We'll, the verdict is in. 10 minutes on asphalt in VFF's was too much, too soon. I think I got snookered into thinking that because I had the 5 Fingers on that I could step it up a bit. Dumb. Left foot is fine, but the metatarsals on the right are not. They are not awful, but definitely worse than before. Arrggh. It is so hard to just go REALLY slow.
It had me thinking today, what is the point of all of this? I don't particularly want to be a barefoot runner only when it is all said and done. I just want to strengthen my feet and improve my running form so that I land much more softly. Truthfully, I just want to be able to run again and not get hurt. Depending on how my feet feel tomorrow, I may have to modify how long I go without shoes. Yesterday was dumb. Why do I do so many dumb things? On the up side, the outside of the 5th metatarsals are doing great. Some good, some bad. We'll see what is up tomorrow.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Day 4
Today I went without conventional shoes almost for the entire day. Walked to work in bare feet again and jogged home in my shoes. Wore the Vibrams for most of the rest of the day when not going barefoot at home. Probably walked 1.5 miles or more in them when we went to a parade, then jogged in them later in the evening on asphalt. Really just concentrating on relaxing my feet and landing lightly. I very much expected that I would've completely screwed up my feet with that one. Interestingly, they feel pretty decent. I wouldn't have wanted to go any more than the 10 minutes that I did, and I'm pretty sure that I would've really messed things up if I would've run for 15 or 20 minutes. I guess the proof will be tomorrow.
A couple of observations:
1. Any time you put something on your feet it allows one to walk a little more on the heel. In bare feet this isn't very comfortable over the long haul. So, I at least walk more lightly landing like I run or jog in bare feet.
2. My wife thinks I'm crazy at this point. I have been banished from trouncing around the house after walking home on asphalt until I have washed my feet. Probably for good reason.
3. Vibrams are not very inconspicuous and really don't go with any of the clothes I own. Perhaps fire engine red was not the best color to choose.
Until tomorrow, or maybe later if I forget to post.
A couple of observations:
1. Any time you put something on your feet it allows one to walk a little more on the heel. In bare feet this isn't very comfortable over the long haul. So, I at least walk more lightly landing like I run or jog in bare feet.
2. My wife thinks I'm crazy at this point. I have been banished from trouncing around the house after walking home on asphalt until I have washed my feet. Probably for good reason.
3. Vibrams are not very inconspicuous and really don't go with any of the clothes I own. Perhaps fire engine red was not the best color to choose.
Until tomorrow, or maybe later if I forget to post.
Day 3
Yes, day 1 and 2 were combined in the other post. I probably spent about 75% of the day unshodden today (not sure if that is a word or not, but it sounds good). Even spent 11 minutes running barefoot up through my office area. If the people I work with had any thoughts that I might not be right in the head prior to this, I'm pretty sure I erased any doubt about it. The flooring is a paper thin berber over concrete, so it is pretty good at helping one learn how to "run soft." It is really remarkable how good that felt. It seems when you get that form right it really feels good. Mind you, I am going MUCH slower than I would run otherwise, but I figure that I need to learn how to land before I can run fast. I think they alluded to this in Born to Run when Caballo Blanco said something like, "First you learn to run easy, then light, then make is smooth, then fast." I'm sure I messed that up a bit, but you kind of get the point.
What I noticed today is that my feet ache a bit, but not in the same way they hurt from a chronic injury. It is more that they ache from not being used. Standing on hard tile or marble floors all day is not particularly comfortable, and part of the experiment is to see if that becomes more comfortable with time. I noticed that my metatarsals are a little sensitive on both feet. This has been a problem on the right foot for a while and, in fact, is one of the reasons I decided to do this crazy experiment after all. Interestingly, my right foot (metatarsal heads) seems to be getting better despite walking on all these hard surfaces. Also, the outside of my 5th metatarsal heads on both sides (which have been a problem for 7 months) don't seem to hurt when I go barefoot and are, in fact, feeling better. Weird.
I am holding my breath anticipating the day when I say "I really screwed up my feet with ___ injury from going barefoot." But, I'm really hoping that if I do this in a smart, controlled, reasonable manner that nothing like that will happen. Unfortunately, those words don't usually apply to my running habits.
What I noticed today is that my feet ache a bit, but not in the same way they hurt from a chronic injury. It is more that they ache from not being used. Standing on hard tile or marble floors all day is not particularly comfortable, and part of the experiment is to see if that becomes more comfortable with time. I noticed that my metatarsals are a little sensitive on both feet. This has been a problem on the right foot for a while and, in fact, is one of the reasons I decided to do this crazy experiment after all. Interestingly, my right foot (metatarsal heads) seems to be getting better despite walking on all these hard surfaces. Also, the outside of my 5th metatarsal heads on both sides (which have been a problem for 7 months) don't seem to hurt when I go barefoot and are, in fact, feeling better. Weird.
I am holding my breath anticipating the day when I say "I really screwed up my feet with ___ injury from going barefoot." But, I'm really hoping that if I do this in a smart, controlled, reasonable manner that nothing like that will happen. Unfortunately, those words don't usually apply to my running habits.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Experiment
My feet are ugly, and they hurt. Not as much now as they did three months ago, but they still hurt. It seems that I screwed them up, again, running over this past winter and early spring. Most of the time when I develop a running injury, I can tell what I did wrong; but, this time I'm not even sure what I did. Trail running is a passion of mine, not in the sense that I'm the kind of guy doing 100 mile trail races, but I love to feel the wind in my face and get lost on the mountain. Unfortunately, this foot pain is throwing a serious wrench in all of that. So, I'm trying to fix my feet and thus I am doing "The Barefoot Experiment."
