Hi, I'm Tom. I live in Oak Ridge, TN, near Knoxville. I've been running in shoes for a few years, just now working on transitioning toward the bare.
My typical runs have been 3 miles or so and I've been replacing some of my shod miles with barefoot. A really good place for me to run barefoot is at the local high school track, in the grass that surrounds the football field. Today I used some Vibram Five Fingers I bought a week or two ago and ran three laps on the track (after 9 in my regular New Balance shoes). Other than the blister the VFFs put on my right foot, it felt great.
So I came home and ordered a huarache kit from InvisibleShoes.com.
So I wonder about a few things...
Should I forget the VFFs and huaraches and just go run truly barefoot? I think my form is pretty good already, based on what I've read and running in the grass barefoot, so I'm not too concerned about the minimal shoes keeping me from learning good form. I am concerned that if I try to insist on going barefoot without compromise, there are a lot of runs I'm going to chicken out on because of being nervous about getting hurt.
I did three quarters of a mile today without discomfort (save the blister). Do I need to keep building gradually, adding a lap a week? Will I be sorry if I try to go run three miles barefoot or minimal tomorrow? Will my feet tell me if it's getting to be too much so I can stop before injury happens, or will I just blissfully finish the run and only later realize that I'm crippled? I wasn't aware of the blister until I took the VFFs off after my run today. Are these questions that no one can answer for me and I'll just have to experiment with it for myself?
Anyway, it's great to find folks with similar interests. I look forward to getting to know you all.
Tom
My typical runs have been 3 miles or so and I've been replacing some of my shod miles with barefoot. A really good place for me to run barefoot is at the local high school track, in the grass that surrounds the football field. Today I used some Vibram Five Fingers I bought a week or two ago and ran three laps on the track (after 9 in my regular New Balance shoes). Other than the blister the VFFs put on my right foot, it felt great.
So I came home and ordered a huarache kit from InvisibleShoes.com.
So I wonder about a few things...
Should I forget the VFFs and huaraches and just go run truly barefoot? I think my form is pretty good already, based on what I've read and running in the grass barefoot, so I'm not too concerned about the minimal shoes keeping me from learning good form. I am concerned that if I try to insist on going barefoot without compromise, there are a lot of runs I'm going to chicken out on because of being nervous about getting hurt.
I did three quarters of a mile today without discomfort (save the blister). Do I need to keep building gradually, adding a lap a week? Will I be sorry if I try to go run three miles barefoot or minimal tomorrow? Will my feet tell me if it's getting to be too much so I can stop before injury happens, or will I just blissfully finish the run and only later realize that I'm crippled? I wasn't aware of the blister until I took the VFFs off after my run today. Are these questions that no one can answer for me and I'll just have to experiment with it for myself?
Anyway, it's great to find folks with similar interests. I look forward to getting to know you all.
Tom
