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My anecdote: I run with a pair of very old flat shoes, with no cushioning or bounce in them what so ever. Then one day I decide to try a pair of fancy expensiv

My anecdote: I run with a pair of very old flat shoes, with no cushioning or bounce in them what so ever. Then one day I decide to try a pair of fancy expensive sneakers. It was amazing, I was running A LOT faster with no extra effort! And then the next day my knees were in a lot of pain. A few days later I put the new shoes on again to go for a run, and I kept thinking about how much faster I ran, it must have been the bounce. So I start hopping with the shoes, but they don't bounce, they dampen! That intrigued me, and I started playing around to make sure the shoes were dampeners, and they were. But then they should have made me slower! The only explanation I have is they fooled my brain into pounding the pavement a lot harder, hence the knee pain. Now I'm back to my old crappy shoes, no pain with them.

evilneanderthal 17y ago
your legs were an inch longer or more due to the increased shoe cushioning. hence you experienced a slight increase in speed.
- diN0bot 17y ago
  i don't know why this was downvoted. Leg length is a reasonable hypothesis. Taller musco-skeleton structure helps with long runs (for the average runner). This also makes sense when combined with the heel-landing technique, which lengthens the stride, whereas the ball-landing technique is more compressed and piston like. I think both the dampening and stride lengthening effects cause faster speeds but at a greater detriment to the body.
  - unexpected 17y ago
    leg length is really not that important. The most important thing for a runner is weight. The lighter you are, generally the faster you can run. Sammy Wanjiru, the guy who won the olympic marathon, is 5'4" and 112 lbs! When you have longer legs it also takes you more energy to move them. Running long distances is all about running as efficiently as possible. Weight also matters in sprinting. If you looked at the NFL combine results, for the 40 yard dash times, the most factor tends to be weight- the lighter you are, the faster your times are. This is why it's such an anomaly to find someone that's really big that can run extremely fast. (BC's BJ Raji for example). It's been estimated that for every lb you use lose, you can lose about 2 lbs on your mile time. Want to improve your mile time by 20 seconds? Lose 10 lbs!
    - evilneanderthal 17y ago
      Certainly, f=ma, but with all else being equal, I'd say that an increase in lever length (hip joint to footprint) MIGHT explain an increase in speed. Consider: an inch of shoe is probably lighter than an inch of leg. I resisted the urge to call it "an inch of man" - you're welcome. An additional factor: extra cushioning and the different shoe shape resulted in the runner not bending his knees as much. This could result in increased lever length as I described above; it could also explain the knee pain: the knee joint was experiencing increased shock during impact with the ground.

evilneanderthal 17y ago

your legs were an inch longer or more due to the increased shoe cushioning. hence you experienced a slight increase in speed.

diN0bot 17y ago
i don't know why this was downvoted. Leg length is a reasonable hypothesis. Taller musco-skeleton structure helps with long runs (for the average runner). This also makes sense when combined with the heel-landing technique, which lengthens the stride, whereas the ball-landing technique is more compressed and piston like. I think both the dampening and stride lengthening effects cause faster speeds but at a greater detriment to the body.
- unexpected 17y ago
  leg length is really not that important. The most important thing for a runner is weight. The lighter you are, generally the faster you can run. Sammy Wanjiru, the guy who won the olympic marathon, is 5'4" and 112 lbs! When you have longer legs it also takes you more energy to move them. Running long distances is all about running as efficiently as possible. Weight also matters in sprinting. If you looked at the NFL combine results, for the 40 yard dash times, the most factor tends to be weight- the lighter you are, the faster your times are. This is why it's such an anomaly to find someone that's really big that can run extremely fast. (BC's BJ Raji for example). It's been estimated that for every lb you use lose, you can lose about 2 lbs on your mile time. Want to improve your mile time by 20 seconds? Lose 10 lbs!
  - evilneanderthal 17y ago
    Certainly, f=ma, but with all else being equal, I'd say that an increase in lever length (hip joint to footprint) MIGHT explain an increase in speed. Consider: an inch of shoe is probably lighter than an inch of leg. I resisted the urge to call it "an inch of man" - you're welcome. An additional factor: extra cushioning and the different shoe shape resulted in the runner not bending his knees as much. This could result in increased lever length as I described above; it could also explain the knee pain: the knee joint was experiencing increased shock during impact with the ground.