Hello, from Maryville Tennessee

Hello friends,

My name is Erick. A little about me:

I just turned forty. Married to a wonderful lady. Have three dogs. Live near the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. I've been a couch potato my entire life, with the exception of the occasional hiking excursion. A year ago I was bending the scale at 299 lb's, at 5'7". I've lost fifty pounds since then by changing my eating habits, but still had the mindset that a fat guy (which I definitely still am) should not be running.

A few months ago I ran across a Youtube video entitled, "Are we born to run?" I was very intrigued, so I looked up the guy in the video, Christopher McDougall, and saw that he had a book. I snatched a copy of Born to Run up on Amazon, and began to read. I was inspired. It made me question a lot of assumptions.

So, I decided to try some stuff. I started out walking the dogs, barefoot. I have never really gone barefoot for an extended walk before. The gravel was a little harsh but other than that it felt really good. A few weeks later I started actually running a little, up and down the sidewalk, for very short distances. My form was horrible (probably still is). I was up on the balls of my feet, thinking I had to "prevent" my heal from touching the ground. A few weeks later I was running a block, then a mile, and now I am up to four miles. I've gone through some growing pains. I had sore calves and feet for a while, but now they are fine. I've hit some big rocks that literally left me limping away. I was relieved to experience that the feet really do bounce back quickly from this kind of thing.

Everything was going great until a couple of days ago. I went for my usual after work jog around the park. Just a quick couple of miles, nothing out of the ordinary. When I got home I noticed some pain in my left foot. In the top left side of my foot, I had a spot that hurt if I pressed on it. I assumed it would be like the other growing pains I had experienced, and would just heal up after a good nights rest. It hasn't. I worked on it all the next day, and that made it worse. I'm going to get it x-rayed today, to make sure that it's not something serious. I'm finding it hard to squelch the old thoughts that a guy my size has no business running. I am losing weight, but I don't want to wait until I am a healthy weight to take running up again. I've found that I love it.

Anyway, sorry for dumping my injury woes on you all. I just wanted to introduce my self, and give thanks for this community. I hope I am able to still do this. It's brought life into me. I'm sure you know what I mean.
 
First, welcome! Glad you found us. Second, continue putting in the effort to lose weight, even if you find you have an injury that prevents you from running or exercising. Third, and most importantly, were you running on the balls of your feet focusing on not letting your heels touch the ground prior to discovering your left foot pain? That's the big, red flag in your story, and that's a no-no. You should allow your heels to touch the ground. If you can practice better form (I don't believe anyone has perfect form 100% of the time.), then you shouldn't have to be concentrating on your heels. Your heels will touch the ground when you are running properly, not strike the ground. I'll ask Barefoot Ken Bob to comment, and hopefully, some of our other veteran runners can chime in. Don't give up. Get a diagnosis, then go from there.
 
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First, welcome! Glad you found us. Second, continue putting in the effort to lose weight, even if you find you have an injury that prevents you from running or exercising. Third, and most importantly, were you running on the balls of your feet focusing on not letting your heels touch the ground prior to discovering your left foot pain? That's the big, red flag in your story, and that's a no-no. You should allow your heels to touch the ground. If you can practice better form (I don't believe anyone has perfect form 100% of the time.), then you shouldn't have to be concentrating on your heels. Your heels will touch the ground when you are running properly, not strike the ground. I'll ask Barefoot Ken Bob to comment, and hopefully, some of our other veteran runners can chime in. Don't give up. Get a diagnosis, then go from there.
Thanks for the reply. I had corrected the "heel up" thing a while back, actually from watching one of Ken Bob's videos on YouTube. It seemed like a really good run. As far as I could tell, everything was spot on with form. I'm thinking it's probably just related to being way heavier than I should be. About to head over to the walk-in. Hopefully nothing is permanently messed up.

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Hi Erick,

Welcome and good luck with the injury diagnosis -hopefully it's just bruising and you can let it heal ok before getting back out there. There's bound to be a few challenges as you go;) (I think most here will have experienced various new things along the way...).
Keep us posted..
 
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I have a name for the beast. It is "Peroneal Tendonitis." The good news is that I have no broken bones and no tears of anything. It is just an inflamed tendon.

