
To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes - mshafrir
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/barefoot/
======
Torn
I've had Five Finger Sprints for about a year now, and have been heavily
evangelising them to my friends. Running barefoot really does feel liberating,
especially going off-road through parks, fields and trails. It's like being a
kid again and definitely bought the fun back into running for me.

It took me about a month of a few runs per week (20-30 mins) to adjust -- so
not long at all. One of the mistakes I made at the start was going too far,
too fast: I tried to do my usual 1h+ runs straight away in the Vibrams and was
pushing-off from the ground, concentrating on staying on the balls of my feet.
Bad idea.

Anyway, here's some tips from someone who has been through it:

\---------------------------------

\- Relax, relax, relax.

\- Don't push off from the ground, rather, concentrate on lifting your thighs.

\- Don't aim to balance on the balls of your feet. You're not running on tip-
toes, and that's going to put insane strain on your calves. Instead, get the
general area of the top half of your foot to land first, almost flat-footed is
fine.

\- Aim to tap the ground with your feet about 2-3 times a second, as if your
feet are going in a circular motion, and passing by the ground. It's like
you're incidentally propelling yourself along with gentle touches to the
ground.

\- Keep hips relatively low, legs relaxed, leaning slightly forward. If your
calves start to hurt, then relax more.

\- You will get sore calves as your feet and leg muscles get used to the new
style of running. Stick with it, and don't overdo it.

~~~
jnorthrop
Those are great tips! As a 2+ year fan of the FiveFingers I don't think I
could have put it better myself, although I would add that you should always
maintain good posture as well (shoulders back, head up, back in neutral
alignment, hips in line with shoulders).

~~~
buckwild
Since you guys have been using these for so long, maybe you could answer this
question for me.

How thick are the soles? If I step on a nail or broken glass, will it
penetrate the sole?

~~~
jnorthrop
The soles are really thin but very tough. I've never had anything puncture
through it including broken glass, although I wouldn't want to step on a nail
sticking up! The wired article linked to a Tim Ferris (I think) blog post.
That post had a video which will help you get a better idea of what the shoe
is made from.

Edit: Here is the link
[http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-
five-...](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-
shoes/)

------
pmorici
It isn't really about the shoe, strictly speaking. It's about running form.
Good form means you land on the paw of your foot instead of the heal. If you
have good form you will have less injuries. landing on the paw of your foot is
something that is hard to do when wearing regular running shoes unless you are
going faster. All these new sock shoes are doing is making it easier to have
good running form since you naturally land on your paws at lower speeds when
you are barefoot. this translates into absorbing the force of landing in your
ankle muscles instead of slamming your heal into the ground with every stride.

~~~
gregwebs
Great point. There are also other negative aspects of shoes besides promoting
heel striking that have little to do with form. Every shoe besides the Vibram
Five Fingers I have ever seen has too small of a toe box. Arch support and
cushioning don't let you use your arch and the rest of the leg properly. [1]
The Vibram Five Fingers get this right also.

1\. Mark Bishop,* Paul Fiolkowski,† Bryan Conrad,* Denis Brunt,‡ and MaryBeth
Horodyski. Athletic Footwear, Leg Stiffness, and Running Kinematics. J Athl
Train. 2006 Oct–Dec; 41(4): 387–392.

~~~
delackner
I have a pair of shoes that have the big toe separated from the other toes
(based on traditional japanese worker shoes) and while I haven't tried running
in them, walking in them feels really joyful.

~~~
gregwebs
Very cool, I know what kind of shoe you are talking about. I have only seen
pictures, though. They may be the best pair of running shoes you own!

------
San
About two months ago, one of my shoelaces broke. I was still three miles from
home, and walking wouldn't get me back there in time. So I took off my shoes
and socks, and continued my run. It felt a bit awkward at first, but after
twenty strides or so my feet started to figure out the proper technique. After
half a mile, I was able to really start running, and boy it felt great! (I
made it home in time without any problems, except for some pretty sore calves
the next day.)

