Running Is About Posture- How Is Posture When Heels Raised?

Below is a cool video put together by Patton Gleason, mastermind behind theNatural Running Store and fellow Shepherdstown Running Injury course alum. In the video, Patton uses a stack of wooden blocks to show why a heel lift necessitates postural changes. Great visual, and very clever!

Transitioning To Minimal Shoes (The How?)

I found I needed to type this story a few times in a row today while giving advice to other runners.  

Do I just take out my orthodics or 'just' buy Vibram Five Fingers and take off running??

After 1.5 years I can run a competitive distance race with NO shoes. Although that may not be a goal of yours, it's an indicator of foot strength.  As a kid I had such flat feet that the outside and inside of my feet looked the same. Now I have a strong-looking raised arch. It's a wonderful thing but it took a loooong time. I'm not sure I took the most direct path to achieve this. 

There are two approaches here and one will better suit your race-schedule, fitness goals, ability to be patient, etc.  There's two ways to approach your goal of building foot strength.

1.) Keep your current running (or training) schedule with minor alterations and wean yourself slowly off inserts, raised heels and cushioning over time.  Example: Going  from a 10mm raised heel shoe to a 4mm, to a 0mm.

 --The downside of this technique is that you have no real motivation to fix your form/balance.  One may develop some intermediate issues - such as, it's hard to have a fast cadence when your heel is raised, it's hard to know you're mid-footing landing when you have ~0.5" of cushioning.

Or

2.) BAM, press reset and run (or train) ONLY 5 MINS barefoot twice a week for a month, and increase frequency slowly. then add a zero-cushioned protective shoe (like Altra Adams, Merrell Trail Gloves, Vibram Five Fingers, BF Inov-8s etc.) when barefoot, only run on hard smooth debris-free surfaces. concrete or asphalt will give you indicators that you're doing something wrong (like over-striding-aka heel-striking, or pushing off too much)- either of which would cause hotspots on the soles of your feet.

 --The downside of this technique is that you may affect your current fitness level.  BUT this is easily overcome by substituting your previous intense running sessions with rowing, swimming, cycling to keep the engine strong.  The unshod running will build foot/leg muscles that have been asleep since your first heavy toddler shoes.   

More info on shoe selection for Running and Crossfitting 

Crossfit Endurance

Spent my weekend in CFE Coaching Certification. 

Thanks to
Tes Salb from Potomac Crossfit
Adam Eidson from Rare Crossfit
Max Wunderle from TriMax Fitness

This education is mandatory to anyone that wants to excel in their fitness goals. 

More Technology To Be Paleo?? (seems contradictory)

Subject of sleep...and a gadget?  We're wired to sleep in complete darkness and wake WHEN we're ready.  Pressures of modern society dictate that we force when we wake.  There are plenty of studies of how following our circadian rhythm will help us feel better resting, be more creative and productive.  

Last year I read Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Body (Tim's Hacking Your Sleep) and I was convinced that there are optimum times to wake up.  He mentioned some $800+ devices that will monitor your sleep and give you a nudge when you are actually ready to rise.  Using my Garmin, I tried graphing my heart rate whle i slept.

I noticed there's a lot of activity and spikes that are through the roof.  In this graph my alarm clock went off at the absolute worst time of my sleep.  I was jarred away from my deepest sleep. If I'd waken up 30mins sooner I would have bounced right up!  

Now there's a device I can buy that will track this and respond to it.  I am on board with this puppy: Up by Jawbone.  The app on the iPhone(iPad) include several fitness 'things' - but I want the 'smart alarm'.  

You can use the app to program your band to vibrate on your wrist and silently wake you up. Within 30 minutes of your desired wake up time, the band will intelligently interpret your sleep graph identify the best moment in your natural sleep cycle so that you feel as refreshed as possible. For example, if you were to set your wake up alarm for 7:30am, the band would vibrate at the best time between 7:00am and 7:30am based on your sleep cycle.

We should be more worried about quality of sleep, and not quantity.  Darkness, quiet, consistency,  etc.  Sleep is when we heal and store things we've learned during the day.   I will try a gadget to help my sleep.  Am I crazy??