Episode 2 - Alex Hutchinson on Athletic Performance. Physiology? Shoe Tech?... or something else!??...

Dr. Wouter Hoogkamer is the principle author of one of the most important pieces of running shoe research ever published.

In 2018 his paper “A Comparison of the Energetic Cost of Running in Marathon

Racing Shoes” was published in Sports Medicine, and for the first time revealed exactly what was going on with the Nike Vaporfly, the first of the so called Super Shoes,

Wouter’s story starts way before that though, and, it is one of the most interesting we have aired on SHOEphoria.

Like Kevin Fallon from Speedland, Wouter started his professional and academic life as an engineer. Basically, the take home message from all of this is that being good at maths can turn you into a running shoe superstar!

Wouter was a very accomplished scientist long before he started working on the Nike project. He found his niche in biomechanics, and developed a lifetime interest in, if not passion for, energetics. Initially this had nothing to dom with running shoes, but simply looked at the energetics of uphill running.

This led him into several projects involving cycling, and then an important step into neurophysiology, trying to unravel some of the mysteries of stroke and Parkinson’s Disease.

Eventually Nike came knocking on his door, and Wouter began working on a project dedicated to the development of a shoe to take an athlete under 2 hours for the marathon. Working with another iconic researcher in Rodger Kram, bot scientists thought this achievement, if possible at all, was at least 5-10 years in the future.

History has now recorded that on October 13th 2019, the great Eliud Kipchoge ran the marathon distance in 1:59:40.. in a Nike prototype shoe codenamed the Alphafly, that Wouter Hoogkamer helped to develop. Not a bad thing to have on your CV!

Despite this, Wouter always felt like an “outsider looking in” in relation to Nike, and much of his subsequent understanding of how the Nike super shoes work has been achieved via reverse engineering, and without the assistance of Nike!

Wouter has now moved from Colorado to Amherst, where he heads up the University of Massachusetts Integrative Locomotion Lab (UMILL) and is currently working on new projects with…. PUMA.

Well, we cannot wait to see how that turns out!

Wouter Hoogkamer on SHOEphoria, don’t miss it!

The word legend is bandied about a lot in modern society, however our guest on this episode of SHOEphoria has well and truly earned this moniker.

Dr. Kevin Kirby is a podiatric physician, author, educator, mentor, inventor and thinker, and it is impossible to downplay the influence he has had within the worlds of podiatry and biomechanics.

Kevin has also been an accomplished athlete, especially as a runner, and remains so interested in running and running shoes, that until recently, he regularly volunteered his time at his local Sacremento Fleet Feet store to help out with his knowledge.

So this episode of SHOEphoria is special, and in it we grill Kevin on current and future issues, and where he feels the industry has got it right, and more particularly, where they got it wrong.

He brings a fascinating insight to a diverse range of issues, including the decline of running shoe durability, the impact of the Super Shoes, and how he uses certain running shoes to treat injury.

Finally, we touch on the subject of footwear for football (soccer), and get his thoughts on why it has not fundamentally changed in over 40 years.

Join us for this tour de force with Dr. Kevin Kirby.

It is our great pleasure to introduce to SHOEphoria two of the most influential members of the footwear design and innovation community.

Dave Dombrow and Kevin Fallon are running shoe industry veterans. We have never been certain if this term is complementary or an insult!

What we do know is that Dombrow and Fallon have enormous experience under their belts, and both have worked with Nike, Puma and most recently, Under Armour.

Dave Dombrow actually began his footwear journey with an internship at Simon Bartold’s old alma mater, Salomon. From there he went to Nike, eventually making his way via Puma to Under Armour.

There he was responsible for one of the most under rated and innovative footwear ranges of the past 10 years.. Speedform, and specifically the Speedform Apollo.

Kevin Fallon meanwhile was on a very similar trajectory, working alongside Dave at Nike and Puma, and also ending up at Under Armour.

Kevin’s background is in mechanical engineering, but he caught the footwear bug, and has never looked back. Kevin is renowned as an innovator with unique design flair.

