trek lightly

My weekly training and the "4-Hour Body" book

2011-02-16T12:51:00.000-06:00

A recently popular book is the 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. Personally, I think he is a bit of a freak, and much of his conclusions are a result of experimenting on his own body as well as data gleaned through case studies of other people. Some of his self-experimenting is a bit disturbing, but to each his own. His first book "The 4-Hour Work Week" is a stroke of genius and I have begun to incorporate elements of this books teaching into my life. I'll touch more on this in a later blog.

While I'm not training for an ultramarathon (yet) or a thru-hike, I have adopted some training elements from the 4 Hour Body into my weekly training routine. My running injuries (pre and post minimalist shoes) are centered around a weak core (Physical Therapist basically told me I have a weak butt!) and lack of balance. Thus, I have incorporated his Critical (M)Ass: The Kiwi's Complete A/B workout into my routine (Monday and Friday). Tim Ferris is a lot of hype and yet, I think there are some pretty good nuggets in his book.

My interpretation of his approach/suggestions is that if you only have a limited amount of time to work out, then do these things as they will be the most physiologically inclusive/advantageous. Reference this link on his blog for more information on the Critical (M)Ass workout. He talks a lot about the kettlebell swing in his book which is included in the Critical (M)Ass workout. He has detailed instructions on his blog for this as well.

My training approach for running specifically is to slowly build up my long weekend run until I can comfortably do a 12-14 mile trail run on the weekend as prep for the Superior Trail 25k race in May (I'm at 6-7 miles now) and then 20+ miles over the summer for my goal of doing the Superior Trail Marathon in the fall. That's my goal for this year. We'll see where that takes me and what next year will hold. My goal is only to finish and to not finish last... my competitive nature will probably propel me better than last. If my body starts to reject this training, then I will back off and only train for 5k and 10k trail races for this year.

To summarize my weekly routine, Monday: Kiwi's Workout A, Tuesday: rest, Wed: Interval or Fartlek run, Thurs: rest, Friday: Kiwi's Workout B, Saturday: Long Run, Sunday: easy run or rest depending on how I feel. My plan is to not increase my long run by more than 10% with a step-back once per month. Yes, that's only running 2-3 times/week. Is this enough running to train for a marathon? I don't know, but it is all I have time as I feel I have a greater need for building my core strength than to get lots of weekly miles in. At this phase in my life, time is limited so I'm going to give it a try... I'm curious to see what others think.

Here's my detailed workout

Monday
Double Leg Glute Activation - (Bridge) x15
Single Leg Glute Activation x15 each
1. Heavy dumbbell front squat to press (ass to heels)
2. One-arm, one-leg DB row
3. Walking Lunges with sprinter knee raise
4. Wide-grip push-ups
5. Two-arm kettlebell swings x20-25
--Repeat sequence (1-5) 2-4 times

Wednesday
Double Leg Glute Activation - (Bridge) x15
Single Leg Glute Activation x15 each
Bicycle Crunches
Interval or Fartlek Training Run (3-5 miles including warm-up and cool-down)
Yin Yoga - Butterfly Pose (3-5 min)
Yin Yoga - Sleeping Swan Pose (3-5 min each side)
Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch (3-5 min each side)

Friday
Double Leg Glute Activation - (Bridge) x15
Single Leg Glute Activation x15 each
1. One leg Romanian Deadlift (10-12 reps each side)
2. Chin-ups (4s negative lowering portion only) x 10
3. One-leg hamstring curls on a ball (6-12 reps each leg)
4a. Myotatic Crunch (on a Swiss ball)
4b. Front Plank and Side Plank - 30s front, 30s each side
5. Reverse hyper on a bench and Swiss Ball x 15-25
--Repeat sequence (1-5) 2-4 times

Saturday or Sunday
Double Leg Glute Activation - (Bridge) x15
Single Leg Glute Activation x15 each
Bicycle Crunches
Long Trail Run with Hill Work (1-2 hours)
Yin Yoga - Butterfly Pose (3-5 min)
Yin Yoga - Sleeping Swan Pose (3-5 min each side)
Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch (3-5 min each side)

The Runner in Winter — Running Times Performance Podcasts

2011-01-18T07:55:00.002-06:00

Anton Krupicka never ceases to inspire me. Advocate of minimalist shoes, master of eliminating the unneccesary things in life, and top ultrarunner.

"Running Times’ correspondent Joel Wolpert caught up with trail runner Anton Krupicka to see how he runs through the Colorado winter. As do all of Wolpert’s films, this one features local music: songs by Denver, Colorado bands The Lumineers and Paper Bird."

The Runner in Winter — Running Times Performance Podcasts

Introducing Toe Salad | ADVENTUREinPROGRESS

2011-01-17T17:32:00.000-06:00

A fellow blogger that also writes about minimalist shoes, backpacking and family adventures has started a new website call Toe Salad. It is basically an open forum where people can input, dialogue, rate and review minimalist shoes. It already has a lot of valuable information and I think will be a great resource for those looking for options for minimalist footwear. There is a lot of minimalist footwear entering the market this year and the options are growing... The shoe companies are paying attention!!

Here's the link to the new website: Introducing Toe Salad | ADVENTUREinPROGRESS

Thanks Damien for pulling that together!!

TC Running Company: Embrace Winter

2011-01-13T16:05:00.001-06:00

I really enjoy running outside in the winter and I'm sure that makes me an odd duck! I enjoy the challenge of determining what I'm going to wear from my footwear all the way to my headwear. I enjoy the serenity of the trails and even the sidewalks as most stay inside to keep warm. It turns out I'm not the only one. Check out the blog post below from the TC Running Company located a short distance away from my office:

TC Running Company: Embrace Winter

Enjoy the fresh snow!!

Forefoot Striking and Pronation: Insight from an Ultrarunning Podiatry Student | Runblogger

2011-01-13T10:50:00.002-06:00

More and more studies are being completed on how running barefoot or in a minimalist shoe affects our running form. Here's an interesting article that was just posted on runblogger.com. I have been running in minimalist shoes and barefoot for over a year and have found that the 6 month adaptation period it talks about in the article is pretty accurate. Click on the link below to read the article:

Forefoot Striking and Pronation: Insight from an Ultrarunning Podiatry Student | Runblogger

Running Update and My Shoe Lineup

2011-01-12T12:32:00.000-06:00

Knee issues (patellar-femoral syndrome initially diagnosed in summer of 2007) sent me down a path of re-evaluating the active side of my life... I have fully converted to minimalist footwear and when warm enough (and not dark out), barefoot running. Running in a minimalist shoe has gotten me back into running and I enjoy it for the first time in my life. Running in a minimalist shoe retrained me how to run with the correct form and now I know how terrible my form used to be. I used to be a heavy heel striker, so it's now wonder I've always had some sort of knee, ankle or hip issue.

My minimalist shoe line-up started off with VFF KSO's (Oct 2009) and then I added Feelmax Kuuva Boots (Dec 2009), Feelmax Osmas (Feb 2010), Terra Plana Oaks (Dec 2010) and recently won a pair of Vivobarefoot Neos (or Evos depending on availability) through Donald's Running and Rambling blog. I love testing out new shoes and have pretty completely only wear a minimalist shoe whenever possible.

I do have a pair of Inov-8 295s (Almost 3 years old and ready to retire) and recently purchased a pair of New Balance MT 101's. These don't fall under my definition of minimalist (however, they are minimalist compared to the majority of running shoes used by the general population), but have worked well for me for trail running, running in snow and hiking/backpacking. The elevated heal of these trail runners doesn't seem to affect my gait too much on an uneven surface like trails and snow.

But alas, my new enthusiasm with running caused me to overtrain for a 25k trail race last spring and since then have been wrestling with IT Band issues. After much research and testing to keep it from flairing up, my plan for my training will now consist of 1 long run per week and cross-training (core exercises, hiking, biking, weight-training, etc.) I've also found that the slow-to-medium pace running seems to irritate my knee the most, so I've adopted a modified Fartlek method of running. It seems that my knee doesn't seem to bother me when I run fast and it doesn't bother me when I walk. So after I warm up, I run hard and then power walk (to catch my breath), run hard and then power walk, repeat, repeat.... This seems to be the ticket for now and maybe at some point I can reintroduce longer runs with consistent slower running. This and icing my knee after every run seems to be the key to keeping the knee from flaring up from the IT Band irritating it.

Does cushioning in your shoes affect your running?

2010-12-07T10:03:00.001-06:00

A blog I follow has a really good synopsis on the potential affects of cushioning in your running shoes. I know that for me, eliminating cushioning in my shoes drastically changed how I run for the better. I feel that I run much more efficiently and am less prone to injuries in my knees and hips because my muscles now absorb the impact instead of my shoes and joints. Check it out:

My Tree of Life (Just One Step at a time): Is cushion the devil?

Rocky Mountain National Park - July 2010

2010-10-18T08:21:00.001-05:00

Our adventurous family activity for the summer was a family backpack trip in early July in Rocky Mountain National Park. We were out in Ft Collins for a week for my sister-in-law's wedding and were able to take a quick break from the planning action earlier in the week for a quick overnight trip. William was 1 yr 5 mths old and Isaac was 10 months old. I pulled all my gear together very last minute, but fortunately my gear lists were pretty up-to-date and it didn't take too long. I decided to see if I could borrow a tent or if I had good fortune, find a Golite Shangri-la 4 or 5 for sale in Colorado. Neither worked and I was afraid we would be forced to car camp with my soon to be brother-in-law's 20+ lb cabin tent. I had not brought sleeping pads for the boys, so when at Walmart looking for the cheap blue foam pads, I happened to see they had a relatively lightweight compact 4 person tent. I decided to pick it up as it was only $30. It turned out it was only about 6.5 lbs without the stakes... really not too bad at a little over 1.5 lbs per person. I wouldn't trust it in a storm, but it will be fine for dry, calm weather.

We headed out with two packs and the two kids. I rented a pair of trekking poles and bear canister from an outfitter in Estes Park and we were on our way. According to the map, it was 1.7 miles to our campsite (Old Forest Inn Sites) and William was able to walk almost 1.25 miles of that. Hindsight, I'm really impressed he made it that far. Unfortunately, we only brought the one kid carrier for Isaac and had to carry William on our shoulders or in our arms.

We picked the lower of the two campsites which was tucked into the convergence of Fern Creek and the Big Thompson River. It ended up being a pretty good drop-off to the Big Thompson River, so either way I knew that we would have to watch the boys like a hawk. Between keeping the boys corralled and keeping objects out of Isaac's mouth, we didn't have much rest time, but it was a lot of fun watching them explore and toddle around. Isaac started walking end of May, so he was getting around pretty good by this time.

