Minimalist Shoes Making it Through 100-Mile Races

Shoe selection!  This is on my mind a lot lately... with my upcoming 50-miler.  Like most runners, I have a closet lined with running shoes.  I joke that I have ONE cheap pair of dress shoes and the rest are for running/crossfit.  ((Showing you where my priorities are)).  A few custom/hand made shoe companies are popping up lately and I think it's a good thing!  The moccasins pictured to the right are the second such pair that carried a runner through 100-mile ultra.  My 50-miler is pretty technical at the beginning- i'd thought maybe two-different pairs of shoes, but maybe i should commit. Story here. Shoes here.

How Heat Affects Running Performance

How Heat Affects Running Performance
There is little doubt that exercise performance is impaired in hot environments. While the effect of heat on performance varies with the sport (for example, less effect on cycling than running), there is a great deal of empirical data showing a link between ambient temperature and performance. Various authors have suggested performance impairments of between 1.6 and 3% in marathon times for every 10 degrees above 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Below is an interesting table from a paper by Scot Montain and colleagues at the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine illustrates the relationship between elite marathoner finishing times and course temperature in the New York City Marathon. The Rest is here

Robb Wolf's Paleo-Solutions Podcast

This week's episode is #92, Robb has guests Mat LaLonde and Mark Sisson.  It was recorded off to the side of the Ancestral Health Conference.  Topics such as diary, de-evolution, sustainability of grass fed meat products (point: in the mid 1800s there were more Bison than there are diary/beef cows today, Bison clip grass to eat, cows pull grass).  I am a big fan of this podcast, Robb recently has added more and more exercise tips, not just diet advice.


His site is here

The Gait Guys - Find Them On Facebook and Youtube

I was fortunate to be directed to these guys just in time.  I have been helping out some friends' running issues and in searching for mobility, strengthening, etc I found these Guys.  They are 'the business', many videos with commentaries explaining physiology, and funny commentaries on famous running videos, such as Gaits in the movies :).  Click here to see where the T1000 went wrong!

Vibram has a pair that's a little dressier, better suited for cold weather.

Almost acceptable at some business casual work places?  What do you think? The VFF Bormios looks like a step in the casual footwear direction for Vibram.   The soles appear to be the same as my KSO Treks.  Very good in snow/mud, etc.  I could foresee some difficulty in getting my toes in the correct slots, I use the flexibility of my KSOs to wrangle a couple of my useless mal-formed toes where they belong.  Review is here

How Dark Chocolate Can Help Your Fitness

Researchers have known for some time that chocolate has healthful effects, and recent epidemiological studies have shown that people who regularly indulge in moderate amounts of dark chocolate are less likely to develop high blood pressure or heart disease or suffer strokes. But chocolate’s potential role in exercise performance had not been studied, or probably even much considered, until scientists at the University of California, San Diego, and other institutions gave middle-aged, sedentary male mice a purified form of cacao’s primary nutritional ingredient, known as epicatechin, and had the mice work out. Epicatechin is a flavonol, a class of molecules that are thought to have widespread effects on the body.

More Here

Terra Plana's expert Lee Saxby teaches us the skill of barefoot running

Learning the Skill of Barefoot Running from Terra Plana on Vimeo.

Comprehensive List of Available Minimalist Shoes on The Market Today

What's your fave??  

  List here 

Running Statistics over Time - Did YOU Help shift these Numbers Around?

Typical U.S. Female Runner

• Average Age: 38.5
• 63.2% Married
• 78.2% College educated
• 70.3% Earn a household income of $75,000+

Typical U.S. Male Runner

• Average Age: 43.6
• 71.0% Married
• 76.2% College educated
• 76.0% Earn a household income of $75,000+

Many many more stats found here

Our sugar control system operates imperfectly in the face of conventional modern diets

Our digestive systems were formed millions of years ago.  In the last 10,000 years, our diets have changed at a faster pace than our digestive systems can keep up.  Slow carbs like greens and tubers are bound up in fiber and are slow to digest.  Faster carbs like rice, sugar, fructose are quickly turned into glucose and cause insulin spikes that our bodies are not designed to handle.  Constant intake of fast carbs cause insulin levels stay high longer than they are needed.  This keeps energy from going where it’s needed causing another familar control system takes over…we get hungry - making us eat more. "It’s no surprise that eating one potato chip causes us to crave another."  More here

New to barefoot running? Nervous to try?

Sadly it takes a modicum of training to re'learn' something we were born to do in the first place. We'll call this retraining.

