I ran barefoot, actually in my socks, on the treadmill tonight for a little less then a mile. I would have gone longer as I was just starting to get the hang of this thing you call barefooting when I started to get a hotspot on both of the balls of my feet. I think it was a combination of the socks slipping and the heat (friction) from the belt and the bed. Hopefully I stopped in time to to avoid getting blisters.
I will be looking into getting some FF's so I can start running barefoot on the treadmill this winter. I have a really wide foot and stubby toes so I'm hoping that they will fit. If not, what is a good alternative?
The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
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If not, what is a good alternative?
A good alternative is actually running barefoot. I'm not sure why you'd want FF's for the treadmill....
veggies on the run
Well at 205 pounds, it felt like a lot of heat was being generated from the friction between the belt and the bed ot the treadmill. I'm not to fast so my foot spends a longer time on the belt, maybe I need to increase my cadence. The hotspots could have been from the socks too, so I'll try to run without those next time and see how that goes. I was thinking that if I had the FF's they would help disipate and friction heat.
I'm also not sure how well running completely barefoot at the gym will go over with the management. I suppose if I spray the belt really good afterwards, they may be okay with it.
Anyway, it felt great after I figured out and adjusted my foot strike. After awhile you could hardly hear my 205 pound body landing on the treadmill and I felt light as a feather.
Well at 205 pounds, it felt like a lot of heat was being generated from the friction between the belt and the bed ot the treadmill. I'm not to fast so my foot spends a longer time on the belt, maybe I need to increase my cadence. The hotspots could have been from the socks too, so I'll try to run without those next time and see how that goes. I was thinking that if I had the FF's they would help disipate and friction heat. I'm also not sure how well running completely barefoot at the gym will go over with the management. I suppose if I spray the belt really good afterwards, they may be okay with it. Anyway, it felt great after I figured out and adjusted my foot strike. After awhile you could hardly hear my 205 pound body landing on the treadmill and I felt light as a feather.
Really focus on lifing your feet up rather than pushing off. This will help a bit with the friction problem. Otherwise, I think it's just going to take you some time to build up some toughness. I found that I had to re-adjust to BF on the treadmill even though I was up to 2+ miles outside. I guess different surfaces really make a huge difference to your feet.
Good luck with the management at the gym. FWIW, my feet feel a whole lot better BF than in VFF's, so it may be worth the battle if you can get them to allow it.
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A good alternative is actually running barefoot.
Right. Maybe a mile the first time was a little too much (it was for me). Try a half mile a few times first and without the socks - your soles will adapt fairly quickly. It's amazing how quietly you can run BF on the TM compared to having shoes on!
I was running 2 mi BF on my TM easily, then went out of town but found a gym. They let me run BF on their TM, but after a mile or so I started getting two blisters - I didn't realize that different TM belts could cause a problem like that. I used a little piece of moleskin over the blisters to help me thru the next few runs until it healed.
"I don't always roll a joint, but when I do, it's usually my ankle" - unk. "Frankly autocorrect, I'm getting a bit tired of your shirt". I ran half my last race on my left foot!
Barefooting day two.
I ran 4.07 miles to the fitness center, then shed the shoes for some BF time on the treadmill. I set the incline to 2% and started running. I wore a super tight fitting pair of socks and ran 0.6 miles @ a 10:00 mpm pace before the balls of my feet started to heat up. I stopped to avoid the blisters because I have a 5k on Saturday and don't really want to deal with blisters for that race. The girl in the cardio room was looking at me kind of funny when I told her I was going to run barefoot.
Barefoot and happy
Well done. It sounds like the most valuable thing you could do to get better quickly at this point is to get onto a rougher surface, and do it completely barefoot. Even if it's only for a few minutes. This will teach you very quickly how to stop generating so much friction.
hmmmmm, I hear what your saying, but I'm a bit of a whimp when it comes to the cold and its already COLD to me in central Minnesota.
You know what? I've already walked to the end of the plank this week, I might as well jump off. I'm going to try it tonight. I was planning to ride my bike on my rollers tonight and forego any running because of the 5k im running tomorrow, but I think I'll run a couple minutes BF on the street after my bike workout.
Yeah, cold is definitely a challenge. Do what you can, and look forward to spring.
Ed, I was just wondering what you do for winter running. I have a pair of Vibrams (and looking at getting those toe socks to go with them), which I am sure will help keep my form, and keep the muscles in my feet strong through the winter. But is there anything you can do in the winter to help keep the soles of your feet conditioned???
That seems to be the other big limiter for me at least - that at a certain point (which gets farther with every run) the bottoms of my feet feel really tender. Is there anything you can do to maintain this in the winter, without subjecting my feet to the Nor'Easter's and 10 feet of snow we get here in Boston? Do treadmill runs help with keeping your feet conditioned?
Back at it again. 1.1 miles on the treadmill tonight barefoot. I got a few stares and funny looks but kept on running.
You mean you get to run barefoot at your gym? Or was it your family giving you the funny looks. Because I was told straight out that it was against the rules to run barefoot on the treadmills at my gym
Against the rules? Did you ask why?
Obviously private establishments can make their own rules, but if their justification is incorrect it can help pointing it out. For example, if they think it's a health code issue, etc. Which in almost all places in the US, there is no such law in place.
I can link to more information if you're interested.
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