[books 2013] Born to Run

[inulro]

63. Born to Run: The Hidden Tribe, the Ultra-Runners, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougallThis book is about a lot of things. It's non-fiction, and while it packs in a lot of facts, it really reads more like an adventure novel

Comments

[zenithed]

the more high tech your running shoes are, the worse they are for you.

Interesting! Literally everyone I've spoken to about running says you have to spend upwards of £60 on trainers, which has been putting me off doing any more.

[inulro]

I got the book from Jason, who bought it when he started running and is now a big proponent of the whole "barefoot running" thing. He has stopped getting injured. He tried the Vibram 5 fingers shoes which a lot of barefoot runners wear, but found he couldn't run that far in them. So he just buys something cheap and cheerful and low tech, which is working for him.

My own extremely limited experience is that one day I was scheduled to hit the treadmill but got my shoes mixed up and ended up with my Converse high-tops when I meant to take my Nikes. I thought, hey, I run such a pathetic distance that it can't possibly matter, and discovered that the whole running experience hurt me slightly less in the Converse.

(er - not that Converse are cheap, but that's because there's crusty old punks like me willing to shell out for the name)

Read the book. The evidence is pretty convincing. Look at pictures of people who ran 50+ years ago. They had no specialist gear and made some pretty awesome achievements.

[zenithed]

A quick Google bought up this study, which looks pretty interesting:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/the-myth-of-pronation-and-running-injuries/?_r=0

I've been running in dirt cheap (like, £5) trainers from Asda. It's been painful as hell the next day, but I suspect that's just because I'm woefully unfit.