This is the fifth entry in my barefoot running journal. Head over here to start at the beginning.
Sometimes I wonder if we take things too literally. I started thinking about this in terms of minimalist running. I have been running in my New Balance Minimus Trail running shoes. They are extremely minimal, having no cushioning whatsoever. It is a trail shoe, and I bought them primarily for trail running, but also for occasional city runs. And this is what I have done; with gradual increase in mileage. All is well, but on one of my runs last week, I was in a position where I was running on a sidewalk that was lined with a patch of grass between the sidewalk and the road. I moved over to the grass as I passed a couple with their stroller and was struck by how different it felt.
That’s when it really hit me: we can’t really apply the notion of we were “Born to Run” to the modern urban situation. Our ancestors may have run barefoot, but they didn’t do it on concrete. Natural ground, whether it is grass or dirt, has built in cushioning. It provides a dampening effect for every step, reducing the force that is transferred to our body when we run.
As soon as I noticed that, I opted to run on the grass as much as possible for the rest of that run, and noticed a considerable difference in comfort. Running in my minimalist shoes on grass felt amazing: I could almost feel my feet moving in response to the ground. But as soon as I moved back to the concrete, my body had to adapt to take on the additional impact. There has been no pain from running on concrete, so perhaps it will be fine, but it doesn’t feel as right as running on grass did.
And the more I thought about it, the more I considered that if we will run on concrete, we should have some cushioning in our shoes to mimic the cushioning that the natural ground would give us. I started to think that the guy who sold me my shoes was half right (click here for that story). He had suggested that I buy a less minimal shoe as a transition shoe before moving into the completely minimalist shoe I have now. I still think that was bad advice for someone who was just ramping up their running. I think if he had suggested the transition shoe as a sidewalk shoe, it would have been excellent advice. In fact it also makes me think that Vibram Five Fingers are ill-advised for city running, although they seem to have developed a degree of popularity among runners. I wonder if that will last? Anyone reading this who has been running in Vibrams in the city for a while? Care to share your experience? Either as a comment below or send me an email through the contact form and I’ll post it as a guest blog.
I still think there is validity to the minimalist footwear movement and the emphasis on more of a midsole strike instead of a heel strike. Since this revelation I have gone for a couple of runs in my funky old Adidas, which have no support but a small amount of cushioning; and in my fun new Adidas Adizero training shoes. They are similar to my funky old Adidas in support and cushioning but a little less worn down.
Much better! They provide enough cushioning that they are comfortable on concrete, but not so much that I lose touch with the ground and revert to heel striking.
If you’d like to circle back to the beginning of my barefoot running journal, you can get there with this link. At the end of each entry there is a link to the next one.
Elsbeth Vaino, B.Sc, CSCS, is a personal trainer in Ottawa, Canada. She works with clients of all types, but most come to her for athletic performance, reducing injury risk, and returning to activity after injury.
I get a lot of requests for take home training programs. Typically they are from people who don’t have time to get to the gym, or don’t like the gym, or don’t want to spend the money on a trainer, or don’t live nearby. Preparing custom take home training programs used to be my bread and butter. Clients would come in a comprehensive functional assessment (including the Functional Movement Screen and sometimes the Titleist Performance Institute golf fitness assessment); I would create a custom program based on their results and the equipment they have access to; they would come in for a session where I would walk them through the exercises; and then I’d send them home with a package including pictures and descriptions of each one. It was great. But over time I started to question the approach.
How many brought the package home, put it on the coffee table and left it there. Until cleaning day, when they moved it to the desk in the office. And then spring cleaning came and it was put in a drawer. Only to be found at tax time while looking for receipts, it was dusted off, the person decided they need to get fit and put it back on the coffee table. Until…
How many brought the package home on Monday, worked through it enthusiastically on Tuesday and Thursday, but then Saturday was busy so they skipped. Monday they picked it up again, feeling guilty for having missed a session, then Wednesday it was raining and who works out on a rainy day? A week later, they find the program under a pile of papers and move it to the desk…
How many brought the package home on Monday, worked through it enthusiastically on Tuesday and Thursday, and Saturday, and continued to do the exercises three times each week religiously; but never really got the hang of the exercises so that over time, the exercises started looking less like sound functional exercises and more like this:
Based on feedback, and follow up conversations and sessions with clients, I estimate that these take home programs were effective for probably 20% of the clients who got them. For everyone else, it ranged from a waste of their money to being done with such poor form that it was dangerous.
