Is barefoot running around to stay? Are minimalist shoes just another market trend to bank on another trend? If you ask Vibram, they might say their five finger line is around to stay, considering the fact that they are struggling to keep up with the growing consumer demand for their product. But all this hype begs the question – is it just as simple as throwing off the heavy, cushioned or supportive shoes and embracing the most basic motion of running in bare feet?
No.
Unless you are gifted with an efficient neutral running gait, you have to change your “way” of running. Your running will have to evolve into a forefoot/midfoot oriented foot-strike. Your center of gravity will have to shift from a position just over your hips to a place more forward and over the balls of your feet. Your hip alignment will have to move to a position more parallel to the floor; Bill Bowerman (Donald Sutherland) described it best in the movie, Without Limits. He showed Prefontaine had to align his hips to the place of “deepest penetration.” Without being politically incorrect, he was basically saying that most runners have lazy buttocks and should be tucked in. Your posture has to get straighter, as if a straight line was drawn from your ankles through your hips and up to your skull. However, the line is leaning forward at about 80ish degrees. Along with this comes lining up your feet as if you are running on either side of a highway line. Your arm-swing never crosses past your sternum. You kick up your heels with each stride; your turnover increases. And last but not least, you run as if you are peeling off the road, trail, etc.
Sounds simple. To put it bluntly, it isn’t. Switching to the barefoot/minimalistic/Vibram way of running requires a commitment to time, form, and training. Please keep in mind that running is essentially an experiment of one (someone else said this before me – I just can’t remember who). This new style of running may not work for you.
But if you are willing to give it a shot, here is the basic plan:
• First, do your own research. Read Chi Running and start doing some of the running drills.
• Second, keep running in your current shoes.
• Third, decide if you are going to first try minimalist trainers, Vibrams, or the au natural version.*Note: I personally recommend transitioning to a lighter weight shoe as a supplement to your current running – running in it for a good six months or so along with doing all the drills: butt kicks, high knees, all the drills in Chi Running, etc. The above note would then preview the minimalist experience. Along with the lighter experience you would have been developing a more midfoot oriented stride.
• Fourth, either go barefoot or wear a pair of Vibrams for various intervals just by walking. You should really do this for about 2 months.
• Fifth, start doing all your drills in your bare feet or your Vibrams. *Note: you are still doing a majority of your running in your lighter weight shoes at this point. However, your stride is evolving.
• Sixth, continue doing all your drills but start adding some distance – maybe a .5 mile to mile each time. Again note that you are still doing most of your running in the lighter weight, but still mostly conventional, shoe.
• Seventh, continue doing all the drills but start to amp up your mileage. Maybe you are ready for a couple of miles with your new “feet.”
• Eighth, start replacing some of your shorter runs with your new “feet.” Eventually, you should be able to build up an individual run’s mileage to 5-6 miles. With gradual progression, you could eventually build up to the 1/2 marathon or even marathon distance. But it takes time! Not a few weeks, but months and months-generally about six.
It is entirely up to you whether you can resist the convenient urge to just buy a pair of Vibrams and just hit the streets or trails. Too many have learned the hard way that this just leads to injury. We all know that any introduction to a new sport involves a learning curve. Barefoot/minimalist running is no different.
As I end this ramble, consider a couple of closing points.
• Stay tuned to 3sports; we are going to offer a clinic on all of this in the near future. This clinic would go over the physics of this new running as well as go over many of the necessary drills.
• Second, consider the woman who, at mile 10 of the Shamrock Marathon last March, angrily called her husband and angrily demanded he meet her at mile 13 with her regular shoes. She had been talked into trying Vibrams and had not actually done the proper training. I know this because her next words were “I know, I know. You can tell me you told me so after you bring me my shoes. I know, I know. I never should have tried these five fingers. Now shut up and meet me at mile 13.”
Please be smart about this. You would want this change to be a positive one, not problematic. You would want this aspect of running to enhance your experience, not drive you away from the activity all together.
If you have any questions, I can be reached at christopher_calfee@ccpsnet.net. Don’t hesitate to inquire and/or question.
last year’s NCAA Track Championships, he took a nasty spill over the final barrier during the 3000 meter steeplechase semi-final. He went from a secure 4th place in his heat to 9th over the last 75 meters and missed qualifying for finals by one tenth of a second. He says that watching the final and knowing that he should have been out there racing was very difficult, but motivating. Competing in that race, along with the U.S. Championships has given him the confidence in knowing that he is capable of becoming one of the top steeplechasers in the country.
