Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is now official, barefoot is best. Well almost... if we do a bit of liberal interpretation . To quote Vivobarefoot's article (I've changed the link to point directly to the paper)...

Harvard Professor Daniel Lieberman has released his latest ground breaking research: "Foot Strike and Injury Rates in Endurance Runners: a retrospective study" which shows runners with a rearfoot strike have almost twice the rate of injury than those who forefoot strike, a characteristic found in skilled barefoot runners.
— IT’S OFFICIAL BAREFOOT IS BEST

Unfortunately, the paper is locked away behind a form that makes you buy it in order to read it, so I've not read the whole article yet, but the abstract gives us a good idea...

Purpose: This retrospective study tests if runners who habitually forefoot strike have different rates of injury than runners who habitually rearfoot strike.

Methods: We measured the strike characteristics of middle and long distance runners from a collegiate cross country team and quantified their history of injury, including the incidence and rate of specific injuries, the severity of each injury, and the rate of mild, moderate and severe injuries per mile run.

Results: Of the 52 runners studied, 36 (59%) primarily used a rearfoot strike and 16 (31%) primarily used a forefoot strike. Approximately 74% of runners experienced a moderate or severe injury each year, but those who habitually rearfoot strike had approximately twice the rate of repetitive stress injuries than individuals who habitually forefoot strike. Traumatic injury rates were not significantly different between the two groups. A generalized linear model showed that strike type, sex, race distance, and average miles per week each correlate significantly (p<0.01) with repetitive injury rates.

Conclusions: Competitive cross country runners on a college team incur high injury rates, but runners who habitually rearfoot strike have significantly higher rates of repetitive stress injury than those who mostly forefoot strike. This study does not test the causal bases for this general difference. One hypothesis, which requires further research, is that the absence of a marked impact peak in the ground reaction force during a forefoot strike compared to a rearfoot strike may contribute to lower rates of injuries in habitual forefoot strikers.

(C)2012The American College of Sports Medicine

— Foot Strike and Injury Rates in Endurance Runners: a retrospective study

The sample size isn't very big and it doesn't conclusively prove barefoot it better than shod running - barefoot isn't even mentioned - but if they can come to their conclusion from such a small sample, we can further extrapolate to say barefoot has got to be better as you will almost certainly land on your forefoot when running barefoot. It's hurts too much not to.

Now to see if I can get my hands on that paper.

Over the Christmas holidays, I was compelled (a visit was due anyway) to return to sunny South Africa for the first time in five years - my first Christmas back in SA in 7 years - by my cousin's desire to marry a gun-toting children's pastor (lovely chap).

As part of my holiday back home, I decided I'd venture out to see what South Africa's first and only (at the moment) parkrun was like. It'd been a very very very long time since I last ran in South Africa, let alone raced, and from the one other run I'd had in Jo'burg during my hols, a gentle 10k, I knew it would be a toughie.

So nice and early on Christmas eve, I bundled my wife into the car and we headed down to Delta Park for a quick spin round the park (me - my wife doesn't run). We got there with about half an hour to spare so I could warm up and introduce myself to the organiser - the one and only, Bruce Fordyce. During the intros it came to light there were quite a few of us "foreign" bods there. There was me, another chap from Cambridge (also a Saffer) and 3 Kiwis, all doing our first SA parkrun. It was also a much larger turn out than expected with 24 people, which isn't bad considering up until that point the record had been 31 with absolutely no publicity.

Around about 9am we all gathered for a photo...

... and set off for what is probably the toughest parkrun you'll encounter. Due to Delta Park's location and the general geography of Johannesburg, hills are unavoidable, and boy is this a hilly run. Thankfully it's only a single-lapper (I prefer single lap runs) scenic run with a good mix of trails, grass and tar. I've only done the Reading and the Delta Park parkruns (note to self: I really must aim to do other parkruns this year) and I definitely prefer the Delta Park run.