These days most of my clients workout with me, yielding much better results for them. I do provide take home programs on occasion, but now I screen clients for them. I need to be confident that a client meets three criteria before I will create a take home program for them:
Highly self-motivated
Have great body awareness
Have access to decent equipment
If you work out on your own, or are thinking of buying a book to start a home workout, or going to seek a trainer to put together a home workout plan for you, consider whether it is actually your best option.
Would you pass my test?
1. ARE YOU HIGHLY SELF-MOTIVATED?
How can you tell if this is you? Do you work out regularly now? If not, odds are, this is not you. I know that sounds ridiculously basic, but, from my experience, it’s pretty accurate.
I’m sure many people reading this run or bike several times a week (maybe even daily); or play tennis, baseball, ultimate, hockey, or soccer several times a week (maybe even daily) and are thinking “I’m totally self-motivated! I do my sport all the time and have for years!”. Yup.
And how long have you known that you should probably augment that activity with some training but still don’t do it?
How long have you known that you really shouldn’t play or train every day but still train every day anyway?
How many times have you trained through injury knowing that you really should rest instead?
There’s no question that there are a few of you who have recently become convinced of the value of strength and flexibility training in addition to your chosen sport, and some of you probably fit the bill as being self-motivated enough to do your strength and flexibility training on your own.
But most of you are not:
You know working out is a good idea, but you don’t do it.
You understand that running is not actually building leg strength: it’s building cardio.
You understand that from a physiological perspective, strength is built with fewer repetitions of a movement, and that running involves thousands of repetitions. If you don’t believe this, give yourself a quick test. Stand on one leg and squat down to a chair, touch it very lightly at the bottom, and then stand back up again still on the one leg. Can you do this on each leg without difficulty? Can you do it without your knee wobbling around like a weeble?
If this is challenging for you, is your sport really getting you strong? Or is your lack of strength troubling considering how much you run?
You are motivated to run or to play because that’s what you love to do, but you are not motivated to do the work your body needs so that you can continue to run and play instead of becoming that person who talks about how they used to be an athlete.
I’m pretty sure I’ve turned some people off with this definition of self-motivated, but I’m comfortable with that. It had to be said.
This is not intended to be a judgement, but rather a self-check: maybe having a set meeting with someone who will motivate and help you through your workout is what you need to ensure you do the workout? There is no shame in this!
2. DO YOU HAVE GREAT BODY AWARENESS?
From Mirriam-Webster:
“Spaz: a clumsy, awkward person <I haven’t played tennis in years, so don’t be surprised if I am a total spaz on the court>
Is that you? If so, you are not an ideal candidate for working out on your own. My apologies for bringing up painful schoolyard memories, but there’s a reality here: not everyone has a good sense of their body. If you are one of those people, then doing exercises on your own without cueing and coaching to make sure you are doing them correctly is a bad idea. I truly don’t mean this as a knock to anyone. We all have our shortcomings. For some it is coordination and body awareness; for others it is math, or language, or art. If you saw a drawing of mine, you’d quickly understand my big shortcoming. I only failed one course through all of my schooling and it was drafting in first year university. Despite going to every class, doing all of the homework assignments, and studying like crazy, my final grade was 35% on the course.
It’s a fact: I cannot draw a straight line with a t-square.
Is it a fact that coordinated movement is not your strong suit? If so, consider training with a personal trainer instead of on your own.
3. DO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO DECENT EQUIPMENT, EITHER AT HOME OR AT A COMMERCIAL GYM?
When people come to me for an exercise program, we typically talk about what equipment they have.
Client: “ I have a stability ball, a band, a yoga mat, some free weights and a stationary bike.”
