The race is on!!  The unique endurance distance triathlon (roughly 1 mile swim, 35 mile bike and 9.3 mile run) will be a great end-of-season “A” race or a tune up for a late season long course race.

While the people here at Endurance Sports and Rec conceived the idea, the race will be handled by Endurance Sports Management, a race management company unrelated to Endurance Sports and Rec.  Registration is now open and you can sign up and see course descriptions, etc by following this link…https://www.imathlete.com/events/EventReg/EventReg_SelectType.aspx?fEID=9583&fNew=1

Originally this race (and the Iron Nugget Sprint tri on the same day) was to be held in Tullahoma at the Air Force Base but now will be in Dickson, TN at Montgomery Bell State Park.  If you plan on doing this race and want to stay at the lodge (most rooms have views of the swim course) the rooms are filling fast.

With a race date in early August, you can be pretty certain of extremely hot conditions.  Be prepared.  Hope to see you all there!

We are fortunate to have many races-running, cycling, triathlon–in our area to choose from.  You know the drill, you decide to do a race, register online, pick up your packet, show up at the start, complete the race, collect your goodie bag, eat a free meal and then go on about your business.  Have you ever considered the “business” of putting the race on?

Recently, Endurance sponsored a water stop at the Nashville Half Marathon and I helped out at all the water stops as best I could.

To make the race a reality, the race director essentially put together a staff of over 150 people in a short period of time and instructed them on their individual job duties.  The kicker?  All these staff members were volunteers and as such didn’t have as much motivation, shall we say, as a paid employee would.  But, these volunteers made a commitment none the less and should accept their responsibilities with enthusiam.  Without the help of dozens of people, none of these races could take place.  Most of the time, the organizational aspects of putting on the race are transparent to the racers.  The only time a competitor considers this part of the race is when something goes wrong.

At the Nashville Half, one group committed (that is, had volunteers willingly and of their own volition sign up, attend a meeting, etc) 60 volunteers to the race.  That’s a fantastic and noteworthy act by this organization (to remain nameless).  The race director felt comfortable that the race would go well with the help of this large group, along with the help of smaller groups (like Endurance’s six volunteers–thanks, y’all).  The problem was that on race day only 16 of the 60 actually bothered to show up.  Imagine trying to pull off a race with 1,500 entrants and 30% of your staff “calls in sick” for the day.  You can imagine that there were going to be some problems.

The most visible of issues, from the racer’s point of view, was that one whole group of volunteers didn’t report to their water stop–at all.  The first water stop was at mile 2.25 (which was mile 11 on the way back) so many of the runners didn’t bother to slow down there.  Who would?  They should have, as the temps rose into the mid to upper 70′s these runners didn’t know that the first water they would come to would be eight miles from the start line!  The unmanned water stop was at a critical point on the course as it turned out.  The other bad news, when the runners finally got to the eight mile water stop there were only two of the expected and counted on 10 volunteers there trying in vain to fill enough cups for the onslaught of quickly dehydrating runners. Understandably, many runners were very upset and some were in real danger of dehydrating.

So, what’s the point?

Simple.  If you partake in many of the races that happen around here you need to consider volunteering for at least one of them as a sort of “pay it forward” act to ensure that these races continue.   As the ancient Gospel of Paul says, “If you don’t work, don’t expect to be fed.”  Yes, I understand that you pay an entry fee for the privilege of participating but that alone isn’t enough for you to say “I don’t need to volunteer, that’s somebody else’s job.”  Without volunteers the races don’t happen, without races you go out and run 13.1 miles with a couple of your friends.  You already do that and a race is a lot more fun, isn’t it?  That’s why you need to volunteer for a race.

We will be hosting a mini Interbike at the shop on Thursday November 11 from 4PM to 9PM.

Interbike is the largest expo for bike shop owners in the nation.  Manufacturers of  thousands of different products for all things endurance show up to display the coming year’s product.  We are going for a similar show but with running, cycling, triathlon and lots and lots of  fall endurance apparel.

