I’d like to use this post to point you to some excellent discussions of running form and running shoes that have come out in the past few weeks. First and foremost, Newton Running recently sponsored an excellent panel discussion on natural running form and running shoes in Colorado. The panel included Dr. Irene Davis PhD, PT (Director of the Running Injury Lab, University of Delaware), Dr. Mark Cucuzzella MD (Associate Professor, University of West Virginia, elite masters runner), Danny Abshire (multisports.com form coach, co-founder Newton Running), Zola Budd Pieterse (Olympian, world champion and world record holder), Danny Dreyer (founder/author of Chi Running), and Jay Dicharry, MPT, CSCS (Director of the SPEED Performance Clinic and the Motion Analysis Lab Coordinator at the University of Virginia). It was moderated by Brian Metzler, managing editor Running Times Magazine.
I listened to the discussion on my long run last weekend (it’s about 1 hour and 50 minutes long), and it was well worth it. I have included video of the event below (thanks to Ian Adamson of Newton Running for posting this on YouTube). Given that it’s mostly just a discussion, I opted to convert the videos into an audio .mp3 file that I could play on my iPod so that I wouldn’t be tied to my computer in order to listen. You can find the audio file here (right click to save the .mp3): Newton Natural Running Panel audio. Again, thanks to Newton Running’s Ian Adamson for giving me permission to share the audio.
In addition to the Newton Panel Discussion on natural running, which I view as a must listen, I’ll point you to two other podcast episodes that are worth checking out. First, in my previous post I mentioned that I also participated in a discussion on running form and shoes on the Runner’s Round Table podcast – you can read more about that and find download links to the audio here: Running Form and Shoes: Panel Discussion on the Runner’s Round Table.
Finally, Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, one of the speakers on the Newton panel, recently gave a very interesting and thoughtful interview on the Living Barefoot podcast. You can visit the Living Barefoot webpage for the Cucuzzella interview or download the audio from iTunes by clicking here.
Below are the videos from the Newton natural running panel discussion:
You might also like:
Slow Motion Video of Elite Women at the 5th Avenue Mile Road Race
More On Running Cadence: Comparative Data from Amby Burfoot and Alex Hutchinson
Proprioreception: Additional Thoughts on Balance, Stability, and Running from Jay Dicharry
Running Form, the Origin of Minimalism, and the Elite vs. Recreational Divide
Video Clip: Persistence Hunting and the Evolution of Running in Humans
About Peter Larson
thanks for the mp3
this is a great blog.
No problem – appreciate the comment!
Pete
Pete – Thanks for coordinating with Newton and offering the MP3 file; indeed this’ll be far easier for me to listen to (appropriately, while running!)
Just got back from my run where I finished listening to the panel discussion. Very good! I had a bit of a revelation when in the final 10-minutes of the discussion the excellent points are made (primarily be Danny Dreyer): a) That we should discard the word “strike” and replace that word with “landing” when referring to the forefoot landing; b) That there’s a huge difference between forefoot *landing* versus forefoot *loading* (the former being appropriate, but when a long-distance/high-mileage runner attempts both forefoot landing and loading they significantly raise their likelihood of injury); c) One of the benefits of the runner relaxing is that upon forefoot landing their mid-foot will naturally load.
Pete, thanks for this post and converting to .mp3. I am a Newton fan who thought he was runing mid-foot. Turns out, not even close. I loved the recent RRT’s episode on form too – great job by the panel and Joe. My Coach lives in CO and just became a Certified Newton Coach (not sure of exact title). With a lot of practice and minfullness, I am really hoping the change my form. I have had two calcaneus stress fractices in the past two years! Again, thanks!
Chris,
I takes a lot of time and effort, but form change can be accomplished. I ran
19 miles today, and am pretty sure I managed to avoid the heels for almost
the entire way. Are you working with Jeff at PRSfit?
Pete
Ooops, I meant stress fractures
Pete,
Thanks for bringing this panel discussion to our attention. I thought it was excellent. It definitely reinforces my belief that my efforts in making a transition to this form have been well worth it. Your blog keeps getting better and better!
Thanks for converting into mp3 files, Pete. This is a big help for me especially the form. I had a horrible experience while running barefooted until I tried using newton shoes. In fact, I have a picture of my right deformed foot here – link to bit.ly. Newton shoes really helps me a lot. Thanks again, Pete.
I didn’t listen to it all, but too much seems of the view that one should run “natural” because it’s natural. Like unpasteurized milk? Was anything said about the fact that the last two Americans to win NY are heelstrikers (who presumably would not have won were they forced to run midfoot)?
But for all of this, the key, and right with what we spoke about on RRT, is at 2:45 of number 2, it doesn’t matter where you land but how you land. (Jay Dicharry)
Joe,
It gets back to the whole issue that I brought up that heel striking
is a spectrum. Meb heel strikes, but he also doesn’t seem to have an
extended leg while doing so. He did win NYC, but he also fractured his
hip while running in the Olympic Marathon trials, so it’s hard to say
if what he is doing is good or bad. I also don’t think we can really
know if he would be better or worse if he switched to midfoot. What
will be interesting is to see how Dathan Ritzenhein does at the NYC
marathon this Fall as Alberto Salazar recently switched him to a
midfoot strike (along with Alan Webb).
Pete
On Wednesday, September 22, 2010, Disqus
I created a tinyurl to make it easy to download on my smartphone, which is where I’ll listen to it:
tinyurl.com/newtonmp3
Thanks for writing this great blog & sharing your experience and knowledge.
Rob