Whilst working at UA in Portland, Oregon, the home of running footwear, Kevin and Dave had the 'ol corridor conversation.. "hey.. what if..."

And from that conversation, the latest running shoe company was born, Speedland, currently specialising in trail running product with the unique SL:PDX.

Speedland launched the SL:PDX for pre-order June 15 and delivery Aug. 15, highlighting the equipment moniker because everything about the SL:PDX signifies high-end trail running, culminating with a $375 price point. But it was that “no compromise” approach that meant Speedland placed a focus on ultra-premium materials at every step, not worried about fitting into a mold.

Quite a lofty goal!

Join us for a truly fascinating chat with these two industry icons, uncovering a few of the inside industry secrets, and culminating with the creation of something very special… Speedland!

Terry Schalow is the Executive Director of the Running Industry Association, a trade organization dedicated to supporting run specialty stores in the US and Canada. Prior to joining the RIA, Mr Schalow had a long tenure at ASICS America, where his executive roles included business unit management and product development in the performance running footwear category.  

Terry is one of the most knowledgeable people in the industry in relation to not only footwear, but footwear retail and retailers.

For more information on the Running Industry Association, please visit the link below.

https://runningindustry.org/

Foot blisters are one of the most common foot injuries in sport and everyday life. Yet their cause is largely misunderstood.

Real experts are pretty thin on the ground, but Bec Rushton qualifies for this moniker and has been helping people prevent and treat foot blisters in her podiatry clinic, on the sporting field and track-side at running events for twenty five years.

In this episode of SHOEphoria Bec opens the lid on the Pandora’s box that is blister management, skewers a few sacred cows, and blows up many of the myths and legends so many of us have adhered to.

It is a must listen to podcast for anyone who works with athletes and manages blisters.

We can promise you this will change the way you manage blisters and is one of the most powerful SHOEphoria podcasts to date.

Do not miss it and Don'r forget to subscribe to the podcast channel so you dont miss an episode!

What gives SHOEphoria Podcast listeners the best bang for buck in relation to athletic footwear and injury?

Dr. Matt Klein epitomises this as a physical therapist, ex footwear retail guy, runner and now industry insider.

Matthew Klein is a residency and fellowship trained physical therapist from Southern California. He is currently a PhD Student at Azusa Pacific University

With a focus on human and footwear interaction, a faculty member at Stanbridge University Physical Therapy Assistant Program and practices as a clinician with a special interest in runners and masters athletes in Monrovia, CA. 

He is the founder and chief editor of Doctors of Running, a website dedicated to footwear reviews and biomechanics. https://www.doctorsofrunning.com/

Matt is uniquely placed to comment on running footwear as an elite runner, as well as having a history working in running retail and of course his profession physiotherapy

He continues to run and train as much as time allows, pacing his elite runner fiancé on most good days.

We are also deligted to welcome Matt and his team at Doctors of Running as contributors to our sports medicine and athletic footwear education page www.bartoldclinical.com where he will drop a few articles that will literally blow your mind!

Trevor Prior qualified in 1983 and, since that time has worked in both the private and public sectors. He obtained a teaching qualification in 1985 before obtaining a post graduate degree in Podiatry in 1989. He obtained his fellowship in Podiatric Surgery in 1993 and in 1994 he established the Podiatric Surgery service in City & Hackney, where he is currently a Consultant Podiatric Surgeon at Homerton University Hospital. 

He works in private practice and is Director of Premier Podiatry Limited and is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London.

His particular areas of interest are foot surgery, sports injuries, biomechanics / gait analysis, orthoses and diabetic foot complications. He has presented over 300 times nationally and internationally. He has worked extensively with elite and professional sports men and women in a wide range of disciplines, including football, rugby, cricket, athletics, hockey, badminton. He is a director of P2L, a company specialising in bespoke performance footwear and Run3D, a company providing advanced 3D gait analysis. He was an elected member of the council of the Society of Chiropodists & Podiatrists and past Dean of the Faculty of Podiatric Surgery.

