Of shoes and strikes...

My take: Minimal Shoes vs Running Shoes 

This post is long time coming, almost 2 years now. I have been contemplating jumping on to the minimal shoe camp. All the claims and scientific research had piqued my interest for some time now. However, Sports Science taught me to question everything. I could not simply jump from using a traditional running shoe to a minimalist shoe.

This minimalist shoe, is a classic conundrum. Especially to those with experience, dabbling in bio-mechanics and anatomy. Why a conundrum? I will explain later. Minimal and traditional shoes look very similar to the untrained eye, the science and rationale behind each type of shoes however are worlds apart.

Before we pry into the different type of shoes, we need to understand what exactly these shoes affect. Without going into technical jargons and textbook definition, in summary, these shoes influence the way our feet touches or "strikes" the ground. There are 3 types of strikes. Forefoot strike, mid-foot strike and heel strike.

Traditional shoes promote heel strikes , approximately 75% of shod runners heel strike (Hasegawa et al., 2007). On the other hand, minimalist shoes promote mid foot and forefoot strikes. This is where the conundrum begins. As textbooks have it, when running, a large amount of force (between 2 to 6 times bodyweight)  act on our joints at each point of impact. It only makes perfect sense that a traditional shoe, with higher cushioning on the heels to dissipate the impact is worn. However the traditional cushioned shoes only came about in the 1960s, prior to that all, all shoes resembled the minimalist fashion.

We ( the humans ) have been pretty much been running minimalist or rather the barefoot way till the arrival of the cushioned traditional shoes. In other words i believe our dependency on cushioned traditional shoes is a by-product of manufactured demand by MNCs **. For a better understanding of manufactured demand, check out the story of bottled water. I am digressing. Ok, the point here is that while the cushioned shoes seems logical and sensible, recent findings suggest otherwise. The lack of longitudinal studies on the cushioned shoes does not shed any light on the downstream effects it has on the feet and all joints working in tandem.

Once again allow me to paraphrase and water down the situation. According to studies, humans are primally designed to run barefoot/forefoot strike. Some how the recent arrival of the cushioned shoes somewhat is throwing a spanner into the works. The key issue at this point is about impact a.k.a Ground Reaction Force (GRF). The GRF generated for both styles of running are pretty much the same. Then what the hell is the problem? Well based on studies the key difference in the GRF is the presence of a Distinct Impact Peak in Heel striking. This has the potential to injure joints on the long run (no pun intended).

Thanks to all these information overload, i am now confused as to which shoe to buy with the allowance i got from clearing my IPPT. Do i get

1) the NB minimalist shoes, which looks damn cool. It will also go well with most of my outfits.

2) the Adidas cushioned shoes, which seems like the better choice considering i am a heel striker.

So this is the plan, before i comment, i would like to try barefoot running out first. I am going to skip the details and jump into my methods and conclusion. I am giving myself 6 months.

This is the averaged summary of the conditioning plan:
Frequency: 2 times a week
Distance : not more than 1.6km
Ground : Stadium track
Time of runs: evening
Warm up and cool downs: All done religiously. I sports science ok...

Month 1: Progress from barefoot walking to barefoot briskwalking. ( Distance-1km)
Observation: I still practice heel strike when walking. Knees and ITBs hurt like hell when i brisk walk for 1km. Lower back hurts like hells father too.
Note : Read up and implement proper barefoot running techniques.

Month 2: Progress from bare foot briskwalking to barefoot intermitten slow jog (Distance 1.6km)
Observation:  There's alot of gait reconditioning to do. Exhausted . Calves are working out a lot more.
Note: There seems to be a gradual decrease in my ITB related issue.

Month 3: Progress from intermitten slow jog to continous slow jog (Distance 1.6km)
Observation: Calves have conditioned well. They do not hurt as much. Overall posture is improving. Feeling very good. Runs are becoming enjoyable.

Month 4: Progress from slow jog to intermitten slow run (Distance 1.6km)
Observation: Increased frequency of pain on my anterior tibialis (Shin area).
Note: Observer posture when running and ICE the affected area appropriately.

Month 5: Maintain goals Month 4.
Observation: Frequency of pain in tibialis remains. Not used to having calloused feet. Feel like walking on orthotics with nodes protruding out.

Month 6: Maintain goals of Month 5.
Observation: Everything hurts haha.. Especially the metatarsal arches and anterior tibialis..Need to rest it out.

Conclusion:
1) 29 years of running heel strike cannot be changed over a period of months. I speculate that it might take me 2 to 3 years to properly condition.

2) Barefoot running is actually enjoyable at slower speeds. So for now, i am just going to go barefoot for walks.

3) There is a reason why the calcaneus is much thicker than my metatarsal bones. Though i ran better for a while in barefoot, with no sudden peaks in my GRF (which is damn good), my metatarsals could not bear the increased weight load.

In my perspective, if your current style of running has not or does not cause you any discomfort AND you are running without putting yourself at risk of imminent injury (be it short term or long term), just run on. If you have been always a heel striker, take plenty of time to slowly acclimatise your body to a change in gait.. Think in years.

As for which shoes i eventually bought... There was a sale and i bought both.

