Useless Training Science

Great news for runners – arm swinging is important, so do run like normal and don’t strap your arms to your sides! Some researchers have really done some research to find out why people swing their arms when walking, and they conclude that “arm swinging is an integral part of the energy economy of human gait” (http://www.physorg.com/news168027773.html, or http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jul/29/science-walking-secrets-swing ). Normal arm swinging when walking is metabolically more efficient than not swinging them or moving same side arms and legs together. So now you know that when you don’t walk or run like a dork you are also being most efficient.

I’ve had another early morning run now. I am feeling really strong now so I decided to boldly barefoot further – twice as far as yesterday. I ran the route that I took when I blistered my entire mid-foot and heal and took the skin off my big toes, so I was quite nervous about the state of my feet after 7 or 8 miles off road. As a testament to how much my feet have toughened since, over about 3 months of being much more careful, they are fine, not a blister in sight. I do think that I went maybe a couple of miles too far though and my feet are sensitive. I’m still trying to decide whether my soles are singing of the joys of freedom, or whether they are protesting about being shot-blasted with ball bearings.

My ability to understand what my soles are telling me has definitely improved. In the early days, especially when I shredded my feet, everything felt like pain. I couldn’t tell the difference between sensitivity to stones and my soles blistering. Now I can tell the difference between surfaces, and stony paths are not the worst! Rough tarmac is the worst as the stones they use to give grip seem to be bonded to the road sharp points up! I walked those stretches to avoid any further injuries.

I think in the interests of increasing my mileage I might start to mix shoes back into my training as my soles feel bruised after two days of mid-distance (5 to 10 mile) runs barefoot. VFF do solve the stone and root sensitivity issue, but when it’s been wet they really do get unpleasant quite quickly when they are soaked and muddy. I’ve looked at the inov-8 X-talon 212s now and they look great – very light and not much heal to them. The only downside is that they are £75 and the studs are of a grippy rubber so probably won’t like road running much. Inov-8 do seem to do smoother sole trail “flats”, the f-lite 230 and 230pk (parkour) but I haven’t seen these to try out yet. Maybe I’ll try out Anton Krupicka’s trainer heal chopping technique before spending even more money on shoes.