by Bill Katovsky. Gyms have replaced bars as America’s favorite gathering places. But depending on time of day and year, health clubs are typically agog with lycra-spun exhibitionism, squadrons of Spinners and Cross-fitters, or quieter than a Trappist monastery. Now gyms are moving outside with boot camps and paleo-style workouts leading the fitness charge. The…
Category: Blog
Barefoot Farm and the Tarahumara
Thousands of miles from the Copper Canyon region of Northern Mexico is a small organic farm that’s located on the western outskirts of North Carolina adjacent to the Pisgah National Forest. Co-founded by Will Harlan and Emily Diznoff in 2005, Barefoot Farm is partially modeled on the self-sufficiency farming methods practiced by the Tarahumara for…
You Have a Foot Size, Not Shoe Size
The Latin expression, nihil novi sub sole, which translated means “there is nothing new under the sun,” came to mind when I first come across Dr. Phil Hoffman’s study of feet from the Philippines and Pygmies of Central Africa from the early 1900s. Neither group ever wore shoes. Their feet were healthy. As for the…
Ask Sock Doc: Avoid Overtraining, Moving Past Plantar Fasciitis, and When to Start HIIT
Which guidelines are those to know when you have a sufficient base to start HIIT {High-Intensity Interval Training} workouts? Sock Doc: You’re okay to start HIIT training such as intervals, hills, and other high-intensity activities once your aerobic fitness test no longer improves. Say you’re able to run two miles in 16 minutes at a…
New 2014 Running Shoes:Wild Colors and Innovative Features!
Nick Pang, our shoe review editor and co-founder of Natural Running Center, recently attended The Running Event trade expo in Austin, TX. There, for three consecutive days, he happily stalked the carpeted exhibit hall where he checked out the new crop of 2014 running shoes. Many footwear companies were only showing demo models, so Nick…
Vivobarefoot Kids Shoe Free Giveaway 2013
Thank you to our friends at VivoBarefoot for supporting the return of the Minimalist Kids Shoe FREE giveaway at Two Rivers Treads in Shepherdstown, WV. The giveaway was held last month and like in years past, we were overwhelmed by parents and their kids who loooooove the minimal shoes and reject all others. Two Rivers…
“1-2-3 Run” Form Skills
I recently posted a Dr. Mark’s desk piece outlining “5 Tips on How To Improve Your Running Form.” As a followup to that instructional article, here is a short, helpful video as part of the United States Air Force Efficient Running Project. As you focus on form, not speed, here are 3 steps to get…
Running with Tarahumara Women
by Charlotte Clews. The Tarahumara people are renowned for their long-distance, trail-running skills and while much has been written about their top male runners who consistently win international ultra-marathon races, little has been said about the remarkable Tarahumara women. In addition to honing their agility and stamina on the rugged terrain of the Sierra Madres…
Global Walkabout: 21,000 Miles, Seven Years in “Out of Eden Walk”
by Bill Katovsky. National Geographic Magazine contributor and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Salopek has turned his back on time through a very old-fashioned way: by walking. His pre-modern goal is to walk across seven continents (21,000 Miles) in a bipedal attempt to cover the same ground as the early humans who first began…
Topo Athletic “Splits” Difference with New Line of Minimalist Running Shoes without Split Toe
Going with a more traditional shoe design, Topo Athletic, which introduced split-toe or Japanese tabi-style models last summer, recently announced the addition of two new models to its expanding running shoe portfolio: the zero-drop Speed Trainer (ST) and 2mm drop Mountain Trainer (MT). Natural Running Center shoe review editor Nick Pang got an early look at the…
5 Tips on How To Improve Your Running Form
For the past 12 years, I have dissected and modified hundreds of shoes, taught running form clinics around the country, opened a minimalist store in my home town of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, directed races (from 5K fun runs to marathons), got local children excited about running, and most importantly listened with all my senses –starting…
Four Yoga Poses Every Runner Should Know
by Charlotte Clews. Stretching won’t do much for your speed, and flexibility alone won’t make you less prone to injury but that doesn’t mean you should never stretch. While it’s true that a perfectly aligned human body moving in a natural environment should be able to maintain good muscular balance without any additive stretch or…
Recap of Minimalism and Healthy Running
I recently came across this video of an interview that two West Virginia University journalism students Sean Manning and Robert Kreis produced. The Shepherdstown Chronicle ran an accompanying article on Two Rivers Treads and healthy running. Enjoy.
