Start (Photo credit: Wikipedia) If you ask the average person which animal is the best runner on the planet, the most common answer would likely be the cheetah. Few would likely say humans. Cheetahs are blazing fast, no doubt, and in a sprint a cheetah would blow a human away. But what would happen in […]
Colin’s Running Form – Sometimes Radically Different Shoes Don’t Change Things Very Much
November 12, 2013 By 26 Comments
Last week I posted some video of my friend Sam Winebaum’s running form after a filming session at the clinic. Today I wanted to share some video of another athlete who visited last week: Colin Cook. Colin owns Peak Triathlon Coaching in Bedford, New Hampshire, and is an accomplished triathlete. As evidence of his ability, […]
Why the Mizuno Sayonara Does Not Work For Me: Technology and A Tale of Two Shoes
November 1, 2013 By 44 Comments
I’ll start this post by stating clearly that people can respond very differently to a given shoe depending on idiosyncratic characteristics of their stride, anatomy, training program (speed, surfaces, etc.) and so on. I’m lucky in that I can run in most shoes without experiencing major issues, but every once in awhile I encounter a […]
My Running Gait Analysis at the Spaulding National Running Center
October 28, 2013 By 22 Comments
Last Friday I traveled down to Boston to give a research presentation at the Spaulding National Running Center. I was invited by Dr. Irene Davis, one of the world’s leading experts on running gait and injuries, and it was awesome to be able to spend an afternoon at a top notch gait lab. I got […]
adidas Boost: Some Actual Running Economy Data
August 14, 2013 By 18 Comments
Several months ago when adidas first started to market their new BOOST midsole material they made a big deal of touting the fact that the sole, which is composed of fused polyurethane beads, provides greater energy return than traditional EVA. The implication was that this energy return would provide a performance benefit to a runner […]
I Think I’m a Pseudo-Heel Striker!: Study Suggests That As Many as 25-33% of Heel Strikers Exhibit a More Midfoot Loading Pattern
August 13, 2013 By 25 Comments
One of the points I’ve attempted to make repeatedly is that there is a lot of variation among the biomechanical properties of heel strikes when we compare runners. As evidence of this I like to point to a photo compilation from the 2009 Manchester City Marathon that I put together that shows just how much […]
How Can Both Barefoot Running and Hokas Reduce Knee Pain?–A Possible Explanation from a New Study
August 6, 2013 By 35 Comments
I occasionally experience pain along the outer margin of my left kneecap. It’s never severe enough to keep me from running, and it seems to come and go without much explanation. My most recent bout seemed to crop up after a run in the new Mizuno Sayonara – I can’t say for sure that the […]
Natural Running: What The Heck Does it Mean?
June 13, 2013 By 83 Comments
The phrase “natural running” gets thrown around a lot these days. For example, there’s the Natural Running Center, there are natural running stores, Newton’s Danny Abshire wrote a book called “Natural Running,” and Saucony uses Natural Running as a category for shoes on the more minimal end of its range. But, what exactly does the […]
Foot Strike Follies: New Study Suggests Heel Striking is Better, Or Does It?
June 6, 2013 By 28 Comments
I spent much of yesterday in a meeting with Merrell footwear that was attended by several running biomechanics experts. One of the things we all lamented was the laser focus on foot strike that has arisen from the barefoot running debate and resulting discussions about what type of running form is best. Running form seems […]
Is Heel Striking Evil?: More Evidence that All Heel Strikes Are Not Equal
May 24, 2013 By 50 Comments
We humans like tidy little categories. With running shoes we like to take the diversity of options out there and categorize things as neutral, stability, motion control, lightweight, minimal, etc. without considering that shoes within each category are sometimes so variable as to make the category as a whole meaningless. For example, the business world […]
Army Study: No Difference in Injury Rates Between Traditionally and Minimally Shod Soldiers
May 20, 2013 By 26 Comments
I was poking through the abstracts of presentations for the upcoming meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine the other night and came across one for a study comparing injury rates between traditionally and minimally shod US Army soldiers. Titled “Injury Risk and Performance among Soldiers Wearing Minimalist Running Shoes Compared to Traditional Running […]
Factors Contributing to the Energetic Cost of Running: Great Article by Kevin Maggs
April 9, 2013 By 9 Comments
I just read an excellent article by Kevin Maggs of Active Spine and Sport and Running Reform. In the article Kevin summarizes the work of Dr. Roger Kram of the University of Colorado. Kram has spent much of his career dissecting the many factors that contribute that contribute to the energetic cost of running, and […]
Do Vibram Fivefingers Increase Risk of Foot Stress Fractures?: Some Thoughts on Recent Research
April 1, 2013 By 41 Comments
A couple of weeks ago a study titled “Foot Bone Marrow Edema after 10-Week Transition to Minimalist Running Shoes” was published on-line by the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. The study created a bit of a stir in the news, with the typical hyped up headlines accompanying articles on the paper. “Barefoot […]
Foot Strike Pattern in Running Adolescents Changes With Footwear Type
March 21, 2013 By 3 Comments
I just came a across a link to an article on Science Daily that discusses a study that was just presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Details are scanty, but the study authors apparently recruited 12 experienced adolescent runners (they were on track teams) and had them run on a treadmill in […]
Amby Burfoot on Energy Return in Running and the adidas Boost Midsole
A bit over a week ago adidas introduced their new Boost midsole technology. Based on mechanical testing, Boost is touted as providing the best energy return of any cushioning material currently incorporated into a running shoe. This finding was confirmed by Runner’s World Magazine, who put the shoe to the test in their shoe lab […]