What does #gaitanalysis mean to you?

What does this name mean to you?

For a number of years now, Amphibian King has been building a reputation as THE place to go to buy your running shoes.

All of the staff in all of the stores (Bray, Ballymount & Galway ) are very keen runners or triathletes of some distance or another. We all share the same desire as you to train and race injury free. All year round.

So allow me to tell you how we do it....

Firstly, we know 'run'. We know what running does to the body and we are aware of how the body works. So we understand, you.

Secondly, we know 'shoes'. We get regular tech sessions with the running brands so, yes, we understand their shoes better than most. At the same time we all are interested in the 'what' and the 'how' of footwear or not. We are all keenly interested in running with or without shoes. This is important so we understand what makes you tick.

When you come to Amphibian King what should you expect?
When you come in to be fitted for your runners, whether you are starting out or running marathons daily, young or old, the first thing we do is NOT talk about shoes.

We want to know you, we want to know what you are doing; running, walking, track, road, trail etc. how you are doing it, your injury history (if any), your running goals for the next 6 months. All to help build a picture.

We will look at a heat scan of your arches, are you flatfooted? high arched? off balance? While looking at your feet we also measure them.

I've discussed shoe size before so we are looking at barefoot, shoe size & running shoe size. Ultimately the running shoe size is determined by the answers to the questions:

we want to know what you are doing; running, walking, track, road, trail etc. how you are doing it, your injury history (if any), your running goals for the next 6 months

We then use our eyes to watch you running. We use video capture to allow us to review your stride in slow motion. Are you neutral? Do you over pronate? How much over pronation? Are you supinating? Left foot / right foot? Lots of little clues that allow us to help you decide what category of footwear will work for you. Very often you will see these clues yourself and we love when customers get involved.

 

Now we know you, your feet and your running. Time to talk shoes!!

Your personal advisor will now take you through a series of footwear choices, looking at you running on the track and they will then explain what shoes you should be wearing, why they suit you and what makes those shoes right for you. Finally you get to try some on!! :-)

Again you will be doing more running, testing the shoes out, we'll check the technical bit on the camera again. But now you are fully focussed on how the shoe fits, feels, responds, reacts when you run it it.

The most important thing for us is that you make the right choices. We don't want to see you sidelined with injury. We want to see you out running. We don't want wrong footwear stopping you from doing what you love doing. This is why so many people trust us with their footwear selection. Check out the Reviews on our facebook pages.

If you have been into Amphibian King, we'd love if you would help share the experience. Did we fulfill your needs?

If you haven't been in, we'd love it if you would give us a go, trust us, to help you.

 Keep on running!

Know what your customers want most and what your company does best. Focus on where those two meet. ~ Kevin Stirtz

All set for #DublinMarathon?

Almost there!!

You are just over a week away and you will be hearing all sorts of comments and advice over the next few days.

You may even get to the point of questioning yourself as taper madness kicks into overdrive. Have I trained enough? Are my shoes ok? What will I wear? Have I sorted my nutrition?

Lots and lots of little things will run around your head trying to distract you.

Ignore them all!!

Have confidence in yourself. 

You have done the training, you have sorted your gear, you know what you are doing. 

Trust yourself.

Here's a handy checklist to help you organise everything through next week. Remember don't sweat the small stuff, the big stuff is all taken care of at this stage.

Relax & enjoy!!

Reflecting on Run Safely

Starting from a Twitter conversation, I reckon it's time to put some information on paper about HiVis / Reflective gear.

 

With daylight hours being so short now and visibility so 'grey' you as a runner / cyclist / pedestrian have to take matters of your own safety very seriously.

Place yourself in the driving seat on a winter's day, low sun reflecting off damp road, rain blurred windshield, how much can you see?

Not much, everything looks grey.

As a pedestrian if you can't be seen against this background you are in serious trouble.

Low sun, glare & rain affect visibility

This is where HiVis clothing comes into it's own. Most HiVis clothing or vests feature reflective strips and DayGlo colours. The most common example is the Vest below, commonly used by walkers and cyclists, though they can be billowly and uncomfortable for running with:

The reflective strips flash when light hits them highlighting that there is an 'object' ahead. The colour is DayGlo yellow which functions brilliantly in daytime (hence the name), every driver slows when they see a flash of yellow in the distance, but serves no function at night.

Sciency bit:

 Normal color absorbs and re-emits a portion of the visible spectrum that matches its principal wavelength, while the remaining colors are absorbed and dissipated as heat. In this way, a regular yellow color re-emits back to your eye just the narrow yellow band of the visible light spectrum. Therefore, if there is little or no yellow light around (such as early dawn or dusk) the yellow surface would appear dark or even black.

 DayGlo provides daytime visibility by ensuring you standout from your background.

