Does cushioning in your shoes affect your running?

A blog I follow has a really good synopsis on the potential affects of cushioning in your running shoes. I know that for me, eliminating cushioning in my shoes drastically changed how I run for the better. I feel that I run much more efficiently and am less prone to injuries in my knees and hips because my muscles now absorb the impact instead of my shoes and joints. Check it out:

My Tree of Life (Just One Step at a time): Is cushion the devil?

I used to wear orthotics

After being prescribed orthotics almost 3 years ago due to Patellar-Femoral syndrome (knee pains), I bought various different orthotics depending on my shoes. Initially they seemed to help a little, but after time, they didn't seem to fix the underlying problem

Last summer I went to a different doctor (MN Vikings Sports doc) and he looked at my issues as more of a muscle imbalance than a need for orthotics, prescribed some PT and sent me on my way. This sent me down a road of research on why the muscle imbalance?

At the time, I was unable to run more than a 1/2 mile without severe knee pain or hike more than about 6 miles without relying heavily on my trekking poles.

Late last summer through my research, I discovered that maybe it was my shoes and how I am walking and running that is causing the issues. Here are a couple articles that I came across:

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/
http://treklightly.blogspot.com/2009/12/painful-truth-about-trainers-are.html

Last fall I started running and training in a minimalist shoe that offered no support, no structure, and no padding. I bought a pair of Vibram Fivefingers, put them on and went for a 3 mile run with no pain. Granted I was forced to run very different than I used to, but that was the whole idea. My calves were super sore and my achilles were really tight for about a month during this transition, but I could deal with that kind of pain. The minimalist shoes were allowing my feet to function the way they were designed to.

It didn't take too long for me to realize that my orthotics and structured shoes were not allowing my feet to function properly. They were like casts for my feet. In fact, wearing the orthotics and stiff shoes quickly became very uncomfortable as my feet got stronger and wanted to be able to move. I have since discarded all my orthotics, and rarely wear a shoe with a raised, padded heal.

I do hike in a pair of Inov8 295's with the insole removed, but they have no arch support and have a minimally raised heal. I wear them primarily for the traction as there are not very many options out there for a minimalist shoe with traction.

That's my food for thought. Wouldn't it be nice not to have to wear the orthotics??

Is It Better To Be Barefoot?

Is It Better To Be Barefoot?

by Christopher McDougall


Every year, countless Americans stop exercising--or don't even start--due to leg and foot pain. In response, athletic-shoe companies have poured millions of dollars into new cushioning, arch support, and shock absorbers. But despite this technological firepower, as many as six out of 10 runners are estimated to get injured every year.

If shoes are not the solution, could they possibly be the problem? Evolution might hold the answer. Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, and Dennis Bramble, a biology professor at the University of Utah, argue that for the last 2 million years, humans have engaged in long-distance running. And, for almost all of that time, humans have been running barefoot, coming down on the forefeet with toes spread and bending the ankles and knees to absorb the shock. Lieberman believes that today's sneakers--with their fat heels, squishy soles, and stiff arch supports--may be causing us instead to land hard on our bony heels with our legs straight.

4 Tips for the Novice Runner

Irene Davis, a professor of physical therapy and head of the Running Research Laboratory at the University of Delaware, is a barefoot skeptic turned convert. Like most sports-medicine practitioners, she has prescribed custom-made orthotic inserts for patients with heel pain. When one of her chronically hurt patients wanted to go for a jog with a pair of barefoot-style running shoes, she told him he was nuts. Despite the warning, he went ahead--and came back injury-free. Davis herself tried running barefoot and now is logging up to four miles a day on asphalt. Doesn't it hurt?

"No," she says. "The harder the surface, the more lightly you land and the more easily you spring back." The human body instinctively modifies itself to different kinds of terrain-- just think back to when you were a kid and how it felt to run barefoot on the grass, sand, or pavement.

How to Keep Your Feet Happy

Our legs are thickly woven with rubbery, elastic tendons that absorb shock and also use it as free energy, like a rubber ball ricocheting off pavement. "If you encase the foot in thick shoes, you not only lose ground awareness, you limit natural elasticity," says Robert Schleip of the Fascia Research Center at Germany's University of Ulm. According to a study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness in March, barefoot runners experienced significantly less impact than runners in shoes.

"We've gone too far with cushioning and arbitrary shoe designs," says Stephen Pribut, a leading sports podiatrist in Washington, D.C. Still, Pribut is not ready to tell all of his patients to go barefoot, though he agrees that no study has ever shown that barefoot runners are hurt more often than runners in shoes. In a 2009 review article for the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers searched 30 years of studies and were unable to find one demonstrating that running shoes make people less prone to injury.

11 Stars Who've Gone the Distance

Some of the major athletic-equipment companies already produce minimalist sneakers with little cushioning. "If this [barefoot running] is injury-preventive because it's natural motion, we're all for that," says Jim Weber, president and CEO of Brooks Sports, a running-shoe manufacturer. Brooks has been working on a barefoot-type shoe for four years. "But one reason we didn't rush it out is that retailers won't carry it," he adds.