We crawled into our tent at dusk and enjoyed some family time in close proximity. Isaac quickly crashed and we enjoyed watching the stars come out with William and then he fell asleep pretty quickly with both of us out soon after that. Meg said she would much rather camp out here then back in MN. She said she preferred the drier weather and campsites.

Heading out late morning the next day, I lightly load Meg's pack with sleeping bags and clothes and sent her on the way down the trail so that I could finish breaking down camp. She put Isaac in the carrier, pack on her back and took off with William in hand. I quickly broke down camp and took off after them. I figured it would be much easier to get the rest of the stuff packed up without the interference of the two boys and it was. I caught up with them after about a 3/4 mile and by that time William was done so I carried him. He quickly fell asleep and we walked along with two sleeping boys trying to keep them shaded from the vicious high altitude sun. We made pretty quick of the remaining mile, but it was pretty brutal carrying the sleeping weight of William along with the heavier pack. We didn't have hardly any food left and I definitely prefer to have more in case of an emergency... I will have to plan that a little better the next time.

Enjoy some pictures.

This must be fairly early in the hike... William was still cruising along pretty good here. I wished we would have had some minimalist shoes for him as he is used to running around barefoot all the time. The shoes we had for him were quite the clunkers and he was constantly tripping in them. I wore my Feelmax Osmas and they surprisingly worked quite well. The have no support and no padding in the bottoms, but were just fine with my 35 lb pack and carrying both boys at times. William was about 31 lbs and Isaac was about 26 lbs at the time.

Our campsite was up on a cliff overlooking the convergence of Big Thompson River and Fern Creek. Maybe not the best place for two little boys to be playing. It was a full time job keeping them corralled in the confines of our campsite. Our $30 Walmart tent worked quite well for us and will be a great car camping tent for us. I have since purchased an MLD Supermid with netting around the bottom and am anxious to try that out. This purchase was primarily for winter camping, but will work great as a small group and family tent.

Having fun in the tent before crashing hard. The fleece sleepers worked great for them for sleeping in. Isaac hates having a blanket on him, so bundling him in a sleeper is necessary.

Winding down for the nite in the tent... We left the canopy off for a while so we could watch the stars. William loved it!

Enjoying a Starbucks Via and some morning sunshine with the boys. They loved crawling and climbing around the rocks. They are quite the adventurous little guys!

Gotta like that view. We didn't see a whole lot of elevation change from the trail head, it's quite a bit further up to some really spectacular views. Not really feasible with the two little guys... Hopefully I can get back out for a solo trip one of my next trips out.

Gotta love this picture. Beautiful and precious!!

Summer's gone, fall is here!!

2010-09-23T08:34:00.000-05:00

It's been almost 5 months since I last posted, Wow how time flies and boy has life and work been busy!! Following my spring Trail Mix 25k race, I discovered that the pain outside of my knee was Iliotibial band syndrome. I also discovered that the more I ran, the worse it got thus I bailed on the Superior Hiking Trail 25k race and the Afton 25k race. In fact, I stopped running all together to let it rest and then started to incorporate more stretching and cross-training into my schedule to hopefully take care of the root of the problem. As a minimalist shoe runner, I attributed the ITBS to a combination of overuse and a muscle imbalance. Strange as it was, while the pain was too much to run with, I was fortunately still able to bike, hike and backpack with no pain.

I'm finally getting back into the routine of running and am experiencing no pain. I think the key for me is to stay balanced in my cross-training and stretching. I am eying a couple 5k races this fall and just waiting to see how our family schedule pans out before I commit...

Other blog posts in development:
June 2010 Superior Hiking Trail Solo Trip Report
July 2010 Rocky Mountain National Park Family Trip Report
Backpacking Gear Update

sectionhiker.com Golite Ultralight Down Quilt Raffle

2010-04-30T08:50:00.002-05:00

Philip Werner over at sectionhiker.com is raffling off a Golite Ultralite Down Quilt and part of the entry is answering a series of questions. I thought it be fun to take a stab at the raffle, so here's the answers to the questions I'll be submitting:

1. 1. How long have you been backpacking and what's the longest trip you've taken?

· I grew up camping and in my junior years we started going to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area) in northern MN. The typical group canoed the lakes and carried all their gear including the canoe over the portages (between the lakes). We packed very heavy with lots of gear and luxuries... but that was all we knew and I'm sure that's the only way “the dad's” would be willing to go. Fresh out of college, my brother and I went out for our first official backpacking trip. We did a 13 mile loop called the Angleworm trail up in the BWCA. Again, way overpacked with heavy gear, we stayed 1 night on the trail, almost started a forest fire and got lost! Yet still, it is one of my fondest memories of backpacking! After that trip, I started buying traditional backpacking gear. The longest trip I have made to date is 5 days.

2. 2. When did you realize that you needed to reduce the amount of weight that you carried in your backpack? Please explain the circumstances which led you to this conclusion…did you have a bad trip experience, or just figure it out?

· In the summer of 2006, myself and five of my buddies set out for a 4 day trip on the Superior Hiking Trail. I had accumulated a fair amount of gear between my boundary waters adventures and car camping, so I felt pretty prepared. I took a lot of time to organize and try to get all six of us guys on the same page as far as our gear. As much as I tried to communicate to them that I had all the essentials covered, they all ended up bringing their own. I guess that meant that I was going to have to carry "more than my share".

· I don't know for sure, but I think our packs were probably at 50-60 pounds each... About half way through the second day, my knee started to have some throbbing pain. Not wanting to swallow my pride and ask for help, I kept pushing right through the pain. By the end of the third day, I was moving very, very slowly and every downhill slope was pure torture.

· Upon returning home, I went to visit a sports doc and was diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome. Basically, my knee cap doesn't ride right over the end of my Femur. Why does this happen? Doctor said I'm getting old and too out of shape to "overdo" it on the trail. He recommended shoe inserts and basically to get in shape before I try to "prove" that I am a man on the trail (my own interpretation). This experience motivated me to quickly get some inserts and then put me down the road of transitioning to lightweight backpacking. And the journey began....

3. 3. What is the total weight of your big three: backpack, sleeping bag/pad, and shelter? Please include manufacturer, make and model names, unless homemade.

· 3-Season set-up: Backpack - ULA Ohm (24 oz); Sleeping Bag - JRB Sierra Sniveller (25F - 24.3 oz) or Lafuma Extreme 600 Bag modified into quilt (45F - 18.8 oz); Sleeping Pad - Nunatek Luna Pad (12 oz or less depending on season); Shelter - SMD Wild Oasis (13 oz) - Also have a Tarpent Squall (2 Person @ 27.0 oz) and a Tarptent Rainshadow (3 Person @ 41.0 oz) for when not going solo.

· Winter set-up: Backpack - Golite Pinnacle (22.1 oz); Sleeping Bag - Combine JRB Sierra Sniveller (25F - 24.3 oz) with Lafuma Extreme 600 Bag modified into quilt (45F - 18.8 oz) plus insulated clothing as needed. Sleeping Pad - 1 or 2 Nunatek Luna Pads depending on temps (12-24 oz). Shelter: SMD Wild Oasis (13 oz - but probably not a good idea in heavy snows) and an Oware Heavy Duty Pyramid (4 person - 90 oz) for group.

4. 4. Do you own a scale for weighing your gear? If so, what kind? How often do you use it?

· I have a food scale (up to 5 lbs) and a fish scale (up to 50 lbs). I have pretty much all my gear weighed and entered into a spreadsheet. I obsessively pour over my spreadsheet every trip I make to try and figure out ways to lighten my load without spending much money. Planning for a trip is as much fun as the trip itself for me.

5. 5. Where are you in the process of going lightweight? What have some of the notable weight reductions in your gear list been? Is there an example of a choice you made between two different alternative gear choices you can explain, or are pondering?

· I'm pretty much where I would like to be. Now I just need to find more time to get out and use it. Most of my adventures are with a group, so I have purchased much of my gear with that in mind. My backpack and shelter were the two biggest reductions by far. I am currently trying to find a smaller and much lighter winter shelter than my Oware Pyramid and am looking at an Oware Pyramid, vs an Oware Alphamid vs the MLD Duomid. I can't for the life of me decide which one I want. So, I may end up making my own out of tyvek.

6. 6. How much has cost constrained the rate in which you reduce your gear weight? Can you cite an example?

· It's taken about 3 years to get to where I'm at now. I sold off all my old gear and have bought and sold several renditions of each piece of gear since then. Almost everything I have for gear was previously used/purchased or on sale. This has saved me a ton of cash.

7. 7. What was the largest amount of pack weight you dropped by replacing or eliminating a piece of gear?

· This is a toss-up between my pack and shelter but the “biggest loser” is the shelter. My solo shelter used to be a 4-season 7 lb Walrus Rapeede that I sold to buy a 1.5 lb Floorless Tarptent Contrail and then in turn sold and now have SMD Wild Oasis (13 oz + 1.5 oz ground sheet). Over 6 lbs savings. My pack evolution has given me a 5 lb savings.

8. 8. What's your view on the trade-offs between the following types of backpacking gear, for your specific climate conditions and needs? Are you at the stage where you want to try different options or not interested and why?

a. Down vs. Synthetic sleeping bags?

o I have both and there are certainly pros and cons to each.

b. Backpacks with an external frame, internal frame, or no frame?

o I have an internal frame and a frameless. Both function great for me. Normally I use a closed cell foam sleeping pad and this provides the structure (frame) for a frameless pack. I bought the internal frame because sometimes I use my Big Agnes Clearview pad that would not provide a frame structure for a frameless pack. My GoLite Pinnacle (Frameless) has a larger volume which I need for my winter camping. The smaller and compressible volume of the ULA Ohm (internal frame) works great for the low volume packing of the summer.

c. Double walled shelters, single walled shelters, and tarps and bivies?

o I don't really see the need for a double wall shelter anymore after using single wall shelters. With proper ventilation and/or steep walls (pyramid style), condensation can be minimized and/or avoided. My bivy use is isolated to cold weather to minimize drafts with my quilts and for sleeping on snow on floorless shelters.

d. Full size sleeping pads vs. torso sized?

o Depends. Full size is necessary in cold weather and in Minnesota, most of the year constitutes as "cool" weather needing full padding for the northern part of the state. I combine a torso sized with the backpad in my ULA Ohm pack to give me the full length in the summer.

e. Boots vs trail runners?

o Trail runners hands down for all but really cold and snow. I've even used my trail runners down to 25F and snow. I use Steger Mukluks for colder weather. The Mukluk is a light boot with a flexible bottom that feels like walking in slippers.

