Barefoot Runner

Woohooo!!!! I'm running again folks and boy does it feel good to be back out there running.

It's been just over 6 weeks since I hurt my foot and I decided yesterday was the day to finally head out and test how my foot has recovered. I can say it was a great success. I took a gentle 1 mile out-and-back run and all felt good. I could feel a slight niggle on the top of my left foot during the early stages but this soon disappeared as my muscles relaxed and I adjusted my form. As I was feeling so good, I threw in 4 sets of 10 burpees with each set immediately followed by a fast 50m run. Wow these felt good. It was tough towards the end but quite exciting to feel what it feels like to run on legs that feel like jelly again.

Surprisingly, my legs and feet all feel tip-top this morning, so 6 weeks off hasn't de-conditioned me much. That said, my feet are a bit more sensitive now.

The time not running wasn't all lost time. During this time I have discovered quite a bit about my stride, feet and legs.

Continue »

I know this is a bit short notice, but I've been a tad on the excessively busy side of things are work and really haven't wanted to touch a computer when I got home.

If you're interested in taking the plunge into barefoot running, but want to be sure you're doing it right or with a bit of guidance, why not take advantage of the Barefoot Experience Workshops Terra Plana are hosting next week...

Continue »

A couple of months ago Jason Robillard approached me asking if I'd be interested in reviewing his book The Barefoot Running Book: A Practical Guide to the Art and Science of Barefoot and Minimalist Shoe Running. Being one eager to see how others can learn about barefoot running, I graciously accepted Jason's offer and a couple of weeks later a copy of his booked dropped through the letterbox. Thanks Jason.

The first thing that struck me was the size of the book, or more precisely the lack there of. The book is A5 in dimensions and has only 52 pages of reading material, excluding the exercises and appendix at the back, however the lack of size is easily made up by the wealth of information contained within. The book is broken up into 5 progressive sections: Why Barefoot Running, Pre-running, Starting to Run Barefoot, Intermediate Barefoot Running and finally Other Topics which covers things like hecklers, training and cross training.

Continue »

A couple of weeks ago, I received the following query in a comment...

Hi,
I'm a Physio based in Guildford. I've been looking into barefoot running for the last 6 months having had repetitive shin splints from running in expensive shoes-and finally found some fivefingers on sale. So I've taken the plunge and ordered some kso's to test the whole barefoot running out of both personal and professional interest. Can I ask, how did you start out? What sort of training plan would you advise?
Thanks,
Joe

I started to write a response to the comment in the comments section of that post and realised it was becoming a rather long response and should probably warrant it's own post so others can find it too. So here it is and sorry about the delay in writing it Joe, it's been a crazy few weeks.

Continue »

Still annoyed by the fact I managed to sideline myself for several weeks, I've been reviewing my training logs and thinking long and hard about what I did to hurt my foot. Have I done this right? Did I do that wrong? Could I have done something different? And that's when it struck me: yes I could have done something different. I could have put my ego/desires in my pocket and listened to my body, but I didn't.

Continue »

It's been a week now since I ran the second Yateley 10k in which I cracked 45 minutes, but also developed a pain on the top of my foot and I think the top-of-foot-pain (ToFP) may be a stress fracture of the 3rd metatarsal.

Continue »

Wednesday evening saw the running of the second of the three Yateley 10k races in the series, and like the first one, I ran it barefoot.

I'd had a bit of a sedentary two weeks building up to the race following the onset of the early signs of the dreaded top of foot pain (ToFP) that cropped up during my piggies hill training session on 22 June. With only a single tabata rowing session done between then and the race I went in the race very relaxed and rested with my foot feeling good too.

Continue »

Better late than never. Last Wednesday saw me take on my first imperial distance race (we only do metric distances in South Africa): The Forest Five (mile) at The Look Out in Bracknell and what a fantastic evening and offroad race it was.

Following the test run I did on the Monday, I had intended on running in my huaraches, but then common sense prevailed and I opted to run in my Vibrams instead. I decided not to run in the huaraches as I've not done much running in them yet and the last thing I wanted were blisters from the different style of footwear, especially likely as I'm not too sure I've got them properly adjusted yet.

My wife very generously offered to drive me to the race and we arrived with about half an hour to spare. As I pre-registered online I already had my number so had plenty time to locate the race start - it's a little walk into the forest - and warm up. It was a very pleasant evening, so getting warm wasn't a problem.

Continue »