Run, minimally

Several years ago, a colleague of mine gave a Goddard colloquium talk on Giovanni (an online visualization and analysis system for NASA satellite data). In discussing the system's workflow engine, he said one of the requirements for the engine is that it runs minimally (i.e., does only that which is absolutely necessary). Naturally, I immediately thought of minimalist running, that it's not just about shoes but also (more so?) about running efficiency--doing only that which is absolutely necessary.

But, let’s stay with shoes for now. Here’s Google Trends for 2004-present for the four indicated search terms. Annotations are of events that I knew or googled that plausibly explain some of the trends.

Following are some notes and links corresponding to the above trends and annotations.

[1] McDougall, Christopher, 2009. Born to run: A hidden tribe,superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen, featuring Tarahumara runners in sandals. Publication of this book led to a peak interest in barefoot running over the next 2-3 years.

[2] Hoka One One, the beginning of a slow but steadily rising interest in maximalist shoes (backlash to minimalist shoes?).

[3] Minimalist shoes sale boom, with a small lag following the publication of Born to Run (min_1; min_2); these two articles are just to reference the “sales up 303%” in the Google Trends chart above.

 [4] Kipchoge ran his unofficial sub-2 marathon in Vaporfly, as did Brigid Kosgei in breaking Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year-old marathon world record, which, along with many other records and PRs being set left and right, put the spotlight on a shoe that’s been already out there for a couple years.

[5] Vaporfly approval by World Athletics and what led to the review and ruling.

[6] New Vaporfly releases

It’s almost like, at some point between the releases of the Hokas and Vaporflys, someone thought, hmm, that’s a lot of space in those soles just for cushioning … (1, 2). But, even before Vaporfly, the basic idea already existed, e.g., various you-gotta-be-kidding-me spring-loaded shoes.

With the advantage these spring-contraption shoes provides, is there an “asterisk” problem for elite runners? Evidently, yes, for now anyway. For example, last month, Chris Thompson qualified for the marathon event of the upcoming delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, after winning the 2021 British Athletics Marathon--wearing a blacked-out pair of Vaporfly. Why blacked out? Because his shoe sponsor doesn’t make Vaporfly. (He did have his sponsor’s permission to wear the Vaporfly, though—if blacked out.) Then, a couple weeks later, Beth Potter broke the world record for 5K while wearing shoes similar to Vaporfly but made by Asics. (Her WR may not be official, though, because there were no “certified timekeepers or drug testers on site.”) Apparently responding to questions about her shoes, Potter said, “But all athletes now have access to the same level of shoes, so it’s a level playing field.”

But, if everyone has to wear these shoes (blacked-out or not) to be competitive, then it's basically everyone normalizing to a faster base speed. The competition reverts to what it was before these shoes, plus perhaps a small competitive delta based on who can get more or less out of the claimed 4% improvement. What's the point, then? Other than Nike and other companies making lots of money.

And, for the rest of us, there’s a similar asterisk problem. What does “I ran a new 4% PR!” mean, if done with a 4%-improvement Vaporfly? As with age-grading, is there going to be shoe-grading, to account for runners who will be racing with and without these shoes? :)

Regardless of the pros and cons of these various types of shoes (or no shoes), I’m a minimalist runner. I run, minimally. My transition from traditional running shoes to minimalist shoes began some 10 years ago and took more than a year. First was Nike Free, then followed by Merrell’s Trail Glove, Bare Access, and Vapor Glove, Vibram FiveFingers, and occasionally sandals and barefoot. Below left is my first pair of Trail Glove (still the all-time favorite!), and below right is the latest pair of FiveFingers (lightest of them all, except for barefoot; great for traveling!)

Running is more, much more, than speed, PRs, or even WRs. Too much focus on speed and technology misses the meaning of running. It’s certainly not why I run. Now, one might say, well, yes, but competition brings out the best. Exactly. 😊 In the runner, not shoes.

Run free at any speed.