Jack Daniels is a barefoot runner, in case you didn't know.

Daniels is also on record as saying "I personally think all world records on a nice artificial track can be broken barefoot."

And? So?

long dong silver wrote:http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/234673-Saucony-Thirsty-Thursdays-with-Jack-Daniels/video/335086-4-Barefoot-Running-Thirsty-Thursday

fast forward to 4:02 and you get this quote:

"Cause I've run barefooted a lot... I even got to the point where I could run 5 miles on the concrete sidewalk barefoot, and it didn't bother me. And I like it, I really do.... I like running barefoot.... On our indoor mondo track here, I prefer running barefoot, it seems way easier."

The video's about a year old, but I just didn't think it'd been posted here.

Daniels has also said that basically all of the running he does now is barefoot.

That's really interesting, thanks for posting!

He's also like 80 years old, weighs 120 lbs. wet and runs 10 minute miles. But he is a great coach!! You got me convinced, I'm going to start running barefoot. Oh wait, maybe next week, we got 5 inches of snow and its 20 degrees out.

SalukiAlum wrote:

He's also like 80 years old, weighs 120 lbs. wet and runs 10 minute miles. But he is a great coach!! You got me convinced, I'm going to start running barefoot. Oh wait, maybe next week, we got 5 inches of snow and its 20 degrees out.

Stupidest post ever?

long dong silver wrote:

SalukiAlum wrote:

He's also like 80 years old, weighs 120 lbs. wet and runs 10 minute miles. But he is a great coach!! You got me convinced, I'm going to start running barefoot. Oh wait, maybe next week, we got 5 inches of snow and its 20 degrees out.

Stupidest post ever?

No. You're a dumbass barefoot runner. Whenever Jack runs 140 miles a week barefoot, let me know.

Bio mechanically efficient people can run barefoot. If I ever tried it I'd be injured in no time. Most runners are not efficient. Also, size has something to do with it. The lighter, smaller runners may be able to do it.

Yeah and I can run a few laps naked...does that mean it'll make me run faster? Until someone shows me proof that they got to the point where they couldn't get their times any faster and then started doing some barefoot running to breakthrough I call shenanigans. You get better at running by doing more running and increasingly hard workouts over years of training...it's not rocket science people. You have to stay healthy over an extended period of time to do this. Give me 2 guys of fairly equal talent and the one I can get to run more miles and do harder workouts and stay healthy and that'll be the guy who runs faster. Jerry's training group is a perfect example of that...it's right in front of your eyes. Listen to Chris talk and he'll say his greatest gift is staying healthy and being able to train harder than he ever has. If you want to try to convince people that barefoot running makes you a better runner then find me one of the elites who does it, or put together some stats. Again if you want to run barefoot feel free to.

I used to see him around Flagstaff before he left, and I always saw him wearing Nike Frees, 3.0 I believe. Never saw the guy barefoot.

But I have never seen anyone running Buffalo Park barefooted.

I heard Jack say this to me about 30 years ago when I worked in the Nike lab with him. His research backs up the claim. The lighter the shoe, the less energy the runner used until the hardness or roughness of the surface forces the runner to cushion his footfalls with his own muscles.

Not only do you use less energy barefoot but you stay cooler when your feet are not wrapped in insulation, which is what a running shoe is mostly made of. But ideal conditions for barefoot racing hardly ever present themselves.

I know I would run my fastest at anything not requiring a sprint start barefoot on dry, green grass. But on wet soaked grass I would need spikes or on rough asphalt or concrete at fast race pace (not my old man pace of today) I would need shoes or my feet would become hamburger. I have training barefoot on nice grass fields and prefer it but have never found a cross-country race on all dry, green grass without rocks, sticks, or acorns.

Ice, snow, slush, would require shoes. I bet the fastest times would be set on track if they were made of the artificial turf that you see sometimes on the infield. I wish someone would build one for barefoot racing.

Anyone? Anyone?

Tom

make it clear maybe lets see wrote:

No. You're a dumbass barefoot runner. Whenever Jack runs 140 miles a week barefoot, let me know.

When he runs 50 miles a week barefoot, tell me.

"I don't think it's possible to say what the best mechanics are" - Jack Daniels

If the surface was like a putting green on a golf course records may be set barefoot.

Artificial turf is terrible. Last summer I wook my shoes off for the last rep of an 800m workout and ran it on the infield just inside the track. It is slippery to run on although certainly cushioned enough.

I hope JTupper sees this thread, i think, and forgive me if i'm wrong, he stated that the lighter the shoe it is the better but to a certain degree where running economy starts to suffer.

a) I'm not a barefoot runner

b) do you really believe that it's impossible to run 140 mpw barefoot? That it could only be done with shoes? What a joke.

I never tried to sell anyone on anything. What I did was give people the gift of knowledge; now you know that Jack Daniels is a professed proponent of barefoot running.

i'm not for or against barefoot running, i'm just stating what i know, and i think that there is an optimal shoe padding/stiffness that one needs to run fast.

as for barefoot running, the problem is people have been wearing shoes for years and years, then one day they want to start running barefoot! what if you start running one day all naked? i'm sure one balls won't be super happy.

Basically another annoying thread by a barefooter trying to spread his "gospel". Reminds me of the Jehovah's witnesses or born-again Christians that ring at my door bell...

That's great that he PREFERS running barefoot especially on a controlled surface like a Mondo track.

Guess what? When indoors at home I prefer to be barefoot. And at the beach I prefer to run around barefoot also.

BTW you may want to double check whether "basically all" of his running is barefoot since Flagstaff gets below freezing for most of the winter. Yeah it's in "sunny" Arizona, but at altitude, and they do get snow.

Imagine if WALKERS came on this forum and started threads about how much safer walking is, how a race walker is faster than the majority of runners, how you get the same health benefits, famous people that walk, etc. But they don't thank God.

long dong silver wrote:What I did was give people the gift of knowledge; now you know that Jack Daniels is a professed proponent of barefoot running.

And we thank you Mr Long Dong, you are truly a giving person!

HHH wrote:

long dong silver wrote:What I did was give people the gift of knowledge; now you know that Jack Daniels is a professed proponent of barefoot running.

And we thank you Mr Long Dong, you are truly a giving person!

That's what she said