Nice weather gets people out jogging

>By: Brad Vivacqua
LIVERPOOL, N.Y. -- The last several days of comfortable weather conditions have encouraged many people to get outdoors and go for a jog. Maybe you've recently considered doing the same but haven't thought about all the benefits. News 10 Now's Brad Vivacqua recently spoke to a running expert and has some tips for us.

The weather has really been encouraging if you've been thinking about getting started. Local running expert Dave Oja of the Syracuse Chargers Track Club said if you haven't run in a while, it's a good idea to start out with walking a few days a week.

Oja said plenty of great local venues in our region offering a number of great trails to get you started.

Once you're up to a good thirty to thirty five minute walk a day and you're feeling good you may want to start jogging. If you've got some health concerns it's smart to get your doctors approval first.

Tips for runners
The last several days of comfortable weather conditions have encouraged many people to get outdoors and go for a jog. Maybe you've recently considered doing the same but haven't thought about all the benefits. News 10 Now's Brad Vivacqua recently spoke to a running expert and has some tips for us.

Oja said a person can be surprised on how much running can improve their overall health. He also said if you've been running you may also want to try entering your first road race this summer.

Here in our area there's an event nearly every weekend from now through October. A road race can help you set a goal, meet new people, and give you a feeling of accomplishment.

"I certainly recommend it, I certainly recommend that anybody who is out there putting in some miles and feeling reasonably fit, and anyone who knows he or she can cover the race distance safely, give it a try and see what's in it for them," said Oja.

Before you head outdoors, you'll want to make sure you have some comfortable running clothes and footwear and don't push yourself too much once you get started.

Dollars and Sense

Almost all runners can find shoes that suit their needs for $85 or less. If you’re a beginner, I don’t think you should spend more than that because you’re probably still learning what type of shoe you need. You’ll be less likely to be honest about abandoning a model that doesn’t work for you if you’ve just plunked down several days’ pay for it.
At the other end of the scale, unless you can find discontinued models on sale, try not to spend less than $60. I know that the dollars can add up fast if you’re only getting 400 miles out of a pair of shoes. But shoes that retail for less than $60 are often cheaply made, without enough support and cushioning. They’re made in mass quantities out of inferior materials and are dumped on unsuspecting shoppers in megastores. They can lead to injury, and, well, they just don’t feel as good as “real” running shoes. Isn’t staying injury-free and enjoying your running worth that extra $10 a few times a year?

Shopping for Shoes

These days, there are shoes on the market that cost more than the per capita income of some developing nations. Do you really need to spend $150 for a pair of shoes? No doubt, all of the shoes on the market that cost more than $100 are well-made, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessary. Many running shoes have more to do with marketing hype than with helping you to run better. Let’s face it: Like other people, some runners are driven by status. They just have to have the newest shoe with all the fancy colors and the cool logos. If that’s you, and if it helps you feel better about yourself as a runner, then by all means, purchase the high-ticket items.

Your Shoes Are Killing Your Feet

By Dylan Tweney

Foot Your shoes are destroying your feet. More specifically, they're messing up the perfectly-balanced, coordinated bipedal gait that our species evolved over millions of years.

That's the argument touted by a lengthy article in New York magazine this week, You Walk Wrong. Its starting point is a number of podiatric studies showing that going barefoot is better for your feet than wearing shoes: unshod Zulus have healthier feet than shoe-wearing Europeans, and prehistoric humans appear to have had the healthiest feet of all. And if you must wear shoes, it turns out that the less shoe you wear, the better, because expensive running shoes are no better than cheap ones, and wearing expensive running shoes actually increases your odds of getting injured by 123%.

But first, New York wants you to know all about Galahad Clark, the scion of a British shoe-manufacturing family, who got into the un-shoe business after hanging out with the Wu-Tang Clan, Rem Koolhaas, and a young tennis-playing industrial designer named Tim Brennan. Eventually Clark came up with the Vivo Barefoot, a $160 un-shoe that is as close to going barefoot as you can get while still providing some protection against the dog shit, hypodermic needles and broken glass that clog the streets of New York (and San Francisco, for that matter).

The authors of the "shod vs. unshod" study (.pdf), Bernard Zipfel and Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, argue that going barefoot is the optimal condition for humans. It makes a certain intuitive sense, because the human foot evolved over millennia in the absence of shoes, during which time humans walked just fine, thank you very much. Modern shoes significantly change the way the foot works: Their stiffness prevents the foot from flexing as it normally would, and their big, cushioned heels absorb so much shock that they actually encourage you to drive your heel into the ground much more firmly than you would if you were barefoot.

A barefoot walking or running gait is much gentler and smoother, in which your foot placement is flatter (rather than heel-first) and the arches of your feet deflect more to absorb the load. And it turns out that this might be better for your knees as well as your feet, because even though those thick soles are absorbing the immediate shock to your foot, your steps while wearing shoes still transmit more shock to your knees than your barefoot steps do.

In light of this, it should come as no surprise that there are many advocates of the barefoot lifestyle and barefoot running on the internet, and there's even a barefoot marathon-running Christian minister.

There are a couple of problems with the "let's just kick off our shoes" line: People have been wearing shoes for 30,000 years, and prehistoric humans tended to get killed off by disease, starvation or predators at a much younger age, meaning they had a lot less time to wreck their feet through ordinary use. And there are a lot of places where you really don't want to go barefoot, or even really wear a thin un-shoe: Like in the snow, or at work, or when trying to hail a cab.

