Published by RunningPoint on Thursday, 16 Jun 2011 11:01 EDT
Jason Robillard of Barefoot Running University and Jason's Barefoot Adventures has been kind enough to offer his book, "The Barefoot Running Book, Second Edition" as a free download here.
He mentioned that the download link may expire so we took up his offer to host the book locally and you can download it from us here.
Published by RunningPoint on Friday, 10 Jun 2011 08:13 EDT
VIVOBAREFOOT was nice enough to send me a pair of their new Ultras "a light-weight barefoot amphibious running shoe" for me to put through the paces. I received them yesterday just before Noon and was off for a run by 12:30, I can't stand to get new running shoes and not run in them within an hour. This gives me a very quick and very early impression of how the shoes will perform without clouding my judgment by standing around in them and going about daily life for a few days before I get to run. My first impression of the Ultras? I'm pleasantly impressed, and I'll tell you why below.
Published by RunningPoint on Thursday, 19 May 2011 14:23 EDT
I know that I have stated in an earlier post that I probably wouldn't do a review of the Merrell Trail Glove due to the fact that there were already so many reviews out there and that they are all so nauseatingly positive. Well, I'm going to recant that statement and do a review anyhow, but with a bit of a different spin. I do not run in my Trail Gloves and I really have no desire to. I have put a few miles on them and they performed beautifully. My main issue with running in them is that they were designed to excel on trails and at this point in my running life, I live on asphalt. Another issue is that I am fully in love with my huaraches and the more natural running experience that they provide. The Merrells are an awesome minimal running shoe but compared to the huaraches, they still have a lot of structure and therefore they alter the way your foot interacts with the ground. I personally prefer the way running in the huaraches makes my body feel and therefore have not taken the Trail Gloves out much at all, I probably have 10 miles of running on them. Why do I ramble on about why I haven't run in my Trail Gloves? Because I wanted it to be fully clear that this is not a review of running in them, but a review of wearing them daily for general use. They have become my new favorite shoe for general use and I love them dearly.
Published by Ronald on Tuesday, 12 Apr 2011 12:00 EDT
I have an absurd fascination and maybe even a small obsession with mountains. I think it’s due to the fact there are no mountains in Holland at all (I’m not counting that one hill Limburg that some call a mountain).
Every year I go to the Alps either in France or Switzerland. Not for running but for skiing. This year I went two weeks in a row and decided to bring my running gear. Just in case I wanted to run for one or two days.
My first week was in Verbier and had lots of fun there but I didn’t do any running. My second week was in a place called Riederalp. From what I’ve seen it was a very popular spot for walkers and I even saw some runners there. The skiing area was amazing there but a bit too small for one week. Within one day I had seen the whole skiing area. When the week progressed the snow got worse and worse because we had sun all day and the temperature was around 14C during the day. It barely froze at night.
Published by RunningPoint on Friday, 18 Mar 2011 16:12 EDT
I think Spring is officially here in the mountains of NC. It's currently 78 degrees Fahrenheit and I took full advantage of the first truly warm day of the year. I decided that today was the day to rotate my Invisible Shoe Huaraches back into service. After a longer and colder than normal winter of running in shoes, I have been itching to get back the weather that allows my toes to soak in some much needed vitamin D.
Published by RunningPoint on Tuesday, 08 Mar 2011 16:00 EST
In case you haven't read Part 1 of my Invisible Shoes huaraches review, here's a bit of recap. Huaraches are one of the most basic forms of footwear and consist only of a material that protects the bottom of the foot and a lace to secure them. They have been used specifically by the Tarahumara Indians and have been popularized by Chris McDougall's book Born to Run. Steven Sashen of Invisible Shoes decided to modernize the huaraches and offers a DIY kit on his website or he will custom make you a pair.
Part 1 of this review chronicled the process of me measuring, cutting, and assembling my DIY kit. Part 2 is my review of running in the huaraches.
Appearance
When you are dealing with a shoe that is designed for this extreme level minimalism, I'm not sure that appearance is even a factor. I personally like the way the huaraches look. When the laces are tied in the slip on method (which I use), they retain a bit of shape and look like a very stripped down version of any sport sandal from manufacturers like Teva or Chaco.
The only area to add a splash of personality to these shoes is in your choice of laces. There are quite a few choices for lace color with the DIY kit and I chose the black laces. I am glad I did so since I have adopted the huaraches as daily wear around the office and out in public. The black laces help to not make my footwear a focal point, especially around the office. I am proud to wear them anywhere and have gotten nothing but overwhelmingly positive comments about them. There are no second thoughts involved with wearing the huaraches out in public like there would be with FiveFingers.
Published by Ronald on Monday, 07 Mar 2011 15:57 EST
Weight loss is the highest priority for forty percent of beginner runners and usually it's not just a matter of losing a few pounds. On average, beginners want to lose around 20 pounds. Of course, we all want to lose that weight as fat and not muscle. According to television shows and books, we would need to make complete lifestyle change and only eat healthy things to reach the results desired.
But how do you go about this? I have heard lots of success stories from my family and friends, but I’ve also seen many people try and never lose any weight at all. This is the category I fall in to, no weight loss at all. Luckily losing weight wasn’t my only reason to run. The reason I started running was to get into shape and just feel fit. But why didn’t I lose any weight?
Published by Ronald on Monday, 28 Feb 2011 08:10 EST
I got this awesome HTC Desire phone a while ago with android and I'm really pleased with it. It can do lots of fancy things including keeping track of your runs. I'm a geek so I like keeping track of stats and measuring my improvement. I like to see how many miles I have run in a month or in a year because it keeps me motivated to keep going. I can see that about 8 months ago I could barely do 2 miles properly and now I can run 6 miles about three times a week.
Right now I'm using the simple but pretty good sportypal for my phone which is a simple app that tracks my runs and uploads them to their website when I'm done. On the website, I can check what I have run so far and keep track of everything it has recorded. It makes a nice overview of stats like how many calories I have burned, how many miles I have run so far, and if my pace was consistent etc.
Published by RunningPoint on Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011 08:22 EST
First things first, welcome to all who landed here at runningpoint.org. The site is obviously still in the early stages of development but I would like to use this post as a quick introduction to who we are and what we are about.
Jason Robillard of Barefoot Running University and Jason's Barefoot Adventures has been kind enough to offer his book, "The Barefoot Running Book, Second Edition" as a free download 