Let’s Do Lunge: Dynamic Movements and Exercise Drills
Join me, my kids Leo and Lily, and my fellow movement teacher and Two Rivers Treads Education lead Paul Koczera, as we lead you through several exercise snacks that are demonstrated in these three videos. Do these simple dynamic movements and drills whenever and wherever you can. They can be done any time of day,…
Marine Corps Marathon 2013 Report
I ran my 22nd Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday (2:47, 83rd overall, 2nd in my age group to my Marine friend, Alex Hetherington, 46, in 2:42). I will respect the post-race recovery period. I was sore on Monday, but it was not too bad. I went for an easy jog with my dog. It was…
Semper Fly 2013: Marine Corps Marathon Race Day Strategies
For a few nail-biting weeks, uncertainty clouded the future of the 38th Marine Corps Marathon. But it’s all systems GO! for 30,000 runners now that the U.S. government shutdown has ended. The world’s largest marathon without prize money will be run October 27 through the nation’s capital as scheduled. “Runners, we are on,” director Rick…
Breathing Exercises for Runners: But First, Are You Able to Breathe Nasally?
We run primarily with our legs? So why is the Natural Running Center publishing a three-part video series (with accompanying text) on breathing? The answer is simple: Better breathing is the secret weapon to running better, feeling better, relaxing better, thinking better, being in better posture, sleeping better, and so on. Trust me here. Maybe…
Casual and Dress Minimalist Shoes: Top Five List
by Nick Pang. The second generation of casual and dress minimalist shoes are finally here. Once a runner has transitioned away from large-heel, ample cushioned, and narrow toebox running shoes, he or she will almost never go back. But what about their everyday casual and work shoes? Does the same hold true here? Personally, my…
Ask Sock Doc: Recurring Running and Walking Injuries, Morton’s “Toe,” and More
Q:I followed your advice and threw away my orthotics and started wearing zero drops. My chronic sacroiliac pain (previously treated with Cortisone) has been completely resolved and all the years of feet and leg pains are gone. But now that I need to see a podiatrist for a painful hammertoe. How do I find one…
How Runners Can Avoid Plantar Fasciitis: Go Minimalist or Barefoot
by Jim Hixson. If you have plantar fasciitis and have been told by a doctor to wear a stability shoe, orthotics, and never go barefoot, do yourself a favor and immediately switch to another doctor, preferably one who has read about how the foot functions, and not just knows all the names of the bones,…
Jamie Summerlin’s 100-Day Freedom Run Across the U.S.
There are runners, and then there are runners who push the known limits of human endurance. My friend and fellow West Virginian Jamie Summerlin is one of these amazing athletes. Jamie Summerlin is a Gulf War-era veteran, having served in the United States Marine Corps for six years. Currently, the Marine veteran serves as the…
Freedom’s Run…Through Civil War History
In just five years, local volunteers and our race committee have taken an idea to start a race in a small town that would highlight both health and history. Our race course for Freedom’s Run takes runners past many important Civil War and Historical landmarks. Each year, the event has grown, with runners now wcoming from all over…
Love at First Gait: HOKA is a Crazy-Looking Running Shoe, So Will Its Popularity Affect Minimalism’s Future?
You might ask, “Why is the Natural Running Center writing about a shoe that is anything but minimalist. The beefy-sole HOKA One One is as unnatural as a genetically modified Flavr Savr tomato. Because the shoe lacks an outsized, crash-pad heel like your garden-variety ASICS, what exactly do you call the lightweight yet zero-drop HOKA…
The Natural, Minimalist Life: Going Off the Grid with Dr. Phil Maffetone
Minimalism is much more than good-form running in lightweight, flat-sole, flexible footwear. Minimalism is found in music (Philip Glass, John Cage), literature (Raymond Carver), and architecture (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe). Minimalism’s unifying feature or motto is “less is more.” To those looking to lead a minimalist lifestyle, it means knowing how to de-clutter and…
Minimalist Shoe Review: Puma FAAS 100 R Zero-Drop Racer
by Nick Pang. When Puma introduced the Mobium Elite earlier this year, it started to move into the minimalist running shoes category. The FAAS collection has been around for a while and Puma is filling in the opposite end of its spectrum with lightweight and lightly cushioned shoes. Now, the most minimal shoe in the…