Feet first
The foot is underappreciated. ‘To run, you have to interact with the surface beneath you, and your feet are the only body part involved in that interaction,’ says Paul Tierney, Lakeland 100 winner and running coach (missinglinkcoaching.co.uk). ‘ We don’t appreciate how much a compromised foot can affect performance and increase injury risk.’
And the key to looking after your feet properly isn’t in what you wear when you’re running. ‘ If you sleep eight hours a night, you’re awake for 112 hours per week,’ says Tierney. ‘And even if you train for 10 hours a week, your training is less than 10 per cent of your waking hours. What are you wearing on your feet for the other 90 per cent of the time? That’s crucial.’
Almost all of us have weak feet, believes Tierney, especially if we spend most of our day at a desk. ‘ Look at a new-born baby’s feet and contrast them to the shape of the average adult runner’s foot,’ says Tierney. ‘ You aren’t born with a second toe longer than the first. For many of us, our big toe is far weaker than it should be. If the second metatarsal head is in front of the first and the person has a longer second toe, this causes the big toe to go ‘missing’ and the foot becomes unstable. A compromised foot can lead to ankle stiffness, as the body tries to create stability. That, in turn, affects movement at the knee and can also force the hip musculature to work excessively hard to stabilise the leg. It gets tired, develops trigger points and becomes inhibited.’
Tierney believes that our weak feet are usually a consequence of our everyday shoes: ‘ For generations, shoemakers have tapered the toebox, added an unnecessary heel lift and supported the arch of the foot. All these things serve to make the foot unstable, creating shoe- shaped feet, rather than foot-shaped feet.’
Movement specialist Shane Benzie ( running reborn. co. uk) ag rees. ‘ Footwear can be a big problem at home and in the office. Shoes with significant drop from the heel to the toe will tilt you forward onto your toes. To compensate, we arch our backs and to allow this we will tilt our pelvis forward, which will disengage our core – all leading to bad form and potential injury.’
The good news is that we can regain foot strength without too much difficulty. ‘The body adapts to stimuli,’ says Tierney. ‘ Simply weight-bearing – that is, standing and walking – for most of your waking life, in a shoe that doesn’t compromise the foot, will make your feet stronger. So spend as much time as possible on your feet in shoes that are flat, wide, unsupported, not toe- sprung and with very little cushioning,’ urges Tierney. ‘ If all you are doing is walking about or standing, why would you need all the support and cushioning?’ I follow this advice by working barefoot or wearing Inov- 8 shoes made from f lexible materials, with minimal heel and a wide toebox.