All roads led here

I can't even recall my last post in Scribbles. Been too long and too busy. With what? I don't know. Maybe surviving an onslaught of challenges spanning from my personal to professional life. Somewhat akin to being caught in a continuos whirlpool for 5 years. 

The happiness that came after the convocation of the degree, can be described as short-lived at best. Maybe i was looking forward to a happy ending and happy it was . I just failed to realize that the next line began immediately. 

Life runs simultaneously and concurrently, there will be plenty of time to rest in the grave. My mom always says till today. Challenges keep you moving. The latest challenge ( a year back) appending the queue was to get married to my then girlfriend within a year. Just after spending a fortune on my studies and with no savings at all, it was by far the most monumental task i ever undertook. Freaking clueless, thats the word that summarized all aspects of my cognition. Where to begin? Where to go? Just put your foot in and go with the flow.... Something i came quite accustomed to doing. How to make the money in time to hold a decent level wedding? Hell, i don't know. Furthermore weddings in Singapore are not cheap. Its not as easy as inviting 10 people to your house and get married. I don't even have a house ready and i was already pushing 30. Postponement was not really an option unless i didn't mind getting skinned by the parents (typically Asian, what to do?)

But Life always finds a way. It did. From a son, to a brother, to an uncle, now, i am a husband. Thank Allah. 

Happy ending, you say... Allow me to re-iterate, the next challenge had already begun even before this ended. Weddings become super intricate as more people join the bandwagon. Keeping all elders reasonably happy and managing their expectations is far more difficult than navigating to the moon apparently. Thats another story for another day.

For now, i am reveling in the silence and the stillness of the aftermath of my wedding but still waters run deep. I am going to let nature take its course.

Squat Squat Squat

Yup.... not going to walk properly for the next couple of days, that's for sure. Thanks to all the squats and lunges in the gym. Thought having manjan next to me when i am working out would give me the required ego boost to push myself and look pro at it, but she is manjan.... she saw through me as if i was standing stark naked. So there was no point in holding it in, all my whimpering screams and mini howls in pain came out as i executed each movement.. I can only thank God for the endurance to hold my fart in as i did my squats.

Funny thing is that i can bench, squat, pull, row, push, lift weights well and above my body weight, but only this nasty little fella called the crunches and planks collapse me at the thought of it. Sadly manjan is good at it and most likely she is not going to let me get away with it..

Who is the *&^*&^*&^who came up with the gymming concept... sadly its me.. i proposed to pay money to torture myself and endure humiliation from manjan... sigh

Take away from Greece.....

I was having coffee with the head coach from San Marino while watching the other countries played. We exchanged information on training techniques and type of selection criteria that each of our countries employed when selecting the players for the team. One key point that I took away from our conversation is that its vital not to tell the athletes about the importance of winning medals or honor or national pride. If possible it is better to instill in them an attitude that all they have to do is just put in their best effort. In a quirky way its beneficial to train them and instill in them that personal gratification followed by coaches and the loved ones happiness is above the medals .The good thing about this strategy is that if a particular athlete is involved in more than one event, and he botches up one of the event , he would not be too engrossed and pressurized to win a medal in the next. Instead he will just try harder to please himself or his coach in the next event. I have personally witnessed this when the team from San Marino were playing and they did do very well and their athletes didn’t show any negative behavior even after losing one of the games badly. Of course, for this technique or attitude to take effect, the coach and the athletes need to have a good understanding and synergy, else the coach will only come across as a dictator like figure. This strategy must also be adopted at a personal level for the coach, as it is easy for the coach to preach in the spirit of competition but have his subtle body language reinforcing the winning of a medal. This will thrust the athletes into dissonance which will affect their performance.

The following day, I was engaged in a conversation with the coach from Australia, a very experienced and wise man well into his fifties. I asked him, if there were any strategies that he could share with me, to which he gladly obliged.

His main point was that Singapore was too result orientated. That we placed too much emphasis on the results we wanted to achieve at the end of the match rather than appreciating the entire process. Our trainings were too result orientated as well. No doubt that we (coaches) keep telling them that the medals are not important, our body language and other subtle non verbal cues strongly contradict what we tell them. This process is the key culprit which stresses out the athletes and depreciates their performance further, especially if the athletes did not have a very good start in their game. Unfortunately we have been conditioned to seek competition in all situations and this places an enormous amount of pressure on the atheletes. For successful training to occur, the coach, family and the loved ones of the athletes have to change their perspective on the spirit of competition first.

He also pointed out that if there was too much emphasis on the outcome of the match or training, it tends to kill the passion the athletes have for the game. Passion is the vital for motivation and in improving their respective skills. Once the training session kills the passion for the game, the performance of the athletes also tends to suffer a lot. He gave comparative examples in the sport of soccer. He highlighted the difference in performance outcomes of the Singapore national soccer team which is struggling to make its mark in the international scene and the Special Olympics Special Lions which won Chile and achieved a gold medal in the games. He highlighted the psychosocial impact of pressure and expectations on the athletes.

