Save Your Sole: Run Barefoot -- Part Four

Barefoot or not, this is important.

Run with your whole body.

Since you run with your whole body, strengthen your whole body.

I'll skip the legs, because it is obvious that running is a leg exercise. I'll work my way up from there.

Hips

You've got to have strong hip abductors and adductors. These are the muscles that move your legs away from the midline and towards the midline of the body. While running, as these muscles fatigue, they lose their ability to stabilize the legs. As a result, side to side movement can occur. When the goal is to propel oneself forward, side to side movement is undesirable (obviously).

Core

Weak core muscles can be a real pain in the back. Strong core muscles hold the spine in a neutral position while running, if the spine comes out of position, the jarring motion of running can cause pain and injury to the back.

Upper back

Strong upper back muscles help maintain good running form which is necessary for running economy, speed, and endurance.

Arms

Arms drive the running movement, if you doubt this, glue your hands to your side and run. Strengthen your arms so they don't wear out early.

Neck

A weak neck causes lots of head bobbing, pain and injury follow, as well as loss of running economy.



Running strengthens and builds endurance more in the prime movers of the running motion. As a result, many runners have imbalances between those muscles and all the other muscles that have supportive roles in running. It is important that we take the time to strengthen the rest of the body as well.

Part Three
Part Two
Part One

Save Your Sole: Run Barefoot -- Part Three

I have heard people use these phrases when talking about good qualities of running shoes. "It really locks your foot in place." "It keeps the toes from moving around." "Has a nice firm arch. . ."

If you like those qualities, enjoy your shoes, and feel free to disagree with everything I've written in this series. To each his own.

If, on the other hand, if you want to strengthen the whole body including the foot, and you choose to do some of your runs barefoot, be prepared for your arches and your toes to get a workout they don't get in those kinds of shoes.

The human foot is awesome.

Why do we spend so much time eliminating so much of its function?

It flexes, springs, absorbs shock, returns energy to our next stride. It is an engineering marvel. If it has been allowed to atrophy, (like any other muscle) it will need some strengthening to handle the load of running.

So let's pump those piggies.

Use your toes to pick up small things. Pick up pencil erasers and put them in a can/bowl/box. Pick up a hand towel and pass it to the other foot. Clean up your kids Legos or Lincoln Logs with your feet.

Scrunch a towel. Put your feet on the towel and use your toes to pull the other end of the towel towards you. You can add weight by setting something on the end of the towel.

Barefoot strength training. Do your bodyweight squats, one legged squats, and whatever leg exercises you like barefoot.

Tap your big toe as many times as you can in 30 seconds without moving your pinky toe. Then tap your pinky toe without moving the big one.

By strengthening the intrinsic muscles of the foot, you will be helping the foot handle the stresses that running shoes insulate them from. If you want to run barefoot, or nearly barefoot this is a must.

See part one of this series here.
See part two of this series here. 

Save Your Sole: Run Barefoot -- Part Two

If you missed part one. It is here.

Now that you've strengthened and lengthened, it is time to run barefoot. So. . .

Take off your shoes and run.

As I have said before, there is no such thing as a barefoot shoe.

All the tips that you will hear about barefoot running, or running in minimal shoes become much more self evident when you get out on a hard surface with bare feet.

Listen to your body: It is much easier to hear the feedback from your feet when there are no shoes to dull their sensation of the ground.

Run slower: If you go out barefoot at top speed you'll pay for it quickly, so slow down, your bare feet will tell you if you are going slow enough.

Don't go too far: If you go out in minimal shoes, you can run for quite a long way with no pain, until the next day when your calf muscles and achilles tendon scream at you. Go barefoot and your feet will tell you when to turn around, don't ignore them, stop when it is time to stop.

Shorten your stride: Stretching your legs out and landing on your heels barefoot will hurt, listen to your body's feedback and shorten your stride accordingly.

Don't heel strike: Stretching your legs out and landing on your heels barefoot will hurt, listen to your body's feedback and shorten your stride accordingly.

Run softly and smoothly: Again listen to your feet, literally this time. Try to avoid a thumping sound or a slapping sound, run quietly, run like a ninja.

Did I mention to listen to your feet?

Again, Study Quantifies the Obvious.

