[frereubu]

I'm sort of in general agreement with you about healthy running practices, but I don't think endurance running - just running for long distances with no eye on time - is a good comparison with performance running - where timing is key, even if you're running log distances. It's to do with the purpose of the running. Eliud Kipchoge only broke 2 hours because of the shoes he was wearing, which are only used for one race, so you're mixing the two aspects a bit there. There are also issues with running on the balls of your feet. I injured my metatarsals by running like that, and they only recovered when I reverted to a slightly flatter running style. The choice isn't just between "ball" and "heel", there's a grey area in-between, and the thing I distrust about alot of the "natural running" stuff is the ideological purity that it often engenders.

[iamacyborg]

> It's to do with the purpose of the running. Eliud Kipchoge only broke 2 hours because of the shoes he was wearing

That’s a vast oversimplification.

[frereubu]

OK, let me put it another way. Do you think Kipchoge would have broken two hours if he'd been wearing trainers with technology from five years ago?

[iamacyborg]

Maybe? Like, the shoes are certainly a contribution factor, but you're basically talking about stacking multiple 0.1 percenters at that point, which one tipped things over the line is hard to say, and you obviously have to account for the fact that Kipchoge is a genetic freak (like all top athletes) with a couple decades of consistent training behind him and a team hell-bent on finding all incremental gains they can. That period also saw significant improvements in fuelling strategy, amongst other things.