We will have manufacturer’s reps from many of the top brands on hand to answer all your questions and explain all the features of their new products.  Reps from Zipp, SRAM, Fizik, Sugoi, Continental, 3T, adidas, K-Swiss, Swiftwick and other manufacturers will be here.  We are very excited to have the owner and primary wheel builder of Real Design Wheels here to show of the very nice and extremely affordable wheelsets he is making here in Nashville.  Check them out www.real-design.com

Our good friend Richard Baker–the Triswami– has now taken over the Baptist Wellness Center in Nashville and will be on hand to explain what he is offering at Baptist.  He will also have a free month of training that will be given away at Endurabike.

Endurance will be providing light food and drink, including beer and wine.  We will have product that will be given away in drawings and special pricing on items in the store.

The fall running and cycling apparel that is out this year is very nice.  It is very attractive and functional this year.  If you are reading this you’ve probably already seen the new Sugoi Versa Jacket on our homepage video.

Hope to see you here on Thursday the 11th of November from 4 to 9 PM.

Since we carry the Vibram fivefinger shoes and also tend toward preferring lighter, more flexible shoes (in general) we are asked often about the benefits and drawbacks to the “barefoot” style of running.  For the record, when a customer comes in the store and claims they want to become a “forefoot striker” the first question we ask is “Why?”  If a person is running basically as far as they want at a pace that is fast enough for them (we all want to go farther and faster, that’s a given) and not getting injured, you have to have a very good reason to want to change your stride.  The most common response we get here at the shop is that they want to change to a forefoot strike because “that’s what the fast guys do.”  That is a long conversation with many facets (not the least of which is that the “fast guys” are essentially sprinting for the whole race–even a marathon.  The current marathon world record works out to sub 15 second 100 meter dashes) and I can’t go into it here.

However, below is an article that is well researched and well-cited.  This is the best article I’ve seen on the dynamics of barefoot running that is available in something other than a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Enjoy!

The Science Behind Barefoot Running. Is it the right thing for you?

by CoachBrett on September 21, 2010 in Run

Tags: barefoot, running

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In this article I will briefly discuss the different styles of running and how they relate to running performance. The majority of the article will relate to the explosion in popularity of barefoot running, discuss the positives and potential negatives of attempting to run barefoot (or in barefoot style shoes). I will then wrap up with discussing the Vibram Five Finger shoes, which are a popular barefoot style shoe, and how to incorporate running in them. While there is a plethora of technical information contained in this article, I invite you to look at the summaries and conclusions of the article, which contains the information that is important to you, the runner.

There are three types of runners: rear-foot strike (RFS), mid-foot strike (MFS), and fore-foot strike (FFS). It has been shown that the fastest endurance runners tend to be FFS runners (2). The reason for the different types of running styles is not clear, but a recent article published in Nature, (3) one of the top ranked peer-reviewed journals in the world, may shed light on the differences and may support the idea of barefoot running. In this study the authors looked at foot strike kinematics in five groups of runners while they ran on a track at their preferred endurance speed. The groups consisted of 1) runners from the USA that wear shoes 2) Kenyan athletes that grew up running barefoot but now wear shoes 3) runners from the USA who grew up wearing shoes, but now run barefoot or with minimal footwear 4) Kenyan adolescents that have never worn shoes and 5) Kenyan adolescents that have worn shoes for most of their lives. Lieberman, et al found that runners who wear shoes and who grew up wearing shoes have a RFS when wearing shoes and also barefoot, though they tend to have a flatter foot placement while running barefoot. Runners who either grew up barefoot or switched to the barefoot style of running were predominately FFS runners. The authors state that while high-heeled running shoes are more comfortable, they do limit proprioception and make it easier to heel strike. Furthermore, many running shoes have high arch supports and stiffened soles. This may weaken foot muscles and reduce arch strength, which then leads to excessive pronation, greater demand on the plantar fascia, and lead to plantar fasciitis.

While running, at foot strike, there are ground reaction forces that occur. In RFS runners this collision force can be 1.5-3 times the body weight of the runner (3). The impact transients travel rapidly up the body and may contribute to injuries such as tibial stress fractures (4) and plantar fasciitis (5).

Lieberman, et al (3) found that at similar speeds, the peak vertical force that occurs during the impact period of the run stride are approximately three times lower in habitual barefoot runners who FFS compared to runners who habitually wear shoes and RFS while barefoot or in shoes. On average, the impact force in RFS runners either barefoot or with shoes is roughly 1.75 to 2 times body weight compared to FFS runners who are barefoot who experience impact forces approximately .5 times their body weight.