A combination of the altitude, hills and varied terrain saw me finish in 7th place in a rather slow time of 21:43. You'd be amazed how much of an impact altitude has on your running performance - it's really hard work running at about 1600m above sea level, especially up hill, after only training at sea level for several years.

Unfortunately, things didn't go well for everyone...

Perhaps Aristotle was correct or perhaps it's because we South Africans are still bitter about the rugby World Cup but we somehow contrived to welcome our All Black friends by planting a snake (suspected Rinkhals- spitting cobra) in the first 300 metres of open grassland. A few minutes after we had set off Kelly hobbled back with a bite above her ankle.

Kelly was rushed off to hospital where she was treated and discharged a couple of hours later. The doctors were not entirely convinced that she had suffered a snake bite-. And we comforted ourselves by remembering that many venomous snakes are extremely reluctant to exhaust their poison in defense prefering to save venom for their prey. In other words they bite often but don't expel poison. The Rinkhals much prefers fat rats, toads and other snakes to skinny Kiwis.

— Christmas Eve 2011 Race Report

You'll never get that kind of excitement and action at a parkrun in the UK.

Sadly, I didn't get the chance to run another parkrun whilst in SA, but Bruce plans on putting the marketing engine into full swing this year to get the word out that parkrun has made it to SA and needs runners. If all goes well, parkruns will be sprouting up all over South Africa in the next few years.

I wish them the best of luck and will definitely be bringing my barcode with me when I next visit South Africa.

Great and well balanced article from Podiatry Today busting the myths commonly associated with barefoot running.

Happy new year everyone and welcome to 2012.

I hope you all had a good barefoot 2011 and that 2012 is even better with even more barefoot and minimalist running. I certainly had a great 2011 on the running front and plan a bumper 2012.

My running this year has gone really well and my current long-slow training is proving to be very enjoyable and I'm seeing results already. I've not run any races, but I can see the positive effects as I cover more distance in the same amount of time at lower heart rates - I'm currently doing lots of long slow runs using a bastardized version of the training ideas in this HADD Article which I discovered when investigating the merits of MAF training.

As this is going well, I started to umm and aahhh about stepping things up a bit and started putting some serious thought into running a half-marathon. I've not run a half-marathon in well over 13 years and I finally feel my training is up to a point where I can complete a half-marathon, and in a pretty competitive time (ie sub-90 mins). I wasn't sure if I should do the Wokingham half in February, the Reading half in April or both.

Well, after a lot of umming and ahhhing, I've finally taken the plunge and entered next year's Reading half. Whilst I think I could probably comfortably do both the Wokingham and Reading halves, I think it's probably best to take things slowly and enter only one that early in the year. The Reading half is the larger of the two, so I've opted for that one. Maybe 2013 will see me do both. We'll see.

That said, running the Reading half-marathon is expensive. The entry fee is £31.50 for an affiliated athlete and £2 more for unaffiliated. As a friend pointed out on Facebook, it's cheaper to catch the train!!! The Wokingham half is only £18 for an affiliated athlete. I hope the medal is huge and goodie bag is full of stuff that justifies the £13.50 premium.

Yes folks, it's time again for a new coat of paint on this website. Actually, this is the first new coat of paint on barefootrunner.co.uk since I launched it way back in September 2008 and I've decided to go for a super lean and mean look and layout.

For those reading this via a feed, you'll have to pop by to see the new design.

Let me know if you spot any problems.

I work across the Thames from the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake and on many occasions I've thought to myself, "Can you run round the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake?". I've plotted a route on Google Maps on several occasions and it appeared do-able, but never actually tried it, until today .

Last week I noticed them doing some severe mowing over on that side of the river so today I thought I'd go see if I could run right round and answer that question...

Can you run round the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake?

After today's run, I can say: YES. Yes you can run round the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake. Look, I did it (switch to the Google Satellite view to get the most accurate data):

Would you want to run round the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake?