Runner's World also put this one out there, it really relates to the other one.
http://www.runnersworld.com/running-shoes/how-type-shoe-changes-young-runners-form

New Study Quantifies Common Sense

Well of course, I already knew this from personal experience, but now there is a study that puts it out there as being more than just my personal experience.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19424280.2012.742141?journalCode=tfws20

Basically it says that the harder the surface, the more likely there will be a forefoot strike.

Credit to Runnersworld.com for finding the article for us.

My Top 5 Cues for Running Form

These are my five favorite personal running form cues. When I say personal I mean they work for me, and have worked for the few people I've shared them with. Maybe you will find them helpful as well.

5. Easy, light, smooth.
Straight out of "Born to Run". I always try to keep my footsteps easy, light, and smooth. No pounding allowed. this one is also known as "run like a ninja".


4. Unicycle wheel.
An extension of number five. When I am really in the zone, my feet feel like they are attached to the wheel (not the pedals) of a unicycle. Ground contact, moving through the stance and lift off are all one smooth cycle.

3. No Frankenstein, but no zombie either.

If I feel like Frankenstein's monster I'm doing something wrong. I don't want to shrug my shoulders upwards while I runk, I don't want to much tension in body parts that don't need tension. This cue also helps me not clench my jaw. I also don't want to get too loose and have body parts like my arms flopping around when they shouldn't be.









2. Six shooters.
I want my arms to swing as if I am shooting at the bad cowboys with my six shooters, past the hip, then in a straight line in front of me. Not across the body, that would be shooting like a stormtrooper.

And Finally. . .
What really gets me in good posture is this. When I'm near the end of a hard run, and I'm tired, and achy, and ready to be done. Out on the road or on a trail all alone in my own head, then off in the distance I see another runner. That posture my body certainly adopts at the instructions of my ego, that is good posture.

Twisty McDuckfeet Strikes Again

I've blogged about my duckfeet before. I've found a new training tool that will keep me aware of when I duck foot, and hopefully help me correct it.

I recently moved to clipless pedals on my bike. If you haven't tried clipless pedals, the important thing to know about this as related to my duck footedness is that to unclip from the pedal you simply twist your foot. This is a good thing as there are times when being able to quickly separate your foot from your pedal can keep you from crashing, when your foot has a tendency to twist one way on the downward stride and the other way on the upward swing however it becomes very easy to unclip accidentally.  Apparently for me this happens most when pedaling quickly.

As I am a silver lining kind of guy, I will use this unfortunate fact to help me stop twisting my feet so much. I think it will improve my running form as well as my biking.

She Begged, I Gave In.

She begged me.

I told her it was too cold.

She said it was just for the treadmill.

I relented.

I tied her huaraches.

She ran.

Why I Run In "Barefoot" Shoes

First, I'll say it again. I am very disappointed that the phrase "barefoot shoes" has caught on. Barefoot means roughly "not wearing shoes" so barefoot shoes would be the shoes one wears when not wearing shoes.

I guess I need to get over it.

This line of thinking got back in my head after talking to a few different runners who don't think minimal shoes are good for running. I tend to discuss this subject mostly with other people who run either barefoot or nearly barefoot, so I forget how weird it still seems to others.

I never intended to join the barefoot/minimalist running craze. In fact I didn't even know there was one when I got my first pair of VFFs. As I was checking out with my Bikilas, someone else in the store asked me, "So do you do barefoot running?" I was confused. How could my purchase of a pair of shoes lead someone to think I'd be running barefoot? He quickly followed his first question with, "What do you expect to accomplish in shoes like that?" I was still confused, I was very new to running and had not been indoctrinated into believing that I needed shoes with a medial post, or that running in traditional running shoes would cause me to go blind from too much heel striking. I just knew that when I ran in the shoes I was running in it felt bad, and running in these shoes felt good.

Looking back on it a year and half later I can say this.

With no running training whatsoever, I was a sloppy runner. The less shoe I wear, the less sloppy my running. The less sloppy my running the less I hurt. The less I hurt the more I run. That is why I wear weird looking toe shoes, moccasins, and sandals to run.

And here is the evidence.

Me running in shoes.

Me running in much less shoe.