Barefoot-running coach "Barefoot Ted" McDonald believes that the easiest way to introduce the practice to people is to have them try it out themselves. He has taught running classes on the Google and Microsoft campuses, and a few months ago in Palo Alto, Calif., I watched as he led 30 people of all ages and fitness levels in a jog down a city street. The trick to running barefoot, McDonald says, is remembering three points: Be light, be quick, and be upright. You want to land gently and then instantly lift that foot back up so it feels like you're in the air more than you're on the ground. At the same time, keep your back straight with your feet right under your hips. Gradually incorporate barefoot running into your workouts, giving your ankles time to get stronger.

It takes McDonald's students trial and error--and around 30 minutes--to get used to the sensation of running barefoot.

"It's amazing," one woman reports. "I feel like I'm floating."

Christopher McDougall is the author of the best-selling book "Born to Run."

Traveling, my ULA Ohm and Blood Mountain

A little behind on posting to this blog with the Holidays.  Here goes a quick recap of the last week...

We traveled to Atlanta, GA for Christmas this year and all went well flying with our 4-month old and 21-month old.  The question is, how does one travel ultralight with kids???  I feel we did pretty good all things considering.   Traveling down there, we had the equivalent of two carry-on's (we checked one of them) and my ULA Ohm backpack worth of clothing and other goods.  Not too bad for a family of four and a week at the in-laws!!  The challenge on the way back was we had a 50 lb suitcase full of gifts. The secret is we put one of our carry-on suitcases inside a larger suitcase (fit perfectly) on the way down there so that we would have this extra suitcase for on the way back...  Worked perfect!

In regards to my own packing, I knew I was only going to be able to get out for a dayhike, thus I only brought my essentials in addition to an emergency bivy in-case something happened.  I had all of my clothing for the week, gear for the hike, running clothes along with a pack of diapers all packed into my ULA Ohm.  Although I didn't weigh it, I'm sure it was well over the weight limit of the pack.  Surprisingly it handled very well through the airport along with juggling other suitcases, car seats for the kids, a stroller and oh yeah, the kids themselves.  This was the first time I had a chance to put the pack to good use since I purchased it earlier this fall.  So far, a thumbs up for the pack.  Admittedly, walking the backpack through the airport overloaded isn't the best gauge of fit and use for this pack, but a good start.  It also fit well in the overhead compartment the way it is supposed to (i.e. I didn't have to turn it sideways).

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, I was able to get out for a 5 mile run and a 4.25 mile run respectively in my VFF KSO's and very much enjoyed running in the much milder weather and sunshine.  The runs went very well over the rolling hills in the residential neighborhood near my in-laws.  I can't wait until spring in MN so that I can abandon the layers and boots to run more free and hit some trails.

I was fortunate to be able to escape for several hours on Saturday and made my way up to the northern part of Georgia to do some hiking and try out my ULA Ohm on some trails.  I debated back and forth about wearing my VFF KSO's or my Inov8 Roclite 295's  and ultimately decided to go with the Inov8's. This was the right decision as portions of the trail were icy and/or muddy.  The temperature was 35-40F and my feet would have gotten very wet and cold in the KSO's.

I stopped in at Mountain Crossings @ Walasi-Yi which is located at the intersection of the Appalachian Trail and Gainsville Highway.  They are one of four distributors of the ULA packs and had a large variety of other ultralight gear.  The owner mentioned that at one point he was considering buying ULA, but obviously that didn't happen.  He also mentioned that they were going to discontinue the Ohm, but I find that hard to believe since it is new pack for ULA and seems pretty popular.  I'll have to check into that a little more and see if there is any truth to that.

I talked with one of the other employees in the store for awhile and he made some recommendations for a dayhike.  I combined his recommendations with my desire to summit Blood Mountain and set out on my hike starting at the parking lot just down the road from Walasi-Yi.  Best as I can figure out, it is 2+ miles to the summit of Blood Mountain via the BH Reece Spur Trail and the Appalachian Trail with an elevation gain of about 1350 feet. I then headed north towards Neels Gap and Walasi-Yi and continued on the AT for another 4 miles or so, then turned around and came back catching the highway at Walasi-Yi back to my car.  All-in-all, I figure I hiked about 12 miles in about 5 hours.

The pack performed very well, but the true test will come when I do some backpacking this spring/summer when I will have closer to 15-20 lbs in it instead of the 10+I was carrying on this dayhike.  I was even able to comfortably do some trail running with the pack, which felt okay all things considered.  I did lose my water bottle out of the side of the pack which was my own fault as I had didn't have it pushed down far enough and was running which I'm sure jostled it out.

Overall, the pack is designed not to transfer a lot of weight to the hips, which is okay for weights under 20 lbs.  It does transfer some, but not as much as your traditional pack.  The pack fit my body type very well and the size was just right.  My back did get sweaty as expected with the padding as it is designed.  I think I will try my Z-Rest in lieu of the backpad provided by the manufacturer.  The egg-crate construction of the Z-rest should stand the pack off my back a little more and will hopefully provide a little more airflow.

Physically, I felt better on this hike than I have since I over did it 2 1/2 years ago.  Considering that I was able to run the downhills and flats the last 4 miles of the hike with no knee pain says a lot for the training that I've been able to do this fall/winter.  Prior to adopting primal running, I hadn't been able to run at all or hike downhill with pain.  Pretty amazing that I am able to now run downhill with a pack on with no pain!!!

