Barefoot running is all the rage at the moment. If you have not read "Born to Run" yet, you should get a copy. What a great book! The book looks at the current state of running in hi-tech shoes and how we have more injuries now than ever. When you run barefoot, you naturally run on the balls of your feet instead of your heels with a Nike strapped to your foot. It also traces the history of barefoot running and how the Indians from New Mexico can run barefoot 200 miles at a time. I don't run barefoot but I do run on the balls of my feet by taking on massive hills in a park near my house. Running uphill naturally puts you there as it is impossible to run uphill on your heels. I have been running almost everyday for 8 years without injury. And the cardio workout is awesome. I am 6'6" and 260. I think that says it all. The pounding I would take running on a flat sidewalk would not allow my body to be able to handle the punishment. If you want to keep in shape for sailing or any other pursuit, head to them thar hills and go up!
I also have a friend that swears by stretching before a workout. I never stretch. In the book, they took a bunch of runners and showed them stretches and asked them to stretch before every run. The other group did no stretching. The group that stretched had 30% more injuries then the non stretch group. Amazing but true!
3 comments:
Damn! I just bought new running shoes yesterday because I have been have some aches just below my right knee. I have been trying to run on the balls of feet though I know I don't as much as I should. Alas...
Hooray, I'm not the only one who skips the whole stretching before the run routine! Running barefoot - I listened to an interview on NPR about a group of college kids running around Sahara. One of them ran barefoot without any problems.
Ah, but I'm from New Mexico and 1.5 miles barefoot on the treadmill resulted in several blisters despite my having survived a 12-mile hike in shoes without blistering less than a week before.
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