Putting on more miles on barefoot

Hi Group,

Swire from Los Angeles here. I have been running barefoot since the start of 2014. The experience has been great and I'm here to stay. At the moment I'm averaging 20-25 miles a week. I usually run in the morning barefoot for 3 miles to take my son to school (my son run also in shoe and I drop him off at school at around a mile mark). At night I have been running 6 miles with my Vibram 5 fingers for a little more protection.

I'm trying to train for a local marathon in Nov 2014 and need to put on more miles with the training. During the 6 miles run my feet will be fatigue (not hurt) around the forefoot area, and I'm wondering if this is my feet that need more training to be stronger, or i should consider to put on some shoes for the "longer" run.

Please let me know if you have similar experience and how you dealt with them.

I was at the 15 miles mark at the LA Marathon in March as a spectator and saw a guy running the marathon barefoot, he is strong, has good form....everything. So I know this is possible but don't want to over do myself here.

Thanks All and keep running!
 
Hi Swire,
here is my two cents: with just a bit more than three month into barefoot running I think your are doing too much too soon with your 20-25 miles a week!!!
Putting on shoes for the longer run will not solve your problem but probably aggravate it: Your bare feet cry out to you "hey, STOP, we've had enough!" Be it because of hurt or just fatigue: Both will impede your form in one way or another. The best you can do is listen to your feet and stop running for the day. Rest is an important part of training!!!
If however at this point you insist and continue to run with shoes you risk an injury!
 
Hobbit and Gent have said it best. Cut back on the miles, and let your feet progress slowly, both biomechanically and with your plantar skin. Stop rushing. You'll get there.

Welcome!
 
You just need more training, it's all growing pains at this point. Continue to increase your longs run gradually, but run them barefoot. The barefoot marathons I have ran, my feet over everything else feel fantastic.
Thanks for the reply. How long did it take you to get your feet ready to run a marathon?
 
Thanks for the reply. How long did it take you to get your feet ready to run a marathon ?
it took me one whole year to run properly a half-marathon
I'm definitely NOT ready for a marathon, even if I can run 90 minutes everyday easily
I started from zero, my feet almost never touched the naked ground before starting that enlightning journey.
 
Thanks for the reply. How long did it take you to get your feet ready to run a marathon?

I ran my first barefoot marathon two years after my transition to barefoot running. (My first marathon was a year after my transition, but I ran it in VFF's, kind of regret that because I certainly was ready to run it barefoot, the mental aspect got the best of me on that one:))'

I ran some barefoot half marathons between those two years, then decided to run a marathon. For a marathon I train for 16 weeks, and all runs were barefoot. The long run is essential, it will give your feet (muscle, tendons, skin, etc.) the conditioning you need. I gradually build up my long runs. I suggest getting at least one or two 20 miler in your training. I usually do my last 20 miler 4 weeks out before the race, then a 3 week taper.
 
Everyone progresses at a different rate, and it also depends on your capabilities going into it. Have you already ran a marathon before, and just trying to switch to barefoot? Have you been barefoot generally a lot in life already? For me, I was up to 5-8 miles prior to my barefoot running, and was not barefoot ever and very tenderfoot. So for me the transition was probably longer than most. I started from scratch, just walking, then after a few weeks jogging starting around a hundred yards or so 3-4x a week, then the following week I'd go up 10%. Winter slowed me down and I took some weeks off, with that in mind it took me almost a half year to get to 5k distance barefoot. Some will recommend not racing at all your first year, but if you progress a little quicker thats certainly possible as long as you dont go crazy. I did my first half-marathon 11 months into barefoot running (and my longest race before then was a single 10k while I was shod) but I think it was a bit too much for me at that point to be honest. I did my first marathon 2yrs and 1 month after going barefoot.

Just remember its about learning good form and getting ones feet conditioned and back into natural movement and function in the beginning, not about racing or time. If your like most of us it will feel great and youll really want to push yourself and get excited about racing barefoot. You'll have plenty of time for the later, just make sure you transition and condition slowly at first. Good luck!
 
As one of the longer term newly barefoot runners here (???) I can also point out that even if your plantar skin, leg muscle and lung development is good, bones take longer to build up mass and strength.

From my perspective, you are exactly in that most dangerous phase where you can see "faster" and "farther" lurking right over the horizon and you think you can get there right away. Talking to most of the real senior people here will get you much better advice along the lines you've already seen. While there are a few prodigies around, there are a lot more folks with war stories that involve scary acronyms (TOPF, PF, ED, etc) and even hospitals.
 
HI Group,

Thanks for all the replies, happy to see we have a good discuss going on here. I have not ran a marathon before and is trying to make an attempt to run this Nov. Have been running all my short run 5k below in barefoot, and the "longer" runs I wear my Vibram.

What type of footware will you all suggest I show use to train for the first Marathon. At some point I hope my feet will be to run the entire marathon in barefoot.

I ran a 5k with my 8 year old son today. He finished the 5k in 32 minutes, and I complete my first barefoot race.
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Personally, I would continue training as much barefoot as you can and see how far you can work up to, and then if you still need footwear past that in order to finish your marathon then I would bring your vff's that you've been wearing so you can slip those on and finish the race. No shame in donning footwear.
 
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You need to make sure you go barefoot, outside of running, as often as possible. I would also add barefoot hiking to your training regimen because it is the perfect way to build up all the intricate muscles of your foot and ankle, that will absolutely NOT be exercised with just running -but are their super important "support" muscles.