Less is More

OK so I want these shoes! I am going to have to buy them, but seriously I have been thinking a great deal about minimal running recently. I seem to get injured more and more easily now and there is some evidence pointing to heavily cushioned running shoes being one of the main culprits.

The Tarahumara of Copper Canyon in Northern Mexico run virtually barefoot in home made shoes; they run fast for incredible distances and just don’t get injured. Humans are made to run, designed specifically for it, but our comfy, cushioned modern shoes mean that we run unnaturally heel striking sending 2 to 3 times our body weight up through our joints with each foot strike (in my case almost 270 kilos/540 pounds!), so it’s no wonder we get injured .

Professor Daniel Lieberman phd of Harvard University and others  are researching human physiology and why we move how we do and they have done extensive work on the Biomechanics of Footstrikes which should make fascinating reading for any runner.

I have just ordered Chris McDougall’s book Born To Run, which looks amazing. The plan now is to buy myself a pair of those Vivo Barefoot Evo II bad boys and see what it’s all about.

Watch this space for road tests and reports.

Related Articles

• Minimalism revisited. (ask.metafilter.com)
• New Balance Minimus Video (hypebeast.com)
• Nike Mayfly Running Shoe (slamxhype.com)
• Inov-8 Baregrip 200 Preview: Minimalist Trail Runner from Inov-8 (runblogger.com)