9. 9. What would you say are the biggest benefits of carrying less gear? Dig deep here. Have you had any spiritual or personal breakthroughs by going lightweight? Has it affected your relationship with nature, for example?

· It is easier to connect with and observer your surroundings when you don’t feel burdened by a huge pack on your back. My gear is much less simpler and easier to use which frees me up to relax and enjoy nature more. I also bring a lot less stuff which means it is easier to find and use the stuff I do have. Knowing that I have the bare minimum to survive, forces me to sharpen my survival skills and heightens my adventure experience. Lastly being minimalist with my gear has spilled over into my running gear/footwear and overall general lifestyle and diet.

10 10. What advice would you give to someone else who wanted to start reducing the weight of their backpacking gear?

· Start by weighing all of your gear and enter it into a spreadsheet so that you know where you are starting from. Then focus on buying used gear or highly discounted gear because you will probably end up selling it anyway to get something different. The Gear Swap forum on BackpackingLight.com is where I found most of my used/pre-purchased gear. Be patient for gear to show yet be quick to buy. Pour over the info on this website and others to get a good background of what is available in the Ultralight and Lightweight world of gear. Everybody has a different style, climate, and environment that they hike in and thus the gear needs are different. Find a blog of someone that lives in a similar situation as yours and follow it for ideas.

Trail Mix Race 2010 Map

2010-04-28T13:05:00.000-05:00

When I first signed up for this race, I couldn't find a map anywhere of the route for this race. So, now that I have run it, I proceeded to create my own rough map using Google Earth overlay for others to use as a reference. The resolution got pretty low, so sorry about that. Without buying some map software, I'm not sure how to improve that.

Word on the street is that this route does change from year to year, so don't assume this is the way it will always be. When trail conditions permit, the race loops through the down-hill ski and snowboard area. This was not the case this year and instead a loop through the wood chip trails near Richardson Nature center substituted for the ski hill.

The loop as detailed below is 12.5km (7.75 miles). The 25k would obviously be 2 loops and the 50k race would be 4 loops. It sounds like the aid stations ran short near the end of the 50k race, so those participants should plan accordingly for future races. It looked like a lot of the 50k runners set up there own little aid stations near the start of the loop alongside the trail. I thought this was a pretty smart thing to do if you want to make sure you have the water and fuel you need to push through to a strong finish.

The Race (red line) started at the green start button and headed north and stayed left up through to Richardson Nature Center. It loops back to the south and stays to the east of the northbound traffic. This creates a couple places where there is 2-way traffic, but the trail is plenty wide for this. The loop near the Richardson Nature Center is all on wood chip trails that felt somewhat like running on a mattress, not easy!! There was an aid station set up at the south end of the 2-way traffic that provided water and gatorade. I'm not actually sure if they had anything to eat as I brought my own gels. The race loop pushed across to the east side of the park and followed the east side of Hyland Lake where once again, there was 2-way traffic. At the split of the 2-way traffic, there was another aid station set up. Both aid stations are pretty strategic in that you won't run any farther than about 2.5 miles without a station. After the second aid station, the loop heads south and then west up a good size hill. This hill was pretty defeating for me on my second loop and end up being my slowest mile split of the whole race. The loop then circles back north and then east to meet up with on-coming traffic on the east side of the lake. Looping around the north end of the lake, the trail heads west to finish up where it started.

Trail Mix 25k Race Report

2010-04-21T12:44:00.000-05:00

This being my first race ever, I had no idea what to expect going into it. Fortunately this one is pretty low-key, so I just went with the flow.

The 50k race was scheduled to start at 7:00 am and the 25k race at 7:30 am. Race numbers were available for pick-up at 5:30 am. I was there around 5:45 am and there was hardly anybody there yet, so I picked up my race number and then wandered around for a bit. Not finding anything to do or anybody to talk to, I moved my car down closer to the race start. Most everyone that was there was hanging out in their vehicles at the time.

At about 6:30 or so, I walked back over to the Visitor Center to the restroom. After doing my business there, I had my first and only VFF siting of the day. I tried to strike up a conversation with him and he ended up taking off while I ended up chatting ti up with a couple other guys about them. One guy had a pair that he wears off and on for training for the last three years but hasn't run a race in them. The other guy I chatted with a little longer as we walked back to the race starting area. He seemed pretty knowledgeable about the VFF's, but did not have his own pair. He was running the 50k and took off to finish prepping for the race as it was only minutes away.

I cheered on the start of the 50k and noticed there was a guy wearing a World Vision shirt. I had thought about running this race as a World Vision sponsor, but just never got my logistics together to do it. Maybe I will get this set up for the Superior Trail Race. It's a great cause that I have supported in the past.

I took off my "warmth" layers, grabbed my water bottle, gloves and headed for the race start. It was warming up nicely and I suspected I wouldn't have to wear my stocking cap for very long. I hung around the back third of the pack or so and couldn't hear anything the race director was saying. There seemed to be some confusion as they were trying to line us all up behind the race start. All of a sudden the starting horn bellowed and we were off. Somewhat anti-climatic and unexpected start, but I guess that's the way it goes for such a low profile race such as this one. In the excitement of the start, I forgot to start my watch until over a quarter mile into the race. Oops, now my splits are going to be a little off.

I really had to hold myself back the first few miles and still felt like I was going out too fast. I can't stand running on the heels of other people, so I found myself pushing hard to get around several groups as it was really cluttered. After the third mile or so, I fell into a groove and stayed there for quite a while. Turns out that miles 2-3 was my second fastest split, but no harm done looking hindsight at my overall splits.

There were places where the trail was a bit wet and muddy, so I picked my way through those trying to keep my feet dry as long as I could. Inevitably, my feet got a bit wet and muddy. Wet feet has not bothered me yet in any of my running except for a little discomfort. Didn't even phase me during the race.

The 25k race consisted of two loops and at the beginning of the second loop, I was feeling pretty good. I felt I had maintained a pretty consistent pace throughout the race thus far and was content with continuing that. Fortunately I remembered to suck down a gel between miles 8-9, otherwise I probably would have crashed pretty hard.

I struck up a conversation with a couple guys at around mile 9 and the three of us yo-yo'ed with each other for most of the rest of the race. It was nice to hear their perspectives as they were both experienced runners. One of the guys at a couple titanium rods put in his leg a few years ago as a result of a hockey injury, so it was pretty impressive he was out running this race and maintaining this pace.

At about mile 12, I hit the wall as a small hill loomed in front of me. I walked up the hill hoping that it would give my legs enough rest to push hard through to the end. This was the ticket and I was able to push through to the end after the walk. The last mile was my fastest split at 7:43 and I was able to pass several people and got passed by one, a girl. I fought my pride and let her push on ahead. ;-)

Here's a pic of me coming into the finish line taken by my beautiful wife who was cheering me on and my little boys watching.

My overall official time was 2:16:11 resulting in a pace of 8:47 for the 15.5 miles. I am very happy with that for my first race ever and am looking forward to the next race!!

Here are the top 5 finishers for the 25k and 50k races below. Their times are absolutely amazing to me!!

25k Race

Place Name Age S City St Time Pace

===== =================== === = =============== == ======= =====

    1 Fish Wilson          25 M Onamia          MN 1:35:25  6:09 
    2 Brett Busacker       24 M Orono           MN 1:37:38  6:18 
    3 Kirk Walztoni        38 M Eagan           MN 1:38:05  6:19 
    4 Josh Riff            35 M Edina           MN 1:38:23  6:21 
    5 Alex Hooke           26 M Rochester       MN 1:40:12  6:28


50k Race



Place Name                Age S City            St Time    Pace  
===== =================== === = =============== == ======= =====



    1 Brian Peterson       25 M Minneapolis     MN 3:16:52  6:21 
    2 Chris Gardner        33 M Duluth          MN 3:28:34  6:43 
    3 Kelly Mortenson      38 M St Paul         MN 3:37:40  7:01 
    4 Aaron Drevlow        36 M Woodbury        MN 3:42:14  7:10 
    5 Jim Ramacier         46 M White Bear Lake MN 3:43:51  7:13 


Thanks to O.C. Williams (the race director) and all the volunteers for putting on such a great race!!

irunfar.com gear giveaway

2010-04-19T11:34:00.000-05:00

In honor of earth week, irunfar.com is giving away a bunch of running gear. Go check it out.

Minimalist Shoe update and Trail Mix Race

2010-04-15T13:11:00.000-05:00

As most of you know, I picked up a pair of VFF KSO's last fall for running. Prior to "retraining" myself to run in minimalist footwear, I was not able to run more than a 1/2 mile with out severe knee pain that would force me to stop and walk. I also had major knee problems backpacking which was very disheartening since it is a major passion of mine. One year ago, I backpacked about 16 miles in two days with a really light pack and that was about as far as I could go as my knees started to hurt too bad.

Last summer I visited a sports doc and received some PT for my knees, gluts and all around core strength. This seemed to help some, but didn't seem to really fix the problem. It helped balance out my muscles some as well as my flexibility, but that was the extent of it.

Fast forward to last fall, within minutes of starting to run in the KSO's my knee pain was gone and to this day has remained mostly at bay. I can still feel twinges of pain here and there, but it is nothing like what I experienced prior to using minimalist shoes.

As I've discussed in previous posts, running in a minimalist shoe forces you to run with the proper form. Most people will need to completely retrain themselves to run and walk in minimalist footwear and this takes time and patience!!

Since January, I have been averaging over 20 miles per week with a high of 32 miles and a long run of 14 miles. Generally I run on a paved trail (or next to) during the week and to a long trail run on the weekend. It has been great and a joy to run with minimal pain. The pain I do have I attribute to my body adjusting and is very different than the pains I experienced before. When my body is fatigued, I can feel my form start to deteriorate and strangely enough, 'old' pains start to surface. These 'old' pains quickly remind me to pay attention to my form and I correct it immediately and the pain subsides.

In December I day-hiked 12 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia in my Inov8 295's with no knee pain and this included some running and wearing a 10 lb pack. I was super excited about this as there were some major downhill sections and this was where my knee pain would previously surface. Being able to run down a big hill with a pack on and not have knee pain was a tremendous encouragement for me and I was sold on training in a minimalist shoe.

Per my previous post, I backpacked about 24 miles in 2 1/2 days on the Superior Hiking Trail with no knee pain and a 25 lb pack. I hiked it in my Inov8 295's as much of the hike was either in snow, on ice, in icy slushy water or muddy conditions. I thought about wearing a minimalist shoe for this, but conditions were just not right for it.

Any way you look at it, I feel that training in minimalist footwear has cured my knee pain that I was previously experiencing in traditional running shoes. It has also made my feet and legs much stronger and greatly increased my sense of balance as well as core strength. Running in minimalist footwear has also improved my form tremendously and for the first time in my life, I enjoy running!!