11F and running in VFF KSO's

My morning run today: 11F and 3 miles in my VFF KSO's with the Injinji Wool Socks. Toes were pretty cold the first 1.5 miles and then warmed up and was perfectly comfortable. Could have gone further, but ran out of time...  I was running on the asphalt trail and not in the snow as that would obviously quickly freeze my feet.  My plan is go on a longer run tomorrow of which it should be warmer...  I think the key to keeping the toes warm is to dress in a way that the when you start to heat up, it then forces the heat down to your toes.  I let myself get a little warmer than normal and yet was not too warm that I got sweaty while running.  Highly breathable clothing is key!!  AND, I would highly recommend going with merino wool as much as possible because if you do get a little sweaty it is much warmer than any poly type clothing when it is wet.  I am finding out that I would rather throw on another layer of merino wool than my windshirt.  It always seems that I get much more sweaty under my windshirt and end up shedding it not too long into my run.  The windshirt also provides no insulation value.  I think the only time that I would wear the windshirt is if it is super windy and I felt my merino wool layers would not protect me in regards to the wind chill.


My 2.5 mile run earlier this week was in my Mukluks and those also felt good to run in.  They are just so heavy compared to the KSO's, and certainly a bit clunky and awkward.  I felt they gave me a good leg work-out and I could run off the trail as well in the 6-8" of snow.  But, there is something great about the feeling of running in minimalist footwear and being able to feel the ground below you.  The Mukluks are great in the sense that they offer no support and that the bottoms are totally flexible, but with all the insulation beneath your feet, they greatly reduce the feeling of the ground beneath you.


Currently my achilles tendons are pretty tender and for some reason my Feelmax Kuuva Boots put some pressure on the tendons.  So until my achilles are feeling better, I will switch back and forth between my KSO's and my Mukluks.


I'm headed to Atlanta for Christmas and am looking forward to doing some trail running down there as well as some hiking.  I'm really looking forward to running in some warmer weather and without snow.

Feelmax Kuuva Boots Initial Review

I received my Feelmax Kuuva Boots on Monday and took them out for a 4 mile run both Monday and Tuesday.  It seems very strange to talk about running and boots in the same sentence, but that is what I am doing, so here's a little background before I get into the review.


Background
I adopted a minimalist/primal running style over two months ago after reading some of the reviews of Chris McDougall's book 'Born to Run' and similarly to the author discovered that my pain with running went away as my running style completely changed.  It had been over two years since I have been able to run without an onset of excruciating knee pain after a 1/2 mile of running.  And in over course of that two years, I've paid visits to two different doctors and and received physical therapy for patellofemoral syndrome and in the end, it helped some, but certainly not solved the core issue.  I had all but pretty much given up on running until I discovered primal running.  The theory behind it is that running in a padded and/or raised heal shoe oth allows you to run with poor form and additionally inhibits you from running properly.  Up until the introduction of the padded/raised heel by Nike in 1972, running injuries were almost unheard of.  Now, as many as 70 percent of runners experience knee injuries at some point in their lives, according to Dr. Kevin Plancher, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist.  For more information on this theory, check out the article "The Painful Truth about Trainers: Are Running Shoes a Waste of Money?".  This article was written by McDougall just prior to the release of his book.


The first time I ran in my Vibram Fivefinger KSO's, I ran almost 3 miles with no pain!  Granted I've had sore calves and achilles tightness since then as well as rare minor twinges of pain around my knees as I increase my mileage.  This kind of pain I can deal with  and the calf and achilles tightness is typical with those adopting this style of running.  Currently I am up to almost 7 miles and am thoroughly enjoying running, enjoyment that I've never had before...


The best and quickest way to correct your running form is to totally bare your soles.  I did get a chance to do a little bit of barefoot running this fall before it got too cold and really enjoyed it.  The reality is that here in Minnesota, it is too cold for almost 6 months of the year to go barefoot.  In addition, the days that it was warm enough, it was getting dark too early to run barefoot.  I will bring this back into my training next spring of which I really look forward to!  


As the temps dropped this fall running in my VFF KSO's, I quickly realized that they would only take me so far and if I wanted to maintain this running style, I would have to find a different solution.  Searching high and low in forums and internet searches, the Feelmax Kuuva boots were one of very few options that I could find.  The great thing about these being boots that as the snow starts to fly (and remains, typically until early April), I can continue to run as these are water resistant and they come up midway up my calves.


Initial Review
Initial Use
I currently have worn these boots for a 4 mile run on Monday, then going to get a Christmas tree, a 4 mile run on Tuesday in 1-2" of snow, and to work on Wednesday.  For both runs, I wore my Injinji Nuwool socks in them, for getting the Christmas tree, I wore a pair of REI Merino Wool liner socks in them, and for work I wore a thicker pair of Bridgedale socks.  It was a little over 20F degrees for the first run and getting the Christmas tree.  The second run was 18F degrees (5F degree Wind Chill).  


