I’m not sure if this was a special edition just for bloggers/media. I suspect so given the potential expense involved in wide circulation of an ad like this. But, I have to admit that although I really have no interest in the shoe personally (too heavy for my taste), the video ad is pretty darned cool and I wonder if we are seeing a glimpse at the future with this type of advertising (check out this post on an Outside Magazine video experiment for a different implementation)?

Check out the ad in the video below (click on the gear in the YouTube interface to adjust settings if you’d like to view in HD):

Amby Burfoot recently posted the text of an interview he conducted with famed marathoner and Nike running coach Alberto Salazar on the Racing News Blog on RunnersWorld.com. In the interview, Burfoot asked Salazar a few questions regarding the thought process behind Dathan Ritzenhein’s recent change to a more midfoot/forefoot footsrike.

Among the many fascinating quotes from Salazar, I found the following to be of particular interest:

On form and competing with top level runners:

“Dathan and I both believe that you can’t afford to look and run much differently from the top runners. Sure, you can point to great runners who seem to be an anomaly form-wise. But I believe the best runners with the longest careers are those who have the best form.”

On form in East African Runners:

“The Kenyans all look different, and many of them don’t last long. But when you look at the top Ethiopians, they have impeccable form and they also have long careers.”

This last quote was also referenced by Christopher McDougall in a recent blog entry, and is particularly fascinating coming from one from one of the world’s top running coaches:

“There has to be one best way of running. It’s got to be like a law of physics. And if you deviate too much from that–the way I did in my career–it can be a big handicap. Dathan can’t be a heel striker and expect to run as good as the best forefoot runners. (my emphasis) You can be efficient for a while with bad form–maybe with a low shuffle stride – but eventually that’s not good for your body. It’s going to produce tightness and muscular imbalances and structural problems. Then you get injuries, and if you’re not careful – if you don’t take care of the muscular and structural issues – the injuries can put you into a downward spiral.


You show me someone with bad form, and I’ll show you someone who’s going to have a lot of injuries and a short career.” 

Based on all of this, it looks like Salazar is an advocate of the midfoot strike and a biomechanically based approach to proper running form. I’m wondering what his thoughts are on shoes as it relates to this? Most shoes currently on the market are designed to accommodate a heel strike – is this another case of where research going on at Nike might be driving footwear design in new directions?

Now, if only someone could provide a detailed description of what that “best way of running” is so that the rest of us recreational runners out here can benefit from what is going on in one of the top training centers in the world!

Quick post here to alert you to a nice little article by the Runner’s World Sports Doc, William Roberts, titled “The Mechanics of Barefoot Running.” It’s nice to see a major running publication addressing the positive benefits of barefoot/minimalist running in an objective and scientific way. Although I’m not a barefoot runner myself, I have run barefoot a few times, and believe very strongly in the positive benefits of minimalist running (if done carefully – see my podcast on the subject here). Here’s a short excerpt from the article that hones in on the barefoot footstrike:

“During a forefoot strike, less of the body comes to a dead stop at the moment of impact, so there is less force involved in the collision.  In addition, the motion is more springy, thus dissipating the force of the foot landing over a longer period of time and slowing the rate that forces travel up to the rest of the body (knee, hip, pelvis, spine, and head).  Landing on the fore or mid foot, however, requires an eccentric load on the calf muscles and the Achilles tendon to keep the heel from slapping down on the ground.  A heel strike is basically a collision between the heel and the ground without the benefit of the mid and fore foot structures minimizing and slowing the shock.  This shock wave is a potential source of injury, but no one has yet conducted any studies to test if transitioning to a barefoot style of running would stave off injury.“

Nice to see some solid biomechanical analysis here! To read the full article, follow this link: http://sportsdoc.runnersworld.com/2010/05/the-mechanics-of-barefoot-running.html

Update: Thanks to Tuck in the comments below for pointing out that Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run (check out my take on Born to Run here), has written a lengthy post on his blog about this new Runner’s World Sports Doc Post (he’s for the most part very complimentary toward it). In it, McDougall talks a bit about the seeming change in perspetive coming from Runner’s World, and even makes the suggestion that the running industry may be officially moving away from “motion-control” shoes. It’s a fascinating read, and one that’s definitely worth a look – check it out here: Dr. Runner’s World and Mr. Hyde.

I’m a huge fan of the social networking service Twitter, and I use it almost entirely to connect with other runners. As it turns out, according to this great “I’m A Runner” article in Runner’s World, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone (@biz on Twitter) has recently become a distance runner, and is looking to do a marathon at some point in the future. Here are a few short excerpts – it’s clear that Stone has been bitten by the running bug:

“The reason I really started running was for meditative purposes. I would pick some problem to have in my head while running. Not for the purpose of solving it, but for the purpose of having it bounce around in there. Like when you say you’re going to sleep on it; I’m going to run on it. Then at some point later on, a solution falls out.“

“Even though running is physically straining, it’s mentally refreshing. Especially when you feel like you’ve accomplished something. That’s the other thing about measurement: Wow! That was my longest run. You feel like celebrating, so it’s exciting. Then you get into it more, you know. You start reading about, thinking, I should probably be drinking or eating differently.”

“I got lost, but happily lost. Then I realized I was getting close to 10 miles and was feeling good, and I thought, I should just keep going. I’ll get my Nike Plus chart to go way up. But I told my wife I was only going to be gone a half hour, and so I’m wresting with the idea of continuing. Finally, I decided to go back. When I got home, my wife was like “Where were you? I was going to call the police?” And I said, “You can’t call the police and say, ‘My husband is 45 minutes late.’ They’re not going to listen.‘ ”

I knew there was a reason why I liked Twitter so much – I highly recommend that you check out the entire Runner’s World interview with Biz Stone – it’s a good read.