Good video.
There is an amazing moment of revelation just after 2:00 minutes in where you see his foot strike change mid-stride from a heel strike to a mid-foot strike. Fascinating and practical stuff.
Learn to Run Barefoot with Lee Saxby and Terra Plana from GTB Goodtruebeautiful GmbH on Vimeo.
Friday, 25 February 2011
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall
I can count on one hand the number of books that I've read which have fundamentally changed the way I think about the world. I'm excited that in Born to Run by Christoper McDougall, not only have I just read another, but that this one quite probably tops the list.
The book takes you through this amazing journey where in a quest to work out why he gets so many injuries (like most runners!), he discovers the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico and how they can run distances over 400 miles, in one go, in nothing more than leather sandals. Meets Caballo Blanco, a white man who has learnt their ways and runs with them. He discovers the ultra-running community (ultra-running is about distances longer than a 26.2 marathon) and the zen-like aura that surrounds them. He exposes how modern running shoes are quite probably the cause of most running injuries and how barefoot running could be the solution. And, most fascinating of all, he details the biological and evolutionary evidence which suggests that human beings actually evolved to run super long distances in the first place.
It really changed the way that I think about running and lots of other things. I've always believe that running is unlike any other "sport". It is more fundamental to who and what were are as human beings. I've always felt when I run that "this is what I am designed to do - this is what I am for". There is something so natural, fluid and meaningful about the movement. For the first time this book has given me some of the reasons why. The thought that we are alive today because our ancestors could run, further and better than anything else, that as a species we may be designed by evolution as the ultimate long distance running machine and pack hunting animal, is a fascinating, revolutionary idea.
Anyhow, I'd highly recommend it, he has a real talent for story telling, its a great read (whether you are a runner or not!). You can get it from Amazon here.
The book takes you through this amazing journey where in a quest to work out why he gets so many injuries (like most runners!), he discovers the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico and how they can run distances over 400 miles, in one go, in nothing more than leather sandals. Meets Caballo Blanco, a white man who has learnt their ways and runs with them. He discovers the ultra-running community (ultra-running is about distances longer than a 26.2 marathon) and the zen-like aura that surrounds them. He exposes how modern running shoes are quite probably the cause of most running injuries and how barefoot running could be the solution. And, most fascinating of all, he details the biological and evolutionary evidence which suggests that human beings actually evolved to run super long distances in the first place.
It really changed the way that I think about running and lots of other things. I've always believe that running is unlike any other "sport". It is more fundamental to who and what were are as human beings. I've always felt when I run that "this is what I am designed to do - this is what I am for". There is something so natural, fluid and meaningful about the movement. For the first time this book has given me some of the reasons why. The thought that we are alive today because our ancestors could run, further and better than anything else, that as a species we may be designed by evolution as the ultimate long distance running machine and pack hunting animal, is a fascinating, revolutionary idea.
Anyhow, I'd highly recommend it, he has a real talent for story telling, its a great read (whether you are a runner or not!). You can get it from Amazon here.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Are we born to run?
This is a really fascinating talk by Christopher McDougall, well worth watching.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
An imperfect blogger
New Year's resolutions. I can't decide whether I am a fan or not. I do enjoy the start of a new year - that feeling of intrigue at what the year will hold. Psychologically, it is an excellent time to make a fresh start - but then we've all committed that cliche of making resolutions which 3 weeks later we've forgotten about. It makes me question the honesty of the "new year's resolution" if part of us knows that the chances are we will have abandoned them in a few months time.
Nonetheless, I have already made a mental list of things I'm going to do in 2011. One of them (and the point of this post) is that I'd like to make a renewed attempt to blog more.
While I was a parliamentary candidate I got into the habit of regularly updating my political website, and I always wanted to actually "blog" during that time aswell. There were loads of insights and thoughts that I had, but the problem I found was that it would take me literally hours to write a blog post. I'd normally get the words down quite quickly, but then I would spend forever agonizing over whether it sounded right, reading and re-reading what I had written a hundred times and tinkering with it. It would normally get to the stage where I wouldn't even publish what I had written and spent hours over, because it could never match up to this perfect ideal that I had in my head. This paralysis continued after the election and my hopes of blogging on a more personal level were stymied.
I thought that this trip to Africa might have provided the stimulus to break my mental block (I'm writing this from Lusaka, Zambia). However as some of you may have noticed, Eeva and my attempt at a blog of this trip fizzled out rather quickly. I am sorry about this, I would have loved to publicly share and record the experiences that we've had over the last 3 months. They have been mind blowing and my understanding of so many issues has been changed massively. Maybe I'll write a "retrospective blog series" of reflections on issues in Africa.
The main problem on this trip has been access to the internet, but I will be back in the UK in 3 weeks and will no longer have that excuse. So, my resolution is to "let go" of that perfectionist tendency, accept that my grammar will not be precise and the way my sentences sound, feel and flow will not be perfect and, well, just get on with it and record my thoughts.
Let's see if this is a new year's resolution I can keep.
Nonetheless, I have already made a mental list of things I'm going to do in 2011. One of them (and the point of this post) is that I'd like to make a renewed attempt to blog more.
While I was a parliamentary candidate I got into the habit of regularly updating my political website, and I always wanted to actually "blog" during that time aswell. There were loads of insights and thoughts that I had, but the problem I found was that it would take me literally hours to write a blog post. I'd normally get the words down quite quickly, but then I would spend forever agonizing over whether it sounded right, reading and re-reading what I had written a hundred times and tinkering with it. It would normally get to the stage where I wouldn't even publish what I had written and spent hours over, because it could never match up to this perfect ideal that I had in my head. This paralysis continued after the election and my hopes of blogging on a more personal level were stymied.
I thought that this trip to Africa might have provided the stimulus to break my mental block (I'm writing this from Lusaka, Zambia). However as some of you may have noticed, Eeva and my attempt at a blog of this trip fizzled out rather quickly. I am sorry about this, I would have loved to publicly share and record the experiences that we've had over the last 3 months. They have been mind blowing and my understanding of so many issues has been changed massively. Maybe I'll write a "retrospective blog series" of reflections on issues in Africa.
The main problem on this trip has been access to the internet, but I will be back in the UK in 3 weeks and will no longer have that excuse. So, my resolution is to "let go" of that perfectionist tendency, accept that my grammar will not be precise and the way my sentences sound, feel and flow will not be perfect and, well, just get on with it and record my thoughts.
Let's see if this is a new year's resolution I can keep.
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