I reckon I'm done

jjb

Barefooters
Jul 15, 2015
90
82
18
LA
I started running (shod) in earnest in January 2015.
I added too much, too soon, and had plantar fascitis and a stress fracture in my knee by April 2015.
I read Born To Run in June and switched to barefoot immediately.
I healed my PF by barefooting.
I started running again in July.
I ran my first barefoot 10K in November.
I developed a stress fracture in my right metatarsal in December.
I wore a hard shoe until February 1.
I started barefooting again mid-February -- adding a quarter-mile each week.
I again started feeling the same pain in my right foot by the end of April.
The pain is still here. I refuse to wear that boot again. It's too demoralizing.

So.

Maybe we are indeed born to run barefoot.
Maybe we're not born to run barefoot on cement and asphalt.
Maybe you're born to run barefoot, but I'm not.

I dunno. All I want is to be able to get back out there, put some miles on, feel that glorious abandon.
 
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I appreciate how you feel - I'm re-habbing a (non-running related) knee injury and haven't run since January. Physical therapist says don't even think about running until at least August. I can't wait to hit the pavement again, but I'm following his advice. And I WILL get back to running!

You are definitely pushing too hard. In my opinion (after more than 16 years of running barefoot), 3 or 4 months from not running to doing a 10K following a bout of PF AND a stress fracture is WAY too much way too soon. As much as you want to get out there and bang out the miles, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor if you give yourself time to heal and take it really slow when you do start back up.
Maybe you could try some low-impact barefoot activity in the meantime - stationary bike or an elliptical machine might work for you.

I think you'd be jumping the gun to give up now - just be patient, listen to your body, and as Ken Bob would say - have fun!
Good luck!
 
I agree with the sailor man. Be patient. :turtle:
 
Keep going! We have all done too much too soon and seen our butts.

Just think that the mere fact that you considered BFR means you are a sub-set of humans who are prepared to challenge the status quo. And for BFR, that means not just posting some meme on FB but doing it day by day. It is not a cocoon existence, it's real, it's not consequence free, it's not safe being out there but every victory feels so rewarding. Every person you run past is being challenged to look at the world, and themselves, differently.

Read Ken Bob's book- he keeps on bringing in - "Bend your Knees!" Solves almost every problem.
 
I have had what I believed was a stress fracture in the 2nd metty of my right foot twice. (Not x-ray verified.) It comes and goes with me. I have actually found that stretching the top of the foot (a la putting the top of my toes face down and pressing the foot downward in a standing or sitting position) has limited or eliminated the discomfort. It is the worst after a long (and I mean long) run - so I think there may be something that swells and pinches in the area. Are you sure its a stress fracture? Good luck, btw, hope you get healed and run dozens of 10K's.
 
I have had what I believed was a stress fracture in the 2nd metty of my right foot twice. (Not x-ray verified.) It comes and goes with me. I have actually found that stretching the top of the foot (a la putting the top of my toes face down and pressing the foot downward in a standing or sitting position) has limited or eliminated the discomfort. It is the worst after a long (and I mean long) run - so I think there may be something that swells and pinches in the area. Are you sure its a stress fracture? Good luck, btw, hope you get healed and run dozens of 10K's.

I'm not sure, no. It just feels exactly the same as the verified SF I had back in December 2015.

I'm just frustrated, people. I'm not giving up on barefooting -- hell, I went to OSH barefoot today! -- but I'm pretty discouraged about running this way.

I walk my dog for a mile every morning and lately the top of my right foot starts hurting about a quarter mile in, so I don't imagine running is in order. I guess I'll just stop for the time being -- but I swear, I eased back in soooooo slowly last time that I'm not holding out a ton of hope that this rest is going to be any different than the last rest. Y'know?
 
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I appreciate how you feel - I'm re-habbing a (non-running related) knee injury and haven't run since January. Physical therapist says don't even think about running until at least August. I can't wait to hit the pavement again, but I'm following his advice. And I WILL get back to running!

You are definitely pushing too hard. In my opinion (after more than 16 years of running barefoot), 3 or 4 months from not running to doing a 10K following a bout of PF AND a stress fracture is WAY too much way too soon. As much as you want to get out there and bang out the miles, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor if you give yourself time to heal and take it really slow when you do start back up.
Maybe you could try some low-impact barefoot activity in the meantime - stationary bike or an elliptical machine might work for you.

I think you'd be jumping the gun to give up now - just be patient, listen to your body, and as Ken Bob would say - have fun!
Good luck!

Maybe I'll join you and wait until August before I start up again. ;)

I wonder, 1) if it's indeed the same stress fracture that just didn't really heal and, 2) if I can heal a stress fracture in my foot without a walking boot. These are my wonderings...
 
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Did you get an MRI or X-ray Image to confirm the stress fracture diagnosis? Given the amount of emotional pain it seems to cause you, that might be a good Investment. Maybe it is something different, and you are barking up the wrong tree. Does stretching or massage help? I would definitively make really sure that it really is a stress fracture, before treating it like one. And if it is indeed the old fracture that did not heal, the old treatment has not helped, and you can look for a different one.
 
