Barefoot Running

Famous runners had gone barefoot before us, of course. In 1960 Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, the greatest Olympic marathoner of all time, won the first of his consecutive gold medals sans shoes in a world record 2:15:17.

While Bikila was making Olympic history, England's Bruce Tulloh was running European record times from 1955 to 1967, almost always in bare feet. He ran 13:12 for three miles on grass, and 27:23 for six miles on cinders.

Zola Budd set a track world record in January 1984 when, just 16, she ran 5000 meters in South Africa in 15:01.83, more than six seconds under Mary Decker's existing record. (Too bad Budd is better known for her fateful collision with Decker in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic 3000 race. Decker was thrown horribly off-balance, and twisted and fell to the infield grass.)

Interest in barefoot running seemed to wane until 2001, when Michael Warburton, an Aussie physical therapist and 2:42 marathoner, published an online paper titled, simply, "Barefoot Running." (You can view the paper at the sports science web site sportsci.org.) In his section on running economy, Warburton points out that the extra weight of shoes on your feet is much worse than a pound or two around your middle. Weight on your feet is subject to constant acceleration and deceleration (runners call these movements "strides"), which have a high energy cost. According to Warburton, research has shown that 100 grams of extra weight on your feet decreases your running economy by one percent. Simple math says that two 10-ounce shoes will make you more than five percent less efficient. That's a big deal. When you add five percent to Paul Tergat's marathon world record 2:04:55, he's a 2:11 guy, which doesn't net him enough for a warm bowl of ugali in the Kenyan highlands.

When you run barefoot, your body precisely engages your vision, your brain, the soles of your feet, and all the muscles, bones, tendons, and supporting structures of your feet and legs. They leap to red alert, and give you a high degree of protection from the varied pressures and forces of running.

On the other hand, when you run in socks, shoes, inserts, midsoles and outsoles, your body's proprioceptive system loses a lot of input. "This has been called 'the perceptual illusion' of running shoes," says Warburton. "With shoes, your body switches off to a degree, and your reaction time decreases."The way I see it, there's a simple explanation for the high IQ of barefoot running: We descended from the trees to walk and run this planet's surfaces six million years ago, and we've had time to get really, really good at it, from the soles of the feet to the top of the brain.

We did an old fashioned brick workout this morning then ran bare foot on the grass. The yard was soft from last nights rain but not sloppy. It was perfect.

3 miles, 440 repitions of upper body exercise.

John S., Dave Baker, Oneill, Charlie, and Michael G. escorted Caroline in the old 7 mile loop. They reported an up tempo change of pace for the final 2 miles, as instructed.

Fred, Nikki, Kaffee, Kristen, Michael L, Leslie, Casey, Holly, Allison, Marc, Preacher, Erin, Mary Anne, Lisa, Mary Blythe and Harriott stayed on campus for the workout. We did 3 laps around the School with weight is hand, a 10k race pace half mile then 10X100m stride barefoot.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46220209

Princess Boot Camp was exciting. Kristen showed up in glamor mode having had her hair did. She promptly torqued her ankle. The Boot Camp squad car had to rescue her. Kathleen, Susie Mac, Jenny, Anne Miller, Mary B, Mary D, Liz & David, Becca, Tamson and Joellyn did Jazzercize in the park while poor Krissy iced her swollen ankle.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46220201