Form question...

[miker]

Okay, two weeks ago I was walking about 2 miles a day BF on a gravel driveway. Definitely no cardio workout, but the dogs had fun running around.

One week ago, I put back on the VFFs and was putting in 4-6 miles every other day. Felt like a runner again! Dogs still had fun.

Last week, same thing. VFFs & dogs. 4-6 miles at a time.

Yesterday, I decided to run on an asphalt trail. Barefoot. Knees bent, high cadence, lift feet (at least thought I was doing this one). Mile one, I stop and check the bottoms of the feet. Not bad, warm, but hey it was >90 degrees. A couple of places the pavement was really hot, so I would jump off into the grass for a few steps, then back on the path.

Mile 1.5, check feet again. Could that be a hot spot? Who knows? I'm running on hot asphalt, of course my feet are hot! Keep running. Mile 1.75. Definitely doesn't feel right, better turn around and head back to the car.

Mile 2. Where did those blisters come from??? Yep, that's blisters, as in plural. Actually, only one on the left foot, but 4 on the rignt foot. Left foot blister on big toe. Right foot, big toe, just behind big toe, ball of foot, outside of foot.

So now I have to walk back to my car, without any limping. 'Cause I'm barefoot and we can show "no public display of weakness!" Maybe I can do something different with those words and come up with a catchy acronym, but not now.

Did I mention I was 1.5 miles from the car?

Today, the blisters don't seem to have much fluid, although the one on the ball and the outside are at least as big as my thumb. And they didn't break open yesterday. My calves are fine, feet feel fine (except for the blisters)

So I guess I'll get to the form question...

Is this a "soles not yet ready for running on asphalt" or "pushing off too much" problem? I didn't have any blistering until the 2 mile mark, although I think I felt them starting around 1 3/4 miles. Do I need to run shorter distances BF until my feet toughen up?

While I'm on the "toughen" subject, I ran 10 miles in my VFFs a few weeks ago, and when I took them off my feet were wrinkling, they were so wet from sweating. Yeah, it was hot & humid, but feet were wet nonetheless. So now I'm thinking that I maybe shouldn't run in my Vibrams part of the run, then run barefoot. But flip that around and run barefoot first, then put on the footwear. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

As always, thanks for listening...and helping

 

[Abide]

They sound a little more like

They sound a little more like heat blisters than form blisters. I get those kind of blisters when it is too hot here. They seem more like a pocket of dead skin than a blister. Almost like a callous before it hardens. Try to go out and run on the asphalt early in the morning or later when the sun is setting or later than that and see if the blisters come back, Usually the pavement is much cooler when the sun isn't as high.

Not sure about the VFF question though?

 

[barefoot.zumba.runner]

I'm with Abide on this one

I'm with Abide on this one Mike Head Stomper, sounds like heat. 90+ degrees is very hot barefoot if your feet aren't used to it. Sounds like you've got your form down, like Abide suggested...maybe try a time of day when the asphalt isn't quite so hot. OR try a route that's a bit more shade OR try a route that's more sidewalks (they stay cooler than black asphalt). If you're still getting blisters with cooler terrain, then reassess your form and see what's going on.

I'm not experienced at all with the VFFs either, though I'd imagine that if your feet were sloshing around in your sweat...they'd be pretty wrinkly after some time. Was it slippery inside of the Vibram?

 

[Blind Boy]

I'll echo what the others

I'll echo what the others have said and add that wet feet for whatever reason rarely is a good idea on asphalt, at least if it's rough. It's a lot easier to blister under those conditions even if your form is good.

 

[miker]

Abide, Zum & BB - thanks for

Abide, Zum & BB - thanks for replying. I am really wanting to get my bf mileage up because I want to run bf in a couple of fall runs. But blisters just pretty much shut you down when the little (or big) buggers show up. I'll try it again after these heal up and let you know how it goes.

My VFF question probably more about running part of a run bf & part of a run in footwear. It would seem to me that if my feet are sweating in my footwear (I know, hard to believe) that they would be more susceptible to blisters, etc. than running "dry". Or does this not matter, as long as you have good form and properly conditioned feet?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Abide]

Yes they would be more

Yes they would be more subscetible to blisters. Going from wet to dry causes issues with my feet too. Usually it's after a rain, or when everyone decides to turn on their sprinklers. If it is consistently wet then it isn't bad.

Have you tried using foot powder in your vff's? It probably won't help too much when it is really hot out. Or maybe pick up a pair of injini socks?

But as for order, try bf as long as you can and then put on your vff's, it may help your form in your vff's in this order.

 

[dodgy]

I don't have VFF experience,

I don't have VFF experience, but I inline skate, & whenever I've taken off my skates & gone for a run with sweat-softened feet (sorry for that image!) I've had very sensitive soles & gotten hot spots.

So definately a good idea to BF first then switch to VFFs I think.

 

[LavaRunner]

Blisters seem covered enough

Blisters seem covered enough

I'll talk about the VFFs, I always do the barefoot portion of a split run first. If I even intend on running with anything other than bare then I do that at the end because I found that I want my feed and legs in top form when BF. If my form is slipping because I am getting tired, I want that to happen with some protection, of course not slipping on form is always a better option but we know form slides a bit when we are tired. Also, the bottom of VFFs have ZERO breathing and I find they turn into water shoes if I am sweating and my feet look like I spent 3 hours in the pool after a 16 mile run. Another thing I have noticed is that yellow stuff in the bottom of VFFs stretched when wet and can ball up or fold over and it also gets slippery so make sure when your feet get wet, you keep the VFFs snug. Definably Barefoot first, then put the VFFs on when you must later.