Humans were made to run marathons!

Inspired by my recent read 'Born To Run', I wanted to learn more techniques for Barefoot Running, so I entered 'Barefoot Running' into my Kindle store search and was presented with an impressive array of results for what is still really a small niche market.

Scanning the results, one title popped out 'Barefoot Running Step by Step: Barefoot Ken Bob, the Guru of Shoeless Running, Shares His Personal Technique for Running with More Speed, Less Impact, Fewer Injuries and More Fun', co-written by Roy M. Wallack and Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton.

Although its a massive title, that isn't what stood out the most, but the name Barefoot Ken Bob. Barefoot Ken Bob was referred to in 'Born To Run' as the 'Guru' of barefoot running, and seeing as I had found that book so inspirational and education I had to download this book!

Ken Bob & Roy Wallack start the book by putting forward a really good case about what great long distance runners humans are - the best on the planet in fact.  There is quite a lot of evidence suggesting that the modern human species evolved to be the way it is today to be able to, quite literally, run it's prey to death.

Around two million years ago, our ancestors suddenly had access to far more protein which enabled our brains to grow larger and our species to evolve into the modern humans we are today.  As the spear was not invented until 50,000 years ago, and the bow and arrow not until 10,000 years ago, how did our ancestors manage to obtain this amount of protein without tools to hunt?

Undoubtedly there would have been some scavenging, but we were not fierce enough to keep other predators away, nor fast enough to escape them if they decided to take their kill back!

Evolution is all about survival of the fittest and fitting into a niche, so why would humanity evolve to be slower and less strong than the competition if it didn't get something back?

Well, we also evolved the ability to run upright.  An animal that runs on four legs may be faster, but essentially the amount of breaths it takes is limited to its stride - one breath = one stride.  The reason being its stomach and guts slam into its lungs with each leap, essentially emptying the lungs.  Humans can take as many breaths as they want, and multiple steps per breath, which is a massive advantage over our animal kin.

We can also sweat.  Most animals can only cool down by panting, which is really limited.  The ability to sweat makes us a really efficient cooling system.

Our prey may have been faster than us, but only in short bursts before they have to rest.  If you keep driving an Antelope, it will bound out of reach and rest, but if you keep pursuing it and keep it moving, not allowing it to rest for long or recover, it will eventually drop down dead from the heat and exhaustion.  This process takes somewhere between 3-5 hours, which, for healthy and fit people accustomed to running, is roughly how long it takes to run a marathon.

Interesting stuff right? You can read more about this discovery here.

Ken Bob is anti any shoes at all, including minimalist 'barefoot' shoes, and he has lots of evidence to suggest that introducing some totally barefoot running can reduce injury and improve running technique - even if you're not hardcore enough to go totally barefoot all the time as he does (but there must be something in it - he's run something like 65 marathons barefoot, with times most of us could only dream off!).

I do believe there is something in it, and I'm introducing many of the techniques Ken Bob describes into my running schedule, and will also try to introduce some time totally barefoot too.  Hardcore Ken Bob suggests starting on gravel as from there running on anything else will be easier - I'm not convinced that is for me, but I'll give it a go.

But I'm not going to 'run before I can walk' (excuse the pun), so for the next couple of weeks I'm going to walk as many places as I can barefoot.  It should help toughen up my feet a bit, as well as allow me to get used to the sensation of different textures underfoot so I can get used to reacting and 'relaxing' over sharp or uncomfortable objects.

Lets see how I get on.