Nobody lands under the center of gravity when running at a steady state, it’s physically impossible to do so.

The reality is that closer you land to your center of gravity the shorter you time on stance goes, and the higher your peak loads and loading gradients are. The only way to avoid the increase in peak loads is to reduce the time in air by the same % as the reduction in time on stance, even with this the loading gradients still go up.

If you want to reduce loads and avoid striking the ground on landing then the key is reduce the time in air and not short change time on stance. This is true regardless of foot position on landing.

If you look at barefoot runners you’ll find as a population they reduce their time in air far more than they reduce time on stance, the body naturally does this is reduce the peak loads and loads on landing. Low mass at the foot when barefoot helps reduce the costs of this quick turnover.

An elastic band that “snaps” back into place on toe off is redundant since this is what our feet with it’s articulating joints, layers of muscle, and the plantar fascia, tendons, and ligaments are designed to do. It will return to its original state when it needs to without any external help.

In the videos, the sense I am getting is that they’re excited about the Mobium not because it helps running but because they are first to market. Maybe it’s just the cynic in me. :)

Lastly, I wish they would stop showing the runners stopping in the middle of their runs to perform static stretching.

Yeah, same here.

Other aspects of the implementation have ruled out this iteration for me though. I noticed that energy return cords looked like bungee cord; I hope that it would maintain durability. I disliked the upper. I found it constricting on the mid through the forefoot. The 8 mm drop for me is another deal breaker. I’m very happy with 4 mm (Go Run Rides/Kinvara), and double that is very noticeable, but YMMV. I also noticed some slippage around the heel.

That’s interesting Pete. Is the difference attributable to strength/flexibility issues? When I first saw the video, my mind said “He has a mild foot drop on the left side”, which would be a neurologic issue. But upon closer inspection, I am not sure if that is the case.

After a quick jog in them today, I can say that the sole doesn’t spread on compression, but the way the band system works I can see how some might feel like it does… I’m surprised how much I liked the way the shoe felt on the jog though… didn’t expect to like it as much as I did.

For running shoes, the beholder needs to make a purchase. Like it or not, a shoe company has no incentive to make a shoe that will not sell. The best approach is to get designers and biomechanics experts to work together, and we’re seeing that occurring more often. Saucony is a good example – spent a day at their HQ and much of it with their biomechanics guy. The lab is like 10 feet from where the designers work – lots of interaction.

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