Before and After - Progress

[Barefoot Bayou Runner]

Before I start with this thread, let me be clear: I did not start running barefoot to run faster; I did it to run better. Now having said that, I'm still young enough to enjoy running for it's competitive aspect. When I race, most of the time I am trying to win or place in my AG in the smaller races. In the beginning, the difference in my barefoot speed vs wearing my sandals was pretty big. I've now reached the point where although I'm still faster in sandals, at the 5k distance a good run barefoot will on occasion beat one of my bad runs w/ sandals.

My question for the board is, at what point (if ever) did your barefoot speed "catch up" to your shod speed?

 

[happysongbird]

My barefoot speed is frequently faster than my shod speed, but it depends on the ground. Since barefoot feels better and is more fun, if the ground is within my current scope of comfort, barefoot is faster. If the ground is too rough (for me that means chip seal like or heavy gravel) I am definitely faster shod.
I guess that I should add that I am into my third year running barefooted.

 

[Bare Lee]

Yah, agree with Laura. On smooth surfaces, I'm faster barefoot, probably because my form is better, and therefore I enjoy better running economy. On rougher surfaces, I'm faster shod, or rather, much slower barefoot. But I don't like running shod, and have no interest in competing, so I prefer to run barefoot even on rougher surfaces. Besides, what would you rather be, a fairly unique hardcore barefoot runner or just another fast shoddie?

 

[migangelo]

was slow in shoes, when i ran, am still quite slow. i can pass a lot of people in races but i start in the back to avoid the big crowd. surface does it for me also. i tend to be faster bf unless the surface is real difficult.

 

[Barefoot Bayou Runner]

what would you rather be, a fairly unique hardcore barefoot runner or just another fast shoddie?

I didn't see "fast barefoot runner" in there lol. That's the answer I'd have picked. If I can bring my bf speed up to what it is with my sandals, then I'm happy. And at this point I'm pretty close to doing that. But I fully intend to stick w/ bf for the most part. It's just that I'm still in transition, I can't run every day bf on asphalt, my feet aren't conditioned enough yet. So when faced with running shod or not running at all, it's a no-brainer what I'll pick.

 

[Tristan]

As an adult, my fastest race has been barefoot. But its hard to say since I've been running barefoot I've also been training better. This forum has helped my training in general, and hard to say what I'd be able to do shod now with the same training. Now I have run 3 races this year, 5ks and 10ks wearing minimalist shoes, and they were still slower than my barefoot races, but in a couple of them the shoes were bothering my feet.

My fastest barefoot 5k is still behind my high school pr considerably, but after a good 10 years of messing up my health inbetween, I think I'm doing pretty darn good with that 5k last year barefoot coming in pretty close to my 'average' high school 5k, despite still being ~30 pounds heavier. Can't wait to see what the future may hold as my barefoot training continues. The goal for this year is to break into the teens in a 5k, which I havent done since highschool.

 

[Bare Lee]

I didn't see "fast barefoot runner" in there lol. That's the answer I'd have picked. If I can bring my bf speed up to what it is with my sandals, then I'm happy. And at this point I'm pretty close to doing that. But I fully intend to stick w/ bf for the most part. It's just that I'm still in transition, I can't run every day bf on asphalt, my feet aren't conditioned enough yet. So when faced with running shod or not running at all, it's a no-brainer what I'll pick.

I was referring to the rough surface part of the equation. I doubt anyone runs faster barefoot on rough surfaces (I'm 2-3mm slower on gravel, for example, and at least 30-60 seconds per mile slower on medium chipseal), but if the commitment is to barefootn' and not speed, who cares, right?

As far as supplementing your BFR with shod running while you transition, yah, it makes sense to me, although some would argue against it (like Ken Bob). I think it depends on the individual.

Anyway, look forward to hearing of your progress. You might consider participating in the mileage forum. It's a lot of fun.

 

[Robin]

Yah, agree with Laura. On smooth surfaces, I'm faster barefoot, probably because my form is better, and therefore I enjoy better running economy. On rougher surfaces, I'm faster shod, or rather, much slower barefoot. But I don't like running shod, and have no interest in competing, so I prefer to run barefoot even on rougher surfaces. Besides, what would you rather be, a fairly unique hardcore barefoot runner or just another fast shoddie?

Both...

 

[mokaman]

At age 42 I started barefeet running by age 44 I was faster than i had ever been...of course I'm talking relatively smooth pavement. Trails are usually much slower barefooted unless the trail is very tame then only barely slower and it is possible to still be competitive on those tame trail races or beach races on sand.

 

[JosephTree]

I go back and forth. Mostly I go faster in my VFF's, but that's because I tend to go out for longer races that cover wildly variable terrain: trail, road, gravel, rock and chip and seal. When I know the whole course will be BF friendly, I go out for all BF. Ususally I just do my training runs BF because that's how I like to run for pleasure.