This weekend I will run the first running race of my life (admittedly, I'm not counting 8th/9th grade track as it was all less than 2k.) The race I am running is the Trail Mix Race that takes place in Hyland Park in Bloomington, MN. I will be running in the 25k race and will be quite content to be in the middle to bottom of pack for finish times.

One month from now, I will be running a much more challenging race that takes place on the Superior Hiking Trail. The Spring Superior Trail Race will be a very fun race and again I am running the 25k portion. I will post more on this race later.

Wish me luck for my race on Saturday!!

Winter camping more spring-like on the Superior Hiking Trail

2010-04-12T13:40:00.001-05:00

I apologize as I am very delinquent at getting this out, but here is my trip summary from our trip to the SHT the weekend of March 12-14th. I forgot to charge the battery on my camera, took three pictures, then the camera died... bummer!

What was initially planned for a winter camping trip, turned relatively warm. Temps were in the 35-45F temp range and mostly cloudy until Sunday when we saw a little sunshine. The early spring warm-up we had this year provided for some rains just prior to our trip that would normally have produced an incredible amount of snow. We were really hoping to use the snowshoes and truly set up camp winter style with a pyramid tarp and 0F bags. But, we ended up leaving the snowshoes in the car, donned regular shoes, lightly insulated clothing and my Tarptent Rainshadow.

I was wearing my ULA Ohm pack, my brother Bryan had my GoLite Pinnacle pack (2008) and Barak was wearing a old Mountainsmith pack that he picked up at a secondhand store for $7. He was very proud of that purchase and it really wasn't too bad of a pack. Fairly light and yet carried weight pretty well. We each had somewhere between 25-30 lbs in each pack (including food and water). At that weight range, mine was a little overloaded and I ended up with some chaffing on my hips. The hipbelt is not really designed to carry much weight as it is more for just stabilizing the pack. This was an error on my part to try and transfer too much weight to my hips. Both of the other packs carried really well.

On Friday, we hiked from Castle Danger to a multi-group site just west of Gooseberry Falls State Park. The trail had up to 12" of wet slushy snow and occasional clear spots. The lower lying areas provided us with trails that were all or partially under water. As we neared the gooseberry river, the trail was largely under water as it followed the banks of the river. This left us but now choice to walk in cold, slushy water. I elected to wear my Inov-8 Roclite 295 trail running shoes with a pair of merino wool liner socks and my Simblissity gaiters. My feet did get quite cold when walking in the water, okay, they were numb! But would quickly warm up as soon as I was out. I might try and find a pair of neoprene socks to wear in these kind of conditions.

Since we got a late start, we push hard and hiked about 8 miles in 4 hours and ended up setting up camp in the dark. Not a big deal unless you are trying to find dry wood to heat up water for dinner and a cocoa. We ended up bypassing three campsites as all the tentpads were under hard-packed snow/ice. We finally came upon the multi-group site that offered a nice dry tent pad under a large pine tree. We had almost given up and were going to bushwack our own tentpad, so we were very thankful that we found this one.

It had been raining for the last couple days and while that had quickly melted a lot of the snow, it also saturated all the wood we could find. We took some risk in taking my DIY J.Falk Compact Wood Burning Stove, and in the wet conditions we were in and trying to melt snow for 3 guys, either the stove or our skills fell short.

After trying to boil 1.5 liters of water for about an hour, we decided to set up a tripod over our campfire and that's how we melted snow and heated up water for the rest of our trip. This worked out much better for us. We just had too much trouble finding wood that burned hot enough in the stove.

In the future I will definitely be bringing my MSR multi-fuel stove for these kind of conditions. Although, heating up water over the campfire wasn't such a bad thing, it just took a lot of extra time. It's nice to be able to have a hot drink within about 10 minutes of reach camp when it is cold out. Even though it's heavier, I think it will be worth it.

I was testing out my JRB quilt inside of a TiGoat Bivy and Bryan and Barak used a standard sleeping bag inside of a couple of bivy's that Bryan made out of reflective tyvek. They had pretty major condensation inside the bivy and I had a little. I think the their bivy's were just not breathable or just reflected too much heat back into the insulation. As for me, not sure why I had the condensation I did. From what I've read, it's really hard to eliminate condensation in these conditions (35F and humid).

On Saturday we hiked from down to Gooseberry Falls and then northward to the Split Rock River. This section of the trail proved to be much drier of which we were very happy about. However the last few miles were very icy and made for very slow going. I was really wishing I had my Kahtoola Microspikes through this section. Either way having our hiking poles saved us from falling numerous times.

Once again we bypassed a few campsites as the tentpads were either icy or too exposed of a site. We ended up setting up camp on what I think was an unofficial campsite, but it had a fire ring and a tentpad and that was good enough for us. As we were preparing dinner, Bryan announced to us that he just threw up... poor guy! Turns out it was just a little stomach bug that thankfully, neither Barak or I caught. He ended up not really eating anything and went to bed early.

Enter, a BIG advantage of a tarptent. I decided to roll back the mesh door in case Bryan needed to make a quick exit during the night. (See picture of Tarptent from previous trip.) While I was staking out the sides to give us a little more room, I hear him puking and as far as I can tell he is still inside the tent. My first thoughts ere 'My tent is going to stink like vomit for the rest of it's life!!' Fortunately, he was able to clear the tent and all the stink ended up on the dirt ground. With a sigh of relief, I found a couple big chunks of birch bark, scraped it up and through it deep into the woods. Some little critter will get a nice snack tonight I thought.

No more episodes for Bryan overnight and we all slept well. I slept pretty warm all night, and woke up to discover quite a bit of condensation on the inside of my bivy, more than the night before. I had been pretty warm the night before and didn't wear as much clothing, but I think I was still too warm. My sleeping pad (CCF) was under my bivy which meant I was sleeping directly on the sil-nylon. This definitely did a good job of trapping any moisture!! Next time I will bring the pad inside the bivy to put a little buffer between myself and the sil-nylon. In hindsight, we really didn't need the bivy's at these temps inside the tarptent, but personally, I just wanted to test it out to see how it works. Bryan and Barak went without the bivies the second night and thus no condensation. It's almost as if you need to sleep on the verge of being cold versus sleeping warm to reduce this condensation. More experimenting will need to take place on future trips.

Next morning, the sun was shining, temps were very comfortable and Bryan was feeling a little better. However, he was pretty weak from not keeping any calories down, so I lightly loaded my pack and let him carry it while I donned the GoLite Pinnacle (my first time carrying it). The Pinnacle definitely felt much better at the ~30 lb weight range than that of the ULA Ohm with about the same weight. Certainly not a fault of the Ohm as it's just not designed to carry that much weight unless you are willing to carry most of it with your shoulders.

The hike out was about 4 miles through Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. The hiking was much easier as there was very little ice. The last couple miles were especially as it was mostly downhill and on a mowed grass trail.

Overall, we enjoyed the trip and look forward to another!!

I used to wear orthotics

2010-04-02T10:01:00.000-05:00

After being prescribed orthotics almost 3 years ago due to Patellar-Femoral syndrome (knee pains), I bought various different orthotics depending on my shoes. Initially they seemed to help a little, but after time, they didn't seem to fix the underlying problem

Last summer I went to a different doctor (MN Vikings Sports doc) and he looked at my issues as more of a muscle imbalance than a need for orthotics, prescribed some PT and sent me on my way. This sent me down a road of research on why the muscle imbalance?

At the time, I was unable to run more than a 1/2 mile without severe knee pain or hike more than about 6 miles without relying heavily on my trekking poles.

Late last summer through my research, I discovered that maybe it was my shoes and how I am walking and running that is causing the issues. Here are a couple articles that I came across:

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/
http://treklightly.blogspot.com/2009/12/painful-truth-about-trainers-are.html

Last fall I started running and training in a minimalist shoe that offered no support, no structure, and no padding. I bought a pair of Vibram Fivefingers, put them on and went for a 3 mile run with no pain. Granted I was forced to run very different than I used to, but that was the whole idea. My calves were super sore and my achilles were really tight for about a month during this transition, but I could deal with that kind of pain. The minimalist shoes were allowing my feet to function the way they were designed to.

It didn't take too long for me to realize that my orthotics and structured shoes were not allowing my feet to function properly. They were like casts for my feet. In fact, wearing the orthotics and stiff shoes quickly became very uncomfortable as my feet got stronger and wanted to be able to move. I have since discarded all my orthotics, and rarely wear a shoe with a raised, padded heal.

I do hike in a pair of Inov8 295's with the insole removed, but they have no arch support and have a minimally raised heal. I wear them primarily for the traction as there are not very many options out there for a minimalist shoe with traction.

That's my food for thought. Wouldn't it be nice not to have to wear the orthotics??

Winter Camping Trip in planning stages...

2010-02-10T09:26:00.000-06:00

My brother, a friend and I are trying to pinpoint a date to go winter camping. We have elected to go somewhere along the Superior Hiking Trail, but not sure where yet. I will be posting an update once we nail dates and location down.

Once again as I approach another trip, I am making gear list modifications. My updated gear list can be found in the right-hand column. The major modifications I have made are:

Sleeping System:
I Purchased a Jacks 'R' Better Sierra Sniveller Quilt. This will be my goto quilt for most of my trips and should easily get me down to 25F by itself. When combined with my BPL Cocoon Pro 60 Insulated Pants and insulated jacket/vest, it should take me down to 10-15F. When called for, I will add my 45F poly fill quilt and use it as an overbag to give me another 15F+ of insulation. I would like to test this sleep system out in my back yard in the coming weeks. The great thing about this quilt is that it can be used as a Serape which is why I purchased the Sleeves Accessory. Down to about 20F and maybe colder, this will eliminate the need to bring along an insulated jacket or vest. This is a great way to reduce some weight.

I picked up a second-hand (unused) Titanium Goat Raven XL bivy which I am stoked about. It was a little too small for the guy that I bought it from, so he was happy to pass it off. The Titanium Goat website is outdated, but basically this is the long version as described with a full net hood and side zips added. I will use this when camping with a tarp or any time it will be below freezing. This will also be great to through in when going out for a long dayhike as an emergency shelter. Here are a few links to this bivy if you are interested in seeing it in person. Pic1, Pic2, Pic3 These pics were taken by William Puckett and posted in this Backpackinglight.com forum.

Shelter:
I also purchased (at a great price!) an Oware 9x9 Pyramid Tarp made out of a heavy duty 200d urethane coated nylon. This fabric is way overkill for me, but there is no way I could fork out $240 for a silnylon version much less $225 for a similar version to the one I have. Oware had some special deals going at the time and I was able to pick this up for $50 (very slightly used). The version I have also has a 1' skirt around the bottom along with some additional height. This should shed snow extremely well! It is not ultralight at 5 lb 10 oz, but if shared amongst 4 people, it is only 22.5 oz each. That's actually really good for a heavy-duty 4 season shelter!