Construction
The uppers are constructed out of Clarino (water-resistant, breathable synthetic leather) and Canvas  with a minimal amount of padding and insulation.  The soles are 2.5mm of very flexible CeraPrene.  Obviously, as a minimalist shoe, there is no arch support and no cushion in addition to the sole.  The overall construction, stitching and style are superb.  One potential flaw is that it looks like the bottom of the soles are constructed in two parts and thus they are glued to each other.  I could see this eventually coming apart, but only time will tell.


Weight
My size 46 came in at 652 grams (23 oz) for both pair which is 326 (11.5 oz) grams per boot.  This compares to 153 grams (5.4 oz) per pair for my VFF KSO's (Size 45) and 722 grams (25.5 oz) for my Inov8 Roclite 295's (Size 12).  Great considering that as a boot, they weigh less than a typical trail running shoe.


Sizing
I am between the 45 & 46 sizes and decided to go with the larger size so that I could both layer socks and/or wear thick socks in them.  I find that even with just a pair of liner socks in them, I am able to snug them up enough with the laces.


Warmth
My feet seemed a bit warm when running at 23F, but certainly not uncomfortable or sweating yet.  At 18F with 5F windchill, they were perfectly comfortable.  When out looking for a buying a Christmas Tree, I did find that when not moving around much and standing on cold concrete,  the bottoms of my feet felt a bit cold.  I don't think I could sustain being out in this cool of weather without continually moving.  In wearing a thicker sock sitting at my desk all day, they were a bit warm, but still very comfortable, however, by the end of the day my feet were a bit sweaty.  My initial reaction is that I will use these when below 20F or when there is snow on the ground below 35F.  All else above that, I will switch back to my KSO's.


Water / Snow Resistance
After running in 1-2" of snow and some drifting of 4-5", my feet and ankles remained completely dry.  The are water resistant enough to keep out snow and yet breathable enough to keep my feet from getting sweaty.


Price/Purchase
I purchased mine through Amazon.com which ultimately comes from Gifts From Finland.  Were I to do it over again, I would have bought them direct from Gifts From Finland so that they don't have to pay the Amazon.com surcharges.  Either way, they were currently on sale for $120 + Shipping, but it looks like they are currently out of stock.  Extremeoutfitters.com, Mission-outfitters.com, and Outdoortactical.com all also sell these boots.


Manufacturer
Feelmax is headquartered in Finland, but it looks like these boots are actually manufactured in Germany per the label on the boot.


Other Reviews
Adventure in Progress - First Impressions - Feelmax Kuuva
Adventure in Progress - Minimalist Footwear for Winter
Living Barefoot

My Review of Vibram FiveFingers KSO Shoes - Men's

Originally submitted at REI

Protecting the soles of your feet with a thin Vibram® skin, the Vibram FiveFingers KSO multisport water shoes allow you to experience barefoot freedom in your outdoor activities.

Vibram FiveFingers KSO Multisport Water Shoes - Men's

Cool Weather "Barefoot" Running

By gusmeister from Minneapolis, MN on 12/9/2009

5out of 5

Gift: No
Pros: Quality Materials, Well Crafted, Attractive Design
Best Uses: Minimalist Running, Cool Weather, Primal Running

Watch any child that is learning to walk/run and they run on the balls of their feet. It isn't until we put shoes on our feet that have an elevated heal that we "learn" to walk in a heal to toe pattern. It is my opinion that an elevated shoe trains you to walk/run heal to toe and that it is not natural.

I have been very active in sports and training my whole life up until the last few years when my ankles, knees and hips have responded very negatively to my exercising (primarily running and hiking). I was introduced to the idea of barefoot running (and vibram five fingers) this last summer and immediately started going barefoot around my house and yard as much as I possibly could.

At the beginning of October I started running in my Vibram FiveFinger KSO's and am completely sold on the idea. My leg muscles certainly responded in much pain, but my joints have had no pain. I am running up to 7 miles now with no pain in my joints!!

The impact of heal striking is something no shoe can absorb and as a result your joints must take that impact at some level. One has to think that eventually they will wear out... That is why a shoe like this is the perfect solution! It forces you to learn how to run with proper technique and thus avoid injuries.

Besides my calves being really sore in adopting this new running style, I have had NO knee pain. My balance and core strength is way better and most importantly, I now LOVE going out for a run! So much so that I have put a couple 25K trail runs on my schedule for next spring and a 50K trail run for the middle of the summer!

Primal running is defined by using a minimalist shoe like Vibram FiveFingers, Feelmax, Huaraches, or a racing flat type shoe. Barefoot running (I've only done this for very short distances a couple times) is just as it says.

One BIG note, you need to modify your running style when you run this way. AND, give yourself some transition time... i.e. TAKE IT SLOW. It's like learning how to run all over again. If something hurts, you are doing something wrong!!

Check out these three websites for some great instruction and dialogue on barefoot/primal running:
www.runningbarefoot.org,
www.barefootted.com,
www.barefootrunner.com

I also highly recommend reading the book "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen". This has a great story that is centered around minimalist running.

Good Luck!

Jeremy
treklightly.blogspot.com

(legalese)

The painful truth about trainers: Are running shoes a waste of money?

Thrust enhancers, roll bars, microchips...the $20 billion running - shoe industry wants us to believe that the latest technologies will cushion every stride. Yet in this extract from his controversial new book, Christopher McDougall claims that injury rates for runners are actually on the rise, that everything we've been told about running shoes is wrong - and that it might even be better to go barefoot...

