Why hello, people who are more informed than me! That would be all of you. I am new to barefooting...and to running. Nice to meet you!
I am going to jump right in: after reading some terrifying injury stories, I am now concerned about taking things too fast. I was hoping that perhaps someone might weigh in on whether I'm being an idiot etc.? (I have walked around my house barefoot for years, and for weeks before beginning, I did the minimal shoe thing exclusively when out and about.)
Since I'm not a runner already, I'm looking at a very gentle schedule: a run-walk regime that will build up to 30 minutes steady running over 8 weeks. My first day out I did 30 minutes run-walking (only 10 of the 30 were actually running). My calves were SORE......like, all the next day, I had to pay attention in order not to limp. I meant to take one day off and run again, but my calves (which are basically noodles) were still so incredibly sore that I decided to wait a second day, based on the theory that the muscles needed to heal a little bit before working them out again would be effective.
My calves were still sore on day three when I went for my second run (totally barefoot on a path that alternated asphault and concrete; a grass strip off to the side gave the soles of my feet a break for 5-15 steps at a time, a few times, during which I did concentrate on keeping in form). The second time I upped it to running 15 minutes out of the 30. Again my calves were quite sore. (The soles of my feet felt a bit abraded, but this went away quickly and I think I am ok on that front.) Calves remained sore through the next day (today), but less sore than they were the first time. I'm not having any complaints from the top of my foot or my achilles tendon.
My main concern is about the calf "pain." From other sporting endeavors, I would say that the soreness feels like the good kind of soreness: muscles building, ones that just absolutely weren't there at all. But I'm not familiar enough with beginning running, or with beginning barefooting, or the pitfalls thereof, to tell whether this could be a bigger warning sign. I think I will be okay to go out again tomorrow, judging from the calf soreness I feel now (I'm thinking asphault and totally bare feet for a while to hard-wire the form into my forming muscles), but I read about calf "pain" as being a problem with beginning barefoot runners, and I was wondering whether what feels like normal muscle sorness could be a warning sign of something more dangerous. I was thinking I'd stick to running 15 out of the 30 minutes for the next run or two, then up it to 20 out of the 30 minutes, etc., assuming I don't feel any warning-sign kind of pain. (This is not running for 15 or 20 minutes straight--this is the beginner run-walk thing where you run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute, etc.)
So, after that lengthy, lengthy (sorry) explanation, does anyone have an opinion? Is this calf soreness probably just normal muscle-building, as I suspect/hope? Or could it be a horrible symptom of something that might turn into a real problem?
Thanks for your time, and sorry about the verbosity...(Oh dear, that turned out even longer than I thought!)
I am going to jump right in: after reading some terrifying injury stories, I am now concerned about taking things too fast. I was hoping that perhaps someone might weigh in on whether I'm being an idiot etc.? (I have walked around my house barefoot for years, and for weeks before beginning, I did the minimal shoe thing exclusively when out and about.)
Since I'm not a runner already, I'm looking at a very gentle schedule: a run-walk regime that will build up to 30 minutes steady running over 8 weeks. My first day out I did 30 minutes run-walking (only 10 of the 30 were actually running). My calves were SORE......like, all the next day, I had to pay attention in order not to limp. I meant to take one day off and run again, but my calves (which are basically noodles) were still so incredibly sore that I decided to wait a second day, based on the theory that the muscles needed to heal a little bit before working them out again would be effective.
My calves were still sore on day three when I went for my second run (totally barefoot on a path that alternated asphault and concrete; a grass strip off to the side gave the soles of my feet a break for 5-15 steps at a time, a few times, during which I did concentrate on keeping in form). The second time I upped it to running 15 minutes out of the 30. Again my calves were quite sore. (The soles of my feet felt a bit abraded, but this went away quickly and I think I am ok on that front.) Calves remained sore through the next day (today), but less sore than they were the first time. I'm not having any complaints from the top of my foot or my achilles tendon.
My main concern is about the calf "pain." From other sporting endeavors, I would say that the soreness feels like the good kind of soreness: muscles building, ones that just absolutely weren't there at all. But I'm not familiar enough with beginning running, or with beginning barefooting, or the pitfalls thereof, to tell whether this could be a bigger warning sign. I think I will be okay to go out again tomorrow, judging from the calf soreness I feel now (I'm thinking asphault and totally bare feet for a while to hard-wire the form into my forming muscles), but I read about calf "pain" as being a problem with beginning barefoot runners, and I was wondering whether what feels like normal muscle sorness could be a warning sign of something more dangerous. I was thinking I'd stick to running 15 out of the 30 minutes for the next run or two, then up it to 20 out of the 30 minutes, etc., assuming I don't feel any warning-sign kind of pain. (This is not running for 15 or 20 minutes straight--this is the beginner run-walk thing where you run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute, etc.)
So, after that lengthy, lengthy (sorry) explanation, does anyone have an opinion? Is this calf soreness probably just normal muscle-building, as I suspect/hope? Or could it be a horrible symptom of something that might turn into a real problem?
Thanks for your time, and sorry about the verbosity...(Oh dear, that turned out even longer than I thought!)