Barefoot update

Just a link to some recent research on barefoot running which Steve Edwards has compiled:
The Truth About Barefoot Running

An interesting and balanaced view, stressing that Western feet aren't ready for barefoot work after years in shoes, so we need to train gently. Good common sense.

Barefoot Summer

Until this week, I had been exclusively wearing my VFFs since the snow melted.

As my everyday shoe I have walked to work (and around the office) in them, cycled, walked some trails, and even sprinted across a road or run down a high street when I've been late for something.
So, I feel I have done pretty much everything in them except the running I had hoped to start last year.

This barefoot year started with sharp pains all around the sides and base of both heels. As my foot strength built I found improvement on both sides, particularly on the left. This improvement continued on the left but my right foot still caused me trouble.
Being stubborn, I persevered, concentrating on using my toes, and observing my foot fall to look for problems.
I noticed the more I used my toes the softer I could walk.
In addition I also realised that I had an outside roll on the right foot.
Being careful not to over compensate, I worked to correct the roll and found the side heel pain receding. However, the bottom of my right heel was persistently sore, as if bruised, but showing no bruising.

So this week I am wearing conventional shoes as a rest and the pain is subsiding.
I am hopeful that once the bruised feeling goes I will finally be able to take the next steps towards the running ambition I initially planned over a year ago.

Heritage barefoot shoes

The sun is out and so today is for shorts and VFFs.
The usual attention was stirred up by my toe pockets (neatly avoiding any leg comments), when a classic car fan told me that the founder of Bugatti cars had a pair of shoes "with toes as if they were gloves"  100 years ago or so!

Check Natural Stride Sports article, where I pinched the image from :)

Winter Training

I have been doing some icing along with toughening of my feet as part of re-hab. Used the lovely recent snow to combine the two...

Longest duration of about 10-15 minutes whilst clearing the car's windows felt wonderful, but was probably on the edge.
Didn't run in the snow as for once the usual question 'What if you tread on something?' made sense.
Took great care coming back in to warm up slowly, avoiding chill-blains.

Nike’s Flexible Second Skin - PSFK

PSFK Future of Retail shows off an amazing looking concept(?) barefoot shoes (?) from Nike:

Nike’s Flexible Second Skin - PSFK

Would love to try some!

100 yards

had a small jog down the road at the weekend, with strong forefoot landing, and all is good with my tendons today!

i was trying out Kigo shoes, which offer a relatively large amount of protection, but manage to still give a good feel. one thing i have found is that the removable insole slips a bit. it's not too pronounced but did put me off them for a while. because of this, i doubt i will use when i am running above a couple of hundred yards.

i have also been trying these VFFs. they look great and offer more support than the standard one. unfortunately, i have a large third toe (next to the pinky), and the toe pockets on these VFFs are particularly snug. again i'm not sure it will be comfortable running more than a couple of hundred yards in these.

Baby Steps

young feet are incredible. 
they are made of cartilage, not bone, which only develops as the child grows through their teens.
gives me serious questions about how to protect my son's feet, and suggests that maybe barefoot is best for babies and children too.

The human foot at birth is not a miniature version of an adult foot. In fact, it contains no bones at all and consists of a mass of cartilage, which, over a period of years, ossifies to become the 28 bones that exist in the adult human foot. This process is not complete until the late teens, so it is crucial that footwear - when worn - is well chosen.
"Most children's shoes ought to come with a government health warning," believes Byrne. "They are like awful little bricks - too stiff, too rigid, with no flexibility at the sole and too much heel raise. This is of particular concern with toddlers learning to walk, because it causes them to bounce and tip forward," she says.
Woodward agrees. "I have in my hand a Nike Air shoe for a three-year-old - quite an expensive item, I would guess. From the heel to the toe there is no 'bend' or 'give' in the sole. Completely rigid, this shoe will restrict movement of the forefoot to zero. Kids this age should be turning cartwheels, skipping, climbing trees, running around. A shoe like this would seriously restrict such playful physicality - make it less fun, less enjoyable."
Full article

barefoot update

it's two and a half months since my last barefoot post, and whilst it has been a busy time, i have done next to no running.
i have tried a few therapies, including massage and physiotherapy, but the biggest improvements have been from just resting my feet, combined with toe scrunching to help build up the strength in my arches.

so - day-today there is now no pain in my heels, and i can run across a road if i need to.
doesn't sound like much but it beats limping everywhere all the time.
and when i do run (across the road), i make sure to fore-foot strike and keep my feet loose and alive.

i have also been walking barefoot outside a little. being exposed to texture and temperature again feels great.
i hope to start running barefoot again in the new year.
and of course i have my son's feet to inspire me now, and i want to be a good example.

*Edit* moved quoted article to separate post.

