In 1971 I was just out of college and had moved to Eugene, Oregon, “running capital of the world,” to run. As an undergrad at the University of Hawaii I had won several state track titles, but had been significantly hampered by injuries, and I still wanted to see how good I could become. It was Bill Bowerman’s last year as the University of Oregon coach, and the next year he would be the U.S. Olympic coach and founded Nike. Consistent with my history I soon was injured in Oregon, this time with a heel spur/plantar fasciitis. Two Olympians, Steve Prefontaine (5K) and Mike Manley (steeplechase) showed me how to tape my foot which immediately got better, and surprisingly, my hip pointer (pain at the top of my pelvic bone) also went away. At the time I didn’t see the full significance of this, but it did start me thinking about how my foot, my foundation, affected the rest of my body.

I have come to recognize that most aches and pains are related to biomechanics. In this article I discuss what you can do about avoiding injuries, and especially about the foot’s role in avoiding them, the flip side of injury being efficient mechanics. Two main ingredients make up mechanical health: good posture, and moving in a full connected way from the center of your body. A third, variety, helps you achieve the first two. At a recent convention, the hot discussion was whether good foot posture, or good pelvic posture, was more important. That’s like asking, is it better to drink water or eat food? Good posture includes the whole body. Nevertheless, I focus on footbeds/orthotics that address the foot’s posture, a “necessary and not sufficient” part of the puzzle, and leave the rest to people like Anthony. The foot is your base of support, and in order to be balanced, the foot must be balanced. Imagine building a house on an unstable foundation. Although the foot is of particular importance, it is also uniquely difficult to balance because many of the foot’s bones are horizontal. While you can stack/nicely balance/ the bones in the rest of the body on top of one another, you cannot do that with the feet. In order to maintain their arch shape, the bones must be tightly held together, or the foot will collapse.

There are several soft tissue structures, namely the muscles, fascia and ligaments, which might do this.

Muscles can usually hold the arch up for a short time when you’re standing still and the forces are small. For example, if you weigh 100 pounds, the force on each foot is 50 pounds. It gets tougher when you walk however, when forces increase to 120 pounds, and extraordinarily more difficult when you run and the forces are 350 pounds. The bottom line is that muscles are not up to the task of providing good foot posture when you either stand for a longer period of time, or run. Indeed, muscles are designed to control and cause motion, and not be so involved in posture. If they do become too involved in posture, they become tight and sore.

Among the more common muscles that become tight from holding up the arch are the two hip flexors (Psoas major, Iliacus) and the Piriformis. Although they are external rotators, with the foot on the ground they lift up the arch. Tight hip flexors are associated with low back pain, and a tight Piriformis is associated with sciatic pain.

Fascia and ligaments are designed for postural support. It is their job to hold the arch up.

Fascia has the mechanical characteristic of being “plastic,” meaning that it adapts over time to what you ask it to do. Fascia is everywhere (the gristle in meat), and although it can support you in good posture, it often gets stuck supporting you in a hunched-over posture, making standing up straight more difficult. Typically it takes several months to change the length of fascia so that one day you might say “wow, standing up straight is not so difficult.”

Ligaments hold bones together, allowing movement while supporting structure. Their job is to limit joint distention and they become injured if stretched beyond a narrow range. Unlike muscles which actively contract, ligaments merely react to stretch, returning to their original position.

Because of their poor blood supply, ligaments are difficult to heal, which is why when you hurt your ankle, you often hope you break a bone, rather than stretch a ligament. Bones heal, often becoming stronger than they were originally, whereas stretched ligaments often remain longer, leaving you with a less stable joint.

When slowly stretched, as occurs over time, ligaments also become longer. When foot ligaments are longer, arches are flatter and your foundation is less aligned.

You might have inherited longer ligaments, or over time you might have lengthened your ligaments by exposing your foot to flat, hard surfaces. Since the foot adapts to the surface upon which you place it, by walking or running barefoot (or in minimalist shoes with no support), on a flat hard surface, you are asking your foot to become flatter. Our feet are not designed to function on these man-made surfaces, rather they are designed for randomly challenging, softer, supportive surfaces like pine needle covered forest paths strewn with rocks and roots; these surfaces keep your feet healthy.

