There's a movement afoot in running these days, and like an ultramarathoner, it's got the legs to endure a very long time.
That's because unlike other trends, which hinge on technological advances or tastes in fashion, minimalist running gets at the roots of the sport, questioning how and why we run. Sure, it's partly about shoes, but it's also about form and health.
Minimalist running doesn't mean running less. If anything, it's about running more, about making changes to enable one to keep running longer and without pain, the way our ancestors did.
"It's just huge," said Thomas Hollowell, co-author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Barefoot Running." "Everybody's heard about it in some way, and everybody's interested in learning if it could benefit them. Nobody's going to stop it."
Common mistakes in running form VS
Better alignment,better foot strike
allowing runners to land on their heels instead of the mid- or forefoot, sending waves of stress to the knees, hips and backSome in the field advocate running completely barefoot, as some elite Kenyan runners do, or with only the thinnest of footwear, claiming that to be the healthiest, most natural option. Others prefer the middle ground, sticking with shoes but choosing styles offering no substantial support.
But if the movement takes different guises, it's driven by a single, increasingly hard-to-refute thesis: that most traditional running shoes coddle our feet, keeping them weak inside layers of rubber and gel. Our predecessors, by contrast, fared just fine without such gear.
What's worse, in the minimalist view, is that modern shoes actually cause injury, allowing runners to land on their heels instead of the mid- or forefoot, sending waves of stress to the knees, hips and back.
"I was shocked at the literature there is [on minimalist running]," said Jack Andrish, an avid long-distance runner and orthopedic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic Sports Health Center, citing a 2010 article in Nature and numerous other studies."This is not voodoo science. These are peer-reviewed journals. It's eye-opening."
Pinpointing when the minimalist craze began is difficult, but most agree it got moving with the book "Born to Run."
Fueled by frustration over injuries, author Christopher McDougall studied a reclusive Mexican tribe whose members regularly traverse vast distances over rough terrain wearing nothing but sandals. It's a bold rebuttal to the shoe industry, claiming we'd be better off barefoot.
"I recommend that book so many times as part of treatment," said Andrish, an ultramarathoner who now sports minimalist shoes after seeing and suffering repeat injuries.
But if you think shoe companies took a hard hit, think again. Most responded quickly with new "minimalist" or "natural" models, and several new brands entered the market, offering countless variations on the "barefoot" concept.
Converts say feet feel better
When I first approached this subject, in 2009, I sampled a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. At the time, those rubber gloves for your feet were pretty much the only "barefoot" option. Today, choices abound, but FiveFingers are more popular than ever.Samantha Beattie, 29, of Cleveland Heights, started running in Nike Frees, one of the first mainstream minimalist shoes, but has since converted to Vibrams.
She only runs on treadmills and never runs more than five miles at a time, but she's never had an injury and suspects she's a little faster than she used to be. Moreover, she's having fun."I think it's more enjoyable," she said. "It's kind of this freedom feeling, like being a kid again. You really feel every little thing, in a good way."
Local runner Cyrus Taylor, 52, has ventured even farther down the barefoot road.
He had abandoned running as a result of injury then returned after reading "Born to Run." Like Beattie, he has remained injury-free in barefoot-style shoes. But where Beattie runs relatively short distances, Taylor runs ultramarathons, races longer than 26.2 miles. Trails, streets and even snow are all fair game.
"I'm not at all fast," Taylor said. "But my feet hurt a lot less after a long run than they used to, and none of the problems that plagued me before have been an issue this time."
At the moment, Taylor is breaking in a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves, barefoot-style shoes with a little extra tread. But it doesn't matter which brand you choose. All of them take traditional padding out of the equation and promote better form through direct or closer contact with the ground.
"You can't go 100 feet without realizing you can't run the way you did before," Taylor said.
He's not kidding. I've got hard proof barefoot shoes aren't just the emperor's new clothes.
I recently visited Akron Children's Hospital, where physician Troy Smurawa operates a Running Injury Prevention Clinic. There, he shot videos of me running in regular shoes and barefoot shoes and concluded that my form is considerably better when I'm wearing my Vibrams.
Sure, my hamstrings are tight and my left hip is low, but I could plainly see that in barefoot shoes, I land on my forefoot, my stride is shorter, and the alignment of my hips, knees and ankles is straighter. All good things.
Minimalist shoes are not for everyone
Problem is, not everyone joins the minimalist movement with a clean slate, as Taylor and Beattie did. Most have to transition out of regular shoes, and that can invite more injury and disappointment if handled incorrectly.
First off, a few disclaimers: While we all can take pointers from natural running, not everyone can, should or needs to go barefoot. Smurawa said many runners require the support of a traditional shoe, for biomechanical reasons. Others are running pain-free in regular shoes, and have no urgent reason to rock the boat. Furthermore, it's unclear whether barefoot running enhances performance -- if performance matters to you.
The real target audience: runners experiencing frequent pain and injury. They're the ones most in need of an overhaul.
Undertaken too quickly, the transition to minimalism can be hazardous. If you simply switch or ditch shoes and keep running as much as you did before, you're bound to strain a muscle or develop a stress fracture.
Opinions differ on whether it's best to go minimal exclusively or apply minimalism as a tool. Either way, the change should be gradual. Start from about 25 percent of your current weekly mileage and build from there, making up for lost miles with other forms of exercise. Plan on the process taking anywhere from a few months to a year.
"You have to give your body a lot of time," Hollowell said. "It's like paying into an investment. It takes a long time to pay off."
Going barefoot isn't the only path to running prosperity. Methods such as Chi Running also can make a big difference.
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