Entertainment The Guide Arts & Culture The Envelope
Travel Health Autos Home & Garden Food Image Books Living Green
Video
Photography
Obituaries
Crosswords/Sudoku
Your Scene
Buy, Sell & More Jobs Cars Real Estate Foreclosure Sale
Apartments
Personals
Deals at Local Stores
Coupons
Newspaper Ads
Place an Ad In the Newspaper Online
Settings/Services Sign In Register Personalized News E-Mail Newsletters
RSS Feeds
Help
Contact Us
L.A. Times Archives
Reprint Requests
Work for Us
Home Delivery Customer Support Subscribe
Keep up to speed with practical gadgets
A forward-thinking design
Velocy Runner: Running shoe designed to make you lean forward on your toes and forefoot, not land on your heel.
Likes: Works as advertised. Unique, so-called "forward gravity design" that angles the front edge of the shoe up to 1 3/4 inches off the ground, effectively forcing you to land on your forefoot, not your heel. This puts you into a forward lean, which a growing number of coaches believe is the most efficient way to run (i.e. faster, with a lower heart rate) as well as less injurious to knees, ankles and hips than heel landings. I found the forward bias quite natural feeling, especially after immediately switching back to conventional heel-cushioned shoes for comparison.
Dislikes: The shoes are a bit heavy at 15 ounces.
Price: $125. (503) 764-9418; http://www.velocy.com .
These innovative products can help you do just that, getting you up to speed with better form, more thorough muscle preparation and recovery, even easier refueling.
Irvine-based Roy M. Wallack writes about health and fitness. An endurance cyclist and runner, he's the author of "Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100." He can be reached at roywallack@aol.com.
- Roy M. Wallack
