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.
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."
I really recommend that you check out the book Born to Run [1] which examines barefoot running and how we've evolved. It's been a while since I read it, but I believe it even includes a chapter about persistence hunting [2].
Strange. I can't image running heel-to-tow on any distance. While I usually walk heel-to-tow -- running this way just feels painful. By landing on the front part my muscles act like a spring upon impact. I find mid-foot strikes barely acceptable.
Edit: Re-read the article. I guess I just ran in cheap "minimal footwear" all my life. Now is this a good or a bad thing?
Of all the primates, only humans have giant Achilles tendons and glutes, both of which are distance running adaptations. Ditto for our highly efficient sweat-cooling system.
You can get used to landing on your toes. It took me quite a while to get used to, but I managed to run a half-marathon six months after I started doing it.
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.
Not only is heel planting unsustainable for long distances, it is also extremely uncomfortable when running any distance. If you're planting poorly in forgiving, modern running shoes, you can get away with it. Switch to Five Fingers however, and you're immediately aware of a bad foot strike position. For me, this kind of feedback was exactly what I needed to improve my stride.
For the mountain bikers out there - think of a full suspension bike versus a hardtail. The full suspension is undeniably a smoother ride, but it's universally agreed that a hardtail forces you improve your technical riding, since you don't have all that squish to eat up your mistakes.
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?
The way to get to the proper technique is to continually reduce stress and energy waste.
For example, you start off landing heel first, and realize that when you do that, you can't effectively soften the landing and your heel hurts. So you land on the ball of your big toe. This allows the entire foot-ankle system to act as the initial shock absorber.
After that you realize the ball of your big toe might start hurting, so you adjust your foot so that you land with even pressure across the balls of all toes.
Then you learn to land with knees a little more bent.
Then you learn to reduce unnecessary vertical energy transfer.
Then you learn to balance your upper body in the proper position ...and so on until you can't figure out a way to reduce stress or energy waste any further.
If you've optimized for stress reduction and energy, you'll have nailed the perfect form for your given joint and muscle structure.
I broke my right ankle pretty badly (not from running) many years ago, and for that reason the positioning of my right foot when I land is slightly different than for my left foot. This is because the joint structure is different between both ankles.
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.
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?
I saw a study a few years ago across athletes in school, correlating cross-country running with a higher average GPA. In fact, cross-country was the only sport with a GPA higher than the student body as a whole. I realize this isn't exactly the same as "geeks," and I apologize for the lack of specifics, but yes, there is evidence for some sort of link.
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."
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!
I've run with Vibram originals on asphalt and also run sock-footed on a treadmill almost daily. At some point everything clicked, and I felt like all of my lower body joints were built to run this way. There was a fluidity, and an optimization of movement that seemed to kick in. Upper body movement is reduced, posture is improved, and overall strain is reduced.
And yes, the first few times my calves felt like they were going to explode. Very sore and stiff. I would wake up and nearly fall to the ground when I tried to walk. After a few weeks this problem went away.
31 comments
[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 75.2 ms ] threadStill, 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.
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
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUpo_mA5RP8
Note that you can see (supposedly) how his feet land as he runs at 3:11
1. http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greatest...
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting
Edit: Re-read the article. I guess I just ran in cheap "minimal footwear" all my life. Now is this a good or a bad thing?
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1082153
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1056665
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.
For the mountain bikers out there - think of a full suspension bike versus a hardtail. The full suspension is undeniably a smoother ride, but it's universally agreed that a hardtail forces you improve your technical riding, since you don't have all that squish to eat up your mistakes.
I think that's fascinating though. Until just recently I never even touched on how weak my calves must be. Now I'm hoping to learn the depths of it.
For example, you start off landing heel first, and realize that when you do that, you can't effectively soften the landing and your heel hurts. So you land on the ball of your big toe. This allows the entire foot-ankle system to act as the initial shock absorber.
After that you realize the ball of your big toe might start hurting, so you adjust your foot so that you land with even pressure across the balls of all toes.
Then you learn to land with knees a little more bent.
Then you learn to reduce unnecessary vertical energy transfer.
Then you learn to balance your upper body in the proper position ...and so on until you can't figure out a way to reduce stress or energy waste any further.
If you've optimized for stress reduction and energy, you'll have nailed the perfect form for your given joint and muscle structure.
I broke my right ankle pretty badly (not from running) many years ago, and for that reason the positioning of my right foot when I land is slightly different than for my left foot. This is because the joint structure is different between both ankles.
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?
"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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Men_Dont_Eat_Quiche
http://scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=355 http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/20/science/20CLIM.html?pagewa...
And yes, the first few times my calves felt like they were going to explode. Very sore and stiff. I would wake up and nearly fall to the ground when I tried to walk. After a few weeks this problem went away.
edit: grammar.