Science of barefoot running

so barefoot for me is, in part, about finding a simple way of doing things.
However, the health / injury avoiding benefits form a big part too. running barefoot is meant to reduce impact injuries commonly associated with shod running due to a front-foot strike that uses the foot's structure to manage your bodies weight with each step better than the heel strike encourage by all the padding in modern shoes.
obviously these claims meet with scepticism from some quarters, but they are also being backed up by some serious research.

check this video from Harvard's barefoot professor:


if you follow the science try the research site here.

barefoot : as safe as bare-hand

a wonderful weekend camping with friends in Epping forest meant i forgot i was meant to be resting my feet.

instead, i walked in the forest, gathered wood, stretched and strained putting up the tent, and jumped about playing Frisbee.

so my heels are a bit sore again, but nothing too bad.

however, i did get a cut on my toe (because, of course, i was barefoot), and this raised a host of imagined "i told you so"s in my mind. proof positive that barefoot is not just weird, but dangerous!

which set me thinking...

i and a number of my friends got small cuts on our hands from the wood. there were a couple of minor burns or scolds. one leg was bruised. 

none of which caused any particular alarm.

where necessary plasters where deployed, but for the most part the injured soldiered on without a second thought.

so why are feet any different?
if you use something, it may show a little wear and tear: hands, cars (thanks red car, who dinked our car's door), and yes, even feet.

but bodies are designed to heel, and with sense no real damage is done.

Apparently there is a common risk of enjoying barefoot to much...

...and it seems i have made this mistake.

for the last week i have been hobbling and limping and generally suffering for really sore heels. not the underside,  the soles of my feet are feeling great, but the back, where the tendons and stuff join the bones.

the 'and stuff' there points to the problem in part - i am trying to re-train and strengthen my feet without a proper understanding of what i am doing.
so now i can't run, although i am getting better at walking again.

i think this is a problem that has been brewing whilst i was walking in my VFFs, as my feet started hurting earlier in the year. the extra strain of the running has done the rest.

so - i need to go back to basics.
i have bought this very interesting looking book, which i hope will bring me safely back to the path.
fingers and toes crossed!

morning run

same 1 mile route weaving around my neighbourhood, in 7:50 this morning.

i was running in my VFFs today, and really missed the feel of the ground. however, i was able to concentrate more on technique, and they will help me open out the distance faster than bare feet proper will allow.

so - a bit faster, a little bit softer.

the biggest positive, however, is that i got out of bed for a run on a work day. a first for this lazy bed-head...

also been doing some research about running barefoot, looking for help with style and safely.
birthdayshoes seems like a great resource, so i have some homework now.

when i was 11 i could run about a mile in about 6 minutes

3 runs this week, and only 2 blisters so all-in-all i'm really happy.

i would never have thought i would be (willingly) running around my neighbourhood barefoot at all until a few weeks ago, so this is a success.

when i was 11 i could run about a mile in about 6 minutes.

stats for the runs:

1 - 1km in about 10 minutes.

2 - 1 mile in about 10 minutes. first blister on ring-toe (are there names for toes?)

3 - 1 mile in 8 minutes 20 - i remembered to check my watch properly. second blister under big toe as i changed the weight on my feet to avoid the first blister...

so, 30 years on and i am running about 2 minutes slower over a mile than my 11 year old self. i was a kind boy, so i hope i would have slowed down a bit for an old man and given encouragement. i was also full of energy and would probably have gladly run on ahead when the (still kind) old man told me not let him hold me up...

i am looking forward to catching me up. or at least drawing closer. but slowly does it. in my first ever race (my first real run) around a village in Cyprus i came 4th and still regret not getting a medal because i raced ahead too hard. the boy behind me just sat on my tail until the last bend, then sprinted past, having saved his energy. i learnt a good lesson that day. timing and patience matter at least as much as speed.

the first run was just around the block, to prove that i could / would do a barefoot run, and it turned out to be almost exactly 1km, according to this site here. having found a way to measure the first run, i wove a route around my local streets that was a mile, as i am a good imperial boy and prefer that distance to the new-fangled metric stuff.

i'm running with my shoes in hand, just in case i need to rest my feet, but no need for them yet, but it feels like a sensible precaution.

i am loving the difference in textures, temperatures, and other sensation.

the pavement feels really hard as expected, but the road feels softer which is down to texture i guess: the road has more texture so my feet have more to yield to and find grip on... maybe.

metal drain covers and such like, which i thought would feel harder again, mainly feel smooth and somehow softer, even those that have a raised pattern.

the streets have been dry, but near a washed car the pavement was wet. the cooling for my feet was good, and lasted longer than i would have expected.

i don't recall any of these variations in sensation when running in shoes. sure there was a difference between concrete and grass, but none of this range and subtlety. a great bonus.

i am trying to stretch after my run, and i'm feeling pretty good really, but i am conscious that i need to find out more about looking after my legs, especially as i extend the range. i'm happy with my small circuit for now, but have plotted a 3 mile route taking in the local park. the paths there are much rougher than the neighbourhood streets, so i'll need to build up toughness and distance first.

Never take the easy route

i haven't run for maybe fifteen years, because my knees just wouldn't let me.
however, the barefoot running thing i found in Born to Run has really called out to me, so this is my ambition...

before i'm 50 (closer than i care to think) i want to run a long way, barefoot.

a long way might be a marathon, it could be an ultra, but it might just be running as far as i can in a number of hours. no particular goal beyond that just at the moment.

barefoot. because it sounds right: we started off without shoes, and ran on both soft and hard stuff. it also feels amazing. i have made a very small test on concrete and my feet and running feel very alive.

first steps:

i have to toughen up my feet. years of shoes have made them soft. i'm walking barefoot on paths, pavements, in the forest. i'm walking until my feet get that little burn that warns you to stop before a blister pops up.

next week i'm going to start running...

3 reasons...

...i want to run again:

an inspiring book: Born to Run.

another inspiring book: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

A wee video full of nostalgia for my school days.