Hi from the Netherlands

Paul NL

Barefooters
Oct 11, 2017
32
33
18
Eindhoven, Netherlands
Hi all,

I started running in February this year. I never really liked running when I was younger. Although I did run the 7 heuvelen loop in Nijmegen twice (15k), and did run, with 11 friends, in the Calistoga to Santa Cruz (CA) 199 mile relay once. I preferred cycling, hiking and skiing. Unfortunately I did not do any of these the last 5 years and decided that needed to change. So in February I started slowly with running 12 minutes per time, 3x per week. I had never heard of barefoot running back then, thus I bought some nice new Saucony shoes... After 2 months and running about 22 minutes, 3x per week by then, I suddenly had an injury in my calf muscle. I stopped running for 2 months. At the same time I met with a french colleague of mine. He told me about minimalist running. So I started reading and watching Youtube videos.

I wanted to but some Vibram 5 finger shoes, however while trying them out, in a nice store in Tilburg, I felt my calf muscle hurting again, so I delayed that. I did buy a pair of good looking Vivobarefoot shoes that I am now wearing daily, even during customer visits and trade shoes. I even started running in these shoes. As I wanted to keep them nice and clean for work, I did buy some Vibram 5 finger kso which I am now using for running.

My stride cadence is going up, average at 175 over 5 km, after I did bent my knees more. And my heels are now touching the ground again. Which I did not do at first and resulted in quite some muscle pain in the calves. Recently I bought the Barefoot running, step by step book. During running I am now telling my self: stand straight, relax, bend the knees. Which did help in getting the cadence up.

And now I am beginning to realize that it is probably better to go real barefoot to learn proper barefoot running technique. Somehow I am not ready for that yet, hopefully being here can help me doing so... My end goal is to be able to long trail runs, preferably in the mountains. Not sure if anyone is doing that barefoot?

Hopefully this long introduction was not to long for you.
Paul
 
Hi Paul.
Welcome.
Sounds like you're making good progress. Keep going steady (without overdoing it of course) and your calf muscles will gradually adapt and strengthen. Running barefoot will place additional load on them compared to shod heel striking, etc...
Keep your stride nice and short and it will come..:)

Oh, and yes throw the shoes away too -it will help you 'hear' what your feet are trying to tell you...

Enjoy..:barefoot:
 
Welcome! Feel free to join the Netherlands Chapter. They've been quiet lately, but maybe you can post some and wake them up. :barefoot:
 
Going totally barefoot is very much ideal because it can be uncomfortable at first. The bottoms of your feet are very sensitive and that's a good thing from an evolutionary perspective: if you're doing motion that hurts on the bottoms of your bare feet that could translate into damage to the rest of your body. Even the thinnest minimalist shoes can hide that kind of crucial information.

Learning to run barefoot without pain or discomfort is learning to run without injury. Your feet become the proverbial canaries in the coal mine alerting you early on if you're doing anything harmful.

And injury prevention is just the first step. Once you learn to run light and easy on your bare feet you've effectively learned to run with optimal economy: you'll be able to run longer and at faster speeds. Barefoot can be an amazing performance boost.
 
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Going totally barefoot is very much ideal because it can be uncomfortable at first. The bottoms of your feet are very sensitive and that's a good thing from an evolutionary perspective: if you're doing motion that hurts on the bottoms of your bare feet that could translate into damage to the rest of your body. Even the thinnest minimalist shoes can hide that kind of crucial information.

Learning to run barefoot without pain or discomfort is learning to run without injury. Your feet become the proverbial canaries in the coal mine alerting you early on if you're doing anything harmful.

And injury prevention is just the first step. Once you learn to run light and easy on your bare feet you've effectively learned to run with optimal economy: you'll be able to run longer and at faster speeds. Barefoot can be an amazing performance boost.
Very well said...
 
Going totally barefoot is very much ideal because it can be uncomfortable at first. The bottoms of your feet are very sensitive....
Yes, very sensitive indeed. This morning I tried a bit without my 5-fingers shoes on gravel. And it is painful, especially those small stones that keep sticking on the sole of your feet...

Still I need to change something. The last two times running my knees started to hurt after about 3k. I was running the same distance and the same route. Before I could run 5 to 6k without this pain. I am not sure what I do differently know.
 
When running on gravel really embrace the fact that you'll look like some idiot trying to run barefoot on gravel. :) Go slow, step very gingerly and let your body react. It's something to continue practicing until you get a feel for it.