Me: “Oh? What free weights do you have?”
Client: “I have 2, 5 and 8 pound dumbbells.”
Me: “You don’t have free weights; you have paper weights.“
If this sounds like your home gym, then guess what? You don’t have a home gym. Here I go offending people again! There are two major problems with this type of “home gym”:
Unless you are an octogenarian or have a significant physical limitation, you will outgrow those weights very quickly. Likely in less than a month. And that’s a generous estimate. I train clients of all ages and abilities, and they all progress well beyond what they can get out of light weights like that. Consider that a bottle of olive oil weighs more than your 2 lb weight, and an empty stock pot weighs as much as your heaviest weight. How much do you think those 3 bags of groceries that you will lift awkwardly out of your trunk weighs? Or the stock pot when it is full of soup? Are those 2, 5 and 8 lb weights really serving to strengthen your body enough to handle your daily tasks?
There are some great bodyweight exercises out there that can contribute to getting you strong and helping you to move better. Push ups, for instance. The single leg squat test above is a great exercise for strengthening the legs. The problem is that it is very hard to create a balanced workout with just body weight.
This is particularly problematic for those of you who spend a lot of time at a computer. Desk time creates short and tight pectoral muscles (chest), and stretched and weak back muscles, usually resulting in rounded shoulders. Pushups can actually make this worse. Or at least pushups when done without their alter-ego, pulling exercises, can make this work. It is important to balance out your pushups with something like dumbbell rows, or cable pulls, chin ups, or one of my favourites, the TRX inverted row.
The TRX is one piece of equipment that can turn a “home gym” into a reasonable workout space with a relatively small price tag. The reason is that it provides an option for many exercise types that are an important part of a balanced workout, but are otherwise hard to do at home. In addition to providing an option for rows, it also provides options for working your obliques or rotary core muscles, and your glutes and hamstrings or posterior chain muscles.
What is the verdict? Are you truly someone who is well-suited to working out on your own? Great! Do it!
But for those of you who aren’t (a.k.a. most of you), maybe it’s time to consider hiring a pro to help get you going? Yes, it can be expensive (although some of us provide great options like semi-private training), but it’s your health.
Consider this: do you spend more money maintaining your car than you do your body? How many cars will you likely have in your life? How many bodies?
Elsbeth Vaino, B.Sc., CSCS is a personal trainer in Ottawa, Canada. She works out regularly at an awesome little personal training studio in Hintonburg.
This is the fourth entry in my barefoot running journal. Head over here to start at the beginning.
I have logged a few more runs in the new shoes, as well as one barefoot run on the beach in San Diego last week. I am definitely getting more and more used to running without supportive shoes. The biggest transition seems to be how much effort I feel in my calves, although I seem to be slowly getting used to that.
I did discover what I think is a design flaw with these shoes (the New Balance Minimus Trail): if the ground is even slightly wet, your feet will be as well. I guess that’s the price of the shoes being so light. Because the little rubber cleats (for lack of a better word) do not cover the entire sole, but rather have gaps that expose the fabric of the shoe, water comes right up. It’ll be interesting to see how they hold up to wet trails.
I’ve also made a change to my approach. A couple of entries ago, this is what I wrote:
“I’m going to run when I want to run. I’m not going to train.
I hope I stick to this. The competitive soul within me may try to hijack this effort, but I will do my best to let my free-spirit soul win out. (Yes, I am a Gemini). I want to experience running as a treat, not a job. I don’t care if I run 4 minute miles or 14 minute miles. Or if I log 100 miles per week or 1 mile per week. I don’t know why I’m writing this in imperial, as it doesn’t really mean anything to me. But I suppose that supports my point: I am going to run free of numbers and goals and judgments. I am just going to run.”
