Hello from the rolling hills of Iowa!

BB:Welcome to the crew.  I'm

BB:

Welcome to the crew. I'm glad you've discovered BFR like the rest of your brethren here. I hope you won't make the same mistakes some of us have made in the transition process. I transitioned from 25 years of shod running to BFR in a few weeks and stress fractured my left foot.

Unquestionably option 4. You will injure yourself, probably badly, if you do this barefoot. Unless you are protected by a thick layer of extreme youth (under 20), you might injure yourself if you run it shod. And if you do keep running shod, you may be adding to the damage you have already done (hopefully minimal) as I did, resulting in a right hip that has no cartilege left. That's how I came to be here, as a last resort, and it has worked well for me.

But you are way too early in the process to do this as anything other than a frat-house stupid stunt that will haunt you later. Remember that you are not only building up the soles of your feet, but you are also strengthening the minor muscles and connecting tissues that work your feet after many years of allowing them to atrophy in heavy shoes. This process takes several months for most people to safely navigate.

You're doing the right things, and your inclusion of option 4 shows that you've got some real wisdom along with your enjoyment of BFR. It's great, but if you do too much too soon (TMTS, an acronym you'll become very familiar with on this site), you'll set yourself back hard and quickly. Enjoy a slower transition process, and you'll get through it sooner in the end by not having lost time and sanity to injuries.

Phil

Barefoot Brown, As a fellow

Barefoot Brown,



As a fellow "newbie" I would like to welcome you to the club.



I began running barefoot about the start of April. Unlike you, I have been a runner for the past 13 years. Unlike many others here, I had no injuries that required me to start running barefoot, I simply looked into it and thought it might be a good thing to do from a long term injury prevention standpoint.

One thing I have experienced as a runner, and seen as a track coach, is that if you make major changes in running you will incur injury. That is true if you switch running surfaces, switch running shoes (I have come to consider my bare feet to be a pair of shoes in their own right), or increase mileage. Any sudden, major changes will eventually lead to injury. Many people will recommend not increasing mileage more than about 10% a week. This is hard to do when just starting out as mileage tends to be quite low, but once you're in the 3 miles/day range I think it applies.

As Phil mentioned earlier, your feet are not used to being naked. The muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bones of your feet are not yet strong enough to withstand such pounding. Taking it slow will, in the long run, be much more enjoyable as it will prevent injury. Injury is one of the things that kills early running careers as it keeps people from finding the joy of running. I know it's hard to take it slow when you feel like you are doing so well, but running injuries are not like those in football or basketball, they sneak up on you over time if you're not vigilant.

As I said, I started running barefoot about 2 months ago. I have taken things very slowly and just today reached the point where I am running one mile a day barefoot. I don't know what an acceptable rate of weekly increase is when running barefoot and I am likely taking things slower than required. Since I have been a runner I was running several miles a day with shoes prior to beginning barefoot running. I was not willing to give up all those miles so I am running both barefoot and with shoes (something that is a bit contraversial here). I run my barefoot mile and then put the shoes on and run a few more miles. I believe that this is best for me as I get the miles in that I want but am not so anxious to get the miles that I push myself to run too many miles barefoot before I am ready. I do not want to be one of those here that have done "too much too soon".

Like the others, I advise you not to run Dam to Dam. You may be able to do it, but you'll pay a price, even if you wear shoes. As a fellow Iowan I would recommend you shoot for some of the 5K races this summer (I love Midnight Madness up in Ames in July) and perhaps make a longer run in the fall such as Capital Pursuit or the Des Moines Half Marathon. These are both good races and will give you plenty of time to train.



Good luck. Perhaps sometime we can meet up and go for a run.

Hello fellow Des Moines new

Hello fellow Des Moines new BFR!

I just started 07/31, and have been doing as much as my body allows me every day. It’s slow going, though. I still only can go about 12½ minutes of running at most, usually a lot less, since proor to that I never had run at all except in PE. So I have a long ways to go (both figuratively and literally) before I can hope to do even a 5K.

My name is accurate though as I have been going barefoot year-round for a long time.

When I get more mileage under my feet, I hope we can do a BF run together.

Keep running bare!