With the increased interest in barefoot running, shoe manufacturers have developed products to mimic barefoot running while protecting the athletes from stones, pieces of nails, glass, etc. One such shoe is the Vibram Five Finger Shoe. Recently, a study compared the running gait in experienced barefoot runners while they ran barefoot, running with Vibram Five Finger shoes, or in a conventional neutral protective shoe (7). The authors of this study found that stride length and stride frequency were lower and higher when running barefoot compared to wearing the Vibram Five Fingers and conventional running shoes. Furthermore, there were significantly lower values of peak vertical force at impact while running barefoot compared to running with standard running shoes. Compared to running barefoot, stride frequency was lower while running in the Vibram Five Finger shoes. Stride frequency was 91.2 strides per minute while running barefoot compared to 88.3 strides per minute while running in the Vibram Five Fingers. There was a trend for the stride frequency to be higher while wearing the Vibram Five Fingers (88.3 stride per minute) compared to conventional running shoes (86 strides per minute). Furthermore, of interest is the authors found a difference in peak vertical force at the impact across conditions. The peak vertical impact forces were 1.59 times body weight while wearing Vibram Five Finger shoes, 1.62 times body weight while running barefoot, and 1.72 times body weight while wearing conventional running shoes. The impact forces were statistically significant lower while wearing the Vibram Five Finger shoes compared to running in conventional shoes (7).

In looking at how the foot strike occurred, it was found that the foot strike occurred similar in the Vibram Five Fingers to barefoot running in that the foot was more plantarflexed compared to the conventional running shoes. This leads to more of a forefoot strike compared to the rear-foot strike that is common while wearing running shoes. This leads to reduced impact forces on the heel of the runner.

An important finding in this study (7) is running with the Vibram Five Finger Shoes led to a significant decrease in oxygen consumption compared to the conventional running shoe. Values of oxygen consumption were similar between barefoot running and running while wearing the Vibram Five Finger shoes.

The authors concluded that the Vibram Five Finger shoes are an effective means to imitate barefoot running and provide protection. This protection allowed the runners to push off more vigorously compared to barefoot running. Evidence for this is the higher pressure under the metatarsal head, higher step length, lower step rate, and higher thrust peak force compared to barefoot running. It appears the Vibram Five Finger Shoes offer the benefits of barefoot running, while offering the protection of a running shoe (7). Furthermore, running in Vibram Five Finger shoes does improve running economy, and this is appears to be due to a combination of decreased shoe weight (compared to conventional shoes) and running gait that is similar to barefoot running.

To summarize up to this point, it may be that fast runners adopt a fore-foot strike pattern to avoid the high impact forces that would occur with a rear-foot strike. Furthermore, the fore-foot strike mimics barefoot running, which is known to improve running economy. While the fore-foot strike, reduces the braking action that occurs with a rear-foot strike (heel strike), this author will acknowledge part of the improved running economy associated with barefoot running is partly due to lack of shoe weight. Running economy improves .5-1% for every 100 grams of reduced shoe weight (1)

In writing this article, a similar article appeared in Triathlete Magazine that put the blame of increased running injuries on the barefoot running phenomena on minimalist shoes and barefoot running, despite the fact that injuries rates in runners have remained stable despite the advent of shoes with more cushion and motion control (6). I decided to ask an expert in the field, Gina Ponegetti, MPT, MA, CSCS, at Accelerated Rehabilitation. Here are her thoughts:

1) I love Vibrams, I agree that they make the intrinsic muscles of the foot and foot stabilizers work. They allow the pronation that happens naturally and work the supinators to get the person out of that position upon toe-off phase of gait. They inherently also then work the hip rotators (external rotators work eccentrically upon pronation phase of gait and concentrically upon the latter phase of gait to un-pronate). In shoes that are too stable, as American’s tend to have, it disallows any motion of the foot (i.e. stiff orthotics, over-corrected people in pronation control and orthotics and medial arch buildups)
2) grass is best, for shock absorption
3) in the overweight, new runners, over-runners, etc., they are more likely for any injuries. But especially in Vibrams. Typically, 1) plantar fasciitis, 2) sesmoid irritations, 3) neuromas, and 4) “perceived” tendinitis, which is really just overworked tendons and muscles that are not used to working as hard in the supportive shoes and need to get used to it, or … the muscles themselves are weak and Physical Therapy exercises are needed to strengthen these for proper foot support (i.e. lateral peroneals, medially the posterior tibialis and flexor hallicus, as well as occasionally the popliteus and plantaris, since they are involved in tibial torsion/rotation which happens more in Vibrams due to subtalar and talar/crural joint motion).