The exception is if you have inherited longer ligaments and a flatter foot, in which case even the best environment won’t keep you healthy.

The consequence of a flatter foot, one that has poor posture, is the greater likelihood of many injuries, including injuries to the foot itself such as bunions, neuromas, plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, as well as to the Achilles, calf, shin, knee, groin, hip and low back. The ubiquitous plantar fasciitis, for example, is associated with excessive pulling on the plantar fascia (when the foot flattens, it also lengthens). There are many reasons behind this, including a tight calf and a rotated pelvis, but usually the primary risk factor is longer ligaments.

In that case it becomes necessary to complement the ligaments with a footbed that holds up the arch, creating good foot posture, which allows the muscles to do what they are designed to do, which is to move your body. How important the footbed is will depend on how misaligned you are without it. The longer your ligaments, the more misaligned you are, and the more time you want to spend being supported by a footbed.

Of course it is also important to deal with the other risk factors such as the problematic calf and pelvis; however that is not so much my business, nor is it the subject of this article.

I was also asked to comment on minimalist shoes, such as the Vibram five finger shoe, since they are somewhat the rage these days.

Under no circumstances that I can think of, will your feet be healthy if you walk or run barefoot for any period of time on man-made hard, flat surfaces. This includes minimalist shoes, which allow you to function as if you were barefoot.

I agree that shoes have become too cushioned and insulate us from our environment. Nevertheless, some of us tried the experiment of minimalist shoes back in the late ‘60s, when we used to run in black canvas Keds with a minimalist crepe rubber sole. Our feet lost some of their arch and spring, and we are suffering from that abuse today.

Of course, at the time we had young bodies, didn’t know any better, and loved our Keds. But I also remember my excitement in the early ’70s when I wore my first cushioned shoe, a Tiger (now Asics) Cortez, designed to compensate for the hard roads. Intuitively I sensed that the hardness of roads was part of the problem.

You will be able to run successfully in a minimalist shoe if you stick to softer, supportive, randomly changing surfaces, and if you have inherited sufficiently strong ligaments to maintain good foot posture. Otherwise, you’re asking for trouble.

I am also occasionally asked if footbeds make your muscles lazy. After reading this, you will realize the answer is no. Footbeds complement ligaments to achieve good posture. They don’t do the work of muscles. On the contrary, good foot posture allows the muscles to work in a more balanced, efficient way.

Doug Stewart, Ph.D. (biomechanics), went to college on a track scholarship, often trying to run 100 miles a week, and often getting injured. His injuries and a desire to be more efficient motivated him to address his mechanics, which as it turns out are human mechanics, and common to most of us☺. He makes footbeds, and can be reached for comments by emailing Dougstewart2@cox.net.

Reposted from www.functionfirst.com.  

All your months of hard training being displayed in one race can be daunting. That is why it’s important to prepare yourself mentally and physically for race day. On race day there will always be unexpected surprises. Instead of letting these surprises cause anxiety, be flexible with your situation. Prepare yourself for any circumstances and do not be afraid to adjust your plans on race day. It’s true you want to run your best time possible, but that means taking into account weather, other runners, injuries, nutrition, and clothing.  For example, if you have set mile splits you’re planning on running and race morning is unexpectedly hot allow yourself to start with slower splits to account for the heat. If your body is feeling tight and sore, give yourself more time to warm-up and stretch before the race. If you feel pre-race jitters, practice calm breathing and positive thinking. Picture yourself having a great race. Realize that in marathons it is common to begin slowly due to the amount of runners in the race. Do not worry about running too slowly, instead be appreciative that you’ll have more energy to use later in the race after the pack has spread out. The first half of your race listen to your body, run calm and steady. The second half of your race, compete. Pick up the pace and push your body. This is when it becomes important to give yourself positive self talk, “I feel strong, fast, and light” or “I can catch that guy”. Setting small goals such as running a certain pace for your next mile or catching the pack in front of you can be a great incentive to keep pushing forward as well as an excellent distraction from pain. These small moments of planning will give you the confidence to run a fantastic race.

