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.

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Unfortunately, I've had to put my goal hunting on hold for the moment. I really didn't want to have to do this, but if I'm going to succeed in moving whole-heartedly across to barefoot/Vibram clad running, I have to be sensible.

In my goals list, you'll see I've started off with two very simple and easy to attain goals:

1. 1km training run, 3x a week without feeling stiff or sore on the days that follow.
2. 2km training run, 3x a week without feeling stiff or sore on the days that follow.

To be honest, I've conquered both of these goals in distance, but not without the latter part - "without feeling stiff or sore on the days that follow" - I'm being very strict with myself here.

The stiffness is no longer an issue, it's the pain in my feet. The pain in my 2nd metatarsal I mentioned before keeps cropping up as soon as I start to increase my distances. I suspect I may have a slight stress fracture left from my first over-ambitious attempts at running barefoot.

So in the interests of injury cure and prevention, I'm taking the next two months off running completely. No running barefoot, Vibram clad or in shoes. I'll be turning to the indoor rower to keep my cardio fitness up in the mean time.

I think the take home message here is: a little at a time. This potential injury is due to me taking things too fast, too soon when I first got the idea of barefoot running in my head. Unfortunately, it's affecting my calculated approach, which this blog is documenting.

Hopefully by the end of January my feet will be happy and I can make a concerted effort with running barefoot again.