So, should you try the Vibram Five Fingers? The answer really depends on the individual athlete. The most important considerations are the biomechanics of the athlete as well as body composition. While being a heavy pronator does not necessarily preclude one from running in minimalist shoes, such as the Vibram Five Fingers, extra caution is warranted and extra work should be performed to increase the stability of the runner, i.e. ankle strengthening and stability, as well as improved core strength (in particular hip abductor strength). If one is carrying extra body weight, I suggest first focusing on increasing the percentage of lean body mass, thus decreasing the amount of impact that occurs while running in minimalist shoes. While Vibram Five Finger shoes have been shown to decrease the impact forces, there is still very little cushion compared to conventional shoes to protect one from the impact forces that do occur.

If you decide to run with the Vibram Five Fingers, it is critical that you ease into the shoes (please also see my blog at http://coachbrett.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/vibram-five-fingers-2/). The first run in them should only be about 5 minutes. One way to ease into them is to run for five minutes and then switch back to your regular running shoes for the remainder of the run. Then each week, add a couple of minutes to each run with the Vibram Five Finger shoes. Once you have reached about 30 minutes of continuous running in the Vibrams, then increase the volume by 10-15% of each run that involves the Vibram Five Finger shoes. Of course, there will be run workouts that do not involve the Vibrams. Depending on the length of the long run, you may want to complete your entire long run of the week in your regular running shoes. Furthermore, due to the increased thrust peak vertical forces (how hard you push off) and corresponding increase in peak pressure on the metatarsal heads (pressure on the balls of your foot), I would hold off on wearing the Vibrams for track workouts until you are completely comfortable in them. The bottom line is moderation is key. Take your time getting used to them!

In conclusion barefoot running and running in minimalist shoes decrease the impact that occurs during running, increases running economy (as shown in decreased oxygen consumption at a given running speed), and may decrease the likelihood of injury. However, patience is warranted, and one must transition slowly to minimalist running.

1) Burkett LN, Kohrt WM, Buchbinder R. Effects of shoes and foot orthotics on VO2 and selected frontal plane knee kinematics. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 17:158-63, 1985.
2) Hasegawa H, Yamauchi T, Kraemer WJ. Foot strike patterns of runners at the 15-km point during an elite-level half marathon. J Strength Cond Res. 21:888-93, 2007.
3) Lieberman DE, Venkadesan M, Werbel WA, Daoud AI, D’Andrea S, Davis IS, Mang’eni RO, Pitsiladis Y. Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners. Nature. 463(7280):531-5, 2010.
4) Milner CE, Ferber R, Pollard CD, Hamill J, Davis IS. Biomechanical factors associated with tibial stress fracture in female runners. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 38(2):323-8, 2010.
5) Pohl MB, Hamill J, Davis IS. Biomechanical and anatomic factors associated with a history of plantar fasciitis in female runners. Clin J Sport Med.19:372-6, 2009.
6) Richards CE, Magin PJ, Callister R. Is your prescription of distance running shoes evidence-based? Br J Sports Med. 43:159-62, 2009.
7) Squadrone R, Gallozzi C. Biomechanical and physiological comparison of barefoot and two shod conditions in experienced barefoot runners. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 49:6-13, 2009.

The video on the website shows the new Versa Jacket by Sugoi that is now in stock at Endurance.  This is a great wind resistant, water resistant, reflective jacket for running, cycling, or just hanging out in.  If you require only a vest for the days activities or if you get too warm later in your workout, you can easily remove the sleeves to turn the Jacket into a vest.  The sleeves go back on without having to line up velcro or hard to manage zippers–they automatically center through the use of magnets.  You can hear the magnets snapping into place on the video.

The jacket is available for men or women in several colors.  At only $120 you get a top quality vest AND jacket in one.