What you certainly don't want to do is just blindly suffer through gravel running without giving in to your body's natural impulses to move and change with the surface. If you sort of stomp along the gravel with no real change to your running form you're just beating up your feet. Let yourself get loose, slow down and really work on how to step with the least amount of pain and discomfort.

The lessons you learn about how to run barefoot on gravel with minimal pain and discomfort translate directly to all other running, shod or unshod. You're learning how to step lightly which will benefit your whole body.
 
Hi @Paul NL

How are you doiung with barefoot running in the meantime?
I started barefooting in june this year. I have hit the 10km mark once.

It could be we're both in the same phase of starting to run barefoot?

Greetings from Breda, Jaap
 
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Hi @Paul NL
It could be we're both in the same phase of starting to run barefoot?
Greetings from Breda, Jaap
Hi @Jaap Francke
I am sorry, I completely missed your message. I just started a 'conversation' with you so that we can make some arrangement to run together if you are still interested.

I did make some improvements in the mean time. I noticed that when I become tired and am slowing down that I get pain in my joints, very likely due to sloppy technique. Now I am better to keep up the speed and probably my technique as I am not feeling any pain anymore while running. The distance I ran is slowly increasing.
 
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A small update. I was not running for the 2 last months. What happened? Well, I broke a bone in my right foot while running, the Metatarsal II. My doc said a stress fracture and I should wear decent shoes... :-(

How did it happened? After standing 2 days on a booth of a trade show I decided to have a run in the morning before driving home. The previous day where too cold for me, but that morning it was only -10 degrees Celsius about 5 degrees warmer than the days before ;-) During the run I remembered that I suddenly said ouch, as I stepped on a stone. Not long after that I felt a pain in my foot. It was getting painful to run, but still I was 2 km away from the Hotel. I ran slowly back to the hotel, a compromise between getting back fast and being in pain a lot. The next day, when back home, I went to see my doctor and at the end of the day I had a small cast on large parts of my foot. I can think of 3 factors that "helped" / caused the incident, 1) standing two days at the trade show caused stress, 2) the cold and 3) the stone I stepped on.

The cast stayed for 4 weeks. After the cast was removed I waited 4 to 5 weeks before I started to run again as the feet was still very sensitive in the beginning. I first used my old running shoes, as my girlfriend was afraid I would hurt myself again. However it felt so strange, like running on cushions.

Yesterday I used my five fingers again during running. It felt much better! I also directly noticed that I tended to walk on the outside of the foot, which I did not notice in the old shoes. So I could directly correct that.

I am starting training slowly. I am using a scheme for a 5K training that will take about 12 weeks. And yesterday, after running 3x 5 minutes with 3 minutes walking in between, I feel a slight muscle pain already. Probably good that I take it slow. Doing nothing for 8 weeks is not good for your body.

By the way, I did not feel cold during the run at -10C ;-)
 
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Ouch!

Did you consider a 4th factor: 4) Too much, too fast, too soon? I'm not an expert but you may not have given your matatarsel enough time to strengthen.

In the mean time, I can now run 16km on my bare feet, one year after starting to transition from shod heel-striker to barefooted forefoot-striker.

Ciao, Jaap
 
Last week I did run my first time really barefoot. I did run on the beach. It felt good, however after 6 km I stopped and put my shoes on as I felt my calfs a bit. It turned out that I had 2 blisters on the toes of my left foot. Not sure if it was caused by the wet sand on the beach or that my technique is not good enough yet, probably the technique.

By the way, my calfs are fine so I did stop on time. (Did run 18km yesterday in five finger shoes without any pain)

Now I need to get enough courage to do some more barefooted runs, like in the city where I live. Somehow it feels easier to do it on the beach.
 
You're learning...and exploring what you are capable of. You'll see that with more practice and patience, you'll figure it out, then you'll be brave enough for the city too. Have fun out there!
 
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Nice plan Paul, it's good to start (again) easy. -Blisters in toes could indicate too much "pushing" with toes but as you were running on the beach it just could be because of the foot sinking in the sand. I've found smooth pavement / street the best surface to hone my technique. It gives instant feedback and you'll see quite quickly if you still get toe blisters and must adjust your step. On tarmac you simply must keep your step short and cadence high :)

But most of all, have fun with bare feet!
 
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