Running barefoot in the rain - advice?

AnneTanne

Barefooters
Feb 27, 2012
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Balen, Belgium
annetanne.be
I always loved to run in the rain (you better do, when you live in Belgium...)

But a few days ago, I found an email in my mailbox (e-letter from howtorunbarefoot.com), stating:
Don't go running in the rain.
Have you ever gotten "dishpan hands?" You know, you soak your hands too much and
they become soft and wrinkly, the skin ready to just peel off?
Well, as you can imagine running barefoot in the rain (or just on wet roads) can do the
same thing to your feet - with disastrous results.
Avoid running when it's wet, or wear minimalist running shoes instead.

How true is this?
I might imagine this could happen when you're running for hours through a wet meadow, but on paths and/or roads?
I'm only a few weeks into my transition to barefoot running, and - it's difficult to believe - I haven't had a single run in the rain since. But fall comes closer, and so are the rainy days...
 
I've heard a lot of runners on here say that that sort of advice is a load of rubbish, and that they love to BFR in the rain... That said, I personally find it a lot more painful on my feet when running on tarmac pavements in the rain... perhaps it's an individual thing?
 
I've run for hours in the rain on trails and on roads. I've always come back with my skin intact. They are trying to sell you fear - and shoes.
Just be smart about it and check your feet periodically if you are worried. Stop at the first sign of any problem.
There are theories that the feet and hands wrinkle when wet for traction. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110628/full/news.2011.388.html
 
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I've run for hours in the rain on trails and on roads. I've always come back with my skin intact. They are trying to sell you fear - and shoes.
Just be smart about it and check your feet periodically if you are worried. Stop at the first sign of any problem.
There are theories that the feet and hands wrinkle when wet for traction. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110628/full/news.2011.388.html

Nice article!
Thank you for the link...

About trying to induce fear to make me buy shoes? Don't know, as it is from a website about barefoot running...
But that being said... Their hypothesis still sounds weird, as I guess that in ancient times, it rained as well as it does now...
 
I hope I don't offend any present company but there is something very off about that website. It reads like a late night infomercial and seems more concerned with getting facebook likes than providing sound barefoot running advice. Maybe he just wants enough page hits to get in on some free "barefoot" shoe review swag.

The only thing to be cautious about running in the rain is if the terrain involves slippery mud or moss and sharp rocks. Sometime back someone posted pics here of their feet after a rugged trail race in very rainy conditions and their feet were shredded. It seems he was basically sliding down muddy hillsides and his feet were cut up by sharp rocks underneath the mud. I don't think any amount of barefoot conditioning can prepare you for terrain like that and minimal shoes may be required. Otherwise, if you keep to the sidewalks, roads, or non-technical trails, running barefoot in the rain is perfectly fine.
 
It is a bunch of rubbish. I agree with Neil_D about concentrating on form more closely, I thinks it's more concentrating on lifting the feet more. You can tend to push off more when it's went, and that will cause friction burns. I run all the time in the rain, never had issues, this is barefoot running of course.

I ran 18 miles in the pouring rain once, barefoot, and came home without a blemish or wrinkly feet. I didn't do that by choice it was a training run for a marathon
 
Thank you all for the comments...
Glad to hear I don't have to stop my transitioning once the weather gets Belgian again, and that - as Bare Lee says - I can keep going out in the elements (never ran one yard on a treadmill...)
Nothing so refreshing as a run by dusk in a drizzle...
 
I always loved to run in the rain (you better do, when you live in Belgium...)

But a few days ago, I found an email in my mailbox (e-letter from howtorunbarefoot.com), stating:


How true is this?
I might imagine this could happen when you're running for hours through a wet meadow, but on paths and/or roads?
I'm only a few weeks into my transition to barefoot running, and - it's difficult to believe - I haven't had a single run in the rain since. But fall comes closer, and so are the rainy days...
Ik loop regelmatig in de regen en heb nergens last van.Als ge loopt is er wind aan uw voeten en bij iedere stap heft ge uw voeten van de grond.Ik zou me er niet te druk over maken.Gewoon proberen en zien of het voor u werkt zou ik zeggen.Als ik nog met schoenen liep en ge ging dan in het bos lopen als alles nat was en ik liep een uur of anderhalf en ik deed dan mijn schoenen uit thuis dan zagen mijn voeten er wel uit alsof ik net uit bad kwam.Zeg het dan maar...;):)
 
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One of the reasons I like running so much, and abhor things like treadmills and rowing machines, is that it gets me out in the elements. Embrace them. The wind, rain, snow, heat, and cold are our friends. They help get us out of our human-made cocoons, back out into the wider universe, and back into our own skins.
Thank you for your wise words grasshopper:D;)
 
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Ik loop regelmatig in de regen en heb nergens last van.Als ge loopt is er wind aan uw voeten en bij iedere stap heft ge uw voeten van de grond.Ik zou me er niet te druk over maken.Gewoon proberen en zien of het voor u werkt zou ik zeggen.Als ik nog met schoenen liep en ge ging dan in het bos lopen als alles nat was en ik liep een uur of anderhalf en ik deed dan mijn schoenen uit thuis dan zagen mijn voeten er wel uit alsof ik net uit bad kwam.Zeg het dan maar...;):)
Hard to believe Dutch/Flemish is English's closet cousin.
 
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Ik loop regelmatig in de regen en heb nergens last van.Als ge loopt is er wind aan uw voeten en bij iedere stap heft ge uw voeten van de grond.Ik zou me er niet te druk over maken.Gewoon proberen en zien of het voor u werkt zou ik zeggen.Als ik nog met schoenen liep en ge ging dan in het bos lopen als alles nat was en ik liep een uur of anderhalf en ik deed dan mijn schoenen uit thuis dan zagen mijn voeten er wel uit alsof ik net uit bad kwam.Zeg het dan maar...;):)

Geboren in Waalwijk? Klinkt behoorlijk Vlaams volgens mij???
(Born in Waalwijk (i.e. the Netherlands)? Sounds rather Flemish to me???)
 
Hard to believe Dutch/Flemish is English's closet cousin.

When I'm abroad, and there are people from the most western province of Flanders around (region around Bruges), and I'm close enough to hear the sound and rythm of their language, but I'm not close enough to understand them, it can be difficult to tell if they are British or West-Flemish...
 
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Don't listen to them Anne, obviously they have no experience running in the rain-they should try it before they open their mouth and spill their BS. pardon my language is that type of comments that get me.