Sacramento Running News

There has been a lot of hype about barefoot running and how shoes change the body’s natural mechanics.

Much of this makes sense, but the jury is out as to the significance of these mechanical changes with regard to performance and injury.

If running barefoot is a bit much for you, perhaps a “minimalist shoe” might help you achieve the mechanical benefits with fewer of the risks. Perhaps.

Then again, perhaps not.

A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine investigated this question, comparing the mechanics of highly trained runners in minimalist shoes, barefoot, and traditional shoes. The findings are a bit surprising. (more…)

About a week ago, I posted here about an article in the Wall Street Journal that indicated that we were all going to die from all this crazy running.

I remain suspicious about the science behind the article, and it appears that I am not alone.

Alex Hutchison at Sweat Science delivers the mother of all smack-downs on this story.

It’s a great piece you should read because there is no doubt that someone at one of your holiday gatherings is going to start a conversation with “I heard that too much running is actually worse than not running at all.”

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People seem to either love or hate, or love to hate, Christopher McDougall, the author of Born to Run and fierce advocate of minimalist running.

He recently wrote an article for New York Times magazine about an interesting exercise, called “100 ups,” that he believes will help your running.

In the article, McDougall recognizes the important fact that people can, and do run barefoot and still have terrible form.

Here’s the video. I’d be interested to hear back from anyone who tries the exercises.

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