So I only did 3.3 miles today. I didn't have time to get in all 7 I wanted, so I just pushed to get those that I could done fast and tried to work on my pace.
A couple weeks ago there was a discussion on 850 koa's The Ride Home about running barefoot. They said that running barefoot helps you run on the balls of your feet, and not on your heels or flat footed. But the hosts were divided as to whether or not it was better to run with protective foot gear (designed ostensibly to prevent injuries and make running easier and safer) or to go barefoot because it forced you to run on your toes.
I didn't try going barefoot, but I did try forcing myself onto the balls of my feet for segments of my last couple runs what I've found was this:
Running on your toes tends to change the posture I have. My hips tilt back just a bit and my chest is thrust out more than when I run flat footed on with a heel to toe progression.
Also, I found I took longer, almost bounding type strides that felt strange, but almost like they took less effort than my usual stride. I was moving faster, too. I don't know if it's a more natural gait, but it sure felt like it.
The new posture was better--like the posture they teach you in yoga or martial arts. It seemed to facilitate deeper breathing --which slowed the pace of my respiration over just a couple tenths of a mile.
They radio show was wondering if there was anything to the debate apparently raging in running mags over whether or not running barefoot or with "skins" on was healthier for you than more traditional jogging styles with the heavily support and coushin driven shoes that most runners wear.
My guess was that running on your toes forced a more natural distribution of the forces encountered in running: that time from when your toe hits to your heel striking the ground, the muscles of the foot, lower leg, thighs and hips do a lot of work to negate the impact and make it easier on the body.
And I'm not sure about this, but I think I recall hearing that the thick heels on the back of running shoes were not necessarily intended to coushin any blow originally, but to force runners to run on their toes since when the shoe landed flat, the heel was naturally higher than the ball of the foot.
I came to this conclusion, in part, because I believe God created a magnificent creation when he made Man. I think there are a great deal many things we have messed up because we think we can do them better than the way God intended our body to do them. So when we "rediscover" that the body actually works really well the way it was built, we're really just reaffirming the complexity and wonder of God's creation.
Anyways...got those 3.3 done in 24 min. Not too fast, but not too slow. for me, it was a difficult pace without a partner.
Hopefully I'll get some time later this week for another distance run.
12 miles here I come!
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