Running In Xero Shoes Huaraches

Thanks to Kentucky's version of November weather, (sometimes below freezing, sometimes above 70F) I've been able to put some miles on my new Xero Shoes huarache running sandals. It was a rather different shoe buying experience. Like most shoes there are colors to choose from, but with the Xero Shoes you also have the option of sending them a tracing of your foot and letting them finish your sandals or getting the kit and doing it yourself. I chose to do it myself. The final decision I had to make was whether to get the 6mm contact sole or the 4mm connect sole. I chose 6mm and am glad I did. Even at 6mm these huaraches have better groundfeel than my VFF Bikilas, VFF Treksports, or my SoftStar Runamoc Dash with 5mm sole. In short, these are the most barefoot soles of any of my running shoes.

The Kit

The kit came in a flat little package, it included the soles, two strings, a hole punch tool, and a pamphlet with the basics of how to put them together. I had been all over the videos on the Xero Shoes website so I was pretty confident on putting the shoes together myself, it took me about 15 minutes to complete them.

Tying and Running

I'm putting tying and running together because I feel that they are pretty inseperable with this type of shoe. There are lots of options on how one could tie huaraches. There are several video tutorials at the Xero Shoes website, some by the makers, some by users. I reccomend trying several different methods out to see what you like best. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses and every foot is different.

Running in huaraches is different. Modern running shoes are often designed to cushion, protect, and coddle the feet. Huaraches are not. They are designed to put a piece of material between your foot and the ground to protect the foot from abrasion and pointy things. Modern running shoes will protect your foot from bad running form with padding, cushioning, and other features, huaraches will tattle on your running form like a 3 year old at preschool. This to me is the number one reason to run in them.

If you push off (toe off) too much, the string around your ankle will tighten and let you know what you are doing, if on footstrike your foot is skidding into place instead of setting down, the string between the toes will press in and tell on you. If you have an odd twist to your foot like I do (did?) The strings around the sides of the feet will tell on you.

This next sentence is why I really love my Xero Shoes.
When I wear my Xeroes, I don't make as many running form mistakes because I get instant feedback from my shoes when I do.

My Xero Shoes are becoming a coaching tool, and I believe that my running form is improving and becoming more efficient from running in them. It isn't automatic, they don't magically fix the problems with running form, they just let me know there is a problem. I have to listen. I don't care if your coach is Alberto Salazar, if you don't listen to what he is saying, you won't benefit. This is a mistake some "barefoot runners" have made. They throw on a minimal shoe, call themselves barefoot, and keep running as they always have. It is vitally important when going minimal or barefoot to listen to your body's feedback.

Customer Service

I have to mention the customer service from Xero Shoes. No other shoe that I've ever had did I get free advice about my blog from the CEO of the shoe company, and only one other shoe company has been as hands on with recommendations and advice about their shoes. Steven Sashen has made all sorts of resources available on the Xero Shoes website, on the user forums, on his blog, through emails, and even over the phone. Absolute above and beyond customer service.

In Short

Quick summary:

Xero Shoes
Even the thicker 6mm version has better ground feel than the VFF Bikila.
Has the most breathable upper of any running shoe I've ever seen. (The upper is a string so. . .)
When my form is good, and the laces are dialed in correctly, I almost forget I have shoes on.
When my form is bad, I hear about it immediately.

Even if you are not a minimal, or barefoot running person, I recommend getting a pair and doing occasional short form training sessions in them. They are a lot more affordable than a high speed camera and professional coach.

Tattle Tail!!

I've been examining my sole.

Soles actually. I've been studying the wear patterns on the soles of my shoes. I can see the evolution of my running form in the soles of my shoes.

New Balance 622.

I started off by running in the shoes I had. My running form was completely awful. I knew nothing about running and these shoes completely shielded my feet from any feedback I would get from slamming my heels into the ground. They are worn from the outside of the across to the big toe area. My toes stick out to the sides when I walk (duck feet) and when I ran in these shoes I did the same thing. Not only did I heel strike, I also zig-zagged somewhat when running.

Vibram Five Fingers Bikila:  The majority of the wear was on the outside edge of the forefoot, with some minimal wear at the heel, and another large area of the wear on the sides of the toe units.

Wait, what? On the sides of the toes? How does that happen?
after discovering this wear on the sides of the toes and the outside of the heel I started really trying to see what my feet were doing. I was landing on the forefoot, with my duckfootedness still happening, as my heel lowered, my foot would rotate into a forward pointing position causing the sideways wear on my toes and the sideways wear at the heel.

Soft Star Shoes Runamoc Dash:
Running in this shoe overlapped with running in the Bikilas and had a similar wear pattern.

