Greetings from South Africa

[sjw]

Hi



I live in Durban, South Africa and have only been running barefoot for about 2 weeks. Prior to this I had been in a long layup due to Plantar Faciitis in both feet. I finished a standard Marathon in March, nearly crippled. Up until then I had been training for my first Comrades. This mean very heavy milage weeks. Unfortunately this was not meant to be!



I have already manngaed to pick up some really nice blisters on the soles of my feet and on the tip of one toe

Toeing off and stride lenght are definitely the problem so still need a bit of work.



Due to surface conditions I will definitely be going back into shoes for the long distance stuff. It's just the type of shoes are going to be different this time

 

[FreeYourToes]

Welcome!

Welcome!

 

[Phil Hart]

Glad to have you with us.  A

Glad to have you with us. A quick look around will net you a huge number of warnings to transition painfully slowly and steadily. Like me, you may ignore this advice from the many who have gone before you; and like me, you may also end up with a stress fracture, which much more solidly drives home the "go slowly" point. Here's to hoping you are smarter than I was.

Start small and slow (1/4 mile barefoot, 3 times per week, with a recovery day between each short BF trot). After 2 weeks, you can start adding a little distance, like .1 - .25 miles, which you should stick with for another week or two before advancing again. If this sounds painfully slow, it is. But the alternative is injuries and large quantities (3 months for me) of totally lost, setback time. Remember that you are not only training the soles of your feet. You are also rebuilding the atrophied fine motor control tissues all through your feet that you haven't used this way in years, if ever.

Take it slowly, avoid the injury setbacks, and enjoy!

Phil

 

[ajw1970]

Welcome!!

Welcome!!