Cooking:
I am experimenting with a couple wood stove comments from J. Falk at Trailgear.org. He has plans available on his website to make your own wood stoves. I made both his compact wood stove and his bushwhacker wood gase stove. I have not decided if I will be bringing both of these or just pick one and run with it. I ultimately would like to go with using wood for all my cooking as it eliminates the need to bring along fuel of any kind. The only thing I would bring is some goods to aid in fire-starting. This is also something I will be experimenting with on this trip. I am very confident in my fire-starting ability, I am just trying to find ways to speed up the process. I will blog more about this another time.

Pulk/Tobaggon:
On my last winter trip (10 years ago), I was far from being ultralight and would venture to guess I had close to 60-70 lbs of gear. I had a Lowe Alpine Contour IV 90+15L backpack and a tobaggen that had gear on it. Now that I think about it, it was probably much more than 70 lbs, maybe even approaching 100 lbs. I weighed most of that gear just out of curiousity, so I should go back and add it up some time.

As posted, my base pack weight is 12 lbs 3 oz and the base pulk weight is 22 lbs 7 oz. These really are not bad weights in themselves for winter camping, but if I could eliminate the hassle of the pulk, that would be nice. On the flip side, if I can put all the weight in the pulk, it would save getting my back all sweaty which is inevitable for me.

In reviewing my list posted in the right hand column, I could remove the following things from the list and drop significant weight:

1. Just use snowshoes and leave skis at home. (-8 lbs 8 oz) Is it realistic that we will be able to use the skis with much success on the SHT in terms of giving us that much of a speed advantage? From my experience hiking it, probably not. If we were going into the BWCA, it would be much more reasonable to bring skis and leave the snowshoes at home. Skis would be great for going across lakes or open areas of which the SHT is neither.

2. Leave shovel at home. (-1 lb 4 oz) Can I use my snowshoes as a shovel if needed? The shovel would really be for fun if we brought it, as it's not really a need. I'm sure my brother will be using a pulk, so we can lash it to that if we want to bring it.

3. Leave Bushwhacker Stove at home (-8 oz). I can always test this out on another trip or in my back yard. The Compact Wood Stove will probably be the ticket for winter camping as constant feeding of the stove will be necessary when melting snow for water. This is not as easy with the Bushwhacker Stove the way it is designed. The Bushwhacker Stove will be a much more efficient stove for conditions when melting snow is not necessary.

What would this accomplish? The Pulk is no longer necessary... Subtracting the weight of the Pulk and associated stuff sacks (~9 lbs) and it brings my base pack weight down to 19 lbs 11 oz. This is really pretty decent for a winter set-up! I will work on getting this gear list posted as this is probably the direction I will be heading... I have posted this updated list in the right-hand column as well.

My ULA Ohm backpack is designed for weights less than 30 lbs, so it is my goal to stay well under that including consumables. This is easily manageable although I am more concerned about the bulk of the winter insulation and the pyramid tarp as this may fill up my pack quicker than I would like. I will have to check to see how full my pack gets with this gear set-up...

Two 25k Spring Trail Runs on my Schedule

2010-01-28T16:23:00.000-06:00

It's official, I am signed up for two 25k trail runs this spring and getting excited. The two races are the Trail Mix Race Minnesota on April 17th and the Superior Trail Race on May 15th.

The Trail Mix Race is on the Hyland Lake Park Reserve in Bloomington, MN and is where I'll be doing much of my weekend training as it is the longest section of trails near my house. It will be nice to be able to train where I will be doing my first race. This race is commonly used as part of training prep for Grandma's Marathon which is held at the end of June in Duluth, MN.

The Superior Trail Race is held on the Superior Hiking Trail near Lutsen, MN. The 25k race starts at the Lodge at Lutsen Ski Resort, catches the Superior Hiking Trail going to the southwest. The race has lots of ups and downs including Mystery Mountain, Moose Mountain and then turning around at Oberg Mountain. The irony of the route of this race is that I backpacked through this section last summer. It was a very enjoyable, scenic section of the route which helps me look forward to running it. It will be nice to be somewhat familiar with the course going into it.

The following book was written by a gentlemen who has run this race. The description of the book goes as follows. I am going to have to add this book to my must read list...

"ULTRA SUPERIOR is a true story set in the country's most rugged endurance events, the Superior Trail Races at the Superior National Forest in Minnesota. The book starts as a story of preparation, training and competition; Ending as a vision and realization lasting the ages."

Is It Better To Be Barefoot?

2010-01-05T10:26:00.001-06:00

Is It Better To Be Barefoot?

by Christopher McDougall

Every year, countless Americans stop exercising--or don't even start--due to leg and foot pain. In response, athletic-shoe companies have poured millions of dollars into new cushioning, arch support, and shock absorbers. But despite this technological firepower, as many as six out of 10 runners are estimated to get injured every year.

If shoes are not the solution, could they possibly be the problem? Evolution might hold the answer. Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, and Dennis Bramble, a biology professor at the University of Utah, argue that for the last 2 million years, humans have engaged in long-distance running. And, for almost all of that time, humans have been running barefoot, coming down on the forefeet with toes spread and bending the ankles and knees to absorb the shock. Lieberman believes that today's sneakers--with their fat heels, squishy soles, and stiff arch supports--may be causing us instead to land hard on our bony heels with our legs straight.

4 Tips for the Novice Runner

Irene Davis, a professor of physical therapy and head of the Running Research Laboratory at the University of Delaware, is a barefoot skeptic turned convert. Like most sports-medicine practitioners, she has prescribed custom-made orthotic inserts for patients with heel pain. When one of her chronically hurt patients wanted to go for a jog with a pair of barefoot-style running shoes, she told him he was nuts. Despite the warning, he went ahead--and came back injury-free. Davis herself tried running barefoot and now is logging up to four miles a day on asphalt. Doesn't it hurt?

"No," she says. "The harder the surface, the more lightly you land and the more easily you spring back." The human body instinctively modifies itself to different kinds of terrain-- just think back to when you were a kid and how it felt to run barefoot on the grass, sand, or pavement.

How to Keep Your Feet Happy

Our legs are thickly woven with rubbery, elastic tendons that absorb shock and also use it as free energy, like a rubber ball ricocheting off pavement. "If you encase the foot in thick shoes, you not only lose ground awareness, you limit natural elasticity," says Robert Schleip of the Fascia Research Center at Germany's University of Ulm. According to a study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness in March, barefoot runners experienced significantly less impact than runners in shoes.

"We've gone too far with cushioning and arbitrary shoe designs," says Stephen Pribut, a leading sports podiatrist in Washington, D.C. Still, Pribut is not ready to tell all of his patients to go barefoot, though he agrees that no study has ever shown that barefoot runners are hurt more often than runners in shoes. In a 2009 review article for the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers searched 30 years of studies and were unable to find one demonstrating that running shoes make people less prone to injury.

11 Stars Who've Gone the Distance

Some of the major athletic-equipment companies already produce minimalist sneakers with little cushioning. "If this [barefoot running] is injury-preventive because it's natural motion, we're all for that," says Jim Weber, president and CEO of Brooks Sports, a running-shoe manufacturer. Brooks has been working on a barefoot-type shoe for four years. "But one reason we didn't rush it out is that retailers won't carry it," he adds.

Barefoot-running coach "Barefoot Ted" McDonald believes that the easiest way to introduce the practice to people is to have them try it out themselves. He has taught running classes on the Google and Microsoft campuses, and a few months ago in Palo Alto, Calif., I watched as he led 30 people of all ages and fitness levels in a jog down a city street. The trick to running barefoot, McDonald says, is remembering three points: Be light, be quick, and be upright. You want to land gently and then instantly lift that foot back up so it feels like you're in the air more than you're on the ground. At the same time, keep your back straight with your feet right under your hips. Gradually incorporate barefoot running into your workouts, giving your ankles time to get stronger.

It takes McDonald's students trial and error--and around 30 minutes--to get used to the sensation of running barefoot.

"It's amazing," one woman reports. "I feel like I'm floating."

Christopher McDougall is the author of the best-selling book "Born to Run."

Traveling, my ULA Ohm and Blood Mountain

2009-12-30T17:28:00.000-06:00

A little behind on posting to this blog with the Holidays. Here goes a quick recap of the last week...

We traveled to Atlanta, GA for Christmas this year and all went well flying with our 4-month old and 21-month old. The question is, how does one travel ultralight with kids??? I feel we did pretty good all things considering. Traveling down there, we had the equivalent of two carry-on's (we checked one of them) and my ULA Ohm backpack worth of clothing and other goods. Not too bad for a family of four and a week at the in-laws!! The challenge on the way back was we had a 50 lb suitcase full of gifts. The secret is we put one of our carry-on suitcases inside a larger suitcase (fit perfectly) on the way down there so that we would have this extra suitcase for on the way back... Worked perfect!

In regards to my own packing, I knew I was only going to be able to get out for a dayhike, thus I only brought my essentials in addition to an emergency bivy in-case something happened. I had all of my clothing for the week, gear for the hike, running clothes along with a pack of diapers all packed into my ULA Ohm. Although I didn't weigh it, I'm sure it was well over the weight limit of the pack. Surprisingly it handled very well through the airport along with juggling other suitcases, car seats for the kids, a stroller and oh yeah, the kids themselves. This was the first time I had a chance to put the pack to good use since I purchased it earlier this fall. So far, a thumbs up for the pack. Admittedly, walking the backpack through the airport overloaded isn't the best gauge of fit and use for this pack, but a good start. It also fit well in the overhead compartment the way it is supposed to (i.e. I didn't have to turn it sideways).

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, I was able to get out for a 5 mile run and a 4.25 mile run respectively in my VFF KSO's and very much enjoyed running in the much milder weather and sunshine. The runs went very well over the rolling hills in the residential neighborhood near my in-laws. I can't wait until spring in MN so that I can abandon the layers and boots to run more free and hit some trails.

I was fortunate to be able to escape for several hours on Saturday and made my way up to the northern part of Georgia to do some hiking and try out my ULA Ohm on some trails. I debated back and forth about wearing my VFF KSO's or my Inov8 Roclite 295's and ultimately decided to go with the Inov8's. This was the right decision as portions of the trail were icy and/or muddy. The temperature was 35-40F and my feet would have gotten very wet and cold in the KSO's.

