I’ve just spent some time reading through some posts on Amby Burfoot’s Peak Performance blog on Runner’s World – if you haven’t read his blog, it’s definitely worth a look. His posts are well researched, even-handed, and very science-oriented. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s a Boston Marathon winner and one of the most experienced runner’s in the business.
One of the things that I’ve found is that Amby and I share a very similar perspective on running shoes (or lack thereof) and their relationship to performance and injury prevention (i.e., that we need more scientific data, and that what is out there is largely inconclusive). It seems that he, like me, believes that runners likely vary widely in their shoe needs, but that the goal of each runner should be to find the least shoe possible for their body. He’s also open-minded about barefoot running, having run several races barefoot himself (you can read more about that in his book, The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of Life, which I also highly recommend).
You can click this link to add Peak Performance to you RSS reader.
You can also follow Amby Burfoot’s Exercise Science Twitter feed at: http://twitter.com/exerscience
I’d also like to point you to several posts on the Peak Performance blog that are excellent reads:
-Which Is Better–Rearfoot Striking Or Midfoot/Forefoot? An Experiment Of One
-Do Running Shoes Cause Running Injuries? A Few Insights on a Dismal Science
-Should You Switch Your Stride to a Forefoot Landing? Maybe Not
-New Nature Magazine Cover Story Shines More Light on Barefootin’
And for a post not focused solely on running, I thought this one was excellent:
-Sports Illustrated Updates the Genetics-of-Sports Story with Latest Findings
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