I see a parallel in the adoption of football helmets. The helmets protected football player's heads so their levels of impact could remain high. Later we learn that although the head's skin is protected, the brain suffers so much internal impacting that damage is just delayed. It's the same with these 'protective' shoes. Were able to run over broken glass, but any other claims are not the complete picture.

To acclimate and retrain, try this: buy a cheap pair of tube socks from your grocery store. Run wearing just these socks. (well maybe some shorts and shirt were apprpriate). Chances are in 0.5-1mile you'll see wear patterns already in the fabric! This is a bad sign, but don't worry it's fixable. Save the socks, save pics of them labelled with the distance it took to create.

Practice your short steps, light landing, quick cadence and NO push off when lifting the foot- you'll notice these socks last longer and longer wear-free.

Give it a try and post your comments.

Barefoot Running UK Newsletter Issue 2

Great periodical. Make sure you subscribe to it! :). http://thwaits.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/issue-2.pdf

Sneak Peak on some 2012 Vibram Five Fingers

I think this pair is very good looking! Seems like VFFs are sticking to the similar designs, yet a noticeable improvement to the tread, showing notches.  Maybe this material-removal is to lighten them up?  I'm still sad to see them hitting the $120 price point.  Making me consider tying retired car tire treads to my feet...  Link Here  

Beer for Runners?? ((eww, lordy, i hope that's the case!))

This is one of my many vices. I know there's a 20min window after a work out of the day (W.O.D.) where I get the opportunity to fuel my deleted muscles. But after evening workouts, esp in the summer, a beer seems right. Maybe I'm on to something as explained here: LINK  

• Beer drinkers experienced a greater support for the immune system.
• Beer drinkers experienced fewer colds.
• Beer drinkers who experienced colds had shorter, more mild infections than the abstainers.

How are the Ramari Able To Run So Far?

In Cabello Blanco's words - they are closer to their genetic roots than we are.  This makes them ahead of where some of us want to be!

New-New Balance Trail Shoes. (If your MT100s are wearing out, here's the replacement).

The latest New Balance Minimal trail shoe, the MT 101.  I have had my MT100s for more than a year and they're holding up great.  I wore them in my first 50miler (the 2010 JFK50).  The 100s are light, allow water to flow through them, and have a good combination of ground-feel versus rock protection (normally these attributes are inversely proportional), but the tread is not 'grippy' for muddy or wet rocks. - all trade offs.  More info here.  What's your trail shoe?

GPS Watches? Who uses them?

Which watch is for you?    Already have one? Any horror or reliability stories?  (add your comments below)

Zero-Drop and Foot-Like Soles. Seems to be the motto of Altra

From a press release Here:  I think these guys get-it.  I'll soon be getting a pair of their more moccasin-like shoes to train in (the Adams).  The thinner soles will offer a bit more ground feel than the Merrill Trail Gloves I have been training in.  There is a video in the "Friends of Paleo-Runners" tab.  Seems like a nice small business success-story.  Will they maintain their pace of giving us what we want?  Hope so!

How to Prepare for Barefooting (stretching and strengthening from Mark Sisson)

...before you tell your friends to burn their shoes, consider something: the shod foot has been living in a cast most of its life. -- When the modern foot is called into action, like at the gym, on a walk, or when going about daily business, they are usually wearing shoes that restrict muscle engagement and turn the feet into passive pieces of leather and rubber that slap along the ground. The feet are merely along for the ride; they do nothing, while the hips and ankles must shoulder the load. Ever seen an arm that’s just had a cast removed? It’s a skinny, withered shell of its former self. The muscles have atrophied, so it’s weaker. The connective tissue can’t quite handle the demands of regular use, so strains are a real possibility. It’ll even smell bad until you wash it (just like some feet), because it’s been cramped up for so long.  Article here  

Great Race Report from a First Time Ultra Marathoner

Funny story, "unicorn tears" and "angel entrails" included. Ultra runners know what he's talking about. Link here

Barefoot Running Clubs Entering Races Together

Alan Soucy's physical therapist told him several years ago he could never run again unless it was across the street. But last night Soucy finished the Yankee Homecoming 5K Road Race with none of the recurring back pain that almost forced his retirement from the sport he's loved since high school. And he swears  that running barefoot has everything to do with his renewed love of running.  Story here.  


*When I ran the 2011 Boilermaker 15km with no shoes, I was met with curious attention and also pity.  Some people were actually afraid they'd step on my bare feet.  Is that a legitimate danger?