Hi from Germany

[barefootjake]

Just wanted to send a shout out from Germany. Just joined the BRS after following Last Place Jason's blog for several months. I wanted to say "hello" and pose a question about transitioning to full BFR.

A little background: I started running four years ago after moving my family to Germany and realizing at 36 years old I was in bad shape. After blowing out an ankle trying to play basketball again for the first time in 10 years, some friends pulled me into their impromptu running group, and next I knew, we were running the Cologne marathon six months later. It changed my life. Of course, I was a heel striker wearing the thickest shoes I could find. Over the following 3 years, I tried several times to ramp up the mileage to improve my marathon time, but each time the results were a debilitating injury. After another running injury early in 2010, I discovered the Pose Method while searching the internet. This led to further research and the discovery of minimalist running. Jumping wholeheartedly into the idea with my new V5F, it was only a month before a metatarsal stress fracture brought my plans to a screeching halt. But my knees, hips, and everything else felt awesome! So six weeks later, I relaunched my BFR career, this time truly barefoot. By taking it easy and allowing for rest days, in just a few short months my feet and calves are developing and I LOVE BFR. And the six weeks off running gave me time to start biking and swimming with an eye on a triathlon in the distant future.

So now my question. My training right now is running 3 days a week (~1 hour per), biking 2 days (~1 hour per), and swimming once (45 mins). To transistion to BFR over the last 3 months, I have just been taking my shoes (Nike Free 3.0) and socks off with 3, 4 or 5 km left in the run, depending how my legs and feet feel. I plan to up the BFR 1 km every 2 weeks or so. At some point I'd like to go back to longer runs of 2+ hours. Am I making a mistake continuing to run in the Nike Frees? I'm frankly afraid to run in the V5F again until my barefoot transition is mostly complete. Should I cut back my mileage and only go barefoot?

The only time I have any discomfort is when I first wake up in the morning. For the first couple of minutes of walking around, the top of my foot where I had the stress fracture is slightly sore. But then it goes away, and I don't notice it at all the rest of the day, whether I am running or not.

Thoughts, feedback, funny comments appreciated.

And for those involved, thanks for creating the BRS. Cool idea and site.

Barefootjake

 

[Blind Boy]

Hi there! My personal take on

Hi there! My personal take on transitioning is that the faster you go totally bare the faster you will be able to increase the distances barefoot. I don't believe you should ever use minimalist shoes to increase your "bare" distance. Sure, if you can handle the distance but not the terrain shoes can be a solution but I'd never go beyond my barefoot capacity just because I was wearing something. The frees then, I believe they are limiting your progress somewhat but you have to ask yourself, are you doing this to become a barefoot runner or is the goal to simply run without any serious issues? If it's the latter I'd say you can keep running in the frees if they don't cause any issues. I'd avoid the Vibrams for running for no though. They require barefoot form while they take away many of the sensory cues you need as a newbie so it can be quite hard to maintain good form in them.

 

[barefootjake]

Blind Boy,Thanks for the

Blind Boy,

Thanks for the response. To answer your question, I do plan to go full barefoot eventually. So then would you suggest I cut my runs back from an hour to just the 20 to 25 minutes I run barefoot now? In other words, just cut out the time I am wearing the Frees? Should I replace that running time with some other training? My feet are fine after running barefoot 5 km right now, and I'm sure I could go further, but I'm trying to be careful and transition slowly.

 

[Blind Boy]

I don't have any personal

I don't have any personal experience with switching from shoes so I don't know, really. I was a new runner when I started so I didn't have a mileage base to speak of. Both ways seem to work for people though but like I said, those who go cold turkey seem to be able to increase their mileage faster. I don't know much about the frees though, do they have any kind of arch support built in? That seems like the source of the slow transition to me, that the arches don't get to function normally in running shoes.

 

[barefootjake]

The Frees have a little arch

The Frees have a little arch support, but not much. A little drop from heel to toe as well. I'm only using them because it's better than the super-thick, supported Asics I was buying new every 6 months.

But I still want to move quicker to only barefoot. How long have you been fully BFR?

 

[Blind Boy]

It depends on how you count.

It depends on how you count. I started last summer and my first barefoot run was on May 30. Two days later, as I tried again, I tripped on a rock and broke my left big toe so I was out for a month. After that I haven't had any majjor mishaps. Any way you look at it, I've been doing this for a little over a year.