Well that lasted all of 16 days. Oops! It turns out my competitive soul was successful in the hijacking effort, as I have adopted the couch to 5k running plan (or C25k). I actually place the blame for this on my friend Cara. I was chatting with her on Saturday morning and she mentioned that she and a few of her family members will be running the Perth Kilt Run again this summer. She then proceeded to wear me down until I agreed to run it as well. Okay, really all she did was describe how awesome it was last year:
10,000 runners, all in kilts.
bands and bagpipes along the route.
free beer provided by Beau’s at the finish for all runners.
See? I had no choice but to agree to run it. And so I am now training for a running race for the first time in about a decade. It’s a 5-mile (8km) race, which I think is more than I should do without building a base. Which brings me to the second reason I have flip-flopped on not having a training plan. Over the past couple of weeks, my “no training” plan seems to have evolved into a “no-running” plan. Or at least a “minimal-running” plan; which I suppose is fitting since I’m doing a “minimalist running” plan. So either I’m not good without a plan, or I need to already be a decent runner before I can go without a running plan.
The first run in the C25k run is a 20 minute effort that includes a 5 minute walk followed by 6 rounds of 60 seconds of running followed by 90 seconds of walking. I decided to geek it up and searched for a timer app for my android. I looked at a few and eventually downloaded “HIIT Interval training”, a free app that allowed me to easily set up my phone so that I could listen to music on my phone and at the end of each interval, I would hear a whistle over the music to indicate it was time to walk or run. It worked like a charm, and I highly recommend the app.
I went to the arboretum for my first training run. I love running there. I am a personal trainer, so I spend a lot of time inside a gym, and I firmly believe that most people should do some strength training. But I also know that everyone should do some training in nature. There really is a magical feeling from running places like this.
Toward the end of the run, I went off the path and just started weaving through the trees as I ran. Such a great feeling!
Throughout that run, the shoes felt phenomenal. The post-run tightness that I’d felt in my calves seems to be a thing of the past, and the combination of the short intervals and the forward lean required for the minimalist shoes made me feel as though I was running fast, which I quite enjoyed. When I used to do distance running, I tended to run pretty slowly. I’m excited to see if I will be able to continue to run fast as I reduce the time spent walking.
The next entry in my barefoot running journal is up. Click the link to read it.
Elsbeth Vaino, B.Sc, CSCS, is a personal trainer in Ottawa.
I am a fitness and nutrition geek. I know, I’m stating the obvious. Part of being a geek means reading. And in the internet age, that reading includes blogs. There is a plethora of blog articles about fitness and nutrition on the interwebs. Maybe more. Some of them are horrific, many are just fine, and some are truly outstanding. I have read my share from all categories.
I recently noticed that I tend to refer to the same articles over and over again, in articles, emails, and on forum posts. Clearly these are the ones that I deem outstanding. Each time I go to refer to them, I have to dig a bit to find it. If only there was some way to mark websites of interest, like in a book…It then occurred to me that others might like to have easy access to these outstanding articles, and so I decided to create my all time top 10 list of great blog articles. But why do a top 10 when you can do a top 11?
(I know, I’ve used that video clip in a blog article before. What can I say? Awesomeness deserves to be repeated).
Back to the article and without further ado, here are my favourite training and nutrition articles from the internet, sorted by author’s last name:
The Science of Nutrient Timing by John Berardi. This is an article that I’ve sent more times than I can count. I like it for many reasons, but primarily because it makes sense. It’s actually in two-parts. Give it a read if you are a nutrition nerd or are wondering what you need to do to shed a few pounds. If this speaks to you and you are looking to lose some weight, consider picking up John Berardi’s Precision Nutrition, which I believe is the best nutrition guidance out there.
Does it hurt by Michael Boyle. This article is brilliant in its simplicity, yet somehow the concept is very hard for some people to accept or follow. Anyone who has an injury and plays a sport or trains should read this article often. It is training gospel in my mind. Read it.
Load vector training by Bret Contreras. This might actually be my favourite article of them all, but I think part of the reason is that it appeals to my inner geek. I mean, it’s about vectors! If you’re even a little bit of a geek, then you owe it to yourself to read this article. And if you’re not, but you are serious about training, then you should also read this article. It’s a different way of looking at and classifying exercise that I think is both brilliant and necessary. Trust me; it’s worth the read.
