It’s been just over a month that Micah True’s body was found in the rugged wilderness area of southwestern New Mexico. The legendary ultrarunner and memorable “Caballo Blanco” centerpiece of Born to Run had gone missing after a rather routine 12-mile trail run. An autopsy report released Tuesday by the Office of the Medical Investigator…
Blog
Some “Photo” Finishes: A Gallery of a Few Favorites
Dr. Phil Maffetone’s Music and Wellness Tour
My small town of Shepherdstown, West Virginia is privileged to be one of about dozen towns to have a special visit from Dr. Phil Maffetone who is a best-selling author of health and fitness books, the former coach to countless world-class and recreational athletes for decades, and a member of the Natural Running Center’s Advisory Board. …
Natural Running Through the Generations: Grandson of a Boston Marathon Champion Continues the Barefoot Running Tradition
We received the following email and photos from Jacob Edwards, a youngish distance runner who definitely has the speed gene and a rekindled love of barefoot running, a passion first nurtured by his legendary grandfather John J Kelley.– NRC Dear Natural Running Center, For the past 13 years I have been a competitive runner…
Small Kenyan Town is Where Great Marathoners Live and Train
With a population less than Taos, New Mexico, the small town of Iten, Kenya, which is located in the high-altitude (8,000 feet above sea level) Great Rift Valley, has become the go-to training place for world-class marathoners. A recent article in the New York Times about Iten’s runners revealed the following: Male and female Kenyans…
Walk Right Before You Run (and Only in the Right Shoes)
Half of the customers who enter Two Rivers Treads in Shepherdstown, West Virginia have no interest in running or buying running shoes. That’s because we are not exclusively a “minimalist running store”. We also carry shoes for walkers and hikers. We want people moving and there is no safer, accessible, and natural movement than walking….
Celebrate Family Fitness and Joy of Running
I had the privilege to speak for the second straight year at the Boston Marathon Sports Medicine Conference hosted by the American Medical Athletic Association (AMAA). Last year, my presentation was on barefoot running (the hot topic of 2011). This year, I spoke on healthy aerobic development for life and the work of legendary New…
Aerobic Activity for Runners — Gradually Build Your Endurance Base and Understanding High-Intensity Interval Training (Part 2)
Gradually Build Your Endurance Base. This the second installment on Aerobic Conditioning for Runners, by Dr. Steve Gangemi (aka Sock Doc). Go here to read Part 1. Building your aerobic system is vital whether you’re a marathon runner, or an average guy or gal looking to be as healthy as possible. But you have…
New Documentary Film About a Town of Runners in Ethiopia — 8 Olympic Gold Medals, 10 World Records
Runners from tiny Bekoji in the Ethiopian highlands have won eight Olympic Gold medals, broken 10 world records and won 32 world championships. These numbers are other-worldly. Now there’s a newly released documentary about this amazing mecca of endurance athletes called “Town of Runners” by UK filmmaker Jerry Rothwell. As one of the coaches…
Boston Marathon Finisher Brian Boyle Continues to Have an Iron Heart
Three years ago, I had the privilege of working with Brian Boyle on his memoir,“Iron Heart: The True Story of How I Came Back from the Dead.” On the way home from swim practice, Brian’s future changed in an instant when a dump truck plowed into his Camaro. He was airlifted to a shock-trauma hospital. He…
Health Risks of Drinking Too Much Water Before or During a Race: Beware of Intoxication and Hyponatremia
by Dr. Phil Maffetone. Drinking fluids during training and racing will soon be reaching a boiling point of controversy and not for reasons most runners might suspect. Dehydration, and how to keep it under control, is nothing new. What’s been bubbling up in the media for the past few years is hyperhydration—drinking too much and…
Boston Marathon 2012 — Meet the Heat
With the hot temperatures putting a distinctive stamp on the 2012 Boston Marathon, I wisely played it safe. I finished 10 minutes slower than last year’s time (2:37), yet came away with fourth in my age group (45-49). More importantly, I avoided the medical tent by following good racing practices. I wasn’t here to see…
Aerobic Activity is the Foundation to Your Health and Fitness (Part 1)
Aerobic is one of those fitness terms that doesn’t get much respect these days. An analogy is the late Rodney Dangerfield in a sweaty T-shirt on the treadmill at the gym. (No, that gross-out movie was never made, but a working title might have been called “Humping Iron.”) The fitness term du jour is “cardio,”…
Chris McDougall and the Search for Caballo Blanco
It’s been only two weeks since the body of ultrarunner Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco, was found in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. As with any unexpected tragedy, there’s still a lingering mix of shock and disbelief. In a riveting piece for Outside Online, Christopher McDougall describes the weeklong search for his friend who had…
Video: Runners, Are You Ready to Go Minimal?