We recommend for anyone running, daytime or nightime, to keep it simple and use a combination of the following:

Clothing or outerwear must be flourescent and retroreflective. Colour patches serve to break up your outline and provide contrast so that you appear as a human shape in the dark, not just some litter fluttering in a ditch.

Look at how the runner 'pops' out of this background -

Sciency bits:

Fluorescent colors use a larger amount of both the visible spectrum and the lower wavelengths compared to conventional colors. They not only absorb and convert light energy of the dominant wavelength, but also the wavelengths of ultraviolet rays and other colors lower in the visible spectrum. As a result, your eye perceives a far more intense color.
Where a clean, bright conventional color is able to reflect a maximum of 90% of a color present in the spectrum; a fluorescent color can reflect as much as 200% to 300%.

A retroreflector (sometimes called a retroflector or cataphote) is a device or surface that reflects light back to its source with a minimum of scattering.

Use a headlamp. Even if you are comfortable with where you are running and know the surface like the back of your hand, a decent headlamp will always help draw attention to your outline. Who doesn't spot a light source 5-6' off the ground and wonder what it is?

SILVA X-Trail

Use a flashing rear facing lamp. Just a small detail but very often we are focused on being seen from the front and often forget about some small details on the rear. Whether its a bicycle style rear light (red lens) attached to a backpack or a blinking light at head level it doesn't hurt to have a little bit of extra visibility.

Carry ID. A phone with ICE contact or ideally an ID bracelet should the worst ever happen.

Be defensive. Try and view yourself from a driver's perspective. What can you see? Run against traffic, behind cars at intersections, and avoid areas that might not be super safe.

When is Minimalism too much?

Lower and lower, sleeker and faster, lighter shoes is what we all want.

In my opinion, transitioning to a minimalist shoe for many may be a step too far.

When transitioning to a minimalist shoe 'form' should be the first consideration. Do you naturally run as a forefoot striker or a heel striker?

If you are a forefoot striker naturally, ie. without forcing it or thinking about it when you slip off your shoes and run, do you land on the front, outside of your foot as per the diagram below?

If this is you, then it should be no bother to you to effect a transition process to a minimal shoe. Depending on where you are starting from we would expect to see this transition period having different durations for each individual.

If, on the other hand, you are more of a midfoot striker or heel striker you have a lot more work to do to achieve a smooth, injury free transition to minimalist shoes.

Transitioning from this position is a much more gradual change as you are having to work on changing your natural form, re-mapping neuromuscular pathways and developing core strength to help stabilise the pelvic area which will become more active during the transitional phases.

Speak to us about this as invariably you will be best advised to rotate between your traditional shoe and minimal shoes more frequently to prevent tweaking connective tissues or causing injury.
 
With many shoe manufacturer's introducing lower ramp shoes ie. changing from the traditional 12mm to 10 / 8 / 6 mm differentials in their core shoes you need to be careful of changes like this occuring in your favourite shoes year on year. It can be a source of injury if you are not prepared, expecting or aware of the change. 

For most people you can handle 12 - 10 or 8 - 6 but a change from 12 to 8mm may be a step too far and result in niggling calf, achilles or foot pain as tendons and muscles are strained beuond their usual points. This is why we always recommend that you call into your nearest Amphibian King store to double check the fit and profile each year.

The series of images below graphically represent and explain the differences in the loading of the feet during the landing phase and the effect on capturing and releasing kinetic energy on the propulsive phase.

Running Kinematics
	Heel Striking	Forefoot Striking
Moment of Impact
	Hip and knee are flexed.
	Ankle is dorsiflexed (toes point up).	Ankle is plantarflexed (toes point slightly down). Foot is usually slightly inverted (the sole is angled inwards).
	Land on the middle to outside of the heel just below the ankle joint.	Land on outside of the forefoot (the ball of the foot, just below the 4th and 5th metatarsal heads).
	As you land, the ankle begins to plantarflex (toes move towards the ground).	As you land, the ankle begins to dorsiflex (heel moves towards the groud).
	Arch of the foot is not loaded.	Arch of the foot is loaded and begins to stretch/flatten.
Impact  Foot Flat	↓	↓
	Knee and hip flex.
	As the ankle plantarflexes, the forefoot comes down.	As the ankle dorsiflexes, the heel comes down under the control of the calf muscles and Achilles tendon, which are stretching.
Foot Flat Midstance	↓	↓
	Knee and hip continue to flex.
	The ankle dorsiflexes as the lower leg moves forward relative to the foot and the foot everts (rolls inward).
	Now that the whole foot is on the ground, the arch begins to stretch/flatten.	The arch continues to stretch/flatten.
	This combination of eversion, ankle dorsiflexion and arch flattening is called pronation.	This combination of eversion, ankle dorsiflexion and arch flattening is called pronation, but occurs in the reverse direction compared to heel striking (from the forefoot to the rearfoot not heel to toe).
Midstance Toe Off	↓	↓
	Ankle plantarflexes bringing the heel off the ground (calf muscles and Achilles tendon now shorten).
	Foot’s arch recoils, and the toes flex.
	These actions push the body upwards and forwards for the next stride.

Images and table layout from http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html

In transitioning, a natural heel lander has to overcome the tendency to load the arch in a forward motion. As I've mentioned in previous articles the best way to naturally change your landing pattern is through a mixture of your 'normal' running and some focused efforts at re-teaching your body what natural (forefoot) running form is all about.

Any questions please fire them at me!

Happy running :)

The Marathon Wall

Here in #AKGalway we have our own take on the infamous 'marathon wall'.

If you have trained properly, put in the miles, allowed for proper recovery and prepared correctly for race day you can avoid that dreaded wall. "Hitting the wall", basically, is the onset of glycogen depletion in the body. That's the scientifically accurate description. Glycogen is a variety of glucose that the body stores to produce energy. Think of it as the fuel for your body's engine. Your muscles need it, and your brain thrives on it. Unfortunately, there is a limited supply of glycogen that your muscles and liver can stockpile -- about 2,000 calories to be exact. At  100cal per mile, 20 miles is where the body's fuel tank is empty!

Our Marathon Wall is actually some of the key items that you are likely to need in the build up of your marathon training program in order to avoid The Wall. Consider it a pin board with suggestions & reminders on it.


Assuming you have your training plan sorted, the number one item is footwear. I won't dwell on it, you know that it is, and you know how seriously #AmphibianKing take their footwear and how important it is that these are correct for you.

Footwear

One piece of advice:

DO NOT leave it until the week before the event to realise that your shoes are shot!!

It's now about 7/8 weeks from the key autumn events so it's a good time to start rotating a new pair of shoes into use. The average user should expect around 500miles from a pair of shoes, you will easily cover this in a marathon training program so don't get caught out with dead shoes.



 

Clothing

get your apparel choice right. There is nothing worse than running gear that is uncomfortable. Apart from the chaffing issues with seams and stitching, cheap fabrics just don't afford the right protection for your skin from both body sweat and UV light. You will be putting your gear through hours and hours of hard work so do not cut corners with this!

To get you through all-weather, get yourself a decent, breathable, lightweight, water repellent outer jacket or top. A long sleeve top (you can push the sleeves up to make it short sleeved!) and shorts or tights (long, 3/4 or short length to your preference). After that extra T-shirts, shorts, arm warmers, hats, gloves are all optional, I think necessary accessories, but optional.

My favourites?

Nutrition

How do you GU yours?

High 5!!

Time to Accelerade your performance and clear the PowerBar!

Agave loads of advice on nutrition on a daily basis to athletes and there is always a 2ndSurge of interest coming up to marathon time.

Nutrition is such an individual thing, you just have to experiment with it and find out what is best for you. There is no other way about it, trial and error with different products and flavours is vital. You won't race without fuel and you have to try in training.

Recovery is important too, and if you lead a busy life a recovery drink is a great way to kickstart the repair process leaving you ready for the next session.

Our favourites?





Joining the dots between clothing and nutrition is the term Recovery.

Recovery clothing

Recovery clothing is NOT Compression wear. The use of the word 'Compression' has invaded sports wear to the point of confusing the point. A tight top is not a Compression Top even if it says so on the box. Using 'Compression' tends to overvalue what is otherwise just a cheap baselayer, designed to keep you warm and comfortable.

Proper compression wear for example, Orca's Kila tight: "is an ideal multi-activity garment that has been scientifically proven to provide optimum levels of active and graduated compression. A unique double thickness panel of Orca’s Killaskn Kompress fabric is used in the calf area to provide graduated compression, helping to increase circulation and push blood back towards the heart. The high denier, circular knit fabric has superior stretch recovery and has been constructed in body contoured panels to provide active compression, helping reduce muscle fatigue and improve performance. The Full Tight is moisture wicking and has a comfortable double front seam and elastic waistband, and features an internal pocket and reflective logos for low light visibility."

The underlined portion is the functional part of the garment and why they are worth the money that they are.

Cheap imitations are just that, imitations.

Our favourites?

CompresSport Full leg recovery stockings are THE BUSINESS for recovery

Good socks & glide are two important accessories that no marathon runner should ever be without, ever! You will regret the day you forget your glide!

Coming closer to the day we will do a marathon preparation guide with a checklist of everything you'll need for the day itself.

Related articles

• The Art - And Science - of Marathon Pacing (bloguvib.wordpress.com)


• Words of advice for runners (runnerunleashed.com)


• Tips to Running Your First Marathon! (snapfitnessindia.wordpress.com)