Will rickwhitelaw do it? He only needs 7 more km to reach 400 km barefoot, this winter. Quite impressive. We Canucks take our toques off to you Rick.
Winter Challenge - 2012
- Thread starter Barefoot YOW
- Start date
Week 13 update
We have reached some big milestones
We have reached some big milestones
- We surpassed total kilometers run for 2011. We now sit at 2363 km or 1468 miles
- rickwhitelaw hit 400+ km
- rickwhitelaw hit 50 runs
- Barefooting Bob set a new record low at -31.2C (-24F)
Got it, but it came with some pain. I've had a little arch and heel stress from some prior runs and some downhill skiing. 9 k sub freezing trail hike. Some running, but not much, the trail was too technical. By the end of the hike I was doing some limping and my foot is pretty sore right now. Good time to back it off a little and spend some family time (my in-laws are calling me Forest Gump). Happy New Year!
Take some well deserved time off of those feet Rick (it might be the only way I can catch you 
). Take a bow for a great bit of running and I'm sure a whole lot more to come.
). Take a bow for a great bit of running and I'm sure a whole lot more to come.
Thanks Bob and Yow.
Maybe another word of caution. How do running surfaces change with the cold? I have a hurt foot, heel and arch pain. I am questioning whether the increased hardness of the ground and not adjusting my form properly contributed to this. Maybe the frozen ground was just a little too much for my feet? There is certainly not any give to frozen terrain and a little more caution should have been used. Maybe the cold made my feet less flexible? Maybe more warm up time? One of the problems is getting up to pace fast to keep the toes warm. Maybe I need to wear something to warm up instead of just jumping in barefoot? Well, I should be fine and back at it soon. Thoughts?
Maybe another word of caution. How do running surfaces change with the cold? I have a hurt foot, heel and arch pain. I am questioning whether the increased hardness of the ground and not adjusting my form properly contributed to this. Maybe the frozen ground was just a little too much for my feet? There is certainly not any give to frozen terrain and a little more caution should have been used. Maybe the cold made my feet less flexible? Maybe more warm up time? One of the problems is getting up to pace fast to keep the toes warm. Maybe I need to wear something to warm up instead of just jumping in barefoot? Well, I should be fine and back at it soon. Thoughts?
I usually start in minimalist foot wear and then lose them, that way I know my toes and feet are nice and warmed up. It definitely works for me. My little jaunt yesterday started with barefeet and I definitely noticed the difference. I had ran at -32 previously and my feet felt fantastic, yesterday the -28 or so was felt for the rest of the day. Note, my toes are still expressing their tinglely feelings right now and that is just weird to me. No damage done as I also ran a 11 miler last night, and believe me I have been checking my feet constantly, but the tingling is still there. Strange, strange indeed.
I definitely noticed that when I get close to my limits, especially on my slush runs. The metatarsals become stiff. So I suppose that could affect one's arch movement.
I've never done that, but I do think it can extend your limits. I wish I would've done that last week. Probably wouldn't have gotten frost nip. My feet-heat always kicks in after 10-15 minutes. Before that my feet undergo what I call the numb-plunge, becoming progressively colder until my raised metabolism can stabilize or reverse the process. On last week's misadventure, the feet had numbed up too much before the feet-heat kicked in, and so it was too late.
BTW, to anyone who has gotten mild frost nip: how long can expect my feet to be sensitive to heat? I mainly notice it at night when my feet are under the covers. I would imagine experiences are variable, but I would appreciate hearing of other people's experiences. My toes don't seem to be any extra sensitive to cold, and I can do all my normal winter barefoot activities like grill out on the deck, help unload groceries, get the mail, etc.
NickW
Guest
mine were numb for about two months before they came back to life from a hot bath Lee... Sounds like it depends on the severity and the person.
Hmmn, my case appears to be a bit different. My toes haven't been tingly since the following day, but they were sparkly up until a couple of days ago, if by "sparkly" you mean feeling little electric shocks from time to time. Now it's been a week and they're still a bit numb, or maybe it's just that the callouses have hardened a bit as a result of the mild freezing. And I just noticed the heat sensitivity New Year's morning, when we had the heater in our bedroom on too high. Thanks for the feedback.