I stopped in at Mountain Crossings @ Walasi-Yi which is located at the intersection of the Appalachian Trail and Gainsville Highway. They are one of four distributors of the ULA packs and had a large variety of other ultralight gear. The owner mentioned that at one point he was considering buying ULA, but obviously that didn't happen. He also mentioned that they were going to discontinue the Ohm, but I find that hard to believe since it is new pack for ULA and seems pretty popular. I'll have to check into that a little more and see if there is any truth to that.

I talked with one of the other employees in the store for awhile and he made some recommendations for a dayhike. I combined his recommendations with my desire to summit Blood Mountain and set out on my hike starting at the parking lot just down the road from Walasi-Yi. Best as I can figure out, it is 2+ miles to the summit of Blood Mountain via the BH Reece Spur Trail and the Appalachian Trail with an elevation gain of about 1350 feet. I then headed north towards Neels Gap and Walasi-Yi and continued on the AT for another 4 miles or so, then turned around and came back catching the highway at Walasi-Yi back to my car. All-in-all, I figure I hiked about 12 miles in about 5 hours.

The pack performed very well, but the true test will come when I do some backpacking this spring/summer when I will have closer to 15-20 lbs in it instead of the 10+I was carrying on this dayhike. I was even able to comfortably do some trail running with the pack, which felt okay all things considered. I did lose my water bottle out of the side of the pack which was my own fault as I had didn't have it pushed down far enough and was running which I'm sure jostled it out.

Overall, the pack is designed not to transfer a lot of weight to the hips, which is okay for weights under 20 lbs. It does transfer some, but not as much as your traditional pack. The pack fit my body type very well and the size was just right. My back did get sweaty as expected with the padding as it is designed. I think I will try my Z-Rest in lieu of the backpad provided by the manufacturer. The egg-crate construction of the Z-rest should stand the pack off my back a little more and will hopefully provide a little more airflow.

Physically, I felt better on this hike than I have since I over did it 2 1/2 years ago. Considering that I was able to run the downhills and flats the last 4 miles of the hike with no knee pain says a lot for the training that I've been able to do this fall/winter. Prior to adopting primal running, I hadn't been able to run at all or hike downhill with pain. Pretty amazing that I am able to now run downhill with a pack on with no pain!!!

11F and running in VFF KSO's

2009-12-18T11:43:00.000-06:00

My morning run today: 11F and 3 miles in my VFF KSO's with the Injinji Wool Socks. Toes were pretty cold the first 1.5 miles and then warmed up and was perfectly comfortable. Could have gone further, but ran out of time... I was running on the asphalt trail and not in the snow as that would obviously quickly freeze my feet. My plan is go on a longer run tomorrow of which it should be warmer... I think the key to keeping the toes warm is to dress in a way that the when you start to heat up, it then forces the heat down to your toes. I let myself get a little warmer than normal and yet was not too warm that I got sweaty while running. Highly breathable clothing is key!! AND, I would highly recommend going with merino wool as much as possible because if you do get a little sweaty it is much warmer than any poly type clothing when it is wet. I am finding out that I would rather throw on another layer of merino wool than my windshirt. It always seems that I get much more sweaty under my windshirt and end up shedding it not too long into my run. The windshirt also provides no insulation value. I think the only time that I would wear the windshirt is if it is super windy and I felt my merino wool layers would not protect me in regards to the wind chill.

My 2.5 mile run earlier this week was in my Mukluks and those also felt good to run in. They are just so heavy compared to the KSO's, and certainly a bit clunky and awkward. I felt they gave me a good leg work-out and I could run off the trail as well in the 6-8" of snow. But, there is something great about the feeling of running in minimalist footwear and being able to feel the ground below you. The Mukluks are great in the sense that they offer no support and that the bottoms are totally flexible, but with all the insulation beneath your feet, they greatly reduce the feeling of the ground beneath you.

Currently my achilles tendons are pretty tender and for some reason my Feelmax Kuuva Boots put some pressure on the tendons. So until my achilles are feeling better, I will switch back and forth between my KSO's and my Mukluks.

I'm headed to Atlanta for Christmas and am looking forward to doing some trail running down there as well as some hiking. I'm really looking forward to running in some warmer weather and without snow.

The Case for Avoiding Pavement of any Kind!!

2009-12-15T13:44:00.005-06:00

Combining variety in your running surfaces with barefoot or primal running seems to be a great combination!! Allowing your feet to be strengthened by removing all support and improving your form by removing all cushion will give you more of a full body work out than you would think could come from running. One advantage to running in MN in the winter is you can run on snow. My most recent run was 6.5 miles and about 2/3rds of it was in 4-6" of snow along side of the asphalt trail. It really slowed my pace, but I did feel it was much more of a full body workout. The key is to completely relax your body and let your feet speak to you. I was wearing my Feelmax Kuuvas and the flexible minimalist bottom allows me to sense the ground under me and as my foot lands, by whole body automatically adjusts accordingly. I have found that if I am not relaxed, my back muscles in particular get really sore. As Ken Bob Saxton says "RELAX, RELAX, RELAX!"

The following is an excerpt from Always Running the Same Way - The trouble with running on concrete and asphalt by Paul Ingraham, RMT

The body is an all-terrain vehicle. We cannot run on concrete for long without consequences. In the case of running, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get away with it! Although most runners believe that the rigidity of concrete is the main problem, it may be that the continuity of the surface is just as bad or worse.

Lack of variety in running surface

Unfortunately, most recreational runners are running on sidewalks. Any sunny morning, you can see hundreds of them on the seawall in downtown Vancouver. They never touch the grass or the sand. They have succumbed to the illusion that a hard, constant surface is the path of least resistance. But on an unvarying surface, your body is subjected to exactly the same forces with every strike of the foot. Not only is the stress of impact exaggerated by the hard surface, but it is also repeated excessively because the mechanics of every step are exactly the same.

Worse still, the body is given no chance to adapt to other stresses. At best, same-surface and hard-surface runners become strong in one way, but weak in all the others — and therefore vulnerable to injury.

The solution to most running problems is to get off the concrete.

A classic runner’s injury, for instance, is a kind of tendinitis called iliotibial band syndrome. It is caused by muscle imbalance, by a relative weakness of the gluteus maximus and minimus. These muscles are lateral stabilizers; they control side-to-side movement of the hips. On a flat surface, they aren’t needed much — it’s easy to stay upright on a flat surface. They don’t exactly atrophy, but the other leg muscles get disproportionately stronger. When you see people running sideways, this is partly what they are trying to prevent. It’s a good idea, but it’s futile unless they do at least half the run that way.

The alternatives to running on hard, even surfaces

The solution to most running problems is to get off the concrete. Even trail running (chip trails and other groomed trails) is not adequate — it may be soft, but it is still same-surface running. We have evolved miraculously complex reflexes and musculature that can keep us upright on virtually any surface, even shifting surfaces like the deck of a ship. To develop and maintain a well-rounded fitness, all of those reflexes and musculature need to be constantly stimulated and challenged!

Ideally, everyone should do true trail running, or cross-country running. Your run should be on soft, constantly changing and unstable surfaces. For instance, I live in downtown Vancouver, which is runner’s Heaven: miles of scenic seawall running. The seawall itself is paved. But for most of its length, you can stay off of it, and run on beaches or grass, hop over logs and benches, go up and down hills, scramble over rocks. This is perfect!

The sidewalk is not your path: everything else is.

Alas, most people don’t have the option of running on the beach. The solution is what I call “urban cross-country.” The key to urban cross-country is creativity: do anything you can to vary your running surface, and to get off the concrete every chance you get. Put parks on your route whenever possible. If it’s a small one, run around it on the grass five times before continuing. No park? Run on people’s lawns! The sidewalk is not your path: everything else is. Look for stairs and steep hills, and put them in your route. Run with one foot on the curb and one foot off for a block.

Author's Original Post with Footnotes:

Running on Pavement

More Reading:
Why you Should Run on Uneven Ground

Research Article on Natural Surface Running

Feelmax Kuuva Boots Initial Review

2009-12-10T12:45:00.004-06:00

I received my Feelmax Kuuva Boots on Monday and took them out for a 4 mile run both Monday and Tuesday. It seems very strange to talk about running and boots in the same sentence, but that is what I am doing, so here's a little background before I get into the review.

Background
I adopted a minimalist/primal running style over two months ago after reading some of the reviews of Chris McDougall's book 'Born to Run' and similarly to the author discovered that my pain with running went away as my running style completely changed. It had been over two years since I have been able to run without an onset of excruciating knee pain after a 1/2 mile of running. And in over course of that two years, I've paid visits to two different doctors and and received physical therapy for patellofemoral syndrome and in the end, it helped some, but certainly not solved the core issue. I had all but pretty much given up on running until I discovered primal running. The theory behind it is that running in a padded and/or raised heal shoe oth allows you to run with poor form and additionally inhibits you from running properly. Up until the introduction of the padded/raised heel by Nike in 1972, running injuries were almost unheard of. Now, as many as 70 percent of runners experience knee injuries at some point in their lives, according to Dr. Kevin Plancher, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist. For more information on this theory, check out the article "The Painful Truth about Trainers: Are Running Shoes a Waste of Money?". This article was written by McDougall just prior to the release of his book.

The first time I ran in my Vibram Fivefinger KSO's, I ran almost 3 miles with no pain! Granted I've had sore calves and achilles tightness since then as well as rare minor twinges of pain around my knees as I increase my mileage. This kind of pain I can deal with and the calf and achilles tightness is typical with those adopting this style of running. Currently I am up to almost 7 miles and am thoroughly enjoying running, enjoyment that I've never had before...

The best and quickest way to correct your running form is to totally bare your soles. I did get a chance to do a little bit of barefoot running this fall before it got too cold and really enjoyed it. The reality is that here in Minnesota, it is too cold for almost 6 months of the year to go barefoot. In addition, the days that it was warm enough, it was getting dark too early to run barefoot. I will bring this back into my training next spring of which I really look forward to!

As the temps dropped this fall running in my VFF KSO's, I quickly realized that they would only take me so far and if I wanted to maintain this running style, I would have to find a different solution. Searching high and low in forums and internet searches, the Feelmax Kuuva boots were one of very few options that I could find. The great thing about these being boots that as the snow starts to fly (and remains, typically until early April), I can continue to run as these are water resistant and they come up midway up my calves.

Initial Review
Initial Use
I currently have worn these boots for a 4 mile run on Monday, then going to get a Christmas tree, a 4 mile run on Tuesday in 1-2" of snow, and to work on Wednesday. For both runs, I wore my Injinji Nuwool socks in them, for getting the Christmas tree, I wore a pair of REI Merino Wool liner socks in them, and for work I wore a thicker pair of Bridgedale socks. It was a little over 20F degrees for the first run and getting the Christmas tree. The second run was 18F degrees (5F degree Wind Chill).

