Pre-1973 training shoes

Running Shoes/Running Gear

15 years ago 05/19/2008 7:24pm EDT

I recently read some old RW's (back when it dealt with RUNNING) and viewed the 1960, 1964 and 1973 Olympic marathons on video on YOUTUBE>

It still impresses me that those guys did 100-mile weeks

(or more) in trainers that were, for all intents and purposes, bowling shoes. And with no ill effects.

I suspect that over time there was a winnowing out process, but how do YOU believe these runners of a previous generation dealt with the aforementioned, and never had PF or achilles injuries or chrondomalacia or ITBS?

Amazing.

15 years ago 05/19/2008 7:39pm EDT

re: Impressed, seriously

I'm terrible sorry but there wasn't a 1973 olympics.

Continue with thread....

15 years ago 05/19/2008 7:40pm EDT

re: Impressed, seriously

Interestingly enough, there's been a few studies that have documented injury trends over the last 30 years (Clement - 1981, McIntyre - 1991, Taunton - 2002). The statistical percentage of injuries per region (knee,hip, lower leg, etc) really hasn't changed over time. This, despite the fact that we've had tremendous changes in footwear technology. Makes you wonder if its all really made much difference at all. Of course, there's other factors to add in; more people training, a lot more "recreational" runners (i.e. plodders), probably a steeper winnowing process that you alluded to. All in all, though, pretty weird that we still see so many of the injuries that we were seeing way back.

15 years ago 05/19/2008 7:45pm EDT

re: Impressed, seriously

achilles injuries and injuries in general were rarely if ever heard of back then. Runners provide their own "cushioning" in part by landing farther forward on their feet therefore less tortion of the achilles.Running in those shoes was closer to running in bare feet not unlike most young Africans do today before they are fast enough to be given shoes. Like the magazines of the time the shoes were made for serious athletes, runners who raced not a mass consumer/fashion product targeted at fitness joggers.

15 years ago 05/19/2008 7:58pm EDT

re: TLx

If you go to this web site and note the Tiger Pinto, circa 1972 and Nike Pinto, circa 1973 you'll see a shoe that was used to both train 100 plus mile weeks and race marathonn in.

They essentially spikeless track shoes.

http://www.nerunningco.com/shoes-archival.htm

15 years ago 05/19/2008 8:31pm EDT

re: TLx

TLx wrote:
achilles injuries and injuries in general were rarely if ever heard of back then.

Pure fantasy. Runners had the same injuries, with the same frequency then as now, they just didn't whine about it back in the day.

It is true, however, that all of the, ahem, 'technology' didn't do anything to mitigate injury.

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