Before that I ran quite a bit in my early teens but didn't maintain it through high school and before I knew it it had been 13 years. Last spring I decided to get back into it, got a pair of shoes fitted and started. Then I stopped again due to shin splints. Started again and same deal. Went through a few more cycles when I stumbled upon BFR and initially thought I'd just mix it in for technique drills but once I acually tried I was hooked.

 

[barefootjake]

Ouch.  Broken big toe?  The

Ouch. Broken big toe? The shin splints I'm familiar with. Crazy enough, I only used to get shin splints when I ran slow. I think when I ran faster I was doing a little less heal striking and somehow that helped.

Can't wait to be a full year into this like you are and feel confident to go further distances.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I agree with what the BB is

I agree with what the BB is saying. Don't forget though, the Frees are not only preventing you from developing your Musculoskeletal system but your plantar skin as well. It takes time to condition the skin. They basically go hand-in-hand, we are finding out; that is, if you listen to your body and your feet, one will prevent you from progressing past what the other can handle.

I happened to have transitioned from shoes to barefoot. I didn't go cold-turkey. I believe if I had, I would have transitioned much more quickly. Since running completely barefoot turned out to be my goal in the end, it would have made more sense for me to have gone cold-turkey.

 

[Abide]

Hey Jake Welcome. Bite the

Hey Jake Welcome. Bite the bullet and do it, then you won't ever have to buy a new pair of shoes again. It goes way faster the more you do it, even if you are a long time barefooter you won't be able to go from 10 miles a week to 30 miles the next week and not have any issues. The only way to get there safely is to work up to it.

 

[nature runner]

  Conditioning the plantar

Conditioning the plantar skin is a long process, the more barefoot the better. Even when you are not running go barefoot as much as possible and the skin would build up faster to help prevent blistering. I am no expert either seeing I am only 10 months in myself. But, since I was already going barefoot all the time outside of running, it helped me alot getting use to running on gravel and trail running barefoot. Plus, it just feels great being connected to mother nature

 

[barefootjake]

Okay, I'm hearing you all

Okay, I'm hearing you all loud and clear: Ditch the Nike Frees and only go barefoot. Problem is I run twice a week with some guys, and we run at least an hour every time. They are willing to slow down a bit when I pull off my shoes for the last 4 or 5 km, but they are not going to cut their runs short for me because I can't run the whole hour barefoot.

Any thoughts? Stop running with the guys for the next three or four months until I can run a good hour barefoot?

Oh, and Nature Runner, what is the plantar skin?

 

[Abide]

This is where you might get

This is where you might get into trouble. Shod running mates while transitioning are not a good couple. My advice...invite some chicks that are just starting out, they'll slow down for them!

 

[Blind Boy]

As always, listen to The

As always, listen to The Dude. Anyway, how important are the "social" runs to you? I'll play the Devil's advocate here and suggest you try one of them barefoot from start to finish. Bring the shoes as a precaution and put them on if you can't go the distance. I bet you won't have to though. If you do his, really pay attention to every little ache in the next few days and try to determine what it means. Now, this is way beyond what I'd normally recommend but going outside the "safe" rules will most likely not lead to any lasting harm and you might find that youre ready for more. If you are you won't have to give up running with your friends and if you aren't ready at least you know where you stand and you'll be able to make an informed decision.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I would just tell them that

I would just tell them that you won't be running with them for awhile, not until you can get your mileage back to where they are.

Plantar skin = your soles

 

[Danjo]

Definitely ditch the shoes

Definitely ditch the shoes (even though everyone else has already said this I feel the need to weigh in.) If you keep running in shoes you'll probably just get stuck in a rut, and then when you finally decide to ditch them later on down the line you'll be starting back at the beginning. Better to get it over with now rather than later.

As for running with the other guys, you might be able to run with them, and you might even be able to do it without hurting yourself, but even if these two are achieved these runs will probably be the only ones you can make during the week without hurting yourself, and this will hurt your progress. Again, it would be likely that you'd eventually get to the point where you just start over from the beginning. (I speek from experience, both with the shoes and the running partners) I think if we all just got out of our own way we'd probably be able to improve our distance and mileage way faster, but instead we keep trying to do things that we shouldn't be doing, and end up back at the beginning again.

