Keeping soles tough this winter

[Blind Boy]

I guess I forgot to add my

I guess I forgot to add my plan for this winter. I'll run as much as I possibly can in shoes outside and do a couple of track workouts every week, we've got an indoor 400 meter one here, to maintain my soles. The key word here is maintain, I don't run on surfaces that are rough enough to make really tough soles useful.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Conditioning your skin

Conditioning your skin doesn't make it thinner, and it surely doesn't stay the same thickness. Conditioning your skin makes it thicker. Thicker skin is tougher skin (it is stronger and does not damage as easy as thin skin). Thinner skin is weaker skin (it tears and can blister more easily than thicker skin). That's as simple as it gets.

Tough skin does not have to equal hard skin (calloused). You can have tough, hard skin, or you can have tough, conditioned skin. Both are thick skins and both are tough. Hardness and toughness, however, don't have to go hand-in-hand.

On a side note about toughness: Ken Bob doesn't like to use the word "tough" when referring to barefoot runners. What Ken Bob refers to is the mentality of barefoot runners being perceived as tougher than someone who does not run barefoot, meaning we are more sensitive because we CAN feel the ground, because we can feel our experience where someone who is shod cannot. He feels you are "tough" if you wear shoes. You are sensitive if you do not.

 

[NakedSoleNate]

 good distinction TJ....as a

good distinction TJ....as a yoga and martial arts teacher, I see lots of different feet ....and those that go barefoot more, or wear minimalst (flip flop/sandals) a lot don't have callouses....however, those who keep their feet confined in shoes, often do have callouses, and they spend lots of money at the pedicure place to have them shaved/buffed/rubbed off....tough feet doesn't mean "rocks on the end of your legs." .

I get a free foot massage and free reflexology treatment every time I walk out the door :-D And every time I take a run, I get a free exfoliation!!

 

[Danjo]

I think we're all agreeing

I think we're all agreeing here, just using different words for stuff. TJ, Ken Bob's idea of toughness is pretty much exactly what I'm talking about.