The April 2012 issue of Running Times, in part, was an homage to a bygone era…the late 70’s when shoes were flat, thin-soled, and non-bulky. Moreover, the cover recreated the iconic image and cover pose of Jim Fixx’s “The Complete Book of Running,” which came out in 1977 and eventually sold over one million copies….
M-Factor: Trends and News in Minimalist Running
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the M-Factor, a regular feature of the Natural Running Center that will provide readers with the latest trends and news in the minimalist running world. – Nick Pang and Bill Katovsky *** So where is minimalism headed? Are we still in the early adopters’ phase? Will we see many…
How to Run the Boston Marathon: Race Day Strategies
In just over a week, I will be running in the 2012 Boston Marathon. This will be my nineteenth time there, with a current string of 10 consecutive races. My only misses were for military and work duties, and a foot surgery. I had five races under 2:30, six between 2:30 and 2:35; three between…
Does the Class-Action Lawsuit Against Vibram/FiveFingers Have Any Merit?
Last week, Berman DeValerio, one of the country’s premier class action law firms focused on business litigation, has filed a class-action lawsuit against Vibram and Vibram FiveFingers in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. The complaint seeks a jury trial on the grounds that Vibram is making “false” health claims about its product. These “deceptive” claims…
Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco…Gone, but Fondly Remembered
It wasn’t supposed to end this way for ultrarunning legend Micah True. Certainly not during a routine 12-mile trail run in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico. But when he didn’t return from his morning run, and then when search and rescue teams, including a plane, helicopter, and dogs later got involved in the operation…
The Great Running Shoe Debate/Agreement
I have had the pleasure of several recent across-the-world exchanges with Brian Martin of Australia, whose website, Running Technique Tips should be bookmarked by runners interested in improving their form. Brian is a fitness coach who has been extensively home-schooled by the experts and his own body, and in the end has come out with…
Debunking the University of Colorado Barefoot Running Study: “UnMaking” the Case for Running Shoes
Thank you, Steven Sashen, founder of Invisible Shoes, for providing much-needed clarity on a topic that is as polarizing as health care legislation, or whether Mad Men is a better television show than Breaking Bad. Last week, New York Times health and fitness reporter Gretchen Reynolds wrote about a new barefoot vs. shod running study…
Nature, Play, Running, and the Rebirth of Fartlek
*** Last week, I had the privilege of addressing an audience of local youth in a TEDx event that was hosted by National Conservation and Training Center in Shepherdstown , West Virginia. The topic was “Connection to Nature.” For those who have never heard of TED, it stands for “Technology, Entertainment, and Design”, and the…
Shin Splints Explained for All Runners and Good News for Sufferers
This is Camille Herron’s second post for the Natural Running Center. Her first on how she became a world-class marathoner by adopting minimalism was exceptionally well-received by readers. Ms. Herron, who has a Masters Degree in Exercise Science, is the newest member of NRC’s advisory board. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that…
Building Speed Through Downhill Workouts
by Dr. Phil Maffetone. When all the training ingredients are in place, and your diet and stress are under control,your aerobic base. And as your workout pace increases, you develop more aerobic speed. This means you’ll be able to run at a faster pace with the same effort or heart rate. And, you’re successfully developing…
The Sprinter
The following quotes about sprinting come from the soon-to-be published book, “1,001 Pearls of Runners’ Wisdom: Advice and Inspiration for the Open Road,” and edited by Bill Katovsky. The quotes themselves come from the fertile brain of Steven Sashen, 50, an All-American masters sprinter and founder of Invisible Shoes.— NRC Sprinters are born, not made….