Basically what I've figured out for myself so far and what I've heard from others is that its best to do a bunch of short runs in a week, like a 15-30min run every other day or something like that. Listen to your body for how long you should run and how often. It can be really difficult to get in tune with your body after ignoring it for so long in shoes, but thats what we're here for, to give you tips. Don't be afraid to cut back on runs or stop or just walk, if thats what your body is saying you should do.

 

[barefootjake]

Abide,Inviting some chicks

Abide,

Inviting some chicks to run with us is not a bad idea. Two ways to go here: One, I look for some young singles who will look good in spandex (pretty much everyone running here in Germany wears spandex). Two, I invite my wife who runs a bit but talks a lot.

Option 1 will get me in trouble with my wife. Option 2 will get me in trouble with my running buddies

 

[barefootjake]

Barefoot TJ & Danjo,Yeah,

Barefoot TJ & Danjo,

Yeah, I probably need to do this on my own for a few months. I may try to arrange one run a week with my buddies where we change the route so I can only run 1/2 the normal distance, but do it barefoot. Then they can keep running.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[Blind Boy]

Why not do a combination of

Why not do a combination of option one and two so nobody wins? That way everyone will be so annoyed that they forget about the barefoot lunacy leaving you to run in peace.

 

[barefootjake]

Brilliant Blind Boy!  That

Brilliant Blind Boy! That should give me a few months to myself.

 

[ajb422]

  So while I'm totally not

So while I'm totally not saying you should do this because everyone else here is way more experienced than me (I think I'm going on like month or so of this now) I thought I'd tell you what I do, since it is way different than other people here. I couldn't handle cutting back on the mileage so I still run in shoes sometimes. I knew that if it was a choice between long runs and bf running my long runs would win so I had to mix it up.

For awhile I just took my shoes off for the last 2-4 miles of my runs and carried them with me while I was getting used to it because it takes me so long to warm up (sometimes as much as 25 minutes) that I refuse to run less than 4 miles. Plus I walked back and forth to school on broken up asphalt a mile each way which helped out the skin conditioning.

Now I have a completely random mix of shod and bf in my rotation. My "long runs" (10-15miles) I do in normal running shoes on trails, I've done them in frees a few times too. I still occasionally take my shoes off for the last few miles for fun but usually I don't bother. My speed workouts that I do on a treadmill are done in nike frees. I'm still too afraid to go fast bf. Up until last week I also did my semilong runs (7-10 miles) in my frees. Now I do those as bf/zem combo. I only put the zems on in places that are construction zones and hard sharp rocks (that still hurt my feet through the zems). I figured this kept with the FAT (footwear as tools) philosophy. Anything shorter than that is done all barefoot even if it means walking through rougher stuff. I did completely give up paying any attention to time on the runs. I go ridiculously slow when I'm bf. And if I feel anything out of the ordinary I just go home and ditch the last few miles. I have no pain tolerance at all so if it hurts I quit, no questions asked.



Like I said at the start I'm not saying this is a great idea since everyone else probably knows more than me, but it has worked for me. My total weekly mileage is slowly inching up to around 50 and about 30% of that being barefoot. So I don't think saying that using shoes will keep you from increasing bf miles is always true. I'm increasing my bf miles far faster than I'm increasing my total mileage. However I do keep my midfoot strike and faster cadence when I go back to my shoes (both frees and normal shoes), so maybe this is why I never had any of the typical problems with switching back and forth. Or maybe it was because I only really ran regularly for 3 or 4 months before mixing in the bf. Not as much time to develop bad habits. I ran in frees alot before switching and I also ran on trails alot, I was always barefoot every moment that its socially acceptable for me to be all of these are said to make for easier transitions (I also am fairly young so that probably helps). I don't know, I just know it doesn't bother me to switch back and forth, and I love the bfr enough that I don't have issues with putting on shoes when I should be bf (usually its the opposite problem). Until I am 100% barefoot though I can't really say that this is a viable way to become 100% bf. And its going to be a few more months at least before that happens to avoid the dreaded TMTS. But so far I haven't had any injuries or blisters and the bf has completely changed my stride even in shoes so I'm running much healthier regardless of footwear.