I did get a little bit of a shocked expression from the PA when she asked what kind of shoes I use, and I answered that I go barefoot or in Five Fingers. She immediately told me that this was probably the cause of the injury and advised that I get some "good running shoes."

I think I may take a break from running for just a little while. I need to get my weight down, and I can use the bike, and focus on drills and strengthening exercises like doming.

I welcome any thoughts or advice.

Thanks.
 
I have a name for the beast. It is "Peroneal Tendonitis." The good news is that I have no broken bones and no tears of anything. It is just an inflamed tendon.

I did get a little bit of a shocked expression from the PA when she asked what kind of shoes I use, and I answered that I go barefoot or in Five Fingers. She immediately told me that this was probably the cause of the injury and advised that I get some "good running shoes."

I think I may take a break from running for just a little while. I need to get my weight down, and I can use the bike, and focus on drills and strengthening exercises like doming.

I welcome any thoughts or advice.

Thanks.
I think she is mis-advised and doesn't know enough about barefoot running or shod running.

On the other foot, minshoes have been known to cause people to do too much too soon. We think we can continue moving/running in the same way that we did in "normal" (not-normal) shoes. We are fooled by the "security" of having coverage; while running barefoot exposes our weaknesses and forces us to address them.

If your running in VFFs preempted this injury, that may be where your problem lies, not running barefoot. Barefoot running gets a bad rap for the injuries that take place in minshoes because doctors, clinicians, etc., do not care to separate the two. Many studies are incorrectly concluded based upon something that was on someone's foot, when the study itself carries "barefoot running" in its title.

Heal well, and keep in touch.
 
Glad to hear it's just tendonitis! I had extensor tendonitis on the tops of both feet when I first transitioned. That was when I was still wearing my padded, structured Asics and landing with my heels way too high up. I was also still over-striding and had really only transitioned from over-striding with a heel-strike to over-striding with a forefoot strike. The killer wasn't so much where my foot struck the ground but how far out in front of my center-of-gravity I was landing. And my own issues with tendonitis went away when I got rid of the cushioning and started running totally unshod so don't listen to anyone telling you shoes are the answer.

And the other side of it was striking the ground. Things didn't really click for me until I focused on completely the reverse:

LIfting my feet off the ground.

Don't worry about where your feet land or how for a while just focus on that lift. Attempt the impossible movement of lifting each foot off the ground the instant it touches the ground. Again: that's impossible to actually do but it's that whole funky mind/body connection you're trying to work with and trick into moving your body with good form. If your focus is on this quick lift you'll be light on your feet with whisper quiet steps and a lot closer to that 180 steps/minute cadence.

Some helpful visualizations:

* Run like you're on hot coals
* Run like you're sneaking up on someone
* Run like you're prancing
* Run like you're marching

Whichever one of those gets you to be always picking your feet off the ground works go with it!

And to repeat what others have already said in many ways you're safer running totally unshod than in your VFFs. In fact, I've started seeking out gravel and other super uncomfortable surfaces to run on unshod (for short periods) specifically because it does such a great job of teaching good technique and how to be light on your feet. Even VFFs and the most minimalist shoes out there provide a lot more comfort than you might think and allow you to land a bit harder than you should. The more you run barefoot the better things will be.

Finally: don't ever be afraid or too proud to slow down even if you think you're already slow. I can keep a 7:00 pace for a 5K but have no probelm at all doing 10-11 minute miles for any run longer than 4-5 miles while training. I try to stay below my aerobic threshold heart rate (180 minus your age so a HR of 136 for a 44yo like me) for all my longer training runs and leave racing to race day. That will make your training runs even more fun and you'll start to see your mileage go way up because you're not prematurely exhausting yourself. And, if you want to see the weight come off fast nothing does it better than super slow, long runs.

Heal up and keep at it!
 
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One more thing on that lift. Try this at home!


Dr. Cucuzzella is a big proponent of barefoot running and his demonstration at the point in this video I start at is a great one to try out yourself. You'll very quickly see how much easier it is to run in place like he is with a quick, springy cadence as opposed to a slow cadence. Let that elasticity do the work for you.

As you may or may not remember from your read of B2R (I might have read it 4 times because I get obsessed) we're only rivaled by the kangaroo when it comes to springy leg tendons. When I finally focused myself on running like I'm "barefoot on hot coals" I also started accessing these springy tendons. The long miles unlocked for me and suddenly 5-6 milers weren't my middle-long runs but my easy runs and I had to go at least 10 miles to feel like I got in a workout. I didn't magically get in better shape overnight I just finally used a tool that had always been there.