...
Maybe we are indeed born to run barefoot.
Maybe we're not born to run barefoot on cement and asphalt.
Maybe you're born to run barefoot, but I'm not.

I dunno. All I want is to be able to get back out there, put some miles on, feel that glorious abandon.

Everyone who is born with bare functional feet and legs, is born to run (barefoot or otherwise). However, we are not born knowing precisely how to run (barefoot or otherwise).

The advantage of having an early childhood mostly, if not all, barefoot, is that your bare soles can take plenty of time to teach you to first take baby steps, then walk and run (usually running comes first, as baby falls toward parent or adult).

Hard surfaces are not newer than our feet. Our ancestors contended with every surface imaginable; from granite bedrock, to razor-sharp gravel-littered trails in the mountains. Actually, the hard surfaces we have today, are, for the most part, less littered than what our ancestors dealt with. Today we have street and sidewalk sweepers cleaning these hard surfaces on a regular (if not frequent) basis.

Our ancestors also may have suffered broken metatarsals occasionally as well. I had one a couple years ago. Keep in mind, not all natural terrain is perfectly safe. In fact, LIFE is not perfectly safe. None of us were made bio-mechanically perfect (if we were, we certainly wouldn't be designed so that we can choke our our food!). Unlike a stress fracture (repetitive stress injury), my injury was traumatic (single stress incident). I twisted my ankle on uneven terrain and that torqued my small metatarsal. This is apparently a common injury (as are stress fractures) even among those wearing shoes.

Basically if you think your shoes or a soft terrain are going to protect you from injury, then you're probably not going to run the way anyone who is born without shoes is built to run or walk naturally! We get cocky when we think we are invulnerable. Put a helmet or bullet proof vest on a child, and first things they'll want to do is hit themselves in the head and shoot themselves in the chest!

That said, how to learn to run barefoot?

Best way is to start at the beginning, preferably, before you learn how to walk.

That ship, having sailed, I strongly recommend taking a short-cut by studying the experiences of those who have spent a great deal of their life (say 5 or more decades) figuring out, not just how to run safely (at least reasonably safely), but analyze what they are doing so they can share what they learn.

From there, it is very important to FEEL what you are doing. The most important aspect (often overlooked, especially by shoemakers) of barefoot running and walking is the sensory feedback from our soles - the sometimes very painful and always immediate sensations we feel as our sole interact with terrain. This feedback, when painful, helps us figure out how to constantly improve our techniques by walking and running more and more gently.

So, I strongly recommend not entirely avoiding any uncomfortable terrain, and in fact at the beginning use such to terrain to remind you not only to not do too much too soon, but also to focus more on learning more gentle technique and less on trying to increase distance.

With gentle and efficient (wasted energy also causes immediate pain in the soles, especially on hard and rough terrain) technique, distance (and maybe speed too - depending on your natural abilities, age, and other factors) will come much faster.

It's like building a house, without a foundation, you'll waste a lot of time building and rebuilding and rebuilding again, because the house keeps falling down, again and again.

Likewise, without a sound foundation (which we SHOULD naturally acquire over years of learning to walk and run while barefoot as a young child) we tend to run with technique that is likely to cause injury, over and over again.

I know this is a long drawn out message, but that's a lot like the process of learning to walk and run should be - long and drawn out, focusing first and foremost on the learning (foundation).

Anyway, if you're still interested in following my thoughts and learning to run more gently, gracefully, and efficiently, check out my website, especially the How page: http://How.BarefootRunning.com

and/or BUY MY BOOK!
Barefoot Running Step by Step
http://amzn.to/1ZCcJ9a
 
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I... Physical therapist says don't even think about running until at least August. I can't wait to hit the pavement again, but I'm following his advice. And I WILL get back to running!
...

Don't "hit" the pavement, even in August. Whatever you do to the pavement, it will do back to you! Be nice, run softly, and the pavement will treat you the same.
 
P.S. I see you're in the Los Angeles area JJB.

I hold FREE Play-Fun-Shops (because "work" sounds too much like work, and not like fun) by appointment for FREE! Also, of course regular fun runs on Saturday mornings at 10AM (also FREE).
http://Fun.BarefootRunning.com
 
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... 2) if I can heal a stress fracture in my foot without a walking boot...

I won't recommend it, however I did heal my broken (not stress fracture, but traumatic) metatarsal without a boot, cast, etc. I tried ortho shoes, but their soft cushioned soles provided no stability and hurt worse than walking barefoot!
http://barefootrunning.com/?p=9312

Keep in mind, that it was unlikely that our pre-historic ancestors lived without ever injuring themselves, and they didn't have the "boot".
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/rodeo.html
 
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And that's from the man himself! He always puts it into perspective. :barefoot:
 
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