I learnt that in field of sports and performance, Singapore generally is lagging behind slightly as compared to other world leaders. The mindset on how we approach sports and how we train for them requires some tweaking and in some areas, a lot of updating. We are still very much result orientated and that ironically affects our ability to achieve that results that we are pursuing. It is about time to put behind and ineffective model / approach to training and get up to date with current practices. Having said that, it is also very important to bear in mind that change does not come easy and is not readily accepted as well. A large portion of the Singaporean population are conditioned to the result orientated approach. Breaking them away from it requires time and small steps of innovation and adaptation that allows the people experiment with new ideas while still being in their comfort zone. In this, lies the greatest challenge.

Having received this tremendous amount of knowledge, I have realized what is lacking in Singapore and that oversea exposures are vital to broaden minds. The best way to learn and to move forward is to compare and contrast our practices with those around us to know what works and what doesn’t. Through this attachment, I have also managed to find a bearing in which I want to steer my professional development.

Happy 9th Anniversary

9 years ago today at 8.30am, i set foot on the grounds of Basic Rescue Training Centre (BRTC) to commence my National Slavery.. Good ridden.

The anticipated better 29...

More than a year has passed since the last entry and not without reasons. Reasons that had prompted subtle and insidious changes to my perceptions and had significantly altered my perspectives on Life as a whole.

It can be labelled as a holistic experience or rather it is. One thing is for certain, this blog is going to get interesting after over a year of slumber.

I see that the last post ended in somewhat a very negative tone. Now when i am finally able to sit and recall, i believe that post had cost me some valuable friendships. I had not anticipated the ramifications of that post and quite frankly there would have been no way i could have predicted its far and prolonged reach. But i live and learn. I hope that my new found wisdom allows me to re-establish the lost bonds.

29.... was surprisingly small... just the 6 of us. Although out of the norm, i am taking a liking to it. Hopefully, i would be able to arrive at a point that all it is just me, myself and i. I rather meet up everyone one on one. But then again this could be one of my spur of the moment thoughts. Besides, the PS3 has been keeping me busy... especially God of War3.

Anyway, so much has happened and its impossible to set a chronology to it. Greece is still fresh in my mind and thats where i am going to begin with...

Mobilisations.

I hate being on Mobilization duty. The bloody letter will simply say "....Mohidin, this is to notify you that your battallion and unit are being placed on standby for the month of March for the purpose of Mobilization and turnout exercise."

It doesn't take a genius to figure when exactly they are going to mobilize you.. They definitely will not call you over weekday, coz if they did, they would have to reimburse the lost daily wage and the commuting expenses. Then since the exercise will last through the night, they won't mobilize you on a Sunday as they would have to reimburse you for Monday. So its confirmed going to be a Saturday.Considering that the letter came in mid Feb, chances are they are not going to call you on the first week. AND March being the end of the financial year, they wouldn't want to activate you on the last week of the month which is also going to be the busiest week of the financial year. So there is only one Saturday left. Tomorrow.

Really.. this is getting to my nerve. I only hope that i can attend Arshad's wedding somehow.

The Passport Sized Photo

I am not even sure why they call it the passport "sized" photo when in reality it is slightly bigger than your thumb. But i am not complaining. I believe that everyone has a face suited for something.. I guess mine is criminal mugshots.. Now imagine if the photo was really passport sized..

The Royal Prata Cafe Pte Ltd

The Royal Prata Cafe Ptd Ltd
Refined Briyani ~ Perfect Prata ~ Charming Service
28 South Bouna Vista Road. 64755991.

After a long morning of hiking and car washing with the darling.. decided to head back home from Kent Ridge Park. Was really looking forward to get back home asap thanks to my headache as well.. but along the way, the Gf wanted to have a drink and insisted on the shop stated above as she passed by it but never tried. So what the hell.. decided to give it a shot.

Not really sure about the charming services... and quite frankly, i don't want them to charm my girlfriend. BUT the food was fantastic.

Both of us ate only a Plain thosai set and a Poori Set.. but it was really good. The chutneys were well done. The spicy chilly chutney was superb. The thosai was light and not very "floury" , went down smooth and easy, tender to touch and had a good fragrance.

The Poori set was steaming hot. We had fun making ventilation holes on its top. The masala was very nice as well.

The keyword to describe the food is balance... Food wasn't oily or heavy. The chutneys felt and tasted like how chutneys are supposed to and not watery or "gravyish". The thosai and the poori were tender through out. They were easy to tear and chew even after going cold. The tea was very nice and balanced. Not thick and bitter nor too watery and sweet. It was very refreshing to drink.

Only one word to describe the ambience. OLD SCHOOL. Really loved it. The entire row of shop houses and the lack of modern amenities within the "restaurant" brought back nostalgic memories. Heck event the Chilly chutney was bringing back nostalgic memories. I would have looked very weird panting and sweating after eating the chutney and still going back for more for saying its very shiok.

The pricing is very good.. Its cheap. One set Poori, 2 large thosais, one tea, 2 ice lemon teas and a mineral water... all cost about $9.50... Definitely going back for more to try out the many other varieties of dishes. Oh yeah.. i must also thank the darling girlfriend for insisting and bringing me to the "restaurant". Its really an ancient treasure house.