My new Bikilas also feature the sideways wear at the toes, but lack the sideways wear at the heel. I think my foot is coming to the forward position more quickly than before so that by the time the heel lands the rotation is completed.

Time will tell what my new Xero shoes will tell me with their wear pattern, but they are already tattling on me quite a bit. I get feedback faster from them thanks to the construction. There are more details on that here.

What do your wear patterns tell you?

Xero Shoes First Look

My first impression after receiving my Xero Shoes huaraches are very good. I ordered the 6mm sole for two reasons, I wanted longer wear, and I am still interested in a little more sole between my sole and the road.

I've done a three mile easy run, some even easier jogs with my daughter and dog, some walking on trails, and some casual wear in these sandals. Right now, I have a VFF Bikila on one foot and a Xero on the other.

I can't help but compare "barefoot shoes" of all types with my VFFs simply because they are the first that I used so they are my frame of reference.

The upper on the Xero Shoes is definitely more breathable. Of course, the upper is a string, so that is kind of obvious. The only thing to really compare then is the sole. The VFF Bikila has a pretty flexible sole, the segmented rubber area helps a lot with that, the 6mm Xero Shoe is a single piece of rubber and has a little less flexibility than the Bikila. I'd like to see sometime how the 4mm compares. The VFF also flexes much better at the toes due of course to the individual toes.

Despite being slightly less flexible than my Bikilas the Xero Shoe actually has better ground feel. I feel more texture under my feet, and I better feel what my foot is doing when it contacts the ground. This leads me to what I feel is the single biggest reason to run in huaraches at least every once in a while.

I have recently discovered a problem with my running form. I suspected it from examining the soles of my VFF's and SoftStar Runamoc Dash shoes, but I confirmed it for sure while running in my Xero Shoes.

I have duck feet.

Not webbed toes, obviously, or I couldn't run in VFFs. What I mean is that my feet land with my toes pointed outward. I first realized I walked that way when I took a snow picture of footprints from my daughter and me walking through the snow. Her toes pointed in the direction she was going, mine pointed way out to the sides.

Looking at videos of me running before going minimal, not only did I heel strike, but my duckfootedness resulted in a zigzag pattern to my running stride. When I went minimal, a lot of this was corrected because I switched to a forefoot strike, but I have a degree of twist when I land. I start off with toes out, heels in, then my foot twists slightly to line up with my direction of travel. I saw evidence of this on the wear pattern in my shoes, but the huaraches give me immediate feedback of this with every step. I can feel the twist happening, and when it is extreme, my heel actually presses against the strings of the huarache and nearly steps off the edge of the sole. This twist is something I didn't even figure out on barefoot runs. I knew there was friction on my foot, but I couldn't pin it down.

Number one reason to run in huaraches? They are the biggest tattle tail on my running form. If I skid forward on landing, the string between my toes tells me so. If I push off too much with my toes, the string around my heel tells me so. If I twist the strings around the side tell me so.

Instant feedback with every step, and the most barefoot feeling shoe I've ever tried. Just those two factors give me all the reason I need to run in Xero shoes.

There is one more thing though. VFF Bikilas run $100 a pair and last me about 1000 miles before the inside starts to give me toe blisters. Xero Shoes run less than $30 a pair and have a 5,000 mile warranty. As I am on a budget, this matters to me. Bikilas cost me ten cents per mile. Xero Shoes,
six tenths of a penny per mile.

Minimalist Shoes = Fewer Injuries?

Run lightly in those
 foot gloves!

So according to this article from Runner's World and the studies cited therein, Minimally shod runners are reporting injuries at less than one-third the rate of those wearing more supportive/cushioned/built up shoes. There are two important things I would like to point out about the study. The injury rates were self reported, and the study took out reports from those who had recently changed their shoe type or foot strike.

The self reported part of the study can cause some problems. There are some barefoot and nearly barefoot runners who are fanatic out there and are simply less likely to admit to injuries. I don't think that there are enough to account for the huge difference in injury rates. (46.7% vs. 13.7%) It could even be possible that the number of false reports could be made up for by the number of minimalist/barefoot runners who swear that they forefoot strike when they still heel strike, so the denialists could send the numbers either way. Therein lies the problem with self reported studies. The other study in the story was a more controlled study. In this one, forefoot strikers were only half as likely to get injured as the heel strikers. 