He is the UK representative on the Vasyli Think Tank and the Vionic Innovation lab, involved in the development of Orthoses, was part of the Salomon Think Tank involved in the development of running shoes and is a reviewer for Gait & Posture, Clinical Biomechanics, JAPMA, The Foot, The Journal of Foot and Ankle Research and Physical Therapy in Sport.

Our guest for SHOEphoria Episode 9 is a clinician, a biomechanist, a physiotherapist, a scientist, a prolific publisher and an enigma.

Dr. Irene Davis is a distinguished researcher and academic and the Founder and Director of the Spaulding National Running Centre at Harvard Medical School, Harvard University.

Dr. Davis has published extensively in both the fields of physiotherapy and biomechanics, with a particular focus on the management and prevention of running related injury.

Her research has been award winning, and she was recently named as on of the 50 most influential people in running.

Irene is an in-demand speaker at major conferences, and a highly influential voice in clinical sports medicine.

She is also a vocal supporter of minimalist footwear and barefoot running, something that has at times brought her into conflict with mainstream colleagues and footwear researchers.

Dr. Davis is, however, anything but mainstream, and in this episode of SHOEphoria, she outlines her thought processes in relation to more natural running techniques. 

Her arguments are far from left field, and are thought provoking and challenging, and at the end of the day, there may be a lot more middle ground than many have realised.

Welcome to Episode 9 of SHOEphoria, and the intriguing Dr. Irene Davis.

It is difficult to know where to start with our guest on this episode of SHOEphoria.

She honed her distance running craft as a cross country champion winning two silver medals (2002 Dublin, long race; 2003 Lausanne, long race) in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

She then switched focus to the marathon distance and set her best time of 2:19:36 at the 2006 London Marathon. 

This time stands to this day as the American record.

She is an Olympic Bronze medallist.

She holds or has held numerous other American distance records, including the women’s road 10 mile, women’s road 15km and women’s road 8 km, and formally the women’s half marathon and women’s 10,000 metres.

Track and Field magazine named her the Best female marathon runner in the world in 2006.

Deena Kastor is quite simply one of the best female distance runners of all time, and I have been privileged to have know her for many years.

Deena has a unique insight into athletic footwear, as a long term ASICS sponsored athlete and Ambassador, a role she has performed with great distinction and grace.

In this fascinating episode of SHOEphoria, Deena shares her knowledge of what it is to be an Olympian, how much difference footwear can make to an elite athlete…and what happens when you get injured. She also shares with us the role of mental toughness for the endurance athlete, something.. she has written the book on (link below).

https://www.amazon.com.au/Let-Your-Mind-Run-Thinking/dp/1524760757

Welcome to episode 10 of SHOEphoria, the wonderful Deena Kastor! 

Legend is a word that is often bandied around, and frequently unjustified.

That said, our guest on Episode 8 of SHOEphoria pretty much invented this descriptor in relation to running.

Amby Burfoot won the Boston Marathon in 1968 at the tender age of 22, and went on to set his best time for the marathon at the famed Fukaoka Marathon in Japan in time of 2:14:28.8

Amby did not know at the time, but this was just one second from the American marathon record at the time! He told me he would have gone much harder had he realised!

Remarkably, Alby holds another record, that being the running of the Manchester Road Race 57 times in a row besting the streak of barefoot runner, Charlie "Doc" Robbins.

Amby Burfoot is a very interesting man, having lived most of his adult life as an ovolacto vegetarian, primarily for ethical reasons (although he does admit that once he had children, he would polish off the odd burger because he could not bear to see food go to waste!)

He has had a distinguished career as a Running journalist, bringing a degree of authenticity, honesty and great knowledge to many of the challenges the sport has faced, including footwear.

During the great minimalist footwear upheaval of the early 2010’s Amby Burfoot remained a steadfast voice of reason, not for, not against, just reporting the facts.

Footwear, running, the Boston bombing, rooming with Bill Rodgers and Jeff Galloway, and why he completely missed the 60’s are all highlights of a memorable SHOEphoria podcast with the inimitable and irrepressible Amby Burfoot!