And, after reading all this stuff from me the most important thing of all: enjoy the run! Don't make it stressful. This is your "me" time for meditative stress release so don't try to "destroy" your previous day's time every run. That just adds one more stress into your life you don't need and it won't get you anything but frustrated.
 
I think she is mis-advised and doesn't know enough about barefoot running or shod running.

On the other foot, minshoes have been known to cause people to do too much too soon. We think we can continue moving/running in the same way that we did in "normal" (not-normal) shoes. We are fooled by the "security" of having coverage; while running barefoot exposes our weaknesses and forces us to address them.

If your running in VFFs preempted this injury, that may be where your problem lies, not running barefoot. Barefoot running gets a bad rap for the injuries that take place in minshoes because doctors, clinicians, etc., do not care to separate the two. Many studies are incorrectly concluded based upon something that was on someone's foot, when the study itself carries "barefoot running" in its title.

Heal well, and keep in touch.

Yeah, I don't think she really knew that barefoot running was a thing, seeing how amazed she was that I was doing it. I just nodded and went along with it, but I'm not convinced that running barefoot caused this.

About the minshoes, I actually go barefoot on most of my runs, including the one just before this event. I normally use the VFFs when trail running or when the pavement is really hot. I think I was pushing myself a little too hard. I've gotten into the habit of trying to beat my time from the previous day. That probably contributed to the bad form. When I get back on the horse, I'm going to keep it slow and easy for a while.
 
One more thing on that lift. Try this at home!


Dr. Cucuzzella is a big proponent of barefoot running and his demonstration at the point in this video I start at is a great one to try out yourself. You'll very quickly see how much easier it is to run in place like he is with a quick, springy cadence as opposed to a slow cadence. Let that elasticity do the work for you.

As you may or may not remember from your read of B2R (I might have read it 4 times because I get obsessed) we're only rivaled by the kangaroo when it comes to springy leg tendons. When I finally focused myself on running like I'm "barefoot on hot coals" I also started accessing these springy tendons. The long miles unlocked for me and suddenly 5-6 milers weren't my middle-long runs but my easy runs and I had to go at least 10 miles to feel like I got in a workout. I didn't magically get in better shape overnight I just finally used a tool that had always been there.

And, after reading all this stuff from me the most important thing of all: enjoy the run! Don't make it stressful. This is your "me" time for meditative stress release so don't try to "destroy" your previous day's time every run. That just adds one more stress into your life you don't need and it won't get you anything but frustrated.

Wow, thanks for the great advice. I really liked the video. Going to have to watch it a few times. I liked the visualization ideas too. I think that's going to really help.
 
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Very happy to help, Erick!

And, yes, if you've been trying to beat yesterday's time every day that can be fun and motivating as you're starting out in the sport but soon traps you in a vicious cycle. You're better off running slow most of the time. That makes speed jealous so it comes to you even faster. ;)
 
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Great responses, Trevize! Thanks for taking the time to help Erick out. :barefoot:
 
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Cool. I was going to chime in, but was pretty busy at work, until recently. Thursday was my first day of retirement, so hoping to chime in a bit more often. Anyway, looks like you got many of the right answers from others on the group.
 
P.S. After we visit family in Colorado and Michigan next spring, we might be heading south through Tennessee, etc., or thereabouts for some Play-Fun-Shops to discuss and practice techniques. Just waiting to here from people interested.
More info at: http://RunBarefootTour.com
 
P.S. After we visit family in Colorado and Michigan next spring, we might be heading south through Tennessee, etc., or thereabouts for some Play-Fun-Shops to discuss and practice techniques. Just waiting to here from people interested.
More info at: http://RunBarefootTour.com
Definitely interested. When you get a date pinned down, I'll help you promote it.

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Cool. I was going to chime in, but was pretty busy at work, until recently. Thursday was my first day of retirement, so hoping to chime in a bit more often. Anyway, looks like you got many of the right answers from others on the group.
Retirement? Wow! Happy Retirement, Ken Bob? What long-term plans do you have for yourself and Cathy? :barefoot: