New member Johannesburg, South Africa

Impi

Barefooters
Oct 13, 2011
7
1
0
#1
Good afternoon everybody,

I have recently become a member and wanted to say hi.

I live in Johannesburg and am a newbie to barefooting. I have been running in VFF's for some time

but have slowly started running completely barefoot.



I am loving it! I am hoping to toughen these feet of mine up for a marathon and possibly in the distant future

the Comrades marathon.

For now though, it's great to just be running again. Running barefoot has made running fun again, and I have lost the acute Achillis struggle and back ache that often bugged me.

My calves didnt know what hit them when I first started up, but now I actually enjoy hill climbs.

I am currently on a small break....I hope, last week I landed on a loose stone with my leftie and bruised my forefoot.

its quite painful to walk on so I have taken a few days off.



Anyway, its great to find this community!

Enjoy your running!
 
#3
Welcome, Impi!  Glad you're

Welcome, Impi! Glad you're here!
 
#4
Thanks guys,Have a great

Thanks guys,

Have a great weekend
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#5
Welcome to the crew.  Taking

Welcome to the crew. Taking time off to heal is a smart move. I failed to do so early in my transition and earned myself a stress fractured left foot. Relaxing my feet has been the key to successfully avoiding foot damage and banjo-string-tight calves/achilles. Enjoy!
 
#6
Hey Phil,Thanks for the

Hey Phil,

Thanks for the welcome and advice. Maybe I can pick your brain a little if I may?

Do you have any magical foot relaxing techniques, other than staying off of them? I ask, because I work in the retail industry, so I am on my feet for most of the day.



Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, keep well.
 
#7
It took (and sometimes still

It took (and sometimes still takes) an inordinate amount of concentration on deliberately letting my feet dangle from the end of my legs until I made it a muscle-memory - or perhaps I should say lack of muscle use memory - habit. It didn't feel at all natural to me at first, and I really wasn't sure I trusted my muscles to take over when my feet touched the ground. But they haven't let me down yet.

I will tell you that 8 months solidly into BFR, I still have to deliberately focus on relaxing the muscles in my feet and lower legs or I'll find myself tensing them up like I was sprinting, which results in straining your calves and staying up on the balls of your feet. It also makes everything you step on hurt your soles much more than if you were relaxed. Strange but true.

Maybe somebody smarter than me will see this and chime in as well. Happy running!
 
#8
Hey Phil,Wow...I will give

Hey Phil,

Wow...I will give it a shot. I have actually been trying to stay tall and up on the balls of my feet.

In fact, I have to concentrate very hard to keep it up.

When I am running again (hopefully soon) I will take your technique for a test drive
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Thanks!
 
#9
On the balls of your feet or

On the balls of your feet or midfoot, but be sure to let your heels touch down with each step.
 
#10
Good note, TJ.  Tall (good,

Good note, TJ. Tall (good, upright posture) is good, balls of the feet is not. As you totally relax them, they'll touch down automatically on the outside edge of the ball of your foot. Let them go all the way down. Your body knows to apply a little muscular braking automatically as the heel lowers. If you try to manually override it, you'll end up with the long-distance-archery-record-breaking-tense calves. Relax and trust your legs. They know what they're doing - they had a really smart Designer.
 
#11
Hi guys,I just want to thank

Hi guys,

I just want to thank you for the advice!

I have only run three times since we last chatted, but, I have tried to implement the heel touch down.

It has worked really well for me, my feet feel stronger than ever!!!

I am not up to full pace yet, but I'd rather practise this technique and get it right before trying to go fast
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Thank you very much.
 
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