Construction
The uppers are constructed out of Clarino (water-resistant, breathable synthetic leather) and Canvas with a minimal amount of padding and insulation. The soles are 2.5mm of very flexible CeraPrene. Obviously, as a minimalist shoe, there is no arch support and no cushion in addition to the sole. The overall construction, stitching and style are superb. One potential flaw is that it looks like the bottom of the soles are constructed in two parts and thus they are glued to each other. I could see this eventually coming apart, but only time will tell.

Weight
My size 46 came in at 652 grams (23 oz) for both pair which is 326 (11.5 oz) grams per boot. This compares to 153 grams (5.4 oz) per pair for my VFF KSO's (Size 45) and 722 grams (25.5 oz) for my Inov8 Roclite 295's (Size 12). Great considering that as a boot, they weigh less than a typical trail running shoe.

Sizing
I am between the 45 & 46 sizes and decided to go with the larger size so that I could both layer socks and/or wear thick socks in them. I find that even with just a pair of liner socks in them, I am able to snug them up enough with the laces.

Warmth
My feet seemed a bit warm when running at 23F, but certainly not uncomfortable or sweating yet. At 18F with 5F windchill, they were perfectly comfortable. When out looking for a buying a Christmas Tree, I did find that when not moving around much and standing on cold concrete, the bottoms of my feet felt a bit cold. I don't think I could sustain being out in this cool of weather without continually moving. In wearing a thicker sock sitting at my desk all day, they were a bit warm, but still very comfortable, however, by the end of the day my feet were a bit sweaty. My initial reaction is that I will use these when below 20F or when there is snow on the ground below 35F. All else above that, I will switch back to my KSO's.

Water / Snow Resistance
After running in 1-2" of snow and some drifting of 4-5", my feet and ankles remained completely dry. The are water resistant enough to keep out snow and yet breathable enough to keep my feet from getting sweaty.

Price/Purchase
I purchased mine through Amazon.com which ultimately comes from Gifts From Finland. Were I to do it over again, I would have bought them direct from Gifts From Finland so that they don't have to pay the Amazon.com surcharges. Either way, they were currently on sale for $120 + Shipping, but it looks like they are currently out of stock. Extremeoutfitters.com, Mission-outfitters.com, and Outdoortactical.com all also sell these boots.

Manufacturer
Feelmax is headquartered in Finland, but it looks like these boots are actually manufactured in Germany per the label on the boot.

Other Reviews
Adventure in Progress - First Impressions - Feelmax Kuuva
Adventure in Progress - Minimalist Footwear for Winter
Living Barefoot

My Review of Vibram FiveFingers KSO Shoes - Men's

2009-12-09T10:03:00.003-06:00

Originally submitted at REI

Protecting the soles of your feet with a thin Vibram® skin, the Vibram FiveFingers KSO multisport water shoes allow you to experience barefoot freedom in your outdoor activities.

Cool Weather "Barefoot" Running

By gusmeister from Minneapolis, MN on 12/9/2009

Gift: No
Pros: Quality Materials, Well Crafted, Attractive Design
Best Uses: Minimalist Running, Cool Weather, Primal Running

Watch any child that is learning to walk/run and they run on the balls of their feet. It isn't until we put shoes on our feet that have an elevated heal that we "learn" to walk in a heal to toe pattern. It is my opinion that an elevated shoe trains you to walk/run heal to toe and that it is not natural.

I have been very active in sports and training my whole life up until the last few years when my ankles, knees and hips have responded very negatively to my exercising (primarily running and hiking). I was introduced to the idea of barefoot running (and vibram five fingers) this last summer and immediately started going barefoot around my house and yard as much as I possibly could.

At the beginning of October I started running in my Vibram FiveFinger KSO's and am completely sold on the idea. My leg muscles certainly responded in much pain, but my joints have had no pain. I am running up to 7 miles now with no pain in my joints!!

The impact of heal striking is something no shoe can absorb and as a result your joints must take that impact at some level. One has to think that eventually they will wear out... That is why a shoe like this is the perfect solution! It forces you to learn how to run with proper technique and thus avoid injuries.

Besides my calves being really sore in adopting this new running style, I have had NO knee pain. My balance and core strength is way better and most importantly, I now LOVE going out for a run! So much so that I have put a couple 25K trail runs on my schedule for next spring and a 50K trail run for the middle of the summer!

Primal running is defined by using a minimalist shoe like Vibram FiveFingers, Feelmax, Huaraches, or a racing flat type shoe. Barefoot running (I've only done this for very short distances a couple times) is just as it says.

One BIG note, you need to modify your running style when you run this way. AND, give yourself some transition time... i.e. TAKE IT SLOW. It's like learning how to run all over again. If something hurts, you are doing something wrong!!

Check out these three websites for some great instruction and dialogue on barefoot/primal running:
www.runningbarefoot.org,
www.barefootted.com,
www.barefootrunner.com

I also highly recommend reading the book "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen". This has a great story that is centered around minimalist running.

Good Luck!

Jeremy
treklightly.blogspot.com

(legalese)

The painful truth about trainers: Are running shoes a waste of money?

2009-12-08T13:00:00.003-06:00

Thrust enhancers, roll bars, microchips...the $20 billion running - shoe industry wants us to believe that the latest technologies will cushion every stride. Yet in this extract from his controversial new book, Christopher McDougall claims that injury rates for runners are actually on the rise, that everything we've been told about running shoes is wrong - and that it might even be better to go barefoot...

By CHRISTOPHER McDOUGALL

Every year, anywhere from 65 to 80 per cent of all runners suffer an injury. No matter who you are, no matter how much you run, your odds of getting hurt are the same

At Stanford University, California, two sales representatives from Nike were watching the athletics team practise. Part of their job was to gather feedback from the company's sponsored runners about which shoes they preferred.

Unfortunately, it was proving difficult that day as the runners all seemed to prefer... nothing.

'Didn't we send you enough shoes?' they asked head coach Vin Lananna. They had, he was just refusing to use them.

'I can't prove this,' the well-respected coach told them.

'But I believe that when my runners train barefoot they run faster and suffer fewer injuries.'

Nike sponsored the Stanford team as they were the best of the very best. Needless to say, the reps were a little disturbed to hear that Lananna felt the best shoes they had to offer them were not as good as no shoes at all.

When I was told this anecdote it came as no surprise. I'd spent years struggling with a variety of running-related injuries, each time trading up to more expensive shoes, which seemed to make no difference. I'd lost count of the amount of money I'd handed over at shops and sports-injury clinics - eventually ending with advice from my doctor to give it up and 'buy a bike'.

And I wasn't on my own. Every year, anywhere from 65 to 80 per cent of all runners suffer an injury. No matter who you are, no matter how much you run, your odds of getting hurt are the same. It doesn't matter if you're male or female, fast or slow, pudgy or taut as a racehorse, your feet are still in the danger zone.

But why? How come Roger Bannister could charge out of his Oxford lab every day, pound around a hard cinder track in thin leather slippers, not only getting faster but never getting hurt, and set a record before lunch?

Tarahumara runner Arnulfo Quimare runs alongside ultra-runner Scott Jurek in Mexico's Copper Canyons

Then there's the secretive Tarahumara tribe, the best long-distance runners in the world. These are a people who live in basic conditions in Mexico, often in caves without running water, and run with only strips of old tyre or leather thongs strapped to the bottom of their feet. They are virtually barefoot.

Come race day, the Tarahumara don't train. They don't stretch or warm up. They just stroll to the starting line, laughing and bantering, and then go for it, ultra-running for two full days, sometimes covering over 300 miles, non-stop. For the fun of it. One of them recently came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing nothing but a toga and sandals. He was 57 years old.

When it comes to preparation, the Tarahumara prefer more of a Mardi Gras approach. In terms of diet, lifestyle and training technique, they're a track coach's nightmare. They drink like New Year's Eve is a weekly event, tossing back enough corn-based beer and homemade tequila brewed from rattlesnake corpses to floor an army.

Unlike their Western counterparts, the Tarahumara don't replenish their bodies with electrolyte-rich sports drinks. They don't rebuild between workouts with protein bars; in fact, they barely eat any protein at all, living on little more than ground corn spiced up by their favourite delicacy, barbecued mouse.

How come they're not crippled?

Modern running shoes on sale

I've watched them climb sheer cliffs with no visible support on nothing more than an hour's sleep and a stomach full of pinto beans. It's as if a clerical error entered the stats in the wrong columns. Shouldn't we, the ones with state-of-the-art running shoes and custom-made orthotics, have the zero casualty rate, and the Tarahumara, who run far more, on far rockier terrain, in shoes that barely qualify as shoes, be constantly hospitalised?

The answer, I discovered, will make for unpalatable reading for the $20 billion trainer-manufacturing industry. It could also change runners' lives forever.

Dr Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, has been studying the growing injury crisis in the developed world for some time and has come to a startling conclusion: 'A lot of foot and knee injuries currently plaguing us are caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate (ankle rotation) and give us knee problems.

'Until 1972, when the modern athletic shoe was invented, people ran in very thin-soled shoes, had strong feet and had a much lower incidence of knee injuries.'

Lieberman also believes that if modern trainers never existed more people would be running. And if more people ran, fewer would be suffering from heart disease, hypertension, blocked arteries, diabetes, and most other deadly ailments of the Western world.

'Humans need aerobic exercise in order to stay healthy,' says Lieberman. 'If there's any magic bullet to make human beings healthy, it's to run.'

The modern running shoe was essentially invented by Nike. The company was founded in the Seventies by Phil Knight, a University of Oregon runner, and Bill Bowerman, the University of Oregon coach.

Before these two men got together, the modern running shoe as we know it didn't exist. Runners from Jesse Owens through to Roger Bannister all ran with backs straight, knees bent, feet scratching back under their hips. They had no choice: their only shock absorption came from the compression of their legs and their thick pad of midfoot fat. Thumping down on their heels was not an option.

Despite all their marketing suggestions to the contrary, no manufacturer has ever invented a shoe that is any help at all in injury prevention

Bowerman didn't actually do much running. He only started to jog a little at the age of 50, after spending time in New Zealand with Arthur Lydiard, the father of fitness running and the most influential distance-running coach of all time. Bowerman came home a convert, and in 1966 wrote a best-selling book whose title introduced a new word and obsession to the fitness-aware public: Jogging.

In between writing and coaching, Bowerman came up with the idea of sticking a hunk of rubber under the heel of his pumps. It was, he said, to stop the feet tiring and give them an edge. With the heel raised, he reasoned, gravity would push them forward ahead of the next man. Bowerman called Nike's first shoe the Cortez - after the conquistador who plundered the New World for gold and unleashed a horrific smallpox epidemic.

