This Week on the Net (5/5-5/11)

Had a great time last week jotting down various things I read on the internet.  Too excited, in fact, that I didn't post it until the following Tuesday.

Here's to another fun week~ Didn't have too many things to write down.

• Barefoot and Minimalistic running foot strike patterns.  Peter Larson had just published a paper on Journal of Sports and Health Science on the distribution of foot strike patterns of barefoot and minimalistic runners at a 2011 NYC Barefoot run.  I was surprised to find that there is still a substantial proportion of barefoot and especially Vibram Fivefinger users who heel strike.  My guess is that the individuals that fall within the different foot strike categories correlate with their experience in running barefoot or minimally, i.e., new converts would still subconsciously land heel first, etc.  Interesting read.  I've been thinking a lot about whether I should prepare myself for minimalistic running while reading Born to Run, which is easy to do with all the evidence the book presence on the benefits and logic of going back to running without modern shoes.  But I think going straight to a pair of Vibram is just not a very responsible move for me.  Oh well, we'll see.
• This week celebrated 60 years since Sir Roger Bannister's sub-4 mile run, and NPR had a nice article on it.  Kind of related to the TED talk posted on my last week's weekly review, but in less depth.  As a related article, NPR also listed a bunch of unusual mile runs, including the beer mile which I saw before.  I'm most impressed by the burpee mile, crazy, crazy people.
• Vibram settled a class action lawsuit buy paying everyone who bought their shoes $95.  Essentially that's the gist I got.  Some woman wasn't happy with the Vibram she got since they didn't do what the company had advertised to do, like reducing injuries and strengthening foot muscles and what not.  On top of that there was a study that also said that recreational runners who switched to minimalistic running over a 10-week period are more likely to suffer bone damage.  But this lawsuit essentially is about false advertisement, and there is really no consequence as to what Vibram is going to do next in terms of their shoe production.  They probably have to change some stuff on their commercials and things.  So what's the point?  Some people got some money, and Vibram lost some money.  But mankind has not advanced in anyway from this circus.
• On a related note, found some article and article on how to transitioning to minimalistic running.  Haven't read them so I'm just posting them here.