Keeping My Form

I finally ran again yesterday, Sunday, after three days off (Saturday was a ski day). My calves hadn't fully recovered from my Wednesday run, so I decided to try out my Nike Frees again and see if I could keep the form I've been developing on my barefoot runs.

Lo and behold, I could! I was a bit surprised because the other day, when I wore a pair of indoor soccer shoes to run the mile down to my favorite path, I couldn't keep it up at all. The Frees offer a lot more sensitivity to the road and have more side-to-side flexibility than a regular shoe.

The main drawback to wearing the Free is that it has a thick heel cushion. If you don't already know how it should feel to run naturally, it's easy to continue pounding your heels to the ground instead of modifying your form. I think that after running a few times barefoot, I'm more able to fully utilize the potential of the Free.

Lisa ran with me and after running for awhile, switching between wearing shoes and going barefoot, she says that she was able to improve her form even in thick running shoes. The main difference is simply that you land on the outside of your midfoot and roll in to the ball of your foot rather than slamming your heel down. Your feet and calves cushion the shock much better than foam rubber ever will.

I probably should have taken another day off, though. This transition really puts a lot of strain on my calves. After a slow, 52-minute run, my calves were completely burnt out again. Even after an ice bath and a calf rub, I still couldn't walk normally. Today, I was still limping around. I felt less sore, but my muscles were so tight that I could hardly walk up stairs!

I can't wait for another fully barefoot run, but I feel like I should wait even longer to make sure that I'm fully recovered before running again. This is agony! I'm so happy about running, and the weather is perfect, but I'm trapped by a couple of sore muscles.

Still Sore

I haven't run since that great 5.5 miler on Wednesday and my calves are still killing me! Right after the run, I thought it would be the raw soles of my feet slowing me down, but that got better in about a day and a half. I'm still left with calves so sore I can barely walk normally.

Stepping up to such a long distance and picking up the speed at the same time might have been a little too drastic for my muscles to handle right away.

Right now, I'm wondering about how to modify my workout plan to include barefoot running, but make it easier to continue to run at least four times a week. In an earlier post, I mentioned making running sandals called huaraches that just protect the bottoms of your feet from friction and sharp objects. That will be a big improvement, but I'm also wondering if maybe I should do a few days of barefoot and a few days in shoes each week.

Maybe I can keep the barefoot running form while wearing a pair of shoes... It sounds doable, but it's hard without being able to feel the ground and let my feet react naturally. I even have a pair of Nike Free running shoes, but the cushioning is still thick enough to make it hard to have good form.

I'm going to try it out, at least. Hopefully, as my feet get stronger and I build the muscle memory of what good form feels like, I can improve my running form regardless of how I dress my feet.

Day 4: Better Each Time

Today I went for my fourth completely barefoot run. It was great, as usual. I got my first kill, too! As I was getting off my typical running path I passed a shoed runner. I even pulled off to get my shoes from behind a tree and passed him a second time.

I averaged about 9-minute miles this time. I don't know how my time was so slow because it felt great. Maybe it was the stop lights. I also picked up a bike tire at my bike shop that I had to carry home.

Now I'm ready to start working on my times. I'm confident that my feet can handle it, so I'm going to focus on turning this into real training now.

Injury notes:

I had my first "injury." I got a small blister on my left foot at the edge of the ball of my foot. I didn't really feel it until I got home.

My calves are really sore again, but that's just a sign they're getting stronger!

My stomach has felt amazing during these runs. Often, I end up with a bad stomachache after a hard run, but the softer impacts of bare feet mean less impact on joints and on my stomach.

My arches and knees feel like I didn't even run.

Barefoot: The Evidence Continues to Roll In...

As I continue reading Born to Run, I am more and more convinced that barefoot is the only way to run. In the middle part of the book, McDougall really starts laying on the hard data backing up his claims.

Studies around the world, for decades, have shown that the only correlation between shoe quality and injury is that the more expensive your shoes, the more likely you are to suffer an injury. If your shoes are over $95, you're 123% more likely to be injured this year!

After last Sunday's run, I will admit that my feet were a little tender. Not deep pain or soreness, just a little bit raw from the friction. The next day it was no problem, but I haven't had a chance to run again. Hopefully the extra friction will start to build up my feet's natural defenses, but I have yet to find out.

Soon, we may be trying out a running sandal of sorts. We have seen a number of videos on how to make a sandal that basically protects only against friction and spiky things without changing your stride or the feel of running.

More to come...

An Experiment: Is Barefoot Running All It's Cracked Up to Be?

My girlfriend, Lisa, and I have just started barefoot running after reading a book about the sport. As two people in fairly good shape, we had a bit of a head start, but it is taking some time to adapt. I hope to give updates every week or so on our progress so others can decide if they want to try it out.

So far:

Last Sunday, we started out on a normal run, but about a mile and a half from the end, we decided that we wanted to try out barefoot running. We are reading the book Born to Run, and they make it sound very appealing, and healthy, in the book.

We took off our shoes, and it was great. We were running on a path near our house that is concrete, not asphalt, so the friction isn't as bad. We didn't have any problems. The main thing we figured out pretty quickly is that your stride changes significantly as soon as the shoes come off. You start to cushion yourself not with extreme amounts of shoe padding, but by landing softly on the outside edge or the ball of your foot instead of your heel.

Our total run that day was about an hour.

Three days later, we tried it again. This time we were ready to really commit, and ditched our shoes at the very beginning of the run. We only totaled a little under three miles, but we found out another benefit of barefoot running, you get the most amazing calf workout imaginable. By the end, both of us had completely toasted our calves.

I also found out that what looks like a clean path can hold hidden dangers. When I got home, I found a small piece of glass in the sole of my foot. It was no big deal after I removed it, but it made us start thinking about how to protect our feet from friction and sharp objects without abandoning the barefoot principle.

On Youtube that night, we found a video that shows you how to make very thin sandals that don't change how your feet hit the ground, but afford a little protection from road hazards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF6aGK5AhpA They also sell kits to make your own, but we plan to get an old bike tire to accomplish our goal.

Today, we ran again. This time we made it about four miles on the same path. The longer distance increased the toll of friction on our soles, and both of us are ready to have a pair of sandals to protect ourselves. Lisa also found another small glass shard in her foot. Interestingly, neither of us are much phased by that fact, we just want to take a little more precaution.

As summer comes near and it will be light out later, we'll probably start to look for paths that will be a little more foot friendly and fun to run on.

How do we feel?

Both of us are loving our new hobby. The evidence is out there that it can be much better for your feet and joints, and so far we agree. I usually have arch pain that nags at me, but that has disappeared over the last week.

Not only does it seem better for us, it also feels pretty badass to be running with the minimal amount of gear possible.