The Hierarchy of Fat Loss, by Alwyn Cosgrove. I’ve sent and posted this link innumerable times. It’s that good. What matters most in terms of losing fat? Nope, no sneak preview. It’s too good an article for you to skip it. Read on.
Shoulder savers by Eric Cressey. Simply put, this is a fantastic article about training in a manner that is safe for your shoulders. If you have shoulder issues, or train anyone who does (translation: if you train people), then you need to read this article. Consider it mandatory reading. And lucky for us, it comes in 3 parts – it’s just that full of great information.
Strong is sexy by Neghar Fonooni. This one is for all women who want to know whether it is better to use the elliptical for an hour or tone with light weights. Or for women who shyly look into the weight room, wondering if they will get too big if they go in there. If you are a woman who works out, or know a woman who works out, please read this article.
Breastfeeding and weightlifting by Cassandra Forsythe. Cassandra has lots of great articles, but I include this one in the list because it is an important topic that can be puzzling for many women who may not have an informed resource to provide an adequate answer about training post-pregnancy. Did I mention that Cassandra has a PhD in Exercise Science and Nutrition and is a Registered Dietician? Just in case you were wondering if you should take her word for it. You should.
How to tell if your trainer knows what they’re doing by Molly Galbraith. I love this article, and not just because I pass the test as a good trainer. I love it because there are not-so-great trainers out there, and without extensive knowledge of training, it can be tough to tell the difference. But the difference between good and bad can be the difference between success and injury. In other words, it’s important. If you have a trainer, or are thinking of hiring a trainer, please read this article.
Goblet squats 101 by Dan John. I had the pleasure of seeing Dan John present last summer at the Perform Better Summit in Long Beach, where he was possibly the best speaker of the 3 day event (maybe tied with Charles Staley). If you’ve been at a Perform Better Summit, then you know that is saying something (If you haven’t then you really should). The beauty of Dan’s teachings is its simplicity. This article is a prime example of that. If you teach squats, or have ever had difficulty with squatting, or have ever wondered about your squat form, then read this article.
Why emotional dieting leads to never-ending dieting by Leigh Peele. I love this article because it focuses on the mental and emotional side of weight loss. We absolutely need to continue the conversation about eating well and exercising as weight loss tools, but there is more to it. Truly. If you’ve struggled with weight loss but are motivated to succeed, then give this a read and hopefully take a new perspective away from it.
6 Exercises for low back pain by Elsbeth Vaino. Oh no you didn’t. Oh yes. I did. I included my own article in my top 11 list. Probably I should be more humble, but well, I’m not. And besides, adding this provides an excuse to add the Spinal Tap video to the article. I won’t apologize for that. Truthfully, I believe it’s an important topic, and the advice in it is both simple and sound. Give it a read if this is a topic of interest to you.
There it is. My list. Are any of these on your list of favourites? If so, let me know which one(s). Or have I missed some great ones? Undoubtedly. If you have favourite articles that I missed, please share in the comments section below.
It’s now been 4 days since I bought my saucy new minimalist trail running shoes, the New Balance Minimus Trail.
Technically I haven’t actually run in them yet. I decided to wear them around the house first, so on Sunday afternoon, I wore them at home, figuring this was a good way to ease into them. Within about a half hour, I started getting pain (minor discomfort really) where the arch meets the heel. It was something that I had experienced many years ago with a pair of cleats. In that case, I ended up switching to a pair of cleats with a different cleat pattern and the problem went away. Hmm. I took the shoes off and continued to wander about the house just in socks. The discomfort went away quite quickly.
The next day I decided to wear the shoes at my training studio. Within a half hour, the same thing happened. So I took them off and continued training clients in socks. The discomfort went away. Based on that, I decided I would return the shoes. I figured that the fact that I could switch to barefoot (socks) without discomfort suggested it wasn’t a question of my getting used to minimalist shoes, but that it was the location of one of the bumps (for lack of a better word) on the bottom of the shoe that was a problem for me. I went for a trail run on Tuesday morning without the new shoes and with the intention of returning them that afternoon. I ran out of time that day, so brought them in to my personal training studio Wednesday morning with the intention of returning them that afternoon.
