On my recent trip to the North Woods of Minnesota I did lots of BF and Minimal trail running... I also took lots of pictures.
Some of the stills I took of myself I did with a camera remote in hand... hoping to capture a winning picture of me dashing along the trails during my first BFR/MR vacation. I would setup the camera and then run by intermittently clicking away trying, I guess, to achieve a digital record of how cool I am or something. My wife took some others for me... shouting instructions like "smile" and "don't run angry".
But enough about my lameness.
I noticed something when I looked back over the "film"... the shots of me BFR on the trails, and in particular on the downhill patches showed me, reaching out, leading with my toes, almost tip-toeing if you will. My only guess is that this was a subconscious attempt to find a safe place to put my foot amid the rocks and roots. In comparison the shots of me running in similar conditions while minimally shod show my lead foot much more under my body or COG . Another surprise for me was that my knees kinda hurt while doing these trails BF, but not at all while MR... again I suspect the aforementioned form issue.
Trails are something I have been doing for a while bare... so I was surprised to see that my form could be so off while running them that way. I also was equally surprised that my minimal running form... the use of shoes for running (Feelmax Osma) being something which I had only dabbled in before this trip to MN would look and feel so good.
Anyway... I just thought I would share.
Needless to say... I'll be working on my BFR form some more on the hills and trails. But it's good to know that the MR option works for me.
Does anyone have any BFR pointers for keeping your feet more under you? Particularly on the downhills?
Thanks
S. Pimp.
Some of the stills I took of myself I did with a camera remote in hand... hoping to capture a winning picture of me dashing along the trails during my first BFR/MR vacation. I would setup the camera and then run by intermittently clicking away trying, I guess, to achieve a digital record of how cool I am or something. My wife took some others for me... shouting instructions like "smile" and "don't run angry".
But enough about my lameness.
I noticed something when I looked back over the "film"... the shots of me BFR on the trails, and in particular on the downhill patches showed me, reaching out, leading with my toes, almost tip-toeing if you will. My only guess is that this was a subconscious attempt to find a safe place to put my foot amid the rocks and roots. In comparison the shots of me running in similar conditions while minimally shod show my lead foot much more under my body or COG . Another surprise for me was that my knees kinda hurt while doing these trails BF, but not at all while MR... again I suspect the aforementioned form issue.
Trails are something I have been doing for a while bare... so I was surprised to see that my form could be so off while running them that way. I also was equally surprised that my minimal running form... the use of shoes for running (Feelmax Osma) being something which I had only dabbled in before this trip to MN would look and feel so good.
Anyway... I just thought I would share.
Needless to say... I'll be working on my BFR form some more on the hills and trails. But it's good to know that the MR option works for me.
Does anyone have any BFR pointers for keeping your feet more under you? Particularly on the downhills?
Thanks
S. Pimp.