Is the novel “Born to Run” being used as “evidence?” Bad move.
Bad as it is, it’s still better than the zero evidence on the opposite side of the table for all those fancy built up shoes.
Think about that statement for a while … not sure of your background, but have you ever even LOOKED for research that just might differ from your opinion? I’d be happy to get you started since there are dozens to perhaps hundreds in peer reviewed journals if you really want (from the US, UK, S Africa, Hong Kong, etc.) FTR, I’m neutral here, even have a few published articles myself. Lieberman himself (Nature article co-author (well, faculty, written by grad students) admits the “evidence” in both directions is limited because of the difficulty in study design.
I made some running sandals to try out about a year ago. It takes a lot of time to get used to running with not much there and it takes even longer to get used to running fast with minimal protection. I don’t even want to guess how much time it would take to run fast on roads in barefeet. I tried my sandals in a couple races. They aren’t comfortable going fast downhill and aren’t comfortable to turn with quickly. I don’t plan on using them in anymore races. I love to train in them though. I like using them for long slow runs or recover runs. I don’t foresee any pro triathletes being barefoot for races unless they grew up that way.
I made some running sandals to try out about a year ago. It takes a lot of time to get used to running with not much there and it takes even longer to get used to running fast with minimal protection. I don’t even want to guess how much time it would take to run fast on roads in barefeet. I tried my sandals in a couple races. They aren’t comfortable going fast downhill and aren’t comfortable to turn with quickly. I don’t plan on using them in anymore races. I love to train in them though. I like using them for long slow runs or recover runs. I don’t foresee any pro triathletes being barefoot for races unless they grew up that way.
It took me a long time getting used to running in shoes.
I prefer not being in pain, thus I wear shoes. There’s way too much crap on the ground nowadays for me to chance it. Sure, people went barefoot in the past, but the average lifespan of those civilizations was substantially less. I’ll take my foot protection and remain safe from rocks, sticks, glass, needles, etc.
There are no time savings. Putting on shoes takes me 5 seconds, and I run faster as a result of wearing the shoes.
Sometimes people just don’t think things through (not you, the other guy)…the guy who skips shoes in t2 is probably the same type of person that would try a flying mount to save time, only to crash because he hadn’t practiced. Please people, make rational decisions…
Just curious if any fast pro/elite triathletes are just going pure barefoot on the run, and skipping putting on their shoes completely in T2.
I know that it may be tough for pros who have shoe contracts to do this, but I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any up and coming guys doing this. (Although granted I haven’t seen that much in the tri world.)
I got stepped on during a handoff in a 4x400 once and lost a shoe. Was 3 seconds slower on that lap than usual, my foot went numb and got tore up pretty good. So, frankly, racing without shoes is pretty foolish.
Just for the anecdotes, Brad Beven during in indoor triathlon (0,4 - 12 - 3) in Bordeaux (France) held in 1993 beat Mark Allen, Simon Lessing, Mc Carthy, Hellriegel, Rob Barel… by taking the lead during the bike (on the velodrome) and than ran barefoot (running track) even faster than the 2 others (around 8’50 for the 3000 if I remember it good).
During the France Iron Tour, Simon Lessing did the same to try to catch Olivier Marceau on the last stage but it was a very short distance.
I think Kieran Doe finished Ironman Arizona with the shoes in the hand a few years ago, didn’t he ?
I did my first sprint and oly in vibrams, do all my training in them. I did go barefoot for a few runs but where I live the pavement is shit hot in the summer so… on go the ugly shoes. I can’t run in sneakers. They have messed up my ankles and it has just been since getting vibrams that I am able to run. Slow as hell but at least I am out there. Couldn’t be if I only wore sneakers.
And indeed for sneakers causing injuries. The more expensive and padded the shoes, the more injuries reported - if “Born to Run” and the research it cited is anything to go by.
Just curious if any fast pro/elite triathletes are just going pure barefoot on the run, and skipping putting on their shoes completely in T2.
I know that it may be tough for pros who have shoe contracts to do this, but I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any up and coming guys doing this. (Although granted I haven’t seen that much in the tri world.)
I got stepped on during a handoff in a 4x400 once and lost a shoe. Was 3 seconds slower on that lap than usual, my foot went numb and got tore up pretty good. So, frankly, racing without shoes is pretty foolish.
Tell that to Brad Beven, when he won the first (and only) indoor triathlon in Bordeaux, in the 90s, in front of Simon Lessing. The only reason he won was that he didn’t put shoes on at T2, and the 5sec he gained were enough for the win
Tell that to Brad Beven, when he won the first (and only) indoor triathlon in Bordeaux, in the 90s, in front of Simon Lessing. The only reason he won was that he didn’t put shoes on at T2, and the 5sec he gained were enough for the win
Really? Can you 100% say that he couldn’t have won by an even greater margin had he put shoes on?
Someone has already pointed this out, but this is at least round #3 for the minimalist movement.
It’s just better marketed this time; as for Nike, Adidas, et al (per Born to Run) trying to keep people in the dark about more minimal shoes so over-built shoes are sold instead, that’s just rubbish. They’ve (mostly) unsuccessfully produced very minimal shoes over the years that sold to a narrow niche market.
Did they have “medical evidence” to support producing minimalist shoes well over 30 years ago? No. Or in the nineties when the Huarache, Air Rift, Niobe, Presto, Zoom Air line, etc. was marketed as being “inspired by Kenyan barefoot style of running”? No.
I’m a little confused about your intent, was it to ask a genuine questions? If so, you have some answers. Or was it to troll for an argument around barefoot running?
If you need evidence that fast runners or triathletes have leveraged some amount of barefoot running in training that isn’t difficult to find/verify, but correlation doesn’t imply causation.
My friend from Hopkins, the link to the MD I posted who has a lot of actual data, and of course, the Born to Run book, have differing opinions.
Here’s what my friend from Harvard says:
"People are jumping to conclusions on both sides of the debate, but we must rely on evidence. The media is distorting the science or just leaving it out. The key thing is not being barefoot, but using a barefoot style, and not colliding into the ground with your heels.”
This concept of using a barefoot style has been around forever and doesn’t need special shoes (or actually being barefoot).
And for the nth time… Born to Run is a FICTION novel.
I don’t think Born to Run was advocating running barefoot. It talked more about the “barefoot” style and questioning the modern running shoe industry. Even the Tarahumara in the book used thin layers of rubber to protect their feet. None of the runners went barefoot except Barefoot Bob. And even he used Vibrams for the final long 50mi race.