I had a very mild case after a short 11 F. run. Sensitive for about 4 days. Enough of a reminder to tell me not to fool around in those temps. Even with better conditioning I'm not going to try anything under 25 F.
Although winter barefooting doesn't fit well in my training philosophy (=should be mostly fun), I gotta say that you guys are inspirational.
Perhaps I will later participate in this challenge, once my feet have adapted to cold better, there definitely have been some progress - now it seems that using of socks (with altra instincts) at work feels uncomfortably warm if temperature is warmer than -5°C. Last year I definitely needed socks earlier. But I got inspired enough to start this new training thing for cold adaption - I walk around my house everyday (just did for first time, felt painful), I'm telling it here because I probably need some mental push to actually keep doing it. Also it will probably help my sore ball of foot, like icing tends to help. I haven't even been able to run well for couple of weeks. And if there's even a minor progress in cold adaptation, I can do more barefooting at summer.
Perhaps I will later participate in this challenge, once my feet have adapted to cold better, there definitely have been some progress - now it seems that using of socks (with altra instincts) at work feels uncomfortably warm if temperature is warmer than -5°C. Last year I definitely needed socks earlier. But I got inspired enough to start this new training thing for cold adaption - I walk around my house everyday (just did for first time, felt painful), I'm telling it here because I probably need some mental push to actually keep doing it.
Also it will probably help my sore ball of foot, like icing tends to help. I haven't even been able to run well for couple of weeks. And if there's even a minor progress in cold adaptation, I can do more barefooting at summer.
It is fun, just in a different sort of way.
did my first slush run.....different than I expected...it was slush on top of ice so it was squishy, hard, and wet all at once. In all honesty the most discomfort came once out of the slush....not while actually running in it...
anyway....did 2.5km of my run bf at 1C....Ill take it for now
anyway....did 2.5km of my run bf at 1C....Ill take it for now
Like last year, once you guys have completed the Winter Challenge, please let me have a report (with pictures if possible), so I can share it on the home page for everyone to see. Thanks!
With the holidays and vacation and things I've been a little out of (winter)action over the last month and a half. I've gotten a few qualifying runs in, but I've also started doing a bit of CrossFit these last few weeks to mix things up. I'm loving it but have also learned that I'm definitely more of a runner than anything else. Still, I know the cross training is doing me a lot of good, and the feet never have problems staying warm!
Anyway, just wanted to say I've enjoyed reading through all I've missed the last few weeks and WOOOOOW, talk about racking up the mileage!! You guys are awesome!! Keep it up!!
Anyway, just wanted to say I've enjoyed reading through all I've missed the last few weeks and WOOOOOW, talk about racking up the mileage!! You guys are awesome!! Keep it up!!
I finally bought an infrared thermometer to help answer a question I had. Is road temp. or air temp. the determining factor of how cold I can run barefoot.
I had a winter run a few weeks back of 37 degrees F air temp. and it felt fine but then about a week later, I ran the same course at 40 degrees F and it felt colder. The only change was that the ground had a little more time to get colder. Today, it was 49 degrees air temp and the road was 39 degrees and there were no problems with cold. Once it gets cold again, I'll check the road temp. to see how much colder it gets.
I had a winter run a few weeks back of 37 degrees F air temp. and it felt fine but then about a week later, I ran the same course at 40 degrees F and it felt colder. The only change was that the ground had a little more time to get colder. Today, it was 49 degrees air temp and the road was 39 degrees and there were no problems with cold. Once it gets cold again, I'll check the road temp. to see how much colder it gets.
Yes! I've been really curious about this as well but am too cheap to spring for the thermometer myself at the moment. I'd really like to know if my feet feel colder during morning runs than afternoon runs because the ground is colder or because heartrate/circulation drops while I'm sleeping and the feet need more time to get going.
