TOTT?

Maybe I'm too old to transition. After taking off six weekswith Achilles tendonitis. I ran a 5k BF (with almost no training)and a few days later pulled my right calf muscle. I took five weeks off, thenI did three 6 mile runs and drove to Erie PA and ran the Presque Isle 1/2 marathon. My plan was to run the first ten miles in my Kinvara shoes, then take them off and run the 5k to the finish BF. The first ten miles were great, the park was beautiful, I was averageing about 8:40 pace. At the ten mile marker I took off my shoes and decided to carry them the last 5k. The switch to BF felt great. I picked up the pace to 8:20 and was beginning to kick to the finish when, with .2 miles to go I pulled my left calf muscle. I couldn't run, I could barely walk. I put my shoes back on, thinking a little heel lift might help. I struggled to the finish loseing about three minutes, but somehow still managed to win my age group. Now it's one week later and I was able to walkone and a half miles today before the pain returned. I'm signed up to run a 5k in two weeks, but I don't think it will happen. I really want to run the Turkey Trot 5 miles Thanksgiving. I've been trying to make the transition since last November. I do all my short runs BF and the long runs with my Kinvaras or minimal (Hattori) I have no doubt that my BF racing form leaves much to be desired, however it feels great and I can run faster than with shoes. At sixty eight this is an experiment and I am too impatient to take the time to ease back into running. I've always had injuries when I ran shod, so I cannot blame the difficulties solely on BF.

Comments

You're a badass for finishing your half-marathon. I've done the pulled calf muscle thing and it is hard to continue at anything but a slow jog.

I pulled my left calf doing a 5k race on a gravel trail in NB trail minimus. Re-pulled it a month later doing a barefoot beach run. Then went ahead and ran the next 2 days, each time messing it up a little more.

What I've found works best is not running for 2 weeks and wearing compression calf sleeves (mine are Zenza) when the run might be intense and post workout.

Hope you heal quickly and find a way to run without injury.
 
O.J. Thanks for the understanding. You were smart to take off two weeks. I'm so impatient that I would probably be crawling on my hands and knees if I couldn't run.

I did run the Turkey Trot BF with my daughter. I had to drop out at three and a half miles (8k race) just as someone was congratulating me on running BF. It's thefirst race I've ever quit, however my calf tightened up and I wasn't going to make it worse. I did see one other BF runner and we exchanged greetings.

I'm back up to 6 miles now, mostly BF knock on wood, so far it's good.
 

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