For some reason I put them on one more time. This time, they didn’t hurt. At all. I wore them for a good 2 and a half hours while training clients and then during my own lifting session. No problems. Needless to say, I’m pretty happy that I didn’t just return them. I mean, did you see how awesome they look?
This afternoon marks an exciting moment for both me and my saucy new shoes: the first outdoor run!
I will run to work this afternoon. It’s a short run – 1.4 km (ya, living close to work is awesome). And realistically, I’ll probably stop once on the way. I am after all, just starting back into running – it’s only been about 2 weeks now. Intermittently.
I am also reviewing my form. I have read a bit about Chi running, have attended a great workshop by a sports medicine doctor and a physiotherapist about running, and have seen some instructional videos. Last night I downloaded a copy of ChiRunning to my ipad, although i haven’t started it yet (but you learn just by buying, right?). The few times that I have run recently in my funky Adidas, I have tried my interpretation of Chi Running. I am sure it’s not 100%. Really I’m working on just leaning forward and then letting my feet catch up to me. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but until I learn more (will start reading tonight and hoping to take a course), that’s what I’m going with. In my head I’m thinking of myself as a kid running. You know how little kids look like they are constantly about to fall over forward when they run, but somehow their feet catch up? I see two benefits to thinking of this:
I think it might actually be correct.
It feels hilarious, and I like hilarity.
I know, I said 2 reasons. But bonus reason number 3 is that I have a good friend who skates this way. As an adult. It’s hilarious. I’m going to start thinking of him now when I run. If you see me running by laughing, now you know why. I wonder if he’ll read this. If so, I wonder if he’ll know I’m talking about him. No, this has nothing to do with Barefoot Running. But everything to do with not taking running too seriously. Which is a great lead in to the rest of the article.
Running Goals
What are my running goals? I dunno.
Will I run a 10km race? A marathon? Doubt it.
How long will each run be? Dunno.
How many runs will I do each week? Some, I guess.
Here’s the deal: While I’m going to jump in feet first to this new minimalist shoe trend, beyond that, I’m going to do the opposite of what most runners do. But I actually think is the core message of Born to Run. It’s not entirely about the shoes.
I’m going to run when I want to run. I’m not going to train.
I hope I stick to this. The competitive soul within me may try to hijack this effort, but I will do my best to let my free-spirit soul win out. (Yes, I am a Gemini). I want to experience running as a treat, not a job. I don’t care if I run 4 minute miles or 14 minute miles. Or if I log 100 miles per week or 1 mile per week. I don’t know why I’m writing this in imperial, as it doesn’t really mean anything to me. But I suppose that supports my point: I am going to run free of numbers and goals and judgments. I am just going to run.
As much as possible, I’m going to run in awesome places.
Places where trails weave through forests and along rivers, and up and down hills. Where chickadees will eat out of your hands, where deer sightings are normal, and you sometimes have to stop because the Canada Geese are blocking your path. Jack Pine trail. The Experimental Farm. Gatineau Park. Mer Bleu. Ottawa is blessed with some fantastic nature locales and there is something truly magical about running in nature’s glory.
If I am running and I feel like walking, I will walk. If I am walking and I feel like running, I will run.
I did the latter on the weekend, and it was awesome. I was meeting friends on Elgin St for breakfast, so I decided that instead of walking, I would run/walk. I didn’t change into running clothes. I wore jeans; not running pants. A regular bra; not a sports bra. My sporty-casual 3/4 length fall coat; not a running jacket. And the funky Adidas, which I probably would have worn anyways. I didn’t run enough to get all sweaty so that I’d wish I had put on workout wear. But I ran enough that it took less than 15 minutes to get there instead of 20+.
Remember when you were a kid and you just ran? Why don’t we do that anymore? I’ve decided to start. Anyone else?