Erin Marston, DAC Run Club Coordinator

For more coaching tips and advice contact erindmarston@gmail.com

As the cold winter months approach motivation can be difficult to muster.

Here are 3 Winter Training Tips to get you through the winter as fit as ever:

1. Work your quads and glutes. These are essential skiing muscles as well as some of the largest muscles in the body. Working larger muscle groups will burn more calories while strengthening you for the slopes.

Great exercises for quads/glutes: Squats, Step-ups, Lunges, Side shuffles

2. Don’t feel like leaving the house? Do bodyweight exercises. When doing bodyweight exercises always complete the maximum amount of reps possible for your body.

Bodyweight Exercises: Push-ups, Pull-ups, Squats, Lunges, Squat Jumps, Plank, Side Plank, Floor Bridge 

3. Interval train! When doing cardio you will burn the most calories in the least amount of time by interval training. 

Example Intervals: Warm up 1o minutes. Complete 10x[1min hard 1 min easy] Cool down as needed.

If you are like me, you probably often wonder to yourself how in the world we have an obesity epidemic in this country when exercise is so much fun and feels so good. There are too many lifestyle related diseases to name that can be combated with exercise. So why doesn’t everyone exercise like you and I?

Interestingly, there are several reasons that are consistently used by people of all ages, genders and socio-economic status. See if any of these apply to you or someone you know.

Barrier #1: “I don’t have enough time to exercise”

Solution: The benefits of exercise are cumulative. Don’t try to change your life in one day. Begin with something simple to break the inertia. Find a convenient time for you that you can be consistent with. Even if this is walking for 15:00 during your lunch break. Avoid activities that aggravate any pain you might have the can create further damage and dampen your enthusiasm for exercise of all forms. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to continue once you get started.

Barrier #2: “I’m self conscious of how I look during exercise”

Solution: Exercise can be done anywhere. You can begin at home with a DVD or you can join an exercise group of your peers. Not everyone is cut out for the big box health clubs. Find a more intimate setting where you feel comfortable. Focus on the benefits you are gaining and not what you look like.

Barrier #3: “I’m always too tired to exercise”

Solution: It is scientifically proven that exercise increases your energy levels. The key is to progressively increase your activity level to avoid becoming sore or developing injuries from doing too much too soon. Identify the time of day that you feel most energetic and schedule some exercise then.

Barrier #4: “I’ve started exercise programs before and never follow through”

Solution: Don’t try to go it alone. Develop a network of supporters. Set short term goals initially and have your network hold you accountable. Get professional instruction and guidance. Find something you enjoy and want to do versus something you feel you have to do. Any good fitness profession should be able to provide you with an exercise program that is effective and that you enjoy. Your workout is about you!

We must understand that most people inherently know that exercise is good for them. Yet they are not exercising. But because they know exercise will have a positive effect on their health, they have not ruled it out.

Research has identified five stages of behavior change:

1. precontemplation
2. contemplation
3. preparation
4. action
5. maintenance.

The examples of barriers to exercise mentioned above fall into the “contemplation” stage. This stage is the longest and some people may be stuck in this stage for years. In this stage, people often associate more bad than good with exercise. For example, if they are too self conscious, they will never want to go into a facility with others for exercise.

By working with a friend or seeking professional guidance you can find tangible solutions and support to allow you to focus more on the benefits of an exercise program versus the barriers. The same is true for any exercise program-whether it is to get you out of pain or to get you more fit. You will move from contemplation to preparation and then begin taking action so that you can feel better, move better, look better AND be better.