There is a lot of buzz about minimalist or barefoot running. A lot of it makes sense to me, though I have always thought it would kill my feet. You know what? My feet don't seem to be doing so hot with what I'm doing, so why not try something crazy. In any case, I got to thinking that the foot is probably a remarkably adaptable structure, and if I I broke into things slowly maybe even MY foot could get stronger and adapt. Maybe I would learn to run softer by running in my bare feet. So, my purpose is three fold, I think. First, I want to see if my foot changes shape as a result of going mostly barefoot. Second, I want to see if I can learn to run softer. And third, I want to see if my feet become stronger and more resilient to going barefoot, thus hopefully less injury prone.
So, I haven't determined the exact length of time for the transition, but probably 30-60 days is reasonable. I am going to gradually transition to going barefoot for as much of the day as possible, and also I am going to SLOWLY ease into running barefoot.
I actually started this yesterday and went barefoot at work for about half the day. Remarkably, my feet probably felt better than they do in shoes. I'm not saying that it was entirely comfortable to walk around on hard tile floors all day in bare feet when not used to it, but I could definitely tell that I was actually walking softer.
Today, I got a little crazier. I actually walked the 0.6-0.7 miles to work barefooted. Some have said that you should walk over a variety of terrain to acclimate your foot to going barefoot, so I tried doing that. Let's just say that I probably looked really stupid, people probably thought I had lost my mind, and it took me a really long time to walk to work because it was pretty uncomfortable at times. I guess that is part of the experiment-to see if my feet become more resilient to that type of thing over time and practice.
This evening, I ran in the grass for about 6 minutes then slowly jogged on the blacktop driveway, concentrating on landing softly. I've been gradually increasing the amount of time spent running barefoot at one time. I started with about 6 minutes and now am at about 10 minutes (over the course of 2-3 weeks). This has mostly been in grass, but I think I might ease onto harder surfaces because they seem to teach one better how to land softly. I'll have to be extra cautious doing that, however, because my feet don't take a joke very well.
I know this is all crazy. I just want my feet to get better. The truth is that, in the grand scheme of things, my foot problems are a very minor issue. I thank God every day that I am not dealing with cancer or some other major health issue. Our lives can change so quickly and one can go from being an Olympic athlete to a quadriplegic in a heartbeat. I also know that my feet and health are not the most important thing in life, following God is. So, I try to keep all this foot stuff in perspective. All that being said, for some reason I thought it would be interesting to keep a record of all this. That's it for now. Off to sleep.
There is a lot of buzz about minimalist or barefoot running. A lot of it makes sense to me, though I have always thought it would kill my feet. You know what? My feet don't seem to be doing so hot with what I'm doing, so why not try something crazy. In any case, I got to thinking that the foot is probably a remarkably adaptable structure, and if I I broke into things slowly maybe even MY foot could get stronger and adapt. Maybe I would learn to run softer by running in my bare feet. So, my purpose is three fold, I think. First, I want to see if my foot changes shape as a result of going mostly barefoot. Second, I want to see if I can learn to run softer. And third, I want to see if my feet become stronger and more resilient to going barefoot, thus hopefully less injury prone.
So, I haven't determined the exact length of time for the transition, but probably 30-60 days is reasonable. I am going to gradually transition to going barefoot for as much of the day as possible, and also I am going to SLOWLY ease into running barefoot.
I actually started this yesterday and went barefoot at work for about half the day. Remarkably, my feet probably felt better than they do in shoes. I'm not saying that it was entirely comfortable to walk around on hard tile floors all day in bare feet when not used to it, but I could definitely tell that I was actually walking softer.
Today, I got a little crazier. I actually walked the 0.6-0.7 miles to work barefooted. Some have said that you should walk over a variety of terrain to acclimate your foot to going barefoot, so I tried doing that. Let's just say that I probably looked really stupid, people probably thought I had lost my mind, and it took me a really long time to walk to work because it was pretty uncomfortable at times. I guess that is part of the experiment-to see if my feet become more resilient to that type of thing over time and practice.
This evening, I ran in the grass for about 6 minutes then slowly jogged on the blacktop driveway, concentrating on landing softly. I've been gradually increasing the amount of time spent running barefoot at one time. I started with about 6 minutes and now am at about 10 minutes (over the course of 2-3 weeks). This has mostly been in grass, but I think I might ease onto harder surfaces because they seem to teach one better how to land softly. I'll have to be extra cautious doing that, however, because my feet don't take a joke very well.
I know this is all crazy. I just want my feet to get better. The truth is that, in the grand scheme of things, my foot problems are a very minor issue. I thank God every day that I am not dealing with cancer or some other major health issue. Our lives can change so quickly and one can go from being an Olympic athlete to a quadriplegic in a heartbeat. I also know that my feet and health are not the most important thing in life, following God is. So, I try to keep all this foot stuff in perspective. All that being said, for some reason I thought it would be interesting to keep a record of all this. That's it for now. Off to sleep.
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