Feet

Feet are Key

Shoes don't matter when running. Shoes may do several things to your feet while running including:

1. Cause blisters
2. Constrict/restrict movement
3. Force unnatural foot angles to the ground

Shoes may also do several useful things for your feet while running including:

1. Protection from thorns and glass
2. Reduce blisters :-)
3. Soften the concrete (however, this isn't necessarily the best thing)

So here's the deal, protect your feet by wrapping the bottom in a thin piece of rubber and the top with a mesh or light leather upper. This does several good things like protect your toes from sticks and thorns and the balls of your feet from the previous and more. Shoes can be a really good thing for protecting your feet from the right things.

Avoid extreme shoe padding. Look for a shoe with heel padding that is equal to, or nearly equal to the forefoot padding in height. I've found this allows the most natural foot motion when you aren't willing to run barefoot. At all costs, avoid the gigantic heel wedge found in most running shoes. This severely limits heel motion which in turn disables the calves from offering their natural shock absorbing abilities.

Some examples of decent shoes include New Balance's MT-20/WT-20 and the two shoe models made by Skora. I'm not endorsing these shoes per se, but I have trained and run half marathons in each and found them acceptable. What you need is a flat shoe that stays out of the way of your feet. Avoid shoes are are too squishy or that have weird sole protrusions as these will interfere with what your feet want to do naturally.

A thickly padded shoe will hide your bad form from you. A thin shoe will train you to run lightly on concrete because it will hurt if you don't :-) I initially felt minor bruising on the bottom of my feet when I started running in thin shoes, but, gradually, my feet became tougher, my form became better, and that pain disappeared.

In a pinch, try using some racing flats as your starter shoes.

Lazy Toes

While running, it's important to maintain relaxed muscles. While running, it's imperative to maintain relaxed muscles. While running, relax.

Relax.

After landing on the balls of your feet (really, the two contact points behind the big toe and little toe, your foot's like a tripod if you include the heel) and allowing heel to lower in a controlled fashion until it slightly touches the ground, RESIST THE URGE to curl and dig your toes into the pavement for a push off. Doing this will cause two bad things:

1. Blisters on the front of the toes (Symptom A)
2. Pain in the toes and calves due to muscular knots (Symptom B)

Everybody seems to make this mistake initially when changing running styles. Make a conscious effort to either float along without pushing off or to push off from the balls of the feet while keeping the toes relaxed. Lazy toes.

Lazy Feet

There's no need to point your toes to the sky... ever. While running, keep your toes pointing toward the ground. A stride should generally work like:

1. Balls of foot contact the ground directly under or slightly forward of the body's center of mass.
2. Balls of foot press down fully into the ground. This should feel like you are grabbing the ground with your foot so you can pull it behind you, as if you were on a treadmill.
3. Let the heel sink down to the ground as the calf muscles relax. Let the heel touch the ground if it's comfortable. On steep uphills, the heel may not reach the ground. On steep downhills, it may take extra work to keep the heel from slamming into the ground. You control the heel.
4. Raise the heel off the ground and kick your leg back at the the primarily the knee but also the hip. This is forward propulsion. You do not dig your toes in to do this. This force should primarily come from the balls of your feet.
5. Go back to Step 1 using the other leg.

In that list, there is no requirement to keep your toes arched to the sky. After a foot pushes off, let it droop toward the ground. To point it up is a waste of energy. This is called running with your toes pointed down. It's efficient, and it reduces muscular knots in your feet and shins.

Action:

Find a track. Run barefoot for 1/4 mile with relaxed feet and toes. This is how running should feel.

Finally, you must use this advice at your own risk. Some advice will go against conventional wisdom and doctors' advice. I am not a doctor and do not claim to be smarter than a doctor; I am a coach.

-- Coach