Probably not. It's not the easiest of runs. There's also one major hurdle to get over, but I'll get on to that in a moment.

As you can see from the above route, I started at the David Lloyd gym and headed downstream along the Thames to Sonning, crossed Sonning bridge, diced with death for a little while before cutting into Sonning Eye. I then followed the signs and road for the Reading Sailing Club. Once there, I continued straight through their car park and out the outside. Up until this point, things were pretty easy. Nice smooth flat paths and gravel roads.

Once through the sailing club car park, I followed a foot path which got progressively narrow and harder to follow. After a little detour and a short stumble through some nettles up to my waist, I back-tracked a bit and started following a path along the shore line. Soon this too started to narrow and fade and on several occasions I found myself stopping to locate the path again. After a couple more minutes of running, the I got the distinct feeling the paths were no longer from human traffic, but more likely wildlife traffic as I found myself ducking under low branches and leaping over thorny bushes. I also ran through shoulder high reeds, still following a path, until eventually I ran out of land. I'd followed the shore of the main lake and rounded a small lake being fed by the larger lake. Two ankle deep wading steps were called for and I was back on my way along a path.

After a little more rambling and fighting for a path, I entered a very large opening which had recently been mown. From here onwards things were pretty easy going and I started getting quite cocky with myself thinking I could come along with a machete and clear away the tougher bits of the path I'd just covered and this could be a regular route. I also secretly hoped they'd mow this bit I was running across regularly. Soon I found myself on the lovely smooth tarred section that runs along the north side of the rowing lake heading towards the clubhouse and my route out onto the road and back to the gym. And then I encountered my major hurdle: an 8 foot high green metal fence with pointy bits on top. Yes folks, the Oxfordshire side of the rowing lake is all fenced in with no pedestrian gates and the only gate out being the electric one by the clubhouse, which required a pin code. Oh poooh!!!

I doubled back on myself and ran back along the rowing path to see if I could find a convenient place to scale the fence. No luck. That's one high fence, and given the spikes on the fence and the brambles and other wild vegetation on either side, I didn't want to risk clambering over in my wet shoes. So cap-in-hand I went back to the club house, ventured in, surprised a very friendly man in a Team GB tracksuit, explained how I got in and asked if he could let me out. Surprised by how I got in, the man kindly let me out and I was on my way. I felt like a captive bird set free.

I then foolishly thought I spotted a shortcut back, which turned out not to be and soon found myself heading back towards where I'd come from. Thankfully, this time the fence next to me was only waist high, so I jumped that and diced with death back to Sonning Eye; running head-on into traffic on narrow roads without any pavements is pretty daunting. Once in Sonning Eye, it was plain sailing back to the gym.

So, would I do it again?

Definitely not. I enjoyed by run today, but I don't think the rowing peeps will be too happy with me repeatedly asking to be let out like a puppy needing a wee. I also don't think my legs can handle too many scratching sessions like today's and I don't think they'll be whacking a convenient path for me anytime soon.

So there you have it folks... if you've run along the Thames and wondered if you could run round the Redgrade Pinsent rowing lake, I can proudly say you can, but you probably don't want to.

Last weekend Fetcheveryone released a new game - Fetchpoint - and I think I'm becoming a bit of a coin-collecting addict, and the game is only in "test mode". The official go-live is not until January.

"So what is Fetchpoint and how does it relate to running?" I hear you ask. Well, the whole concept of the game is you collect credits by running, walking, swimming, hopping, skipping and jumping or any other form of activity that can be deemed exercise and for which you can log an entry on Fetch and generate a route, either manually or via GPS.

As you run around your 'hood, you collect points and get docked points depending on which marker you run through (you technically only need to get within 80m of it). At this early state, these are the markers and their descriptions from the Game Guide:

Apparently, more markers will be added as the game evolves.