Article by Anthony Carey

www.functionfirst.com

Training to run barefoot

Join DAC Run Club

What:

Marathon Training Group

 Denver Marathon, Half Marathon, and Marathon Relay

When:

 Noon Monday/Wednesday

Where:

DAC Fitness Center

Lisa and Oliver Knowlton’s Home 

Reid Bundgard and Jody Reuler

Kevin Hickman

Laura and Steven Humes

Bridget Barton and Ryan Lehrer

LeVesque's and Clark's

Mark Hoener and Ryan Lehrer

Denver Athletic Club and One World Running

Shoe Drive for Haiti

May 1-May 31

Accepting New and Used Shoes

Barefoot Running

By Erin Marston

After the release of Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run, barefoot running has taken off. Runners everywhere are shedding their running shoes and hitting the trails in their naked feet. Barefoot running is now the great debate in the running world. Will barefoot running become the norm or is it just a passing trend?

This past weekend we hosted the Colorado Endurance Conference at The Denver Athletic Club. The last event of the day was a Barefoot Running panel. The panel consisted of Alan Culpepper, two time Olympic Marathoner, Eric Mundt, owner of Frontier Physical Therapy, and Scott Poston, Endurance Coach and Fitness Director of The Denver Athletic Club. These experts advocated barefoot strengthening in lieu of barefoot running.

It is true that since childhood we have been walking, running, jumping, and living mostly in shoes. Many people have supportive shoes or inserts, and spend little time barefoot. According to Eric Mundt, Frontier physical therapist, the muscles of the foot tend to be very weak and are often overlooked during strength training programs. Most people, especially runners, need greater foot strength. Simple foot strength exercises: barefoot walking- start with about 50m of slow heel to toe walking, toe crunches-pulling a towel in with your toes (do this on a slick surface and make sure all your toes are working together, not just your big toe). Strengthening the foot can lead to better biomechanics and fewer foot/lower leg injuries so common in runners. Alan Culpepper, two time Olympian and owner of Solepepper Sports, emphasized the importance of trying out less stable shoes. Many runners are afraid to switch running shoes after years in the same pair. A combination of foot strength training as well as less stable shoes can add to the integrity of your training.  

Taking feet from years in a stable shoe to the instability of barefoot running can be a shock to the kinetic chain. The kinetic chain is a term used to explain the connectedness of all the muscles and joints in the body. It is the concept that each part of your body is interconnected. The biomechanics of your foot affect those of your ankle. The biomechanics of your ankle affect those of your knee. The biomechanics of your knee affect those of your hip, etc… This concept is vital to consider when discussing barefoot running. Any instability in the body will likely be made worse by adding the extra instability of barefoot running. As Eric Mundt explained, instability plus instability will likely lead to injury. In such a high injury sport as running, barefoot running may not be the answer, but simply a reminder of our need to strengthen the entire body.

To improve as a runner and remain uninjured it is important to strengthen the muscles of your foot in addition to legs and hips. Remember, the body works as one functional unit to accomplish movement. All movements begin from the center of the body or the “core”. It’s imperative to strengthen your body as a functional unit and not one muscle group at a time. To become a stronger runner and athlete strengthen the body as one unit instead of separate groups. These additions to your training program will help you become a strong healthy runner.

Interval training during cardio is a great way to mix up your regular routine and burn more calories. Interval training can also help you drop significant time in your races. The most important aspect of your interval training is heart rate. Make sure that during your easy bouts you are letting your heart rate drop significantly. On the easy interval, heart rate should be around 60% of max heart rate. During the hard intervals, heart rate should be around 65-80% of max heart rate (220-age). Add interval workouts to your regular cardio routine 2-3 times/week.

A few simple interval routines:

-Warm up 10 minutes. Run 1 min hard followed by 1 min easy. Repeat your 1 hard 1 easy 10-15 times. Cool down 10 minutes.

-Warm up 10 minutes. Run 2 min hard followed by 3 min easy. Repeat 2 hard 3 easy 5 times. Cool down 10 minutes

-Warm up 10 minutes. Run 5 min hard followed by 5 min easy. Repeat 2-3 times. Cool down 10 minutes

-Warm up 10 minutes. Run 10 min hard followed by 1 min easy. Repeat 2 times. Cool down 10 minutes.

Erin Marston

Denver Athletic Club

Running Coach