Runblogger Runcast #7 is an audio podcast of a lecture I gave to my Exercise Physiology class on the evolution of distance running in humans. In this lecture I outline the hypothesis recently put forth by researchers Dennis Bramble and Daniel Lieberman that humans beings have evolved anatomical and physiological characteristics that make us outstanding […]
Vibram Fivefingers and Barefoot Running: Does Removing Heel Cushion Change Footstrike?
December 11, 2009 By 47 Comments
In my previous post, I posed the following question to Ian Adamson, director of product development and education for the Newton Running Company: Me: Available data indicate that most people are heel-strikers. Is it your belief that the presence of extensive heel cushion (i.e., a heel wedge/lift) essentially forces a heel strike in most people? […]
Newton Running: Q&A With Ian Adamson, Newton’s Director of Product Development
December 9, 2009 By 1 Comment
Last week I published a post with a series of slow-motion videos of me running on a treadmill in different types of footwear (stability shoe to fully barefoot), with a specific goal of looking at if/how my footstrike might change with different types of shoes (or lack thereof). To my surprise, I received a series […]
Relationship Between Running Footstrike and Footwear: From Stability Shoes to Barefoot
December 4, 2009 By 28 Comments
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between footwear (or lack thereof) and how it affects my running footstrike. Over the past year I’ve been running in everything from full-blown, pronation-control stabilty shoes (Saucony Progrid Guides, Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8) down to Vibram Fivefingers KSO’s, which are about as minimalist as you can […]
Running Research Discussed on NPR Science Friday
October 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Quick post here to alert you to a story/interview about running research from the October 30th episode of NPR Science Friday with Ira Flatow. Thanks to @korevec on Twitter for alerting me to the story. The description of the segment is provided below: “Runners from around the world are converging on New York City, preparing […]
Analyzing My Running Footstrike: Fun With High-Speed Video
September 26, 2009 By 5 Comments
Several days ago I posted about a new high-speed video camera that I recently purchased for my research lab. The Casio Exilim EX-F1 is an amazing piece of technology, allowing us to record extremely quick events at high-frame rates (as many as 1200 frames per second), and it is already proving itself worthy as a […]
Articles on the Evolution of Running in Humans
April 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I’ve been mulling over the idea that humans have evolved to be excellent endurance runners quite a bit lately. Three of my recent blog posts have touched on the topic to different degrees: New Running Book: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, by Christopher McDougall […]
Video Clip: Persistence Hunting and the Evolution of Running in Humans
April 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
***If you are a distance runner or marathoner, you absolutely have to watch this video clip – it’s amazing!*** Earlier today I posted an article about the evolution of running in humans. In that article, I discussed persistence hunting, which is a technique used in some native tribes whereby the hunter tracks and chases down […]
Running Science
February 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Below is a series of posts or links to podcast episodes that I have written/produced on the topics of running and exercise science. Some are opinion pieces, some provide links to news stories, and some feature research done in my lab (I’m an Anatomy/Physiology professor at a small college in New Hampshire). FeedWind
The Evolution of Running in Humans: Why We Are Meant to Run
If you’ve been running for any length of time, you’ve probably received derisive comments and odd looks from friends/family regarding your running habit. “You’re going to ruin your knees” is a common one, “humans aren’t built to run long distances” is another. Well, I have news for these people – their scornful comments couldn’t be […]