I am running the 2011 Boston Marathon
to raise money for the American Liver Foundation's Run for Research,
and will post frequently about my training here, in these final weeks
leading up to the race.
Last Thursday morning, I was
presented with a remarkable opportunity – a full analysis
of my running form at the New Balance Sports Research Lab in Lawrence, MA. As a
lifelong Merrimack Valley resident, you'd think I'd know all
about the New Balance facility ten minutes from my home. I actually
had been unaware of this facility in the Merrimack Valley, and
that the company's world headquarters is in Boston, MA! This
excited me, leaving me eager to work with their team, and in my
morning visit I would uncover just how advanced sneaker technology
is, and how much the science of weather and running have in common.
Built in a renovated Lawrence mill
building and next to a bridge currently closed for reconstruction,
the brick facade of the New Balance building betrays the wealth of
technology inside. Within those aging walls is a modern, sparkling
facility, with a full retail store and several floors of offices and
labs. My morning would be shared with Dr. Trampas TenBroek, who
already had set up a series of cameras to monitor my scheduled run,
prior to my 9:30 AM arrival. In the center of the room was the
treadmill I'd be running on - a much fancier version of the
treadmills we find at the local gym.
Rather than a belt that spins
continuously underfoot, this treadmill consisted of a series of
aluminum slats, designed to more accurately mimic a hard running
surface by offering less “give” than a typical treadmill. The
cameras were oriented at specific angles, with seven in total,
affording Dr. TenBroek the opportunity to view my stride from multiple
angles.
Previous studies in this lab have
included celebrity athletes and professional team coaches
(including for the Boston Celtics), so I may be the most
nonathletic person to ever set foot in the New Balance Sports
Research Lab. Though they could do little to make my body look like
that of a chiseled athlete, New Balance was kind enough to outfit me
with their running shorts, shirt, socks and of course, running
sneakers – though today's analysis would determine the best
sneaker for me to run in on April 18, and in my final training weeks
leading up to the Boston Marathon. Determining the best sneaker
requires first examining my stride, to understand how my body shifts
its weight during my run.
Dr. TenBroek started by zooming in on
my feet while I ran, using rapid scanning cameras to
gather thousands of frames per second. This gave him the opportunity
to study exactly how my foot strikes the ground, the shift in weight
that occurs as my foot extends and rolls, then pushes off for my next
stride, providing a general assessment of how I run, and giving us a
baseline to build from for further analysis. As it turns out, I'm a
“heel-striker:” a runner who hits rather heavy on the heel first,
then distributes his weight, like all runners, through “pronation.” To “pronate” is to shift weight to the inside of the foot, and
occurs in the first weight shift, after striking the ground. A
fraction of a second after that, the weight shifts to the outside of
the foot as the body prepares to extend the foot and push forward to
the next stride. Thankfully, Dr. TenBroek said neither the intensity
of my heel-strike, nor the extent of pronation, was any cause for
concern or substantially elevated potential for injury. That said,
he did explain that the risk of injury would be less if I can move
away from heel-striking, and referred me to New Balance's web
partnership with Good Form Running, linked on their website or
directly by clicking here.
After video analysis, the next step was
to use the same technology employed by video game creators to create
a three-dimensional representation of my lower body during my run,
from my thigh through my leg and my foot.
A series of reflective
markers (essentially, large pins with big, reflective heads) were
applied to my thighs, knees, calves, shins, ankles, and several
points on the front, back and sides of my feet. As I ran at 5, 6 and
6.5 miles per hours, the computer used for analysis took all seven
two-dimensional images captured by the cameras around me, then
superimposed the images to create the 3-D representation. This
affords Dr. TenBroek the opportunity to overlay strides at all three
speeds, to determine if my form, stride length and attendant stride
speed change as I increase speed, and by how much those changes
occur. In professional athletes, such an analysis can be effective
in determining maximum efficiency for stride length and speed, to
ensure the athlete maximizes their use of energy during the run.
The final experiment of the day was use
of the “force plate,” which is an electronic, precise scale used
to measure the force exerted on a runner's body during the stride. Built into the floor of the room, I ran at normal pace from one side
of the room to the other, ensuring at least one foot landed squarely
on the force plate. Coordination and
grace have never been my strong suit – this had the potential to
get ugly! While the right foot was easy to land on the force plate,
time and again, the left foot posed some embarrassing coordination
issues, though Dr. TenBroek assured me I wasn't the first to struggle
more with one foot than the other. The computer attached to the
force plate draws a line graph consisting of three lines – vertical
force, horizontal force, and side force. Perhaps the most astounding
revelation from this exercise was the determination that each stride
during a casual run is exerting about 460 pounds of force on my
muscles and joints. In other words, though I weigh just over 200
pounds, each stride places 230% of my body weight on the muscles used
in running. Understanding this clarifies the potential for injury
when considering the numerous strides taken on each training run, and
over a marathon course.
Perhaps the most fascinating and unexpected discovery is the amazing similarity between the science
of Meteorology and the science of Kinesiology (Dictionary.com: “the
science dealing with the interrelationship of the physiological
processes and anatomy of the human body with respect to movement”).
Both of these science college curricula require solid command of
dynamics, involving advanced calculus and physics, and, in fact, Dr.
TenBroek mentioned that his professors often made reference to
similarities with Meteorology. Kinesiologists also make frequent use
of computing technology to run guidance models of the future, just
like we do in weather – in their case, the goal is to predict and
simulate how the New Balance shoe will respond to various running
styles and forms, in an effort to create a shoe that will be most
effective for the widest variance of runners. Occasionally, these
scientists also make use of supercomputers, just like we do in
Meteorology, and run “Ensemble Forecasts.” In meteorology, an
Ensemble Forecast is made by running the same computer model several
times, but tweaking the initial condition – the “observed” data
– just slightly. In the short term, variation in forecasts is
small, but after a day or two of forecast period, larger differences
emerge, and by 10 or 12 days out, vastly different forecasts are
generated by just a small difference in initial condition. For
kinesiologists, the process is almost identical, tweaking the initial
condition of how the runner strikes the ground and/or transfers
weight, then running the computer model through thousands of
strides to determine potential wear patterns on the shoe. As you may
imagine, this can be a competitive field of research among sneaker
companies, and Dr. TenBroek propels his New Balance team forward
through careful, intelligent analysis of complex data sets.
Soon, you'll see a piece on NECN with
the video my photojournalist, John Hammann, shot with me on this
assignment. Tomorrow, in my blog post, I'll highlight what sneaker
I'll be running in, and some of the other runner's apparel I knew
nothing about before training, but now will be wearing on Marathon
Monday.
New Balance was very generous to open
their doors to me for this analysis, and devote so much time. They
believe in the mission I'm on to raise money for patients – and
especially children – battling liver disease. Those patients and I
need you on the mission, too, and you can join by clicking here to
donate to the American Liver Foundation Run for Research.
Previous Marathon Posts from Matt: