Archives for June 2011

Foot Strike, Running Shoes, Barefooting, Injuries, and Biomechanics: The Importance of Both Science and Anecdote

Just before I left on a camping trip last week I received an email from Amby Burfoot pointing me to an abstract of a paper to be presented at the 2011 meeting of the International Society of Biomechanics. The study, titled “Foot Strike Does Not Predict Loading Rates During Shod or Barefoot Running,” was conducted […]

Foot Strike in Running: How Did Runners in the 1950’s Contact the Ground?

Image via Wikipedia One of the difficulties that we face in trying to determine how to describe “proper” running form (if such a thing even exists) is that data on what runners did prior to the advent of modern, cushioned running shoes are hard to come by. Whereas videos of runners prior to 1970 or […]

Newton Distance Racer Review: Sir Isaac Gets it Right

Let me state openly at the outset of this review that my first experience with a pair of Newton running shoes was not a good one. In winter 2009 I received a pair of Newton Sir Isaac’s – I think this was the first pair of review shoes that I’d ever received – and I […]

Muscle Tuning and Leg Stiffness: Why Shoes and Running Surfaces Do Matter?

Over the past few months I’ve come to a few conclusions about my preferences in running footwear. In general, I prefer shoes to have either a fairly soft midsole (e.g., Saucony Kinvara, Mirage, and Peregrine; Nike Free), or virtually no midsole at all (Vibram Fivefingers, Merrell Barefoot, Vivobarefoot, etc.). Shoes that have a substantial but […]

Saucony Peregrine Review: A Rugged, Low-Drop Trail Running Shoe

Given the fact that the Saucony Kinvara is one of my favorite road shoes (mostly for marathon racing and long runs these days), I was excited last winter when I found out that Saucony would be releasing a trail running sibling to the Kinvara: the Saucony Peregrine. You can tell from the photos included in […]

Merrell Barefoot Sonic Glove: First Impression Review

Last last week I received a pair of Merrell’s newest offering in it’s Barefoot line of running footwear – the Merrell Barefoot Sonic Glove (disclosure: these were media samples and were provided free of charge by the manufacturer). The Sonic Glove is very similar to it’s sibling the Merrell Barefoot Trail Glove, and thus I […]

Thoughts on Paying for Services in the Online Running World: dailymile goes PRO

One of the things that has happened as this blog has grown is that I get email requests from all kinds of people about all kinds of things. Some people write to ask me to spread the word about their blog. PR companies email to ask me to promote their products (many of which I […]

Two Great Articles on Barefoot Running

Image via Wikipedia Very quick post here – just wanted to direct you to two excellent articles on the topic of barefoot running. First, from Gretchen Reynolds on the New York Times Well Blog an article titled: Are we built to run barefoot? Second, from the Science of Sport blog, a post titled: The barefoot […]

Going Minimalist and Changing Form Help Ultrarunner Nathan Sanel Fix his Shins: Another Anecdote

I met Nate Sanel on a cold night in October, 2009. Nate had joined his friend Sherpa John Lacroix in his second attempt to run 125 miles across the state of New Hampshire for charity, and I and another local running friend had decided to join them for about 10 miles at about the halfway […]

The Bad Run as an Early Warning Sign for Illness

Image via Wikipedia It’s been a busy few days here on the blog. My post from last Friday – ASICS versus Zero Drop, Maximalist versus Minimalist – sparked quite a bit of fruitful discussion, and I highly recommend you take a look at the post and the ensuing discussion in the comments (if you have […]

ASICS versus Zero Drop, Maximalist versus Minimalist

I’ve been following with interest a spirited debate that is taking place over on my friend Bill Katovsky’s Zero Drop blog. Like me, Bill is an advocate for greater variety in shoe choice, and his approach on his blog is to poke fun at the status quo in addition to providing the occasional shoe review. […]

Unbreakable: The Western States 100

This trailer for Unbreakable, a movie about the 2010 Western States 100 ultramarathon, has been making the rounds recently. Figured I’d share it here as well as it’s one of those clips that really makes you want to head out for a long trail run. The movie is due to be released this Fall.

Vibram Fivefingers KomodoSport Review and 5K Race Report

For the first few years after I started running, the 5k was my preferred race distance – in fact, my 5k PR (18:51) was set back in 2008. Like many runners, I was quickly bitten by the marathon bug and focused most of 2009-2010 on long distance races. I’ve run only a handful of 5k’s […]