Wednesday 14 October 2015

More books...

Over the past couple of months, I've been catching up on running books.  Amongst others, this has included:
  • Born to Run - by Christopher McDougall about native Mexicans
  • Running with the Kenyans by Adharanand Finn
  • The Bolt Supremacy by Richard Moore, about Jamaican running

All have a common theme (apart from the obvious!): that the kids in these cultures grow up running without shoes.  They may put shoes on later in life, but the point is that [virtually] none have shoes before teens, at the earliest.

This is slightly depressing because I can't see that a middle aged, pampered, western man will ever be able to replicate this upbringing!  But I'm going to have a good go at trying!

Here's a good-ish article that argues the point, although I can't yet get my head around the advent of poor running style in young teens as a result of education..??

http://www.runnersworld.com/barefoot-running/growing-up-shod

Perhaps it's also to do with too much sitting down.

Meanwhile...

It's now 10 weeks since I started the programme so here's a summary update:
  • I can tell that my feet are a LOT stronger. 
  • There are still muscles and ligaments/tendons in my legs that ache, but I'm keeping a close eye on them - nothing out of control. 
  • I'm running every other day, for between 20 and 30 mins
  • I had my second completely barefoot run on a tartan track yesterday.  Just 3km this time, so no blisters!  I can see why Keith says you'll develop good style faster with no shoes on, though.  Even though you can still get away with planting your heel in the rubber surface, the feedback through the foot from the landing/take off is a great constant reminder.

Onwards... 

1 comment:

  1. Good progress :-) starting to watch over my shoulder already :-)

    ReplyDelete