My advice for folks getting started in barefoot/minimalist

[primus]

Hello all,

First, I am a newbie. I dove into minimalist running the past July (2011). It was an attempt to do away with some knee pain that I get when picking up mileage, etc. I loved it immediately. I felt lighter and faster. My form felt better (no more heel striking without having to think about it). I was an immediate convert. You can probably see where this is going.

I went at it too much too soon. Today I am 10 days past a medial gastroc strain (tear). I got it from taking off from a standing runner's start on a field (even after warming up properly). That morning my calves were still tight and sore from a run in the min shoes the day before.

Below are some things I've learned in hind-sight over the past few months of minimalist running. Hopefully, it will help other newbies prevent some injuries.

1. Follow the advice that you'll find everywhere on minimalist running -

It was even on the inside of my min shoes box. Everyone says take it slow and I can't emphasize this enough. Make the transition gradually. I still don't know what percentage, etc. should be adhered to when jumping in. It will likely vary by individual. Maybe others can chime in here on a proper transition plan and what cues we should listen to (from our bodies).

2. Recognize the difference between soreness and pain -

I simply ignored the warning signs. I had a little twinge of pain right in the belly of the upper inner calf muscle (medial gastrocnemius). I now know it was not the typical soreness that can be run on. I had this pain for 3 weeks before I heard the pop.

3. Let a muscle injury heal -

If you think you have a muscle injury, do some research on icing, rest duration, etc. to let your injury heal. Or see a doctor, etc. It is an injury and it can progress/worsen unless it heals.



I still love my minimalist shoes. I won't mention the brand, because it wasn't the shoes fault... it was mine. I'm still a believer and I plan to get right back into minimalist running as soon as I'm healed up. However, I'll take it slowly...

Hope this helps.

 

[scedastic]

Barefoot Gentile wrote:Sorry

Sorry to hear about your injury, I truly hope you are feeling better. Unfortunally I do blame minimal shoes for injuries, because the shoes are a band-aid when it comes to someone finding is this new style of running.



I think the most important advice you should have on your list, and have it #1 with bold red letters is run barefoot first for a good month before even thinking about minimal footwear. This method will decrease the injury rate with minimal runners.

+1

fwiw (newbie here):



I only toyed with minimal running before going full bf, but I was able to do waaaaaay too much, and with waaaaay worse form than if I had been bf. (and yes, I thought it was good form) I think it's possible to transition to minimals without passing through learning barefoot running, but it was not a good strategy for me.

Because of some of the barefoot blogs and such I had started to read, at the end of a minimal run, I decided to go about 1 block on pavement with just my socks on. Gee, that wasn't so bad. Then I took my shoes off at the end of another run, and went bf for the last part, on gravel/chip seal/rough grass. hmm, that wasn't bad either. In fact, it was kind of fun. And so it began. I never thought I'd like it, and started out rather skeptical of the whole thing, so you never know until you try it.

Now that I've been bf as much as possible, running and walking, for the past 1.5 months, running in minimals feels weird and my stride feels awkward. I worked out some little bad running stride habits over the first 2 weeks of bf running that I never realized I was doing, that I'm not sure I would have picked up on with any kind of shoe.

It will be a while before my muscle memory is ready to give up on the sensory input that bf provides and have a good, healthy gait whether in shoes or not.

Anyways, running without shoes on has also become pleasurable enough that I no longer see myself as running with shoes in the future unless I absolutely need to for weather or terrain. To me, there are reasons not to wear shoes, and not many reasons to wear them, so why bother with them.



I do also agree about listening to your body, but for me it is just so much easier to do without my shoes on.

 

[scedastic]

Oh, and I don't want to seem

Oh, and I don't want to seem unsympathetic or immune to injury.

I have a healthy fear and an attitude of "there but by the graces, go I" whenever I hear about injuries. Every little ache or tiny soreness during the first few weeks was analyzed like it was a multivariable calculus problem to see if it was a "stop" soreness, or a "run through it" soreness.

There is a certain amount of risk, I think, no matter what you do in life.

I hope you heal quickly and can get back to running!

 

[Phil Hart]

Similar story with me. 

Similar story with me. Barefoot on hard, flat surface is the way to learn. Shoes mask too much feedback. Mine ended up with a left foot stress fracture. My fault, not the shoes' fault, but I handicapped myself massively by wearing them. Like taking up archery at night, then putting dark, dark sunglasses on to "help."

Barefoot first lets your body learn what works with natural safeties built in. You may have to squint at the target, but at least you'll be able to see it. Best of luck after the healing.

 

[skedaddle]

I think you avoid injury

I think you avoid injury by mixing up your run, varying your pace, your stride length, the surface you run on etc. Overuse injuries are just that, doing the same thing over and over until something has to give.

We are all different, find your own path, what works for one person might not work for you, nothing is set in stone just listen to your own body.

I run in trail gloves btw, i like to run distances so they suit my style and goals.

 

[Jonny00GT]

I agree with BF Gent!  Ditch

I agree with BF Gent! Ditch the shoes first, find some nasty stuff, even if that's just concrete and start slow. I started in Vibrams and wish I'd started bare. I got a nice bruise on my right foot from pounding in the VFFs that I ran through and took a couple months to heal and had more than my fair share of top of the foot pain. Then when I did run bare, my "perfect form" gave me huge blisters and I had to take my mileage down and start all over again....well... some what, but I definitely would have progressed faster and more safely fully bare from the beginning!

-Jonny

 

[Barefoot Gentile]

Sorry to hear about your

Sorry to hear about your injury, I truly hope you are feeling better. Unfortunally I do blame minimal shoes for injuries, because the shoes are a band-aid when it comes to someone finding this new style of running.

I think the most important advice you should have on your list and have it #1 with bold red letters is run barefoot first for a good month before even thinking about minimal footwear. This method will decrease the injury rate with minimal runners.

 

[anscbo]

Sorry to hear about your

Sorry to hear about your injury. I have torn my left achilles tendon twice playing basketball as a young man. I started running sometime in the past 4 years and love it. I have been running on my VFF for about 4 months now and find that all of those suggestions you made are dead on. I only get pain in the region where my surgery was performed. I deal with it using ice, elevation and rolling something directly on my calf down to my tendon. It seems to push blood down there and it feels great! I am still a newby in the BF world but plan to put my feet on as many places as possible. Still getting the WTF looks from folks that pass me by in their vehicles. How you heal well and get back into the game.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

WTF looks = priceless!

WTF looks = priceless!