By CHRISTOPHER McDOUGALL

Every year, anywhere from 65 to 80 per cent of all runners suffer an injury. No matter who you are, no matter how much you run, your odds of getting hurt are the same

At Stanford University, California, two sales representatives from Nike were watching the athletics team practise. Part of their job was to gather feedback from the company's sponsored runners about which shoes they preferred.

Unfortunately, it was proving difficult that day as the runners all seemed to prefer... nothing.

'Didn't we send you enough shoes?' they asked head coach Vin Lananna. They had, he was just refusing to use them.

'I can't prove this,' the well-respected coach told them.

'But I believe that when my runners train barefoot they run faster and suffer fewer injuries.'

Nike sponsored the Stanford team as they were the best of the very best. Needless to say, the reps were a little disturbed to hear that Lananna felt the best shoes they had to offer them were not as good as no shoes at all.

When I was told this anecdote it came as no surprise. I'd spent years struggling with a variety of running-related injuries, each time trading up to more expensive shoes, which seemed to make no difference. I'd lost count of the amount of money I'd handed over at shops and sports-injury clinics - eventually ending with advice from my doctor to give it up and 'buy a bike'.

And I wasn't on my own. Every year, anywhere from 65 to 80 per cent of all runners suffer an injury. No matter who you are, no matter how much you run, your odds of getting hurt are the same. It doesn't matter if you're male or female, fast or slow, pudgy or taut as a racehorse, your feet are still in the danger zone.

But why? How come Roger Bannister could charge out of his Oxford lab every day, pound around a hard cinder track in thin leather slippers, not only getting faster but never getting hurt, and set a record before lunch?

Tarahumara runner Arnulfo Quimare runs alongside ultra-runner Scott Jurek in Mexico's Copper Canyons

Then there's the secretive Tarahumara tribe, the best long-distance runners in the world. These are a people who live in basic conditions in Mexico, often in caves without running water, and run with only strips of old tyre or leather thongs strapped to the bottom of their feet. They are virtually barefoot.

Come race day, the Tarahumara don't train. They don't stretch or warm up. They just stroll to the starting line, laughing and bantering, and then go for it, ultra-running for two full days, sometimes covering over 300 miles, non-stop. For the fun of it. One of them recently came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing nothing but a toga and sandals. He was 57 years old.

When it comes to preparation, the Tarahumara prefer more of a Mardi Gras approach. In terms of diet, lifestyle and training technique, they're a track coach's nightmare. They drink like New Year's Eve is a weekly event, tossing back enough corn-based beer and homemade tequila brewed from rattlesnake corpses to floor an army.

Unlike their Western counterparts, the Tarahumara don't replenish their bodies with electrolyte-rich sports drinks. They don't rebuild between workouts with protein bars; in fact, they barely eat any protein at all, living on little more than ground corn spiced up by their favourite delicacy, barbecued mouse.

How come they're not crippled?

Modern running shoes on sale

I've watched them climb sheer cliffs with no visible support on nothing more than an hour's sleep and a stomach full of pinto beans. It's as if a clerical error entered the stats in the wrong columns. Shouldn't we, the ones with state-of-the-art running shoes and custom-made orthotics, have the zero casualty rate, and the Tarahumara, who run far more, on far rockier terrain, in shoes that barely qualify as shoes, be constantly hospitalised?

The answer, I discovered, will make for unpalatable reading for the $20 billion trainer-manufacturing industry. It could also change runners' lives forever.

Dr Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, has been studying the growing injury crisis in the developed world for some time and has come to a startling conclusion: 'A lot of foot and knee injuries currently plaguing us are caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate (ankle rotation) and give us knee problems.

'Until 1972, when the modern athletic shoe was invented, people ran in very thin-soled shoes, had strong feet and had a much lower incidence of knee injuries.'

Lieberman also believes that if modern trainers never existed more people would be running. And if more people ran, fewer would be suffering from heart disease, hypertension, blocked arteries, diabetes, and most other deadly ailments of the Western world.

'Humans need aerobic exercise in order to stay healthy,' says Lieberman. 'If there's any magic bullet to make human beings healthy, it's to run.'

The modern running shoe was essentially invented by Nike. The company was founded in the Seventies by Phil Knight, a University of Oregon runner, and Bill Bowerman, the University of Oregon coach.

Before these two men got together, the modern running shoe as we know it didn't exist. Runners from Jesse Owens through to Roger Bannister all ran with backs straight, knees bent, feet scratching back under their hips. They had no choice: their only shock absorption came from the compression of their legs and their thick pad of midfoot fat. Thumping down on their heels was not an option.

Despite all their marketing suggestions to the contrary, no manufacturer has ever invented a shoe that is any help at all in injury prevention

Bowerman didn't actually do much running. He only started to jog a little at the age of 50, after spending time in New Zealand with Arthur Lydiard, the father of fitness running and the most influential distance-running coach of all time. Bowerman came home a convert, and in 1966 wrote a best-selling book whose title introduced a new word and obsession to the fitness-aware public: Jogging.