Because it was such a great, joyful experience (and I still didn't get new
laces), I've continued my barefoot runs. Yesterday morning I ran 10 miles (6
miles brick sidewalk, 4 miles sandy forest path), without any problems
whatsoever. You do have to watch out for broken glass trough, so when I go
between dusk and dawn I put on my aqua socks. But otherwise, I've found my
bare feet to be incredibly resilient and wear-proof. Also, I am running
completely pain-free for the first time in years. It does require some changes
to your stride, most importantly not landing on your heel. But not being
constrained by rigid running shoes anymore, your body is able to figure out
the rest as you go.

In a few weeks, I'll be running the half marathon in my city. The self-
conscious part of me wants to wear shoes and avoid the questions and strange
looks. (You will get those, anything from people shouting "Hey, you forgot to
put on your shoes" to others nearly walking into trees and lamp posts while
staring at your feet in amazement.) But the Dvorak-typing, trackball-using
part of me just want to do what feels best, regardless of any social standard,
and go barefoot: zero pain, maximum joy.

~~~
mannicken
Is trackball more natural than regular mouse?

~~~
arundelo
I like the trackball for three reasons:

\- I don't have to periodically pick it up and reposition it because of
running out of mousepad room. (My wrist doesn't like doing that, and my sister
-- who has had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome in both of her wrists --
says it's bad too, but I couldn't find an online citation.)

\- I can press the buttons without accidentally moving the pointer at the same
time. (This is mainly a problem with ball mice, but I've gotten unintentional
pointer movement with optical mice too.)

\- I find it easier to do things that require pixel-level accuracy with a
trackball.

I prefer the Logitech TrackMan Wheel, whose trackball is thumb-operated:

[http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/d...](http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/166&cl=US,EN)

~~~
TweedHeads
And the most important, it protects you from carpal tunnel syndrome. I started
suffering from CTS and had to switch hands at first. Then finally dropped the
mouse and got a trackball (precisely the one you point at) and never been
happier.

------
cakeface
Awesome! I'm so glad someone posted this link. I read Chris McDougall's book
Born to Run recently and it was really eye opening. As a long time runner I
felt that the key to avoiding injuries was good running shoes. The idea that
_no_ running shoes was actually the key would never have crossed my mind.

I found some of the statistics in the book to be really interesting. One guy
researching bare foot running makes some sort of offer to pay anyone that can
produce a single peer reviewed scientific study that shows that running shoes
reduce the rate of injuries or make people faster runners. There are none!
Think of all the crazy and only moderately applicable studies that have proven
even the tiniest of facts while the huge assumption that we need running shoes
has gone unproven!

~~~
pmorici
Except for the fact that most people like to run on paved surfaces where
you're going to rip up your feet and get a nail in your toe if you run bare
foot. Running bare foot basically limits you to grassy areas in parks that are
not also frequented by heroine users.

~~~
yogione
Local High-school track is ideal for barefoot running. I have been running
barefoot for the last 3 years. My knees don't hurt anymore. The ground up
rubber surface provides a bit of cushioning.

~~~
pmorici
What kind of track are you running on? If you tried that in the mid-west in
the dead of summer on a rubberized track you would probably burn your feet and
get blisters. My younger brother has tried it and experienced as much.

------
mannicken
To run better, seriously, start by losing some weight. I've ran 35-50 mile a
week for some time, also eating like a pig, and I just kept running worse and
worse and gaining weight, in the end was unable to break 6:20 i the mile and
8:30 pace was the hard pace.. I took a two month break (5-15 mi a week just
because it's hard to stop so suddenly), started counting calories and lost
some serious weight. After that, I'm flying again :).

It's just not fun to jog at 9 minute/mile pace.

As for shoes, wouldn't worry about them. Best runners I've met (sub 4:30 mile)
use Nike and Asics, and I haven't noticed correlation between shoe size and
how good a person runs. A much bigger correlation usually appears to be
between person's gut and how easy he or she runs :)

~~~
brown9-2
What pace do you find fun to run at?

~~~
yangyang
It depends on distance. 1 mile, 6:30 min/mi, half marathon 7:40 min/mi.

There's quite a good formula that Pete Riegel came up with to predict your
speed over a certain distance: T2 = T1 x (D2/D1)^1.06. There's a caculator on
this page: <http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=1681>. It's
been pretty accurate for me, YMMV.

------
mscarborough
This reminds me of an article I saw in 5280 (local Denver mag), or some such,
about an indigenous people in Mexico. Running is a big part of their culture
and they run long distances and difficult terrain in sandals.

Wikipedia Link: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara>

[edit]: Here is the 5280 article, which goes into some interesting details:
<http://www.5280.com/issues/2009/0905/feature.php?pageID=1691>

~~~
cakeface
The book referenced in OP called _Born to Run_ talks about the Tarahumara a
lot. Its a really interesting story and I'd recommend the book to anyone.

~~~
mikecuesta
I'm currently reading this book as well. I recommend it if your into running.

------
rdouble
It seems a little suspicious that these articles and books about barefoot
running were published at the same time Nike and a few other shoe companies
come out with shoes meant to emulate barefoot running. The first thing I
thought of when I read this article was "The Suit is Back!"

In any case, track and field athletes have always, and still do, wear paper-
thin shoes with spikes.

~~~
mattyb
To be fair, you'll never see middle/long-distance athletes wearing flats
outside of the later peak/taper window (and this is just to reintroduce your
body to featherweight shoes so you don't freak out when you change your shoes
morning of). And those spikes & flats are ultra light for performance reasons;
they're not made to promote proper form. The Frees are definitely nice, but
your feet will hate you after you're running 100-mile weeks in them.

~~~
xiaoma
Those guys are out there.

Anton Krupika, who has absolutely dominated ultra-running events over the past
few years nearly always wears minimalist shoes, if any at all.

In fact, he ran one of the toughest and most competitive trail races in the
world in 10 ounce racing shoes a couple of years ago... and won by over 3
hours! It was the Leadville 100, a 100 mile trail run on hilly terrain at an
elevation averaging over 10,000 feet:

[http://coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/races-
leadvi...](http://coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/races-
leadville-100-mile-trail-race-early-results/)

[http://correrxmuntanya.blogspot.com/2007/10/athlete-
spotligh...](http://correrxmuntanya.blogspot.com/2007/10/athlete-spotlight-
anton-krupika.html)

------
witten
One tip: If you're thinking of starting out and don't want to shell out for
the Vibrams, try running in water socks first. They are usually less than a
tenth of the cost.

------
metra
To whomever wants to run barefoot: good luck. Try it out for a few months and
post about how it went.

It seems like there are a lot of articles lauding barefoot running but not a
lot of barefoot runners - at least in the US. To me, switching from my Asics
to bare feet is asking for trouble after years of heel first running. The
switch would require months if not years of slow and steady adjustment, which
I don't think most people have time for.

~~~
metra
Again, go ahead and run 20 miles a week without any shoes on. Let me know how
it goes. Unless you're running in circles in a park or on a track, you'll have
problems. As much as our feet were meant to be bare, they weren't meant to hit
concrete.

~~~
igrekel
I personally avoid running on concrete sidewalks, I try to stay on the
asphalt, grass of paths as much as possible. I find I need a longer time to
recover after runs on concrete and that's when running with shoes.

I have not tried barefoot running yet (maybe at the beach for a start). But
you seem to assume that running shoes have an advantage on hard surfaces,
remember that there is no evidence to support this. I am sure it is more
demanding for the skin under the feet if you run complete barefoot tough.

------
ZachS
What works for me is running in shoes for my workout, and then doing barefoot
strides in a grassy field to strengthen my feet and ankles and improve my
form. Running barefoot everywhere would be hard, mostly because there aren't a
lot of soft trails for bare feet.

------
jeremytliles
If you're interested in doing this:

1\. Google "POSE Running". The site has lots of information and drills for
changing your form to accommodate a mid-foot strike.

2\. Consider transitioning by using racing flats instead of immediately going
to barefoot/Vibrams. Or get both and run in the flats but do all your walking
around in the Vibrams. This will allow you to gradually strengthen your feet,
ankles, and calves.

3\. Start on grass with short distances, focusing on form.

~~~
sophacles
I'd also reccomend wearing flops as much as possible for your walking around
shoes. Midfoot strike is not just a running thing, it's also a walking thing.
Flops help this. Barefoot is better, but glass is a bitch.

------
tocomment
I don't really believe this. I tried running on a treadmill barefoot for a few
days and my feet were in a lot of pain. Mainly the joints and arch area hurt.

Also I've noticed walking around the house barefoot for a day or two will make
my knees hurt.