Why would they remove those who had recently changed their running habits? Simple, changing running style or changing shoes too abruptly can lead to injuries. For a long time, my wife got injured every time she bought new shoes. To digress a little bit, I think the real reason they say to change your running shoes every 300-400 miles is not that your old beaten up shoes with 894 miles on them are no longer good for your foot, but that changing from them to some that are still fully cushioned and supportive is too much of an abrupt change. Back on topic, it makes sense that they eliminated the runners who were in transition from the numbers.

This leads me to another question.

Why?

Why are we seeing lower injury rates among minimally shod runners? Changing your shoes for a foot glove or moccasin is not a magical cure all. As a matter of fact, if you are not careful it could be bad for you. The key is in running smarter. In my casual, non-scientific observations I have found that there is a group of people who start running and don't put too much thinking into it. They learn just enough to know that they need to go to a running store and get fitted for shoes that will correct their pronation or supination and they go and get shoes and promise to change them every 300 miles and they go out and run. If they get injured, they look for a shoe that supports or controls or cushions more. Kudos to those guys for getting out there and getting on their feet and taking control of their fitness, but I sure hope they will find a fix for injuries. Minimalist runners, on the other hand, seem to be more careful about what they do. They learn about barefoot running, they read lots of articles, they study running form, they transition into their new shoes/habits and they run more carefully. The ones who don't do this in their transition get injured and then switch back to supportive shoes.

So the difference may very well be in running smarter. Can one run smart in those high heeled running shoes? I guess so, but the more heel there is in the shoe, the more likely the heel is what will hit first, and studies are showing that heel strikers are suffering more.

Run smart everybody.

Is Nearly Barefoot Running Bad?

Saying "Nearly barefoot running is bad for you," or, "Barefoot running is bad for you," or  "Running is bad for you," is like saying fire is bad. It all really depends on how you use it. My preference for running is to wear minimal shoes (unfortunately often called "barefoot shoes"). I wear shoes that give as little cushion and support as I can handle, and rarely go barefoot. When I started running (not long ago) in November of 2010, I just ran in the shoes I had. I had to deal with hip pain and knee pain, but if I did certain stretches I could alleviate those aches. When I started wearing Vibram Fivefingers I stopped having those issues. Personally when I switched shoes, my running form changed instantly. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way for everybody, or even most people. As it turns out, lots of people switch to minimal shoes, or even switch to barefoot running, then go right on slamming their heels into the ground. The only difference is that now they don't have cushioning under their heels to protect them from the impact. That is bad for you.

As a matter of fact, even with cushioned shoes, slamming your heel into the ground is bad for you.

If you run barefoot, pay attention to what your feet are doing. Find the lightest, quietest landing you can and listen to your feet. If it hurts, change what you are doing. 

The problem with being nearly barefoot is that whatever shoes you have on, no matter how minimal, they shield your feet from the ground. They dull the sensitivity of the feet. (That is what shoes were designed for after all.) Dulling the sensitivity of the feet in any way limits the feedback you get and allows you to continue making mistakes in your running form. 

So whatever shoes you are wearing, do your homework, learn about running form, practice safe footfalls, and of course, run like a ninja.

Barefoot Running Form: Run Like a Ninja

If you google "running form" or "barefoot running form" you will see that it a pretty heavily discussed topic lately. Here is my two cents.

I had my young kung fu students doing some short fast (they all define fast differently) runs and on the first run down the gym floor they sounded like a hailstorm. I cringed at the thought of bruised heels and sore knees and stopped them.

For the next run I told them we were going to do the same run, except they were to run like ninjas.

I told them I wanted them to run silently. I wanted them to not make a sound.

I told them, "When I say go. . . Run like a ninja!"

They got in their starting positions and narrowed their eyes. They got quiet, there was no more chatter.

"GO!"

Rather than the sound of thunderous hooves I heard the sound on ninja feet. Some of them really got into it and squatted low as they run.

I don't advocate a low squat for running form, but I do recommend running like a ninja.

Run quietly, almost sneakily, to run quietly you must lessen the impact of your feet. It is hard sometimes to think about the position your knees, hips, arms, feet, and upper body should be in. I discovered, however, that for some people, telling them to run quietly corrects a lot of running form issues.

So, try it for a short run (as any changes to running form should be done gradually).
Run like a ninja.

Katana optional.