In between writing and coaching, Bowerman came up with the idea of sticking a hunk of rubber under the heel of his pumps. It was, he said, to stop the feet tiring and give them an edge. With the heel raised, he reasoned, gravity would push them forward ahead of the next man. Bowerman called Nike's first shoe the Cortez - after the conquistador who plundered the New World for gold and unleashed a horrific smallpox epidemic.

It is an irony not wasted on his detractors. In essence, he had created a market for a product and then created the product itself.

'It's genius, the kind of stuff they study in business schools,' one commentator said.

Bowerman's partner, Knight, set up a manufacturing deal in Japan and was soon selling shoes faster than they could come off the assembly line.

'With the Cortez's cushioning, we were in a monopoly position probably into the Olympic year, 1972,' Knight said.

The rest is history.

The company's annual turnover is now in excess of $17 billion and it has a major market share in over 160 countries.

Since then, running-shoe companies have had more than 30 years to perfect their designs so, logically, the injury rate must be in freefall by now.

After all, Adidas has come up with a $250 shoe with a microprocessor in the sole that instantly adjusts cushioning for every stride. Asics spent $3 million and eight years (three more years than it took to create the first atomic bomb) to invent the Kinsei, a shoe that boasts 'multi-angled forefoot gel pods', and a 'midfoot thrust enhancer'. Each season brings an expensive new purchase for the average runner.

But at least you know you'll never limp again. Or so the leading companies would have you believe. Despite all their marketing suggestions to the contrary, no manufacturer has ever invented a shoe that is any help at all in injury prevention.

If anything, the injury rates have actually ebbed up since the Seventies - Achilles tendon blowouts have seen a ten per cent increase. (It's not only shoes that can create the problem: research in Hawaii found runners who stretched before exercise were 33 per cent more likely to get hurt.)

OXFORD, 1954: Roger Bannister crosses the finish line, running a mile in 3:59.4, in thin leather slippers

In a paper for the British Journal Of Sports Medicine last year, Dr Craig Richards, a researcher at the University of Newcastle in Australia, revealed there are no evidence-based studies that demonstrate running shoes make you less prone to injury. Not one.

It was an astonishing revelation that had been hidden for over 35 years. Dr Richards was so stunned that a $20 billion industry seemed to be based on nothing but empty promises and wishful thinking that he issued the following challenge: 'Is any running-shoe company prepared to claim that wearing their distance running shoes will decrease your risk of suffering musculoskeletal running injuries? Is any shoe manufacturer prepared to claim that wearing their running shoes will improve your distance running performance? If you are prepared to make these claims, where is your peer-reviewed data to back it up?'

Dr Richards waited and even tried contacting the major shoe companies for their data. In response, he got silence.

So, if running shoes don't make you go faster and don't stop you from getting hurt, then what, exactly, are you paying for? What are the benefits of all those microchips, thrust enhancers, air cushions, torsion devices and roll bars?

The answer is still a mystery. And for Bowerman's old mentor, Arthur Lydiard, it all makes sense.

'We used to run in canvas shoes,' he said.

'We didn't get plantar fasciitis (pain under the heel); we didn't pronate or supinate (land on the edge of the foot); we might have lost a bit of skin from the rough canvas when we were running marathons, but generally we didn't have foot problems.

'Paying several hundred dollars for the latest in hi-tech running shoes is no guarantee you'll avoid any of these injuries and can even guarantee that you will suffer from them in one form or another. Shoes that let your foot function like you're barefoot - they're the shoes for me.'

Soon after those two Nike sales reps reported back from Stanford, the marketing team set to work to see if it could make money from the lessons it had learned. Jeff Pisciotta, the senior researcher at Nike Sports Research Lab, assembled 20 runners on a grassy field and filmed them running barefoot.

When he zoomed in, he was startled by what he found. Instead of each foot clomping down as it would in a shoe, it behaved like an animal with a mind of its own - stretching, grasping, seeking the ground with splayed toes, gliding in for a landing like a lake-bound swan.

'It's beautiful to watch,' Pisciotta later told me. 'That made us start thinking that when you put a shoe on, it starts to take over some of the control.'

Pisciotta immediately deployed his team to gather film of every existing barefoot culture they could find.

'We found pockets of people all over the globe who are still running barefoot, and what you find is that, during propulsion and landing, they have far more range of motion in the foot and engage more of the toe. Their feet flex, spread, splay and grip the surface, meaning you have less pronation and more distribution of pressure.'

Nike's response was to find a way to make money off a naked foot. It took two years of work before Pisciotta was ready to unveil his masterpiece. It was presented in TV ads that showed Kenyan runners padding
along a dirt trail, swimmers curling their toes around a starting block, gymnasts, Brazilian capoeira dancers, rock climbers, wrestlers, karate masters and beach soccer players.

And then comes the grand finale: we cut back to the Kenyans, whose bare feet are now sporting some kind of thin shoe. It's the new Nike Free, a shoe thinner than the old Cortez dreamt up by Bowerman in the Seventies. And its slogan?

'Run Barefoot.'

The price of this return to nature?

A conservative £65. But, unlike the real thing, experts may still advise you to change them every three months.