Click here to see the next entry with the results of outdoor run #1. Well, not the results. Cuz you know – there will be no results since I’ll just be running. But I’ll let you know how it felt.
If you’d like to circle back to the beginning of my barefoot running journal, you can get there with this link. At the end of each entry there is a link to the next one.
Elsbeth Vaino, B.Sc., CSCS is a personal trainer in Ottawa, Canada.
I love listening to audio books on long drives. I was heading to Toronto for a movnat workshop about a month ago and so picked up the Born to Run audio book. If you haven’t read (or listened to it), I highly recommend it. It is partly a book that puts forth a thesis and supports it with convincing (but probably one sided) physiological arguments. But it is also a book that weaves a great tale about life and people and running. Unfortunately I didn’t get to listen to much of it on the drive to Toronto as a big snow storm cut that drive short (going in May now instead). But I’ve since listened to the book in bits and pieces as I drive around Ottawa. There have been many days when I arrive somewhere and remain in the car because I don’t want to “put the book down”.
This book came to me at an opportune time, as I’ve been thinking about getting back into running. I used to run regularly, but for the last 5 to 10 years, I have done very little distance running. Initially it was because I was focusing my training on sports performance for Ultimate, which is a field sport requiring intermittent bursts of speed. Distance running is a very poor choice in terms of training for sports like ultimate (or soccer, tennis, basketball, hockey, football…) because it effectively trains you to run slowly in sports that require speed. I no longer play ultimate at a competitive level, and don’t aspire to. I still play at a fairly high level, but my training focus now is more broad. I still train to be able to perform, but performance has taken on a new meaning. For me, it now means being fit enough to be able to do the activities I want to do. And over the winter, I’ve been thinking that I’d like to take up both cycling and running again.
I actually only started running again about a week ago. I decided to start running to work, which is less than 2 km from my house. I pulled my old running shoes out, put the orthotics in, and ran out the door. I went about halfway, walked for about a block, and then ran the rest of the way. It was pretty cool. But I noticed two things:
when I looked in the mirror, I could see that I supinated (standing on the outside edges of my feet) in my shoes.
I started to feel some discomfort in the outside of my calf on one side.
There was a time when I wore orthotics for everything. This was one of the many prescriptions I received during 20 years of on again/off again hip pain on my left side that eventually led to surgery 3 years ago for femoro acetabular impingement, a labral tear and early arthritis. About a year after surgery (which was a big success), I started to ween myself off the orthotics. Very slowly. I started with “barefoot” warmups for my own training, and then spent more time walking around without shoes at home. Eventually I stopped wearing the orthotics for any strength training, and then stopped wearing them for normal daily living. I kept them a bit longer for long walks, tennis and ultimate. During this time, I also spent a lot of my training time in the gym with single-leg training. Until very recently, I actually had no plan to go beyond that. A little more history: I was born with a partial clubfoot that was corrected with special shoes when I was a baby. It wasn’t quite 100% corrected, and I’m pretty certain that there is a relationship between the partial club foot and the hip trouble I had. And considering that, I figured that I am one of the people who has a structural issue in my foot and therefore would need orthotics forever.
But as I looked at how I was standing in my running shoes with the orthotics in them, having just been listening to Born to Run, I started to second guess. And I decided it was time to give this barefoot running concept a try. Well, more specifically, the minimalist shoe concept. I don’t want to actually go barefoot, but there are now many shoes out there that have little to no support. If you believe the message from Born to Run (and I do), then you will be of the opinion that most running shoes are actually bad for us, and that when it comes to running shoes, less is more. I then looked over at my funky casual Adidas: they are pretty minimal – no support to speak of. So the next day I ran to and from work wearing them.
Two cool things happened:
that little lateral calf pain went away
I noticed that I naturally started to run with a midfoot strike instead of a heel strike, just like they suggest in Born to Run (for those who don’t know what this means, stay tuned for a future blog article about a great running biomechanics presentation I attended last year or…read Born to Run).
So it’s true what they say! I was encouraged.
