I am
not a runner. I have never been a runner,
and I have never even wanted to be a runner.
I always felt that guys my size (greater than six feet and 200 lbs)
weren't built for running. This view was
reinforced when I started looking inside athlete's knees, especially runners',
and saw the amount of damage they were doing to their joints, and it was further supported when any attempt at running after my back injury 12 years ago sent shock waves of pain up my
spine. Any cardio activities for me have
been destined to be relatively low impact.
That being
said, I was watching one of the news magazine shows last year and they had a
piece on the rise in barefoot running.
One of the primary premises behind the movement is that the current method
of running that most westerners use where the heel strikes the ground first is
unnatural, inefficient and a primary contributor to the multiple injuries and
pain associated with running. There is increasing
support for a more natural style of running where the strike of the foot
happens more towards the ball of the foot and the heel doesn't even really
touch the ground. This stride goes by
many names, including midfoot or forefoot strike running (FSR), depending on
who you ask and the exact technique. Regardless
of the name, however, this running form allows the natural shock absorber of the
lower leg to soften the impact and promotes a more efficient forward lean.
Proponents also contend that you not only don't need a thickly cushioned soled
shoe, but that you should have as little sole on your shoe as possible (if any)
to allow the foot to naturally adjust and respond to the terrain (leading to
one of my favorite new oxymoronic, marketing terms, “barefoot" running shoe). Indeed,
all major athletic shoe manufacturers and many boutique brands now offer
minimalist running shoe lines with little or no angle to the thin midsole.
From a
biomechanics and an evolutionary perspective, this all makes perfect
sense. I wasn't convinced that I should
be hitting the jogging trail but it provided some perspective that maybe
roadwork wasn't necessarily evil. I had
further conversations with a colleague who is a forefoot strike runner that
provided additional support to its benefits, and she suggested a book called Born
to Run by Christopher McDougall for more details.
Fast
forward to 2012 and I found myself looking for more variety in my cardio
routines. My trainer wanted me to try
spin classes but it definitely wasn't for me.
I'm not even that big a fan of regular bike riding. With the weather turning so nice, I also wanted
to get off the machines and get outside a little. So last week I decided to go
for a walk and maybe try out some FSR.
If you've never tried it before, it's a little odd at first; it almost
feels like your prancing around on the balls of your feet. After a while, though, it begins to feel
somewhat natural and the stride becomes quite a bit easier. What I noticed immediately was that there was
no jarring in my spine. In fact, unlike
heel strike running, the impact seemed to lessen with longer strides. It felt comfortable enough that what
was intended to be a 45 minute walk with intermittent running became a 40
minute run with only about 5 minutes of walking toward the beginning. After not
having run more than a hundred yards at a time over the past 15 years, I put in
5K on my first morning out!
Now,
I'm not going to tell you that it was all a beautiful thing and I'm now a
runner for life. For starters, as you
might imagine, after running more than three miles with my heels never touching
the ground, my calves are letting me know that they weren't quite ready for
that kind of abuse. Although, I could imagine they would be the size of cantaloupes if I did this full time. I've spent a great deal of time over the past week
stretching them out and keeping my tracks a little shorter. It was also very apparent during the run that I've done some damage to
my knees carrying around all that extra weight for the past 12 years, and my
need to get those joints scoped and cleaned is coming soon. Until that happens, I'll still mostly stick
with the lower impact cardio, but what is encouraging is I now have
another option for my cardio routines to keep things interesting and this one that
doesn't require anything more than some open space and a good pair of shoes
(maybe).
