Hey all, (actual question starting points in bold underline)
Been running trails since 2013 and running minimus since about 2015. I found my chapter here in Oklahoma but the last post was 2018 so that looks fairly dead. LOL
I love running minimus (was using New Balance Minimus for a long time but have recently switched to Witin and they are amazing) and yes, I finally got around to reading Born to Run so the barefoot thing kind of bit me. Thought I'd give it a try anyway.
I did go read all the new member stuff (there are several dead links, including Barefoot Ted's, which was disappointing) and I don't want to be "that new guy" that shows up and wants everyone to tell me what to do.
But I'll tell you what I did and then you can pile on. LOL
I guess the first thing that surprised me was that I see a LOT of talk about shoes in conjunction with barefoot running. That kind of surprised me. So I guess my first question is, is minimus footwear considered a part of the barefoot community? If so, I guess I should have joined a long time ago!
That said, after reading the info for new barefoot runners, I think I've passed a lot of the usual new guy wickets because I've been through the Achilles pain and most of the other issues that people deal with when they go minimus.
So the other day I just went out to my usual local trail, sans shoes, and ran the 4 mile loop barefoot. I've never said "Ow!" so many times in one hour in my life! LOL I kind of expected some pain. I'm a bit of a tenderfoot to begin with. But the trails around here are quite rocky. I made it through the 4 miles but man were my feet burning from all the abuse I put the nerve endings through! (Yes, I'm kind of an ALL-IN type of person. When I do something, I go do it. Sometimes that's not a good thing!)
After that first run my feet were a little raw feeling but didn't have any wear areas, blisters, or injuries. I did feel like I had some bone bruises or deep tissue bruising in the underside of my heel area. So I gave myself 3 recovery days before heading out today for my second attempt. I normally average about 10-12 minute miles on the local trails. My speed today was about 16.5 minutes per mile. In some really rough areas I had to "walk" because the rocks were so bad.
So in the interest of keeping this reasonably short I'll ask my second question: With trails that have a lot of rocks, roots, and other things that poke the underside of your foot (think, running across a gravel parking lot with rocks that are marble to quarter size) is it reasonable to think that I'll ever be able to toughen my foot to the point that I can run them without a lot of pain? Asked another way, are there only certain types of trails that barefoot runners go barefoot on, and they use minimus protective footwear for the rest and still consider it "barefoot" running?
Any and all advice, help, or ridicule welcome.
Happy to be here!
Eric "Psycho" Meyn
Been running trails since 2013 and running minimus since about 2015. I found my chapter here in Oklahoma but the last post was 2018 so that looks fairly dead. LOL
I love running minimus (was using New Balance Minimus for a long time but have recently switched to Witin and they are amazing) and yes, I finally got around to reading Born to Run so the barefoot thing kind of bit me. Thought I'd give it a try anyway.
I did go read all the new member stuff (there are several dead links, including Barefoot Ted's, which was disappointing) and I don't want to be "that new guy" that shows up and wants everyone to tell me what to do.
But I'll tell you what I did and then you can pile on. LOL
I guess the first thing that surprised me was that I see a LOT of talk about shoes in conjunction with barefoot running. That kind of surprised me. So I guess my first question is, is minimus footwear considered a part of the barefoot community? If so, I guess I should have joined a long time ago!
That said, after reading the info for new barefoot runners, I think I've passed a lot of the usual new guy wickets because I've been through the Achilles pain and most of the other issues that people deal with when they go minimus.
So the other day I just went out to my usual local trail, sans shoes, and ran the 4 mile loop barefoot. I've never said "Ow!" so many times in one hour in my life! LOL I kind of expected some pain. I'm a bit of a tenderfoot to begin with. But the trails around here are quite rocky. I made it through the 4 miles but man were my feet burning from all the abuse I put the nerve endings through! (Yes, I'm kind of an ALL-IN type of person. When I do something, I go do it. Sometimes that's not a good thing!)
After that first run my feet were a little raw feeling but didn't have any wear areas, blisters, or injuries. I did feel like I had some bone bruises or deep tissue bruising in the underside of my heel area. So I gave myself 3 recovery days before heading out today for my second attempt. I normally average about 10-12 minute miles on the local trails. My speed today was about 16.5 minutes per mile. In some really rough areas I had to "walk" because the rocks were so bad.
So in the interest of keeping this reasonably short I'll ask my second question: With trails that have a lot of rocks, roots, and other things that poke the underside of your foot (think, running across a gravel parking lot with rocks that are marble to quarter size) is it reasonable to think that I'll ever be able to toughen my foot to the point that I can run them without a lot of pain? Asked another way, are there only certain types of trails that barefoot runners go barefoot on, and they use minimus protective footwear for the rest and still consider it "barefoot" running?
Any and all advice, help, or ridicule welcome.
Happy to be here!
Eric "Psycho" Meyn