

Barefoot Running - unignorant
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7280/full/nature08723.html

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teye
Nature is one of the top scientific journals out there -- awesome to see them
covering barefoot.

I've been wearing Vibram Five Fingers and running on the fore- and mid-foot
for about two years.

Running barefoot and landing on your heel jars your entire body (knees in
particular) and isn't sustainable for long distances. Cavemen certainly didn't
run this way, and we haven't evolved fast enough for our optimal mechanism to
be any different.

There's plenty of evidence that humans have evolved to be better long-distance
runners than any other animal. The amount of impact energy returned by our
tendons is highest, and human ultrarunners can go over 50 miles in one
sitting.

For a couple weeks, my calves screamed and my feet were sore as they
strengthened. Then after a month I started to get used to running on the balls
of my feet. After two months, I felt totally comfortable with the new style.

Also, my trouble with Illiotibial Band Syndrome disappeared within two weeks
of starting to run barefoot.

~~~
gomer
I really want to start running in this barefoot style but I am having trouble
knowing if I am using a proper technique. I know it is mostly about landing on
your ball or just below it but that is about the extent of my understanding.
Could you provide any resources?

~~~
lincolnq
to grannyg00se (author of dead sibling of this comment): you appear to have
been put on some sort of HN shit-list where your posts are being autokilled.
You should email pg and ask him to remove the ban.

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spatulon
A couple of recent HN threads about barefoot running:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1082153>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1056665>

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kebaman
Since high school cross country in the 1970's, we were told the proper
distance running form is rolling heal-to-toe, while for the short distance
sprinters the form is to land on toes or the balls of the feet. This could be
one of those shockers where something I've learned turns out to be false.

Still, I'm still finding it hard to imagine running, say, ten miles by landing
on the front part of the foot and not the heal first. Maybe we humans aren't
naturally evolved to run ten mile distances. I give it a try, but I suspect
I'll be a heal-to-toe distance runner.

~~~
unignorant
There is a great deal of evidence that humans not only can run long distances,
but have evolved to do so. The idea is that before primitive weapons (bow and
arrow or whatnot), this is how we caught food -- by simply running it down.

From other sources:

"Biomechanical research reveals a surprising key to the survival of our
species: Humans are built to outrun nearly every other animal on the planet
over long distances."

<http://discovermagazine.com/2006/may/tramps-like-us>

~~~
karzeem
Here's David Attenborough narrating a modern-day persistence hunt. It's
fascinating stuff.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUpo_mA5RP8>

~~~
ekanes
Wow. That was amazing, thanks for the link.

Note that you can see (supposedly) how his feet land as he runs at 3:11

~~~
volare
Yes, but it's also interesting that he's chosen to wear modern shoes.

~~~
ekanes
Agreed. My guess is the shoes broaden his foot and make it easier to run on
sandy and unstable surfaces.

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tynman
How I Became a Barefoot Runner
[http://suburbiarebooted.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-i-became-
ba...](http://suburbiarebooted.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-i-became-barefoot-
runner.html)

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baltoo
I feel that there seems to be a, albeit perhaps weak, correlation between
hackers/geeks and some kinds of physical activity. Mostly I'm thinking of
running and mountain climbing.

While of course I'm biased and base my observations upon the plural of
anecdote, I still find this observation to hold true.

I could of course hazard some kind of guess to why, but more interestingly, I
think, would be if there was any kind of non-anecdotal data covering this.

Has anyone heard/read about any evidence for or against this?

~~~
mbrubeck
No less anecdotal, but the classic "Real Programmers Don't Eat Quiche"
includes:

 _"Real Programmers don't play tennis, or any other sport which requires a
change of clothes. Mountain Climbing is acceptable. Real Programmers wear
climbing boots to work in case a mountain should suddenly spring up in the
middle of the machine room."_

<http://www.lib.ru/ANEKDOTY/quiche.txt>

~~~
dpapathanasiou
Not funny if intended as a joke, and ridiculous otherwise. More dumb
stereotyping.

~~~
lmkg
It's a riff on Real Men Don't Eat Quiche, and if it's in the same spirit, it's
self-satirizing.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Men_Dont_Eat_Quiche>

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TrevorJ
I can best describe running barefoot as feeling very very fleet on your feet.
running on the balls of your feet feels fast, very very fast.

edit: grammar.

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thras
It's not just the forefoot striking (also, Vibram != barefoot, call them
minimal, if anything). When you run barefoot, you don't do anything stupid
with your feet, like subjecting them to lots of impact, because it hurts!

