof vest with the same physical dimensions as a man's shirt.

On a final side note (and to make this meander somewhat relevant), I think there is a thread in this forum (maybe the Performance Enhancement forum) by Doug Szolek on a similar topic where somebody recommended a Teva shoe.

Cilian

[Cilian McHugh]

I couldn't find the post I was looking for, but here's a similar one which has some cool links and dreadful puns in it.
Maybe Doug will know where his thread is when he gets back from his tour.

http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=198

[Ruairi Quinn]

Finally decided 'to hell with the cold' and did around 4 miles barefoot today.

Markedly more comfortable in the sense that I felt my feet were taking less of a 'pounding' in a structural sense, and in hindsight I think the addidas shoes I was using had a sole way too thick. Walking home from my run I put them back on, and it felt like I was really moving 'flat footed'.

I can't say that I could consciously notice 'improved feedback from the ground' when I was barefoot, but I feel I had less musclar fatigue in my lower leg than usual, because that area felt less constricted, more relaxed.

Slight discomfort in the sense that I felt my skin was getting fairly harsh treatment from the elements, but ... who cares .... I will probably do this again tomorrow and evaluate any changes more closely.

One thing that occurs is that I might want to not get out of the habit of running in something that at least resembles my daily footwear, but we'll see what happens...

[Coach Jones]

I've been having some good luck running with low top boxing shoes. Fairly cheap to buy and the ones I run in have lasted me now for about 2 months with no sign of falling apart.

Just a thought,

-Brandon Jones, CST

[JClayton]

I admit that I haven't seen the tape in question, so everything that I will say here is purely from my own experience, but my goodness, I couldn't imagine running in anything but top quality running shoes. I've been running 3-4 times per week for over 20 years, and have never had any problems with my Asics running shoes. I've done everything from 20 mile trail runs to 100's at the track without experiencing any kind of biomechanical or pounding problems.

In fact, the only times I've even sensed a problem coming on is when my shoes start to break down. I try to replace them every 200 miles, which is expensive but it has helped me stay injury free.

I believe that I understand the logic behind running barefooted, or in thin-soled shoes, but it seems to me (and I admit I am neither a podiatrist nor any other kind of expert) that in the modern age our bodies are no longer suited to running barefoot or in sandles, as perhaps they were thousands of years ago. Because high levels of foot and lower leg strength are no longer qualities selected for by our environment, my guess is that they have mostly disappeared from the gene pool, at least in the populations of most industrialized civilizations.

Furthermore, the lifespan of people in the modern age has increased dramatically. Maybe when the average lifespan was only 35 years, running in sandals or moccasins to hunt or travel was fine because most people didn't live long enough to suffer from joint problems. Nowadays, with people living to 80 and older, our joints must do much more work over the course of a lifetime.

On top of this, the height and weight of people (at least in the Western world) has increased greatly in the past hundred years or so. It seems reasonable to think that weaker joints, combined with longer lifespans, and heavier bodyweights all mean that we can't do the same things that people did hundreds or thousands of years ago.

Well, that's just how it seems to me from my armchair.

Regards,

[JasonE]

I haven't seen the running tape either, but I am very interested in seeing it at some point in the future.

Throughout most of the world, going barefoot or with minimal footwear was the norm until last century. There haven't been nearly enough generations for us to have bred away from being able to go barefooted on a regular basis.

Furthermore, our Paleo ancestors were (on average) larger and heavier than modern man. For scientific statistics on this, go to:
http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/angel-1984/angel-1984-1a.shtml

It stands to reason that we are still mechanically suited for going barefoot if we choose to.

However, our bodies are wonderfully adaptable, and will modify their function to work with their environment. Thus we learn to walk, run, and move differently depending on our footwear. This is no different from modifying the way we kick, depending on our clothing design (and in the case of kilts, our modesty).

If we spend some time going barefoot or with minimal footwear, we will adapt to the stresses our bodies experience. If we wear footwear, our bodies will adapt to that as best they can. I'm not so sure the answer is to always go with minimal footwear, as thin-soled shoes can be just as bad as thick-soled shoes, depending on how they fit and function.

There is no reason we cannot find shoes that work well for general and specific uses without suffering injury or overly-compromising our ROM. I think the key is finding the right combination for our individual needs, and spending some time working ROM without any footwear.

[Chuck Kechter]

I think this is the other running thread you were looking for:
http://circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=756&highlight=

And the running tape is excellent!

Chuck

[Dan Chomycia]

Foot wear is Specific to venue like Coach Sonnon was saying in the link. For example:

This last weekend at the Arnold Classic my activity was mainly just standing up on a minimally carpeted concrete floor, and lifting way too many Clubbells. :twisted:

I did not do alot of running or jumping. I was wearing my Nike ACG Running Shoes and at the end of the day my Dawgs Were Barkin'. Lesson learned what I should have had was a very thick soft shoe to cushion the foot for as long as possible.

If I am Fighting either on the mat or soft ground I prefer UGS (http://www.profcs.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=79892&u=http://www.rmax.tv/ugs.html). When I'm running a trail For sprints, I'll choose my Nikes All Conditions Gear. If I'm trying to increase my running sofistication with the Endurance Gait I will start very slow with minnimal footwear such as UGS. As you learn more about how your body adapts you'll find that you may be able to go faster, longer, and further when you add the appropriate footwear.
:idea:
The Endurance Gait with minimal Footwear is a tool to help you figure out your own unique running mechanics. Once this happens you will KNOW which footwear to obtain for your goals.

[Ruairi Quinn]

A few days on, still running barefoot. Comfortable in some ways, not in others. A few blisters coming up tonight, I think from a combination of cold abrasive sand / the tide coming in. For the moment I think I will go back to some kind of foot protection, but I wouldn't satisfied with my old crosstrainers at this point so I'm going to have a look around next week to see what I can find.

[Dan Chomycia]

If you are going to continue barefoot locomotion, I suggest slowing down and increasing your attention to the proccess, otherwise you will just be tearing your feet up.
:shock:

Watch the tape closely people are not running they are doing very specific things with their entire body.
This is a process that cannot be rushed.

:idea:
Give the information a chance to sink in, by going slowly. Give your feet a chance by letting them heal before you practice the Endurance Gait again.

Keep us posted we are here to help,