Still, I'm predisposed to like the anti-shoe argument, because I enjoy going barefoot, and, heck, it's Spring. What about you?

Image: What shoes can do your feet. Source: University of the Witwatersrand

Shoe Wear, Tear, and Care

Like everything else in this world, running shoes eventually break down. They just seem to do so much more quickly than other shoes. Remember, with every running step, you create a force of about three times your body weight. Even for the lightest of us, that’s a lot to ask our shoes to put up with. So with more miles, your shoes begin to deteriorate. The outsoles get worn out. The midsoles compress. The uppers start to tear. Next thing you know, that shoe that used to feel so good is making your knees ache with every step. Most runners can comfortably wear their shoes for 500 to 600 miles. In fact, none of the cushioning technologies used in today’s shoes are designed to last more than 800 miles. Trying to squeeze more miles than this out of your shoes is the runner’s version of being penny wise and pound foolish, because it can lead to injury. In the early ’70s, I once wore clean through the outsole of a pair of running shoes; no wonder my calves were killing me at the time! So watch the wear and tear on your shoes. It’s a good idea to keep track of how many miles you have on a pair of shoes so that you can better estimate when you need new ones.

Even if you don’t meticulously record the mileage on your shoes, always keep an eye on them. If you’ve worn through a spot in the outsole, ditch ’em. The shoe is so worn down that it’s going to throw off your normal stride, and that’s a good way to get injured. You should also check the heel counters. If you set your shoes on a level surface and look at them from the back and see that the heel counters point in significantly, they’re no longer doing their job of providing support.

After a few hundred miles, you’ll probably also start to see wrinkles in the midsole. These wrinkles mean that the midsole is getting compressed and can no longer absorb as much shock as when the shoes were new. When your shoes get in this condition, press a fingernail in the midsole. If doing so leaves a mark that doesn’t quickly disappear, it’s time for new shoes. Lastly, if you start to notice little aches and pains that you can’t attribute to other causes, your worn-down shoes are probably the reason.
There are some things you can do to maximize how long your shoes serve you well. For example, I have a little area on the forefoot of my left shoe that wears down long before the rest of either shoe. I can sometimes get another two or three weeks out of a pair of shoes if I apply Shoe Goo to this spot every two or three days. After I do that, I’m back to normal biomechanically. That is, the wear on my shoes isn’t making me run differently; my footstrike is back to how it should be.

You can also extend the life of a shoe by doctoring the inside. I think most of the arch supports and inserts that come with running shoes are weak. As your shoes get a bit worn, you can take out the standard-issue inserts and replace them with a couple of the many commercial inserts available at running shoe stores. Many of these inserts supply extra cushioning, which I find to be helpful as the midsoles of my running shoes compress.

Which Type of Shoes Should You Wear?

There are many ways to make an educated guess at which type of running shoe is best for you. If you’re already running, look at the forefoot of your old shoes. (Don’t bother looking at the heel, because almost all runners land on the outside heel. It’s what happens after landing that determines your needs.) Neutral runners usually see wear in the center of the forefoot; overpronators often find wear near the big toe; supinators may find wear toward the little toe. Also, examine your old shoes from the back when they’re on a level surface. Do the heel counters tilt in significantly? If so, you’re probably an overpronator.

Also, if you’ve had any running injuries, these can give clues as to your biomechanics. Overpronators tend to get injuries caused by soft-tissue fatigue, such as tendinitis and knee problems, because of the extra motion required of their muscles, tendons, and ligaments. In contrast, supinators subject their bodies to great amounts of shock because their feet move through too small a range of motion. As a result, they’re susceptible to such injuries as ankle sprains, stress fractures, and shin splints.
If you’re new to running, have a friend watch you from behind while you walk and run. Have your friend note what happens to your feet after your heel has landed. If it looks as though the inner part of your heel is still in contact with the ground when you’re pushing off to the next stride, then you’re probably an overpronator. If your heel appears relatively flat when you push off, you’re probably a neutral runner. And if it seems that your foot is moving toward the outside as you push off, you’re part of that rare breed of supinators. A good sales clerk at a running shoe store should be able to make the same assessment for you.

The Three Types of Running Shoes

To address the different biomechanical needs of different runners, shoe companies play
with the basics of construction. The shoes that they produce as a result create a continuum
of models from heavy, ultrarigid ones to light, flexible ones. There are three main
three types of running shoes:

• Motion-control shoes, which are designed to combat overpronation
• Neutral shoes, which are for runners without significant biomechanical problems
• Flexibility shoes, which are designed to provide maximum cushioning for supinators

Although this list is simplifying things a bit, these broad categories are helpful to keep in
mind when you start your search for the right running shoe.
Motion-control shoes usually contain these features:

• Combination or board lasting
• A straight shape
• A medial post that extends to the arch
• A thick midsole
• Heel and forefoot cushioning technologies

Because of these construction features, motion-control shoes are usually the heaviest ones
on the market.
Neutral shoes usually contain these features:

• Combination or slip lasting
• A semi-straight shape
• A small medial post
• A medium-thickness midsole
• Heel cushioning technologies

As you can see, these middle-of-the-road models are designed to suit the majority of
runners.
Flexibility shoes usually contain these features:

• Slip lasting
• A curved shape
• No medial post
• A thin midsole
• Forefoot cushioning technologies

Flexibility shoes are usually among the lightest on the market.