It started with a simple post to our MRTT group by my friend Tiffany.  She shared the following video from Ian’s Shoelace Site, and mentioned that she’d been experiencing pain on the top of her foot and thought she’d give this straight bar lacing a try.

 

Pain on the top of the foot…  Hmmmmm, sounded familiar.  Even though I’ve been lacing my shoes extremely loosely for years to try to prevent that painful pressure, I decided to try straight bar lacing as well.  And  just like Tiffany, I felt instant relief.

It turns out that the traditional criss-cross lacing style puts pressure on the tendons on the top of the foot causing pain.  Legendary running coach, Arthur Lydiard, figured this out long ago and developed what is now known at Lydiard Lacing, or straight bar lacing.

StraightBarLacingPoster
 

The proof is in the pudding, or in my case,  the run; so we’ll see how my foot feels after a few more runs.

Stay tuned for a follow up in a few weeks, but my fingers are cross that I might have just discovered a tiny little miracle here – thanks to Coach Lydiard and Professor Shoelace!

 

  • Questions:
  • How do you lace your shoes?
  • What running shoes do you swear by?
  • What other “how to” videos have you found helpful?