I hope the title caught your attention. Fact is I had the most amazing experience learning proper barefoot running technique from the coaching team of VIVOBAREFOOT. I literally felt liberated and born again, no exaggeration.
Of course, it’s not as simple as just taking your shoes off and running. Luckily I had the priviledge of learning from the students of Lee Saxby, the authority on barefoot running. A lot has been made of this book called Born to Run, Chris McDougall. The book that allegedly sparked a revolution. Well, Lee Saxby was McDougall’s coach. Also present (as a learner) was a London Marathon expert and advisor to over 50 charities on long distance running, Greame Hilditch. His book on running marathons has even helped BBC presenter Sophie Raworth to complete her marathon, a year after collapsing in one. It was thus an honour to be in such esteemed company, training in a centre just down the road from me at Premier Global, North London.
The first post in our series of blogs about running marathons and preparing for a lifetime of sustainable and enjoyable long distance running.
There will probably come a time, if it hasn’t happened already, when you will consider running a marathon. If you’ve made it this far to the VIVOBAREFOOT blog then you’ve probably considered doing it in barefoot shoes.
Before you start your training and even before you sign up to a 26.2 mile race there’s probably several questions you’ll have before you believe you can actually run the distance and run it in barefoot shoes.
Barefoot running expert Lee Saxby took some time out for VIVOBAREFOOT to answer some questions about the latest research to shed some evidence on the benefits of barefoot running.
VB: Briefly, what does Daniel Lieberman’s research show?
LS: The paper entitled ‘Foot Strike and Injury Rates in Endurance Runners’ studied athletes in the Harvard cross country running team between August 2006 – January 2011 and found that the runners in the team who have a habitual heel-strike running technique had twice as many repetitive stress injuries than the runners in the team who have a habitual forefoot-strike running technique. Read more…
Founders of NYC Barefoot Runners, John and Maggie Durant, have turned their fun run and cabaret of barefoot running education into an annual event – doubling in size from the 1st Annual NYC Barefoot Run. Their ultimate goal was to bring together all of the “who’s who” in barefoot running and create a celebratory atmosphere full of education; with all ideas welcomed to allow participants to test each theory for themselves. We couldn’t resist getting involved for the second year in a row so we brought our team, including our newly certified Barefoot Coaches and barefoot running expert Lee Saxby. Read more…
United Kingdom
Saaj from SB-Fitness recently completed a 1-day Instructor course workshop with the VIVOBAREFOOT Training Clinic.