And I decided I would take a stand: I’m not going to go spend a tonne of money on expensive “minimalist shoes” sold by the same big brand running shoe companies who introduced these horrible running shoes to us in the first place. I would just wear my scrappy 2008 casual runners. No purchase required. I’m so sticking it to the man that soon I’ll be living in the woods! Or am I? The next day I went for a trail run with my best friend. I ended up wearing my old running shoes because the casual shoes have pretty worn treads and a funky aeration screen on the bottom, making them a poor choice for trail running. I wore them without the orthotics and I was happy to see that the calf pain did not return. But they felt clunky, and it was a struggle to keep the midfoot strike. So much for my stick-it-to-the-manedness: a couple of hours later I was at Sports 4 trying on minimalist trail running shoes.
The guy at the store tried to convince me to get a “transition shoe”, because we need to introduce minimalist shoes gradually to avoid a host of other injuries. I pointed out, that I am still in the process of ramping up running in general, so gradual is not a problem. The notion of transitioning to a transition shoe so that a few months from now I have to transition again, this time to a minimalist shoe, seems absurd. Or more accurately an attempt by the shoe companies to get me to buy new shoes more often than I need to. Eventually I convinced him that I don’t need the transition: I already do lots of barefoot or socked-foot training, and will only be running 1 – 3 km initially with the shoes.
I ended up getting the New Balance Minimus trail. Look how cool they are:
And they only weigh 3.5 ounces. Crazy!
I got some support for that decision a few minutes later. I was walking down bank st and a woman at the bus stop who had been at sports 4 when I was talking with the sales guy stopped me and told me that she thinks I was right to skip the minimalist shoe. As it turns out she is a physiotherapist and had recently attended Blais Dubois’ running clinic. I had previously heard good things about Blais Dubois’ clinic from Richard Gregory, a fantastic osteopath and athletic therapist in Ottawa, so when she spoke about it, it did not come across as a random argument. I felt reassured. Both in my choice of shoe and my constant feeling that Ottawa is a small city.
I’ll fill you in on how I’m making out with these saucy shoes in the next article. If you want to be notified when the next installment of my barefoot running journey gets posted, let me know in the comment section below.
I am a big fan of unilateral training, both for upper and lower body exercises. Especially for lower body. I also work with bilateral exercises as I believe they are also an important part of a balanced training program. But I think a program without unilateral training is missing something.
The primary reason that I love unilateral training is that it helps to identify strength and flexibility differences from side to side. I see these across all types of people, but especially among those who play a sport that uses one side more than the other. If you think about it, this is almost every sport with the exception of running, swimming and cycling (If I missed one please let me know in the comments below). Even those sports will tend to have a unilateral element to it: Read more…
This is a question that came up on the StrengthCoach.com forum last week (well actually it was for sports performance coaches, but the issue is the same for personal trainers). There were some great answers from great coaches. Here was my response:
“Definitely, it is important to practice what you preach. How much and how intensely should relate to your goals – just like it does for our clients. Read more…
The first sport-specific training article in the Countdown to London 2012 series is about tennis. Most of us are familiar with this great sport, and enjoy some of the many great matches televised from Wimbledon, and the Opens.
How does one train for a sport like tennis? To understand this, it is important to understand the concept of functional training, as sport-specific training is a subset. Read more…
I love the Olympics. I know it’s still a few months away, but hey, if this was the US Presidential race we’d be talking about it for a few years in advance. I was looking at the London 2012 website to see when they actually start, and it turns out they are only 23 weeks away (July 27th), and we are 25 weeks from the closing ceremony (August 12th). Then I started looking at the events, and thinking that one of the things I love about the Olympics is that we get to see elite performance in a variety of sports that we often don’t have access to on a regular basis. Like volleyball – such a great sport, but rarely televised.
As a personal trainer and strength coach, the Olympics hold an extra attraction for me. Yes, I love the competition, entertainment, and the hope that the athletes representing my country will take home a medal. But beyond that I love the individual displays of athleticism. I love to watch an athlete and think about the training they did to help get them to that level, and about what I would have done if I was training them. Read more…
But I’ll let you know how it felt.