In the 6 days since this was launched I've kind of neglected the other game I was playing (Conquercise) in favour of running a lot closer to home or work on some very weird and strange winding routes. I'm also not entirely sure how the scoring works as I seem to jump huge numbers each day. Today, for example, I jumped from about 7000 points to well over 11200. Yes, the 12.5km route was a windy coin-collecting session through some neighbourhoods I'd never been through and probably never will again (lets just say I'm glad it wasn't dark), but never expected to collect over 4000 credits.

I think Fetchpoint really appeals to my competitive nature as not only do I see my monthly and annual mileage total increase after each run, but I also see my credits rocketing too. Now if only I could convert those to cash .

Oh yes, all this coin collecting has put the Super Mario Brothers game music and sound effects in my head during several runs now, and I regularly get the urge to jump at random points in my run. Have a listen for yourself and if you go out coin-collecting, I'm sure it'll pop into your head too.

A couple of weeks ago Chris McDougall caused another little stir in the barefoot/minimalist running world with an article for The New York Times entitled The Once and Future Way to Run. Within this article he mentions something called the 100-Up exercise...

Earlier this year, I may have found it. I was leafing through the back of an out-of-print book, a collection of runners’ biographies called “The Five Kings of Distance,” when I came across a three-page essay from 1908 titled “W. G. George’s Own Account From the 100-Up Exercise.” According to legend, this single drill turned a 16-year-old with almost no running experience into the foremost racer of his day.

I read George’s words: “By its constant practice and regular use alone, I have myself established many records on the running path and won more amateur track-championships than any other individual.” And it was safe, George said: the 100-Up is “incapable of harm when practiced discreetly.”

Could it be that simple? That day, I began experimenting on myself.

[... two pages later ...]

Last fall, at the end of a local 10-mile trail race, I surprised myself by finishing five minutes faster than I had four years ago, when I was in much better shape. I figured the result was a fluke — until it happened again. No special prep, awful travel schedule and yet a personal best in a six-mile race.

“I don’t get it,” I told Cucuzzella this past June when we went for a run together through the Shepherd University campus in Shepherdstown. “I’m four years older. I’m pretty sure I’m heavier. I’m not doing real workouts, just whatever I feel like each day. The only difference is I’ve been 100-Upping.”

Naturally, this last bit got everyone excited and within days, Justin of Birthday Shoes fame, knocked up a dedicated site - HundredUp - to raise awareness and put out a challenge to people to try it themselves for 30 days and report back.

Naturally, as I'm keen on learning about improving my performance, I read through McDougall's article, watched the video, and read through the HundredUp site. McDougall's demonstration of the exercise in the video in the NYT article instantly rang bells, but I couldn't place why.

It was only this weekend that I worked it out... this is a lot like the "tapping" and "change of support" exercises from POSE running, except with more emphasis on high knees than on bringing the foot up under your body.

Compare for yourself. First, the 100-Up video which shows the minor and major:

Next, the tapping and change of support exercises from POSE (the commentary is in German, but you're only meant to be looking at the pictures )...

Interesting stuff. Of course there will be some overlap in methods taught - I'm sure Chi Running probably has a similar exercise too - and for all I know, Dr. Romanov could have taken some of his inspiration from W.G. George's 100-ups.

Whatever the reasoning, I think any exercise that encourages people to land on their mid-foot or forefoot and that strengthens the muscles and tendons around that area is better than nothing at all.

About two thirds of the way into my long run today I somehow managed to trip over something and severely stub my toes. The result, some lovely blue/purple and tender toes...

I've got quite hideous looking feet to start off with - the stumpy looking middle toes has been that way since I hurt my foot last year - the added colouring doesn't make them any more appealing

I don't think they're broken as I can move them without any pain. I think they're just a little on the bruised side. Thankfully I was wearing my Merrells. Who knows that my toes would look like had I not been. Hopefully this won't affect my running too much. I managed to finish my run this morning which entailed about another 7km after the stubbing without any discomfort. We'll see how things are tomorrow. Time to go ice them.