Barefoot Running - The painful truth about trainers (Read 3941 times)

You'll have a hard time convincing me to run barefoot through a Saskatchewan winter

They have minimalist shoes for that. They are made in Finland I think. Bare Foot Ted talks about them.

I cringe thinking of the surfaces I regularly run on...chip sealed rural roads (they lay down tar and then sharp gravel that eventually flattens out as cars drive over it and the sun heats it), snow, ice, broken beer bottles (rural roads = rednecks chucking bottles from their pick-up trucks), dog shit, roadkill, vibrators (no joke). No thanks, I'll keep my shoes.

Zoomy, I run on the exact same things here. It can be done, if you pick the right roads. Some are much smoother than others. Last summer, I decided to try working in some barefoot training. I started with a couple of blocks, and gradually worked up from there. Aside from a few streets near my house, I found that the city streets in general had way too many little rocks and sections of rough pavement to do it comfortably. What I found worked best, was to run in shoes until I got to the edge of town, take them off, and do my miles on the rural roads. Most of them are all chip-and-seal here, too. The newer the road surface, the rougher it is. One of the older roads was smooth enough that I was able to work my way up to 5 miles. The middle-school track I train on is definitely not feet-friendly, though. It was so rough I could barely make it 100 meters! I did notice that my pace was a WHOLE lot slower barefoot, too. Maybe that would get better with time, but I normally cruise at 7:30 - 8:00 pace on my easy runs. Without shoes, I was over 10:00, probably due to shifting my footstrike forward, and not really being able to push off with my forefoot. (I have a few dropped metatarsals, if I'm remembering what the ortho guy said, so the balls of my feet don't like much pressure on them.) The bottoms of my feet toughened up pretty well. I had to keep a eye open for glass and larger stones, so I didn't hurt myself, but as I said before, the tiny rocks were the worst, especially when the roads were wet and they stuck to my feet. Over time, that probably would have gotten better as my feet toughened more. The major difficulty I had with it was with my arches and metatarsal ends. I run in orthotics, and I can't really do a whole lot on my feet without them. I like the idea of running with nothing or minimal footwear, though. I have even done strides on the roads in my beach shoes in the past. (Just like the Nike Free's, but without the ridiculous price.) I probably should work in some short runs in them. Now that I've heard several people mention the FiveFingers (I wear 10.5's, though. ) I'm interested in checking those out, or things similar to them. Whatever I try, though, I'll have to put some kind of arch support in them, or I won't be going far. This has been encouraging. I'll have to look more into this, and maybe give it another try.

I started down this path last year. I used to run XC in HS, but never ran outside of season. I read an article about a guy walking barefoot and how it was more natural. He was mainly talking about stalking prey in picnic areas. This wasn't about running in the slightest. I hadn't really moved much in two years, smoked all the time, drank around 7 beers a night. So I quit smoking and started running. (Sadly I smoke on and off again now.) I ran on my forefoot in just regular shoes to start building up muscles to go more natural style, did pretty good through the summer slacked off more when school started. This year I set my goal at 365 miles. Forefoot Running for Stu breakdown: Running shoes = not bad originally, now I'm not a huge fan. Though, I still run in cleats all the time. You can feel your foot being "guided" by the shoes, and the padding in the back makes it a bit strange. Plus they are heavy mang. Huaraches = actually pretty dang cool, though if your foot bed is pretty thick you notice it more than the the running shoes. But it is a nice free feeling. Running in these also informed me of why I hurt my knee in trainers. I have an old turf toe injury that was making me roll out on my right leg (to small toe, instead of off pad). Also that I was keeping my right leg almost directly underneath me. You seem to notice things a little more when you are exposed. I've adjusted appropriately, and maintain a weary eye for those issues popping up in my stride again. Though I couldn't resist the vibram urge, so I bought some classics. Vibram Five Fingers Classic = Awesome. Strides are good. Moving into these "shoes" has really made running awesome. You feel nice and free, but you don't have to worry about stepping on a vertical stick. Trail running in these is also, "Wicked Sweet." Hey stu do you like running? No. I think it's awesome. Currently I'm working on getting my daily mileage up so I can start pushing up my longer runs. After a year of work, I would say that even in cleats, I never put my foot down anymore. Granted my miles aren't very high, but I am extremely lazy. Need to go run a race. This summer I'm slipping off my vibrams now and again to do some actual barefooting. I also hope to decimate my goal by mid summer.

The time I stepped on a furniture tack last year and it poked through the shoe and into my foot pretty much sealed the deal for me; the only barefooy running I will every do is sprints on a football field.

Ouch! Out here we have to watch out for these nasty little things called goatheads (aka, puncturevine):

When a nonrunner tells you that running is bad for you, dangerous, impractical, and painful, how do you react? I'm guessing you ignore them because you are the one who has actually lived it. You understand running because you run, and the nonrunner is just imagining problems that are really not that big a deal. We're having that same discussion right now. In 2008 I logged 1414 miles. 21% of them were barefoot, 55% were in FiveFingers, 19% in other minimal shoes like Teva Proton IIIs, and 5% in running shoes. Most of my miles were on asphalt and concrete in the city, but I've also run barefoot on rural roads and forested trails. I ran a 3:05 marathon in FiveFingers, which was a PR by over half an hour. I was always a thoroughly average runner, with weak ankles and ITBS, needing carefully chosen shoes every 400 miles. But now I can run in almost anything: old broken down running shoes, flip flops, water shoes, etc. My knees have been 100% pain free for the entire two years since I transitioned, despite more miles than ever. My ankles, hips, and abdominals are drastically stronger. My feet are tough enough that I can tread directly on most glass and never notice it. Today was my first recovery run since the marathon on Monday. Naturally I did it barefoot. I saw broken beer bottles. Miraculously I made it home alive anyway.

When a nonrunner tells you that running is bad for you, dangerous, impractical, and painful, how do you react? I'm guessing you ignore them because you are the one who has actually lived it. You understand running because you run, and the nonrunner is just imagining problems that are really not that big a deal. We're having that same discussion right now.

Yeah, that's pretty much what it is at this point. I haven't run barefoot but I may experiment with it a little this year. The emphasis here is on a little. The way I look at it I can't say whether barefoot running would work for me unless I try it.

When a nonrunner tells you that running is bad for you, dangerous, impractical, and painful, how do you react? I'm guessing you ignore them because you are the one who has actually lived it. You understand running because you run, and the nonrunner is just imagining problems that are really not that big a deal. We're having that same discussion right now. In 2008 I logged 1414 miles. 21% of them were barefoot, 55% were in FiveFingers, 19% in other minimal shoes like Teva Proton IIIs, and 5% in running shoes. Most of my miles were on asphalt and concrete in the city, but I've also run barefoot on rural roads and forested trails. I ran a 3:05 marathon in FiveFingers, which was a PR by over half an hour. I was always a thoroughly average runner, with weak ankles and ITBS, needing carefully chosen shoes every 400 miles. But now I can run in almost anything: old broken down running shoes, flip flops, water shoes, etc. My knees have been 100% pain free for the entire two years since I transitioned, despite more miles than ever. My ankles, hips, and abdominals are drastically stronger. My feet are tough enough that I can tread directly on most glass and never notice it. Today was my first recovery run since the marathon on Monday. Naturally I did it barefoot. I saw broken beer bottles. Miraculously I made it home alive anyway.

This makes a ton of sense to me (not that I've evere been skeptical of the value of barefoot running.)

To me if a shoe provides anything beyond simple protection--preserving our feet so they can continue to perform their normal function--then it makes our feet worse (i.e. weaker.)

What if it makes them just plain stylish???