Daily Speculations The Web Site of Victor Niederhoffer and Laurel Kenner

1/31/2006
Tying Your Shoelaces, by Russell Sears

As the great John Wooden taught his freshmen to put on their socks right, a distance track coach should teach his beginners how to lace up their shoes.

I learned this trick from Nathan Pitner. A kid that graduated from HS at 16 and went on to become a MD. Instead of double tying or triple tying, what really works best is tucking your laces between the tongue and the other laces. It reduces the bouncing. The constant but random vibration is what causes your knot to unravel. I forgot this this Sunday as I tried to do a 15k (9.3 miles) hard (close to 5 flat per mile). Twice I had to stop to lace up my left shoe.

But, most of us are not like Bill Rodgers. If a racer's lace unravels: stopping costs more than time, it is usually disaster after the first 2 miles, let alone after 20 miles like Bill is said to have stopped. On an easy run, stopping is no problem, as you can catch up quickly after a short rest. In fact the rest generally can more than be made up for. Jeff Galloway suggests you walk through your water stop, at least the first few water stops, in a marathon for this reason. A moment's rest refreshes.

Further, if I am running with slow runners I find myself feigning a loose lace so I can stop to stride to catch up. But, while racing this usually causes your system to lose balance and muscles to tighten, often ending the race for you.

I suspect that employee turn-over for a fast growing company is like the bouncing of the laces, it can cause the whole system to grind to a stop, forcing it to regroup and redevelop the competitive drive. AT&T, Lucent even Wal-Mart come to mind. Where as GM, Ford, the unions shops, and slower paced job turnover is like walking through the water stops, not racing.

Russell continues:

A question was posed by David Higgs as to why hasn't there been any improvements on shoelaces over the history of its life, or why hasn't it been replaced altogether. And he says that his daughter is not happy tucking in the laces.

While Nike had tried other things, the laces persist. There are many gadgets that keep the laces tied. But for me while racing, tucking it in the tongue seems to be the best. Specifically tucking it in the bottom part of the weave of lace and the tongue where generally it is not as tight. If it's too tight everywhere, and still doesn't meet your daughter's standard, perhaps it's the shoe. My kids goes through a pair every other month while they are growing. But I will concede I am more concerned about performance than convenience or looks. Plus the oversize lace of running shoes makes this easy to do. Even if they don't come undone the flopping of these big laces are annoying. I have even seen once it trip a kid as the feet get tangled, though not in competition. But for me at least with my skinny narrow feet this is not uncomfortable. Never had a athlete complain. Most love the idea.