Edited extract from 'Born To Run' by Christopher McDougall, £16.99, on sale from April 23 

PAINFUL TRUTH No 1

THE BEST SHOES AND THE WORST

Runners wearing top-of-the-line trainers are 123 per cent more likely to get injured than runners in cheap ones. This was discovered as far back as 1989, according to a study led by Dr Bernard Marti, the leading preventative-medicine specialist at Switzerland's University of Bern.

Dr Marti's research team analysed 4,358 runners in the Bern Grand Prix, a 9.6-mile road race. All the runners filled out an extensive questionnaire that detailed their training habits and footwear for the previous year; as it turned out, 45 per cent had been hurt during that time. But what surprised Dr Marti was the fact that the most common variable among the casualties wasn't training surface, running speed, weekly mileage or 'competitive training motivation'.

It wasn't even body weight or a history of previous injury. It was the price of the shoe. Runners in shoes that cost more than $95 were more than twice as likely to get hurt as runners in shoes that cost less than $40.

Follow-up studies found similar results, like the 1991 report in Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise that found that 'wearers of expensive running shoes that are promoted as having additional features that protect (eg, more cushioning, 'pronation correction') are injured significantly more frequently than runners wearing inexpensive shoes.'

What a cruel joke: for double the price, you get double the pain. Stanford coach Vin Lananna had already spotted the same phenomenon.'I once ordered highend shoes for the team and within two weeks we had more plantar fasciitis and Achilles problems than I'd ever seen.

So I sent them back. Ever since then, I've always ordered low-end shoes. It's not because I'm cheap. It's because I'm in the business of making athletes run fast and stay healthy.'

PAINFUL TRUTH No 2

FEET LIKE A GOOD BEATING

Despite pillowy-sounding names such as 'MegaBounce', all that cushioning does nothing to reduce impact. Logically, that should be obvious - the impact on your legs from running can be up to 12 times your weight, so it's preposterous to believe a half-inch of rubber is going to make a difference.

When it comes to sensing the softest caress or tiniest grain of sand, your toes are as finely wired as your lips and fingertips. It's these nerve endings that tell your foot how to react to the changing ground beneath, not a strip of rubber.

To help prove this point, Dr Steven Robbins and Dr Edward Waked of McGill University, Montreal, performed a series of lengthy tests on gymnasts. They found that the thicker the landing mat, the harder the gymnasts landed. Instinctively, the gymnasts were searching for stability. When they sensed a soft surface underfoot, they slapped down hard to ensure balance. Runners do the same thing. When you run in cushioned shoes, your feet are pushing through the soles in search of a hard, stable platform.

'Currently available sports shoes are too soft and thick, and should be redesigned if they are to protect humans performing sports,' the researchers concluded.

To add weight to their argument, the acute-injury rehabilitation specialist David Smyntek carried out an experiment of his own. He had grown wary that the people telling him to trade in his favourite shoes every 300-500 miles were the same people who sold them to him.

But how was it, he wondered, that Arthur Newton, for instance, one of the greatest ultrarunners of all time, who broke the record for the 100-mile Bath-London run at the age of 51, never replaced his thin-soled canvaspumps until he'd put at least 4,000 miles on them?

So Smyntek changed tack. Whenever his shoes got thin, he kept on running. When the outside edge started to go, he swapped the right for the left and kept running. Five miles a day, every day.

Once he realised he could run comfortably in broken-down, even wrong-footed shoes, he had his answer. If he wasn't using them the way they were designed, maybe that design wasn't such a big deal after all.

He now only buys cheap trainers.

PAINFUL TRUTH No 3

HUMAN BEINGS ARE DESIGNED TO RUN WITHOUT SHOES

'Barefoot running has been one of my training philosophies for years,' says Gerard Hartmann, the Irish physical therapist who treats all the world's finest distance runners, including Paula Radcliffe.

Ethiopian Abebe Bikila on his way to gold in the 1960 Olympic marathon - running barefoot

For decades, Dr Hartmann has been watching the explosion of ever more structured running shoes with dismay. 'Pronation has become this very bad word, but it's just the natural movement of the foot,' he says. 'The foot is supposed to pronate.'

To see pronation in action, kick off your shoes and run down the driveway. On a hard surface, your feet will automatically shift to selfdefence mode: you'll find yourself landing on the outside edge of your foot, then gently rolling from little toe over to big until your foot is flat. That's pronation - a mild, shockabsorbing twist that allows your arch to compress.

Your foot's centrepiece is the arch, the greatest weight-bearing design ever created. The beauty of any arch is the way it gets stronger under stress; the harder you push down, the tighter its parts mesh. Push up from underneath and you weaken the whole structure.

'Putting your feet in shoes is similar to putting them in a plaster cast,' says Dr Hartmann. 'If I put your leg in plaster, we'll find 40 to 60 per cent atrophy of the musculature within six weeks. Something similar happens to your feet when they're encased in shoes.'

When shoes are doing the work, tendons stiffen and muscles shrivel. Work them out and they'll arc up. 'I've worked with the best Kenyan runners,' says Hartmann, 'and they all have marvellous elasticity in their feet. That comes from never running in shoes until you're 17.'

SO SHOULD WE ALL BE RUNNING BAREFOOT?

BY JUSTIN COULTER, SPORTS PODIATRIST 

Running barefoot may have some benefit in muscle strengthening as the muscles have to 'tune in' to the vibrations caused by impact loading.

If, like Zola Budd, you grew up running barefoot on a South African farm, your tissue tolerance would adapt over time. But for someone who has grown up wearing shoes and is a natural heel striker (see right), the impact loading will be beyond tissue tolerance level, and injury will occur.

We are all individuals, therefore it is prudent to have your own running technique assessed and work around that.

As for getting out your old worn out trainers and running in them - don't! Based on the individual's size and running surfaces/conditions shoes should be changed between 500-1,000 miles. It's best to seek the advice of a specialist running store.

Vibram Fivefinger KSO's and Pushing the Cold-Weather Limits

18F (9F Wind Chill) with dusting of snow on the the asphalt trail.  I'm wearing my Vibram Fivefinger KSO's with an Injinji Outdoor Series Tetrasok (Nuwool) as a liner sock.  I ran 6.5 miles in just under an hour.  Overall the run felt great, but my toes did get a little chilly.  Not uncomfortable, but I think if it got too much colder, it would be uncomfortable.

Overall, I feel pretty good about my layering system for clothes and here is what I am wearing:

Top Layers
Icebreaker Bodyfit 200 Crew L/S
Gramicci Kinetic S/S
Icebreaker Bodyfit 260 Zip L/S
Montane Featherlite Velo Windshirt

Bottom Layers
Icebreaker Bodyfit 150 Leggings
Smartwool Synergy Softshell Pants

Hat
Smartwool Beanie

Mittens
Smartwool socks

I did end up shedding the Windshirt about 2/3rds of the way through and probably should have sooner as it was lined with sweat.

News:  I have a pair of Feelmax Kuuva Boots on order and am expecting them in the next couple days.  I can't wait to give them a try and compare them to the KSO's.

Bryant Lake Loop

I was able to set up a 1 mile loop of trail running at Bryant Lake Regional Park yesterday and completed 4 loops.  It was between 35F and 40F degrees and misting.  Running in my Vibram FiveFinger KSO's felt really good at this temperature despite my feet quickly getting wet and the ground being muddy and slippery.  I am wearing Injinji socks inside the KSO's that certainly help insulate my feet from the cold.  I think I will be able to used them successfully down to about 25F as long as I'm not running in snow.

I haven't been timing myself yet on any of my runs, as I don't want the pressure of the clock to affect me re-learning how to run using this new method.  I have been able to really relax while I run as well as keep my body straight even on the uphills and downhills.  I find that if I think about pushing my hips forward while I run, it helps my form tremendously.  It doesn't necessarily feel like I am falling forward, but at the same time, it quickens my cadence and keeps my upper body more upright.  When I do this running uphill, it makes the 'attack' a lot easier.

Additional clothing I am wearing for this type of weather.
Bottom Baselayer: Icebreaker Bodyfit 150 Leggings
Bottom Shell:  Smartwool Synergy
Top Baselayer: Icebreaker Bodyfit 150 L/S
Top Layer: Icebreaker Crew 260 L/S
Hat: Smartwool
Gloves: Black Diamond WindBloc Gloves

Observations of clothing:  Smartwool Synergy Pants are just too warm yet at these temps.  I should probably go with a midweight Long Underwear under my running shorts.  The Gloves were also too warm and I quickly shed these and just carried them.

I am still loving running in my VFF's.  They are super comfortable and I find I can maneuver around rocks and other obstacles on the trail easily.  I feel there is still much too learn with this new running style, but I am loving it!!

Cold Weather Running, Feelmax Kuuvas & Steger Mukluks

I ran two loops around Meadowbrook golf course last night which brings my barefoot/primal running up to 4 miles.  I ran 3 of it in my VFF KSO's and 1 in barefeet.  It is definitely easier to find the right form in barefeet, but at 45F, my feet were going numb after about 5 minutes.  This was fine on the grass, but as soon as I hit some gravel/asphalt, I could tell that I couldn't feel the bottom of my feet well enough to react to what I was stepping on.  Oh well, I will have to wait until next spring to truly run barefoot.

I would like to get a pair of Feelmax Kuuvas to run in this winter, but they are pretty pricey...  I'll have to see if I can sell some more stuff around the house to get enough money to buy these.  They have received some good reviews so far even though they were just released.

http://www.feelmax.com/index.php?lang=en
http://www.adventureinprogress.com/impressions-kuuva
http://www.adventureinprogress.com/midterm-kuuva
http://toegirltina.blogspot.com/2009/10/feelmax-kuuvas-arrived-in-time-for.html

I just don't think my toes are going to stay warm enough in my Vibram FiveFinger KSO's.  But I will run in them as long as I can.

I also bought a new pair of Steger Mukluks that I am going to try to go running in as well.  They are big and bulky, so I don't know how reasonable it is to do this, but it is worth a try.  I used to have the Yukon model, but I found that in any sort of exercise, I would sweat under the portion that had the canvas, but where it was leather, I wouldn't.  To me that was a simple formula of the canvas not breathing as well as the leather.  The Ojibwa Short model that just arrived in the mail is the full leather version which I am hoping will breath better. As soon as it gets cold enough here and we get a little snow on the ground, I will test them out and provide a full report.