I have joined the barefoot revolution

I admit that I never put a lot of stock into the whole run barefoot, anti-shoe company, hippy speak surrounding barefoot running. But the book Born to Run really changed my viewpoint on the topic. I also like the mentality that the human foot is the product of millions of years of evolution and we should put a little more trust in it. Anyway, here is the pic of my new Vibram fivefingers Bikilas.

* I do still plan to run occasionally in my Newtons as well as compete in them for longer events.

Foot OverPronation

In order to fully demonstrate what I am talking about when I discuss my running form, here are some screenshots from the video analysis I took of myself running yesterday.

Good (Midfoot Strike and little pronation):

Bad (Over Pronation):  You can see how the ankle and foot cave inward.

Video Clip (Some Good and Some Bad):

One thing that jumps off the video to me is that my feet appear to be running down the center line of the treadmill.  In my next session I am going to try to focus on landing them on the sides of that imaginary line rather than directly on it.  I think this could be a big reason for the pronation.

Swim and Run Time Trials

After the tri camp, I am mentally entering a new stage of my training.  I aim to have a steady training plan, more defined goals and objectives, a better diet, and an overall commitment increase.  The plan starts on Monday and I will be trying out what is called a CRASH week.  I will talk more in depth about what that entails in a different post.  In order to prepare some short term goals, I performed a swim test of 1500yrds and a 10k run test.

The 1500yrd swim test was easily done in 27:30.  I hope to drastically improve upon this time by the end of March to 22:30 or 45seconds per 50.  Swimming will become a focus as it is definitely one of my limiters.

The 10k time trial was even a little better than expected.  I had set a mental goal for myself of 55mins and performed the test at 53:50.  I would like to drop this time to 50mins flat before drastically stepping up my distance on the run.  And, courtesy of the New Garmin Forerunner 305, here is my heart rate during the 10k:

The Shoes that won at Kona

It seems like I just keep buying new toys, I assure everyone I do train too.  This post is about running and the Newton shoes.  During the triathlon camp last weekend I reviewed my running form on video and with the coaches.  Everything looked pretty good, with one exception.  In slow motion you can see my heel strike first (and hard) and then my foot pronates inward (and hard).

The proper running form is to land each footstrike on the midfoot and use you hamstrings to pull back.  While the pronation is my biggest concern (as it can lead to both injury and inefficiency), changing to a midfoot footstrike is the first and a major step towards correcting the pronation.  I wish I had the video of my run to post.  Midfoot Strike vs Heel Strike

The shoes I just purchased were worn by Craig Alexander in hiss 2008 win at Kona and are specifically designed to help with making a midfoot strike.  Newton Distance S Shoes.  There is a lot of good information on the Newton site (even if it is geared towards selling their shoes).