Ssssshhh! How to be a Better Runner

Back when I began running, shortly after the last ice age, buying running shoes was a fairly simple matter. The first step involved determining what kind of foot you had: flat feet, high arches, or feet with a normal arch. The next step was to pick a shoe that would accommodate or correct your foot type. Flat feet would get motion control shoes, high arches would get cushioned shoes, and neutral feet would get pretty much anything they wanted. At this point you would try out a few different offerings from the various shoe companies, each featuring a patented gizmo or doodad that promised to give you the best ride ever. The final step was to settle on a pair, and to leave the store some $80-$120 lighter in the wallet.

Then came the revolution. It began as a trickle, with the spotting of the occasional barefoot runner or minimal shoe. The publication of Born To Run, Chris McDougall's landmark book about an epic trail ultramarathon in Mexico's remote Copper Canyon, brought it to a flood. The heroes of the book were aboriginal Indians who raced in homemade sandals and who beat the best ultra runners that the Norte Americanos had to offer. The result was a tidal wave of minimal shoe offerings from a wide range of running shoe companies, and a movement away from traditional running shoes.

The logic seemed sound: after more than 40 years of research and development by the leading running shoe companies, one would expect that the rate of running-related injuries would drop. But in fact, the injury rate has not gone down; if anything, it's higher than ever.

But that's not the end of the story. According to Blaise Dubois, consultant to the Canadian National Track and Field Team and author of the book Prevention of Running Injuries, the prime indicator of potential for running injury is impact force, as indicated by the sound of a runner's footstrike. Put simply: if you run loudly, you get hurt; if you run quietly, you run safely.

It's a simple concept, based on what happens when the foot contacts the ground. It also helps explain a troubling question that barefoot running enthusiasts can't answer: how can it be that some runners who wear big, padded running shoes manage to run injury free year after year? The answer is that they are likely not heavy foot strikers.

The take-away, then, is that regardless of what you wear, you should try to run as soundlessly as possible. For most runners, this is a puzzle that they can solve on their own with a little experimentation, and without an expert's instruction. It also means you can reduce your risk of injury without having to invest in new shoes. (It shouldn't escape our notice that the clear winners in the cushioned shoe vs. minimal shoe debate are she shoe companies that offer both models, as long as someone is buying).

Does this mean that I'm against the minimal shoe movement? No. It's hard to run loudly and incorrectly in bare feet or in minimal shoes because there is no protection from the heavy impact forces being generated. Running barefoot or in minimal shoes, then, forces a heavy footstriker to lighten his or her step; it would simply hurt too much to do otherwise. That makes barefoot and minimal shoe running an important instructional tool.

But the reverse isn't necessarily true: it's not impossible to run lightly and correctly while wearing bigger, traditional shoes. To be a healthy runner, you don't have to go minimalist. The key is to make sure that you run as lightly as possible. This is the secret of the elite and world class runners: more important than their footwear is the fact that most of them have great form, and run silently.

So get in the habit of listening to the sound of your own footfalls while running, and see what you can do to be as quiet as possible.