It is an irony not wasted on his detractors. In essence, he had created a market for a product and then created the product itself.

'It's genius, the kind of stuff they study in business schools,' one commentator said.

Bowerman's partner, Knight, set up a manufacturing deal in Japan and was soon selling shoes faster than they could come off the assembly line.

'With the Cortez's cushioning, we were in a monopoly position probably into the Olympic year, 1972,' Knight said.

The rest is history.

The company's annual turnover is now in excess of $17 billion and it has a major market share in over 160 countries.

Since then, running-shoe companies have had more than 30 years to perfect their designs so, logically, the injury rate must be in freefall by now.

After all, Adidas has come up with a $250 shoe with a microprocessor in the sole that instantly adjusts cushioning for every stride. Asics spent $3 million and eight years (three more years than it took to create the first atomic bomb) to invent the Kinsei, a shoe that boasts 'multi-angled forefoot gel pods', and a 'midfoot thrust enhancer'. Each season brings an expensive new purchase for the average runner.

But at least you know you'll never limp again. Or so the leading companies would have you believe. Despite all their marketing suggestions to the contrary, no manufacturer has ever invented a shoe that is any help at all in injury prevention.

If anything, the injury rates have actually ebbed up since the Seventies - Achilles tendon blowouts have seen a ten per cent increase. (It's not only shoes that can create the problem: research in Hawaii found runners who stretched before exercise were 33 per cent more likely to get hurt.)

OXFORD, 1954: Roger Bannister crosses the finish line, running a mile in 3:59.4, in thin leather slippers

In a paper for the British Journal Of Sports Medicine last year, Dr Craig Richards, a researcher at the University of Newcastle in Australia, revealed there are no evidence-based studies that demonstrate running shoes make you less prone to injury. Not one.

It was an astonishing revelation that had been hidden for over 35 years. Dr Richards was so stunned that a $20 billion industry seemed to be based on nothing but empty promises and wishful thinking that he issued the following challenge: 'Is any running-shoe company prepared to claim that wearing their distance running shoes will decrease your risk of suffering musculoskeletal running injuries? Is any shoe manufacturer prepared to claim that wearing their running shoes will improve your distance running performance? If you are prepared to make these claims, where is your peer-reviewed data to back it up?'

Dr Richards waited and even tried contacting the major shoe companies for their data. In response, he got silence.

So, if running shoes don't make you go faster and don't stop you from getting hurt, then what, exactly, are you paying for? What are the benefits of all those microchips, thrust enhancers, air cushions, torsion devices and roll bars?

The answer is still a mystery. And for Bowerman's old mentor, Arthur Lydiard, it all makes sense.

'We used to run in canvas shoes,' he said.

'We didn't get plantar fasciitis (pain under the heel); we didn't pronate or supinate (land on the edge of the foot); we might have lost a bit of skin from the rough canvas when we were running marathons, but generally we didn't have foot problems.

'Paying several hundred dollars for the latest in hi-tech running shoes is no guarantee you'll avoid any of these injuries and can even guarantee that you will suffer from them in one form or another. Shoes that let your foot function like you're barefoot - they're the shoes for me.'

Soon after those two Nike sales reps reported back from Stanford, the marketing team set to work to see if it could make money from the lessons it had learned. Jeff Pisciotta, the senior researcher at Nike Sports Research Lab, assembled 20 runners on a grassy field and filmed them running barefoot.

When he zoomed in, he was startled by what he found. Instead of each foot clomping down as it would in a shoe, it behaved like an animal with a mind of its own - stretching, grasping, seeking the ground with splayed toes, gliding in for a landing like a lake-bound swan.

'It's beautiful to watch,' Pisciotta later told me. 'That made us start thinking that when you put a shoe on, it starts to take over some of the control.'

Pisciotta immediately deployed his team to gather film of every existing barefoot culture they could find.

'We found pockets of people all over the globe who are still running barefoot, and what you find is that, during propulsion and landing, they have far more range of motion in the foot and engage more of the toe. Their feet flex, spread, splay and grip the surface, meaning you have less pronation and more distribution of pressure.'

Nike's response was to find a way to make money off a naked foot. It took two years of work before Pisciotta was ready to unveil his masterpiece. It was presented in TV ads that showed Kenyan runners padding
along a dirt trail, swimmers curling their toes around a starting block, gymnasts, Brazilian capoeira dancers, rock climbers, wrestlers, karate masters and beach soccer players.

And then comes the grand finale: we cut back to the Kenyans, whose bare feet are now sporting some kind of thin shoe. It's the new Nike Free, a shoe thinner than the old Cortez dreamt up by Bowerman in the Seventies. And its slogan?

'Run Barefoot.'

The price of this return to nature?

A conservative £65. But, unlike the real thing, experts may still advise you to change them every three months.

Edited extract from 'Born To Run' by Christopher McDougall, £16.99, on sale from April 23

PAINFUL TRUTH No 1

THE BEST SHOES AND THE WORST

Runners wearing top-of-the-line trainers are 123 per cent more likely to get injured than runners in cheap ones. This was discovered as far back as 1989, according to a study led by Dr Bernard Marti, the leading preventative-medicine specialist at Switzerland's University of Bern.

Dr Marti's research team analysed 4,358 runners in the Bern Grand Prix, a 9.6-mile road race. All the runners filled out an extensive questionnaire that detailed their training habits and footwear for the previous year; as it turned out, 45 per cent had been hurt during that time. But what surprised Dr Marti was the fact that the most common variable among the casualties wasn't training surface, running speed, weekly mileage or 'competitive training motivation'.

It wasn't even body weight or a history of previous injury. It was the price of the shoe. Runners in shoes that cost more than $95 were more than twice as likely to get hurt as runners in shoes that cost less than $40.

Follow-up studies found similar results, like the 1991 report in Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise that found that 'wearers of expensive running shoes that are promoted as having additional features that protect (eg, more cushioning, 'pronation correction') are injured significantly more frequently than runners wearing inexpensive shoes.'

What a cruel joke: for double the price, you get double the pain. Stanford coach Vin Lananna had already spotted the same phenomenon.'I once ordered highend shoes for the team and within two weeks we had more plantar fasciitis and Achilles problems than I'd ever seen.

So I sent them back. Ever since then, I've always ordered low-end shoes. It's not because I'm cheap. It's because I'm in the business of making athletes run fast and stay healthy.'

PAINFUL TRUTH No 2

FEET LIKE A GOOD BEATING

Despite pillowy-sounding names such as 'MegaBounce', all that cushioning does nothing to reduce impact. Logically, that should be obvious - the impact on your legs from running can be up to 12 times your weight, so it's preposterous to believe a half-inch of rubber is going to make a difference.

When it comes to sensing the softest caress or tiniest grain of sand, your toes are as finely wired as your lips and fingertips. It's these nerve endings that tell your foot how to react to the changing ground beneath, not a strip of rubber.

To help prove this point, Dr Steven Robbins and Dr Edward Waked of McGill University, Montreal, performed a series of lengthy tests on gymnasts. They found that the thicker the landing mat, the harder the gymnasts landed. Instinctively, the gymnasts were searching for stability. When they sensed a soft surface underfoot, they slapped down hard to ensure balance. Runners do the same thing. When you run in cushioned shoes, your feet are pushing through the soles in search of a hard, stable platform.

'Currently available sports shoes are too soft and thick, and should be redesigned if they are to protect humans performing sports,' the researchers concluded.

To add weight to their argument, the acute-injury rehabilitation specialist David Smyntek carried out an experiment of his own. He had grown wary that the people telling him to trade in his favourite shoes every 300-500 miles were the same people who sold them to him.

But how was it, he wondered, that Arthur Newton, for instance, one of the greatest ultrarunners of all time, who broke the record for the 100-mile Bath-London run at the age of 51, never replaced his thin-soled canvaspumps until he'd put at least 4,000 miles on them?

So Smyntek changed tack. Whenever his shoes got thin, he kept on running. When the outside edge started to go, he swapped the right for the left and kept running. Five miles a day, every day.

Once he realised he could run comfortably in broken-down, even wrong-footed shoes, he had his answer. If he wasn't using them the way they were designed, maybe that design wasn't such a big deal after all.

He now only buys cheap trainers.

PAINFUL TRUTH No 3

HUMAN BEINGS ARE DESIGNED TO RUN WITHOUT SHOES

'Barefoot running has been one of my training philosophies for years,' says Gerard Hartmann, the Irish physical therapist who treats all the world's finest distance runners, including Paula Radcliffe.

Ethiopian Abebe Bikila on his way to gold in the 1960 Olympic marathon - running barefoot

For decades, Dr Hartmann has been watching the explosion of ever more structured running shoes with dismay. 'Pronation has become this very bad word, but it's just the natural movement of the foot,' he says. 'The foot is supposed to pronate.'

To see pronation in action, kick off your shoes and run down the driveway. On a hard surface, your feet will automatically shift to selfdefence mode: you'll find yourself landing on the outside edge of your foot, then gently rolling from little toe over to big until your foot is flat. That's pronation - a mild, shockabsorbing twist that allows your arch to compress.

Your foot's centrepiece is the arch, the greatest weight-bearing design ever created. The beauty of any arch is the way it gets stronger under stress; the harder you push down, the tighter its parts mesh. Push up from underneath and you weaken the whole structure.

'Putting your feet in shoes is similar to putting them in a plaster cast,' says Dr Hartmann. 'If I put your leg in plaster, we'll find 40 to 60 per cent atrophy of the musculature within six weeks. Something similar happens to your feet when they're encased in shoes.'

When shoes are doing the work, tendons stiffen and muscles shrivel. Work them out and they'll arc up. 'I've worked with the best Kenyan runners,' says Hartmann, 'and they all have marvellous elasticity in their feet. That comes from never running in shoes until you're 17.'

SO SHOULD WE ALL BE RUNNING BAREFOOT?

BY JUSTIN COULTER, SPORTS PODIATRIST

Running barefoot may have some benefit in muscle strengthening as the muscles have to 'tune in' to the vibrations caused by impact loading.

If, like Zola Budd, you grew up running barefoot on a South African farm, your tissue tolerance would adapt over time. But for someone who has grown up wearing shoes and is a natural heel striker (see right), the impact loading will be beyond tissue tolerance level, and injury will occur.

We are all individuals, therefore it is prudent to have your own running technique assessed and work around that.

As for getting out your old worn out trainers and running in them - don't! Based on the individual's size and running surfaces/conditions shoes should be changed between 500-1,000 miles. It's best to seek the advice of a specialist running store.