Critical Mass

With the publication of Lieberman's Harvard study of barefoot running, combined with the lead in effect of the publication of Born To Run, running barefoot has been in the news every day.  Discussion of barefoot running has leaked onto the running forums of many web sites, most recently onto my running club's Yahoo! group.

One of the best things coming from this discussion is the concentration on running technique. Too long that has been ignored in favor of ever more distance and speed work. The great thing about running barefoot (not so much for using "minimal" shoes, except for VFF's) is that you have to correct your running technique. You can't land on your heels. You eliminate heel to toe pronation. Once you eliminate pronation, then most injuries that are caused by it disappear.

Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie is a forefoot striker.  Watch some vids at Youtube.  His feet move fast, so it is a little difficult to see his forefoot strike.  He ran 10K 2X per day to school and back, barefoot, for 10 years.  Kinda explains things.  In this vid, he places his arm around a young Ethiopian boy and says, "He could be my double, except he has the shoes. I had no shoes."

I jokingly propose that One World Running, an organization that brings donations and running shoes to Africa, is a plan by the USOC to slow down future African runners!

Training is Cheap, & The Last Miles of Newport-Liberty Half Marathon

I have been riding my bike a lot, and I should do a duathlon or triathlon, but every time I look for one to put on my calendar, I say to myself, I can go out and run and bike farther by myself on that day, have a great time, and save myself a couple hundred bucks! I would have much rather gone running in the woods today than in Jersey City. A couple of weeks ago in Watchung Reservation I ran about 1/4 mile behind a fox.

Speaking of which, in today's Newport-Liberty Half Marathon, I finished the race with Laura S., who caught me with a 1.5 miles to go. What a racing animal - I had no clue she was so focused and she was catching me. I must have been slowing down and she probably ran negative splits. She said, "We are going to catch that guy in yellow!" OK, motivation for me besides thinking I had to run fast so the RVRR women wouldn't beat this old guy. The guy in yellow was about 50 yards ahead of us, with some others between us and him. Well, in the next mile we reeled in the others, but not the guy in yellow. With a bit less than a half mile left, I went harder to catch the guy in yellow, and I also wanted to make Laura run faster. I caught the yellow guy, and have a story to tell too. Races are cool like that sometimes. I ran 1:32:01 - about seven minutes slower than I ran just three years ago, but about seven faster than last year. Races are cool like that sometimes, too. I have learned in my old age not to take them as seriously as I used to. I like to think that any day I am out there running, I am one of the luckiest guys in the world.

Sneaking Out to Run Barefoot & More Workplace Fitness Bigotry

It's was a half day today for the students during exam days here at the secondary institution that supplies me with my career and lifestyle. They got out at 1:30. We have to stay until 3:45 on these half days. I have almost everything done for the year. So I brought my running clothes and felt like I was doing something illegal as I sneaked out the back door and ran laps around the fields out back. I started in shoes, but the grass was in surprisingly good condition. After the first 1.5 mile lap, I had no choice but to scrap the shoes and run the rest of the time barefoot. On one of the laps there was a group of gossipy teachers checking out somebody's new car in the parking lot right next to the edge of the field I was lapping. I tried really hard not to look at them, thinking that if I didn't look at them they would perhaps not recognize me. But they did. Crap - now I have to put up with more workplace fitness bigotry. The fattest gossipy woman yelled to me, "I hope you step on a bee!" Why would anyone yell that? (By the way, I have stepped on a bee while running barefoot and it wasn't that bad.) I am hoping she was just busting my chops in a friendly way. Yet, many a truth is said in jest and all that. So, shoot, who knows....

And this makes me think a bit about my plan for my 50th year. My plan is to complete an Ironman, a 50K and a 50 mile run. I have this crazy mid-life crisis redirect of trying to inspire people to say to themselves, "Jeeze, if he can do this at 50, so can I." It is going to require more visible bike commutes and runs out the back door during the next academic year. So will my intended effect be thwarted? I wonder how many of my coworkers are going to secretly hate me for it?

This is Why You're Fat

I had a great wind-assisted ride on my Trek to work this morning. Three minutes faster than yesterday, 20 degrees cooler than the past two days. Ran into another teacher that is shaped like a pear with legs. I think he is my age but looks ten years older. Can't wear his belt parallel to the ground, a little out of breath as he walked down the hall, and probably has a BMI close to 30. Poor guy. Anyway, he says sarcastically to me, "Must be nice to have an easy job that gives you time to ride your bike to work..."

I ignored him.

But recently I have noticed that fitness bigotry goes a little deeper than that around my workplace. However, it is usually more good natured, stated by thinner, happier people. It's borne of a slight bit of respect, but coupled with some self-conscious, embarrassing envy. For example, when I told some people that on this NJ heat-wave weekend I ran only 27 miles on Saturday (I was aiming for 34) and cycled 40 on Sunday for recovery, at least three people in different places said exactly the same line: "What is wrong with you?"

Well, the point is, there isn't anything wrong with me. There is actually a lot right with me to be able to do those things. I tried to point that out to the people, who just shook their heads and looked at me funny. They all, in their own way, warned me about things like exertion in the heat, drinking enough fluids, bla bla. Like, yea - I am a grown man and have been managing my body under uncomfortable high heart-rate situation for about 34 years. So I think I know how to handle it, thank you.

So, people - and this even goes for my own wife and kids, and neighbors who have watched me roll and run out of my house for the past 15 years - can you please give me some props about what I am able to do? Can you please look at me and say, geeze, if he can do that much under these conditions, can't I do just a little bit? Show a little awe. Give me some respect. Don't just gawk, call me crazy, and be overly concerned about protecting your own ego.

Thank you - I will now stow my soapbox.

Deer Path Park

I can still run.

I ran at Deer Path Park yesterday. I ran about 7.5 miles on the cross-country course. I forgot how great that course is. It was a lot of fun. I wore my Nike cross-country spikes.

I was at the park because my son had a soccer game there. I am glad I got the run in, because the soccer game was horrible. My son is running his second year of middle school track. Yesterday's game may have been the soccer game that turns my son into a full-time runner. I am hoping it is. I used to get a lot of my distance runners during track season from the soccer team back in the early 1980's when I coached track.

I had one perspective on the game, and I am not a trained coach or referee. I just have not been watching soccer long enough in my lifetime to be an authority on this. But I will tell you my perspective. I couldn't swear it was right. When watching a game, everyone sees things differently.

First half: the game was rough. I don't feel referees had it under control from about 10 minutes into the game. The other team was very aggressive, especially towards the Cobras' offense. You know how these things can escalate. As a result, our players got aggressive. There was pushing and shoving, a lot of speedy plays where players banged into each other. That is soccer. Some yellow cards were handed out, at least once to the wrong player in the scuffle - for example when Ross got the yellow because he responded to the other team's player blatantly pushing him. They both probably should have gotten cards. But I am not a referee. It is the referee who decided to hand out only one yellow card.

Second half: Allegedly, the sideline refs were missing calls on both sides. The one on the spectator side was missing offside calls. The one on the team side was miscalling outs and not judging fouls in the goal box. I could not swear to these allegations in court, but that is what Coach Mark and other spectators claim. There was one instance when a player waited for the ref to turn and then pushed one of the players on my son's team. A lot of people were yelling at the ref: Coach Mark, spectators, players - the players were having words with each other on the field and with the spectators.

End of game: I am not sure exactly what precipitated Mitchell to fight with the other player. I have always known Mitch is a bit of a rough player himself, and hotheaded. He was first to run over and strike another player. Players came off the bench and joined, parents came out and joined. It was the worst example of a soccer game I have ever witnessed. The parents who stepped in, both coaches and all the refs should be ashamed of themselves. I can not believe that both coaches were unable to control their players, and that three referees did not get a handle on this game a lot earlier, before a fight broke out.

It was Mitch's decision to fight that really ruined the game and caused a big pile-on in the field. For that reason, in my opinion, Mitch should not be allowed to ever participate in any part of our soccer club from now on. His action was the decisive point that ruined the game for everyone. (I don't think he has ever had a parent at a game or practice, by the way.) Yet, Mitch is not 100% at fault. Both coaches, the refs, and every parent who ran out on the field should be somewhat accountable. I am not sure those parents and coaches realize there was not one college scout at that game, and in perspective, the win or loss means nothing.

When people were leaving, the player from the other team ran over and attacked Mitch again, unprovoked by the my son's team. (Was he encouraged by support from his team mates, coach and parents? Who knows.) That was a mistake, because he got taken down by several kids on the team. Again, I can not believe coaches and parents could not control their kids. It was a disgusting scene that I wanted no part of.

My son did not even play in the game. Which is weird, he usually starts and plays at least half or 3/4 of the game. It was as if Coach Mark was hypnotized by the game, despite being reminded to make substitutions. Perhaps he was determined to leave who he felt were his best, most aggressive players in, to oppose this team - I am just guessing. My son was the only player from either team that did not leave the sideline and join the on-field pile-up fight.

When he came over to me he said, "Dad, I don't think I need to be on this team anymore." I didn't disagree with him.

We got into my car to go when the first cop car pulled up. On the way out we saw three more on their way there. I do not know what happened after I left, and I frankly didn't care.

iDon't run with iPod

Article in the New York Times today says,

USA Track & Field, the national governing body for running, this year banned the use of headphones and portable audio players like iPods at its official races. The new rule was created to ensure safety and to prevent runners from having a competitive edge....

Elite runners do not listen to music in races because they need to concentrate on their own bodies and hear their competitors, and some die-hard, old-school runners follow suit. Those runners — purists who prefer the sound of the crowd or their own breathing over, say, “Fergalicious” — cheered the headphone ban.

But for competitors who use music as a motivational tool while training and competing, the ban was frustrating, as if the race directors were forcing them to run barefoot.

Though I would not be against race directors forcing runners to run barefoot, I do choose not to wear headphones. I am not elite, so I guess I am a "die-hard old school" runner. Headphones and other electronics annoy me - I wind up playing too much with the music and the device, so I loose focus on the run. I prefer to focus on the run or on my own thoughts and perceptions.

The USATF has a history of making rules and supporting events that favor elite runners. This rule is part of USATF's tendency towards discouraging participation for more recreational runners. Unfortunately, monopolies can do that and still thrive. Fortunately, people who want to run wired can easily ignore the rule. Just pay your yearly USATF membership fee so you can play in the streets with the elites and everybody is happy. :)

Can't Freakin' Believe It

I had a rather disturbing run today: It was close to pain-free. I mean, my Achilles tendons and PF problems, which have been dogging me since mid-June, didn't bother me too much. And here is what I did differently: On a hunch, I put an old pair of OTC orthotics in an old pair of cheap KangaRoos racing shoes. This is diametrically opposed to everything I have learned running barefoot for the past three years.

The OTC orthotics pre-date my journey into running barefoot. When I wore them I was a heel striker, and I used them in expensive trainers. Today my feet correctly touched the pavement as a barefoot runner should: midfoot first, followed by non-weight-bearing heel-touch. So I am thinking maybe I can use these old aftermarket insoles as a bridge to recovery.

Another possibility is coincidence. I have been noticing that if I keep my blood level of ibuprofen up, I have less pain. I happened to have followed a consistent dosage yesterday and today. Add that to the minimal mileage I have been running, and maybe it is just time to feel the pain may be near ending.

Either way, I am really really hoping this is the home stretch for the pain, just in time for the NYC Marathon 20 days from today.

Chicago Marathon

I am stupid. I would not have stopped. After spending all that time in training and travel, and after spending the amount of money it costs these days to do a marathon, and after having the background I do as a runner, I would have been pissed off if I was forced to stop running the race.

But perhaps I think different. The people who had to stop were the (slap me if I am being politically incorrect) slower runners. I do not disrespect them. I understand that their race is as difficult and as important to them as the faster runners. I am even joining the ranks of the slower runners at this point in my life. The slower runners are still fitter and more courageous than 99.9% of the rest of the population of this planet.

And it is hard to imagine the real scene there. There is a great slideshow at the Chicago Tribune web site (thanks to them for the screen cap) that can make some impact for those of us that were not there.

October Do or Die

OK, I essentially took the week off from running. I ran a 37-minute 5 miles on Thursday. Yesterday I tried running another five, but I cut it short. After 7 minutes I looped back, tired of my Nike Frees. I wanted to run barefoot. Why I didn't start that way, I will never figure out. For the last quarter mile I pulled them off and finished barefoot. I had a lot of pain before I removed the shoes, then less when barefoot. I am just fighting the ingrained wisdom, still, that shoes will protect my already injured heels. The truth is, they hurt them more. Flats or nothing. When will I get that through my stinkin' head.

So I have 31 days to get the training in for the NYC Marathon. Not much time. The goal is simply to go sub-4-hours.

Shoe Review - Reebok Circa Waffle

The Reebok Circa Waffle is a shoe designed for cross-country racing. I still wear shoes for about half my mileage, and this is my current shoe of choice. I started using it by chance when I received a free pair from Reebok as my compensation for a shoe test. Since my first pair, I have bought two more online. I use this shoe on the road and off the road. I have used it for rocky technical trail runs, cross-country training and racing.

The advantage of this shoe as a barefooter's running shoe is the sole is fairly thin, and there is no difference between the sole thickness at the forefoot and under the heel. They have no support structures and allow your feet to function in their full range of motion. They have good "road feel", yet provide enough protection over Appalachian rocky trails.

My first pair was size 9, and I ripped out the insoles because they felt a little short at the toes. Especially for my bigger right foot. I still ran in them until they were almost dead, including in the 2006 NYC marathon. Since they partially blackened my right big toe, I figured it was time to size up. I jumped to size 9 1/2 for my second pair. They still seemed a little too snug, however. My son, a 7th grader that suddenly wears the same shoes I do, ran track this spring for the first time, so I gave them to him. I now have a size 10, and they are great! I should order a few pairs and stockpile them before Reebok decides to "improve" or discontinue them!