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let the experiment begin

My pressie to me.....newtons & therefore ankle sprains, achilles problems, calf pain etc etc...I hope not.

I shall keep you informed on progress.

Comments

  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    awesome, good luck mate. If your not a fore-foot runner now you soon will be!



    I really want a pair, but i love my sauconys so much I am worried that for 120 i will have wasted my money!
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    Please keep us updated, I'm due a new pair of shoes soon and I fancy the Newtons, but don't fancy the associated pain - unless they work!
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    I got a very good deal on them, which is what persuaded me, been wearing them around the house today & sucessfully did not fall downstairs! That counts as a tick in the plus column then.

    Maybe an experimental jog/run tomorrow.
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    So..2.5k warm up in normal run shoes, 1600m in Newtons, felt like I was wearing clown shoes..as in my toes were 'slapping' the ground at first, slight incline felt good, so tried to mimic that on the flat, fell better faster, second loop much better, lack of support in uppers means my right foot feels as if its 'collapsing' in wards as by big toes is on the outside of the inner lug on the sole. Now much later & calf muscles feel fine..see tomorrow perhaps, neglected to put compression socks on just to see.
  • GGBGGB Posts: 482
    Are these like "Chi" running shoes ? I read a few artciles on Chi running a while back where the front of the foot hits the floor first - never really tried it but supposed to be easier in the long run.



  • nivaghnivagh Posts: 595



    I don't really believe that a fore foot strike is feasible and sustainable in an event of over maybe a mile. Having done a lot of sprinting in my past, I'm very conscious of the different feel of upright sprinting on your forefoot, where you’re striking the ground tall and clawing, compared to jogging where you strike with your heel, roll along the foot and toe off.

    Sprinting on the ball of your foot is really powerful, it minimises the contact time between foot and ground, and transfers power in the direction in which you want to travel, whereas a heel strike dissipates the impact and has a braking effect on your body as a result.

    If you try to run tall and claw without sprinting, it’s somewhere between a bound and a jog – it’s fast, and it’s a great drill and warm up, but you can’t run 5k like that, let alone 10k and above.

    If you run on your forefoot, you’re taking a huge amount of shock absorption into your calves as they try to prevent your heel from hitting the ground. I would always try to run tall, but I don’t think I could stay on the balls of my feet for long.

    Have a look at the differences between a pair of sprinting spikes, racing flats and general running shoes and you can see the difference in the way they control which part of your foot strikes the ground as appropriate to the exercise you’re doing.



    All that said, I don’t have any experience of Newtons; I’m happy with my Adidas racing flats; if I see a pair I’ll have a good look, but I’m not convinced by the general concept. With any luck they’ll have some I can try at TCR.

  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    I think there maybe a few things that need to be explained. Forefoot running is any running where you do not strike with the heel first, this essentially encompasses sprinting where as you say nivagh you are running on the balls of your feet for the entire time and midfoot landing where the aim is to kind of land on the whole of the foot in a flatish way if that makes sense!



    The idea behind forefoot running is that as you say nivagh it minimises deceleration and the risk of injury. It minimises injury risk because at the point of contact the leg is not straight, therefore there is reduced stress on the knee joint. Yes it does require the calf to act as a shock absorber but its a lot better having the calf as your shock absorber than your knee joint!



    Also midfoot landing will help to store up elastic energy which provided you unweight that foot quick enough will be used to help power you forward and increase your economy.



    I believe the newtons and their lugs or whatever they are! are designed to encourage this midfoot landing, you are not running on your toes like your are in sprinting, and you are not using your calf/hallicous(big toe) muscles to push off like you do in sprinting.





  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    Sounds about right Tommi...I know I could not run sprinting style on my toes for any distance, but fore foot to toe feels OK, the lugs push me a little forther forward, the best I can descibe is the feeling is similar to a slight uphill run...but on the flat.
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    Oh 7 my calves do not hurt today..will go further today or tomorrow.
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    That should be & not 7...must press harder..or learn to type.
  • ...and there we me trying to decipher the meaning of "oh 7"....
  • nivaghnivagh Posts: 595

    Ah, that's a bit clearer! (Newtons and 7..!)
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    I shall dictate this to my personal secretary to avoid typos....2.5k run at steady pace today, didn't put the clock on it, just ran because I could, good (usual) stretch & so far no ill efects as all I have done since is watch the Bears beat the Packers by only playing the last 5 mins of the game.
  • I have just bought a pair of Newtons as well so I have been following this thread with interest.



    I have paid the full £120 for them though which hurt alot! I needed a new pair of Asics though and I usually go for the Gel Nimbus which comes in at about 90 quid so I thought it would only be an extra 30. I have endless problems with my knees, so anything that transfers this to my calves would be great.



    One question though, I am a neutral runner and so went for the Gravity shoes, but they were out of stock and the guy from Tri Central rang me and told me that the Motions were essentially exactly the same, but also gave you lateral motion control. Hence he was saying for a neutral runner they were just as good, if not better (as they stop you going over onto one side). If this was true however, what is the point of them making 2 different pairs of shoes?!



    I have ordered them anyways as I need to start running again on Monday for my Ironfit programme. I've had a month off due to aforementioned bad knees!



  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    I looked at both shoes when buying mine, the motion control shoes had a bit of a 'wedge' on the heel providing a little more support on the inside of the heel, so the difference is minimal, & the uppers are exactly the same as far as support (or not) is concerned. I assumed that maybe control is less of an issue with this type of shoe & if you really needed a high degree of control, then these are not the shoe for you.
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