Wednesday 8 June 2011
Running
I never used to be able to run. When I was at school I'd be breathless and exhausted after one or two laps of the playing field, and I basically never ran if I could avoid it. On the other hand, I enjoyed walking arbitrary distances at speed.
Then a few years ago, on a whim I started running on the beach near my parents' house, and surprised myself by enjoying it. Since then I've often run short distances (a few kilometres). I was curious about what longer distances would be like, but I haven't had the time to try until a couple of times recently: a few months ago I ran 7km in 45 minutes (twice as long as I'd ever run before) and last weekend I ran 17km in two hours. It didn't seem difficult except that my feet got sore, which is perhaps because I was running barefoot: the problem is that if I run in any kind of footwear I own I quickly start feeling tired. There's probably something I could wear that would be OK, but this is part of my larger problem of not knowing anything about running so I'm probably doing it all wrong :-).
Comments
I love wearing them and running in them, but I have suffered a stress fracture of my 2nd metatarsal while using them.
I currently believe that my running will be "better" (I won't go into it here) if I run in bare feet (or my vibrams). The trouble is that my feet have spent nearly 4 decades in protective footwear. As a consequence of this, they are not up to running, especially on hard surfaces, without padded footwear. My understanding is that I will need to condition my feet over time to the point where I can run on any surface without shoes.
I acquired my stress fracture because I ran too far too soon, on hard surfaces, in my vibrams.
One piece of advice that I read was to run in bare feet rather than the vibrams. That way one reaches the limit of what one's foot can handle earlier than if the feet are protected. As the skin of the feet toughen up, the runner can run further. Progress is set at the required pace by the natural rate of adaptation of the feet to the conditions and stresses placed on them.
As for "doing it wrong", there is a school of thought that holds that running is a skill. There is a right way to do it. Google "pose technique", "chi running", "alexander technique". They all propose a fairly similar style of running. All call into question the design of modern running shoes, and propose that we would all be better runners in minimal or no footwear. They question the convention that the runner's heel is the first part of the foot to strike the ground, and suggest instead that the forefoot touch the ground first.
A slightly different, but related viewpoint, is the one mentioned by Fabrice: that running is actually safer in minimal or no footwear. I agree with this proposition, with a qualification: that the required time and effort is put in to condition the feet.
Biggest biggest thing I've learned is get proper running shoes properly fitted. Bare feet are fine for grass, sand, good running tracks, but street/pavement running will be really hard on your joints. Your feet will be fine, it's your ankles and knees you need to worry about.
Even good quality shoes are bad if they're not the "right" support for your foot type.
I'd love to be running bare foot, but years of shoes have softened my feet.
It definitely important to get running shoes properly fitted if you're getting them. I'd recommend Shoe Science on Mt Eden road.
I gather you can now get five fingers in NZ so you could try those too.. I can't wear them, my 2nd toe is longer then my big toe, so they don't fit.
If you're looking at doing half marathons and longer, the main thing I find helps is just getting the distance done in training.. give your joints a chance to adjust! But I don't think there's a wrong way for these things. Whatever works for you :)
Dave