Barefoot Running Seminar @ ZombieRunner

I attended a seminar this past Saturday at ZombieRunner in Palo Alto.  The presenters were Barefoot Ted McDonald, and Christopher McDougall.  Ted is a longtime barefoot running, and minimalist-footwear expert.  Chris is the author of the book Born To Run.

Ted Transmitting the Know-How

The seminar was great!  Ted covered the three foundational elements for a good barefoot running practice:

1. Land Gently/Silently

2. Have a fast foot turnover cadence – it should be around 180bpm

3. Have a relaxed and upright upper body posture

Another great idea that Ted shared was holding sticks or other straight objects in each hand when you run, to make sure your arms are swinging as directly forward/backward as possible, and not across the midline of your torso (creating torque, wasting energy).

If you’re just getting into barefoot running or running with minimalist footwear (Vibram Fivefingers, Vivo Barefoot shoes, or Feelmax shoes), try the tips above.  For cadence training, it’s helpful to buy a metronome, or download one that you can play on your MP4 player, or iPod/iPhone touch (there are a couple).

Here are a few great quotes from Ted:

For safety, tie together your eyeballs, your brain, and your feet.

You perceive unfamiliar signals [such as pointy rocks that you're stepping on barefoot] as emergency information.  That starts a feedback loop.  You have to learn to recognize the difference between true emergency information and just uncomfortable sensation again.

Extend the imaginary boundaries of what you believe to be possible for yourself.  Iti’s only by practice that you learn what your capacities are…