Les humains ont évolué comme chasseurs d’endurance et comme animaux coopératifs. C’est pourquoi nous sommes maintenant l’espèce dominante sur cette Terre. Et c’est pourquoi la clef de notre avenir joyeux et durable sur Terre dépend de la façon dont nous utilisons nos capacités d’endurance, de coopération, de gentillsesse, et bien sûr de course à pied.

Eloge de la Douceur dans la Course et dans la Vie

Eloge de la Douceur

dans la Course et dans la Vie

Soyez gentils avec vous et avec les autres

La vie est assez dure comme ça pour en rajouter une couche. Je vous propose donc une philosophie de construction de soi, basée sur une approche DOUCE de la course à pied, afin d’être plus fort, plus joyeux et en meilleure santé. Ensuite, vous pourrez transposer cet “hédonisme ascétique” dans d’autres domaines de votre vie afin de contribuer humblement à rendre ce monde meilleur.

The Gentle Guide to buy the best Running shoes

High heel super fat cushion shoes are NOT for running. They are for walking, standing or partying.

On the other hand, shoes with no or little elevated heel and little cushioning are the best to allow the foot to work as it has evolved to work for a million years or so.

If a shoe “specialist” in a sports store propose you “running” shoes with either:

• Arch support
• Absorption device
• Spring device
• Elevated heel

Walk away !!!

This person has utter ignorance about human biomechanics.

Why? Because:

• The plantar arch is meant to collapse during running, and thus arch support works against normal foot function.
• The plantar arch, combined with the Achilles’ tendon and the Calf muscle are the best absorption device of the human body. Anything trying to mimic that will at best lose energy.
• The plantar arch, combined with the Achilles’ tendon and the Calf muscle are the best energy storage device in the human body. Any artificial spring could at best equals it, but at the cost of losing ground feel, an essential feature of the human foot to adapt and respond in real time to uneven ground.
• The human foot is meant to land horizontally. Elevated heel, especially in running, will force the foot into an unnatural position and may cause serious injuries such as periostitis.

This person could as well sell “Brick-and-Mortar” or work for the costumes of “The adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert”.

By the way, you must watch this movie at least once. This is a Masterpiece and one of my favorite movies too.

Why? Because of the same reasons as above.

However, minimalism should be taken seriously and not as a fashion trend. Trying to use your foot-leg-body as it is supposed to work does not mean to hurt yourself and dive into some type of “shoeless” religion.

Even though our ancestors ran for a million years without shoes, it does not mean they were not hurt by sharp pebbles or thorns.

We have the opportunity to wear high-tech shoes that combine natural movement of the foot with protection from hostile environment such as pointy rocks, snow, wooden sticks, thorns, dog turds, sticky mud, etc. Also, you need some serious layers of sole skin to run more than 10 km on hot or wet or super cold pavement.

What are those shoes? There are plenty of shoes now, that allow natural movement of the foot. You can find them at this website.

 Amongst them, I tested several myself, Merrell, Inov-8 and Skechers. Unfortunately, many of them have been discontinued.

So now, I can recommend the ones below.

VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure to order one EU size above your regular shoe size, so that your toes are free to spread in the shoe.

But my favorite running “shoes” now are the Huaraches sandals from Xeroshoes. I wear them almost always, except when the temperature drops below 0°C, and sometimes below -5°C, or in super technical mountain trails with slippery mud.

I even developed a special way to tie them so that they have a close fit, they do not flap, or rub my skin, especially the skin between and below the 1st and 2nd toes, with the string. Check the Youtube video below.

Ho

For Men and the road

Merrell Vapor Glove 2

I know these shoes look like a joke but they really exist. You can even see people “running” in them…

This site is managed by a MD who had knee injuries due to bad running form. Now, he is running Marathons again and has dedicated this site to teach proper running form and spread all info relevant to Natural Running. This site is a Gold Mine!!!

For Women and the road

Merrell Vapor Glove 2

For Men and the trail

Merrell Trail Glove 3

For Men and the trail

Merrell Pace Glove 3

For Men and the trail

Merrell Pace Glove 3

Dr Barefoot Pat tying style

Ultra Mel and John tying style

(As they were taught by the Tarahumara)