New member in Nebraska!

[Go Barefoot]

Hello! Just started running barefoot this September and was not a runner in the past. It all started after some long barefoot walks on the local trails in the evenings after work. I began running during these walks for added exercise and enjoyed running over the walking. After doing TMTS I had some fairly sore feet and had to take a break and scale back the running distance a bit. I had built up my distance to 2 miles but would be a bit sore after running this far. During an evening run in the dark I stepped on a couple of rocks on the palm of my right foot (apparently bruising it some) I decided to take a break for awhile as the weather is colder now anyway. Cant wait for spring and might do some treadmill running to keep my legs/feet in shape so Im not starting over in the spring.

Running barefoot appears to be addictive and I find it easy to over do it wanting to build up more distance. The body is good at giving fair warnings though as when its time to back off some!

Havent seen anyone else run barefoot here. Locals may think Im crazy! Who knows maybe I'll get others interested and I wont be the only person seen running barefoot.

 

[Barefooting Bob]

Welcome, Go Barefoot, glad to

Welcome, Go Barefoot, glad to have you here. Very common story, so you are not alone.

 

[clmcap21]

Welcome to barefoot running!

Welcome to barefoot running! Check out our two Nebraska chapters. We are always looking for new members. What part on Nebraska are you from?

 

[Go Barefoot]

Im located in Grand Island. 

Im located in Grand Island. Dont think there is a local chapter here yet. Seems as though the nearest chapters are in Omaha or out west.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Welcome!

Welcome!

 

[Phil Hart]

Go:Welcome to the crew. 

Go:

Welcome to the crew. We're glad to have you join us. Take it easy through the transition to barefoot, particularly running. I failed to heed my own advice and stress-fractured my left foot by keeping on "pushing through the pain" idiot-style early on instead of stopping when my foot started hurting. Listen to your body's feedback (or should that be "feetback"?) and give it plenty of time to adapt. If something hurts, that's probably a sign that you should either stop or slow down. Be smarter than I was, and you'll enjoy the process much more.

 

[NickW]

Phil, I'm assuming that it

Phil, I'm assuming that it was your military experience telling you to push through the pain? I have this all the time and have had to re-learn to listen to my body and it's finally getting easier for me to do. It helps that I had an injury that sidelined me for two months and so now I am super cautious.

 

[Go Barefoot]

Thanks for the advice Phil &

Thanks for the advice Phil & Nick! I think if I was to start over I would start out running on grass or dirt areas. Those rubberized running tracks at the local high schools are very easy to run on when you first starting out.

 

[Phil Hart]

Roger that, Nick.  My stress

Roger that, Nick. My stress fracture took me out totally for 10 weeks. The Army has no long-term sustainability goals in mind (beyond 20 years or roughly age 40). I do, and the Army no longer has a louder say than me. But old habits are hard to break, hooah? My "Stay Alert, Stay Alive" gene has been thoroughly reactivated and homed in on running healthily and sustainably.



Go - I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but you need hard, flat surface to start out on for two key reasons. Firstly, your feet are not used to functioning on their own without shoes to support them and keep them from having to adapt to any changes in the surface they land on. Barefoot over soft surface requires much more work on their part to conform to the varying and continuously undulating surface of the ground. Secondly, you can run sloppily (still heel striking to a degree, skidding on landing, and pushing off on liftoff) on soft surface without getting the feedback your feet want to give you, which is "PLEASE DON'T DO THESE THINGS!" Hard surface provides continuous and instant corrective feedback.

If you lean forward from your ankles, using gravity to pull you forward, lift your knees and relax your feet, you will simply be gently setting them down and lifting them up without friction and with extraordinarily minimal impact force. Hard surfaces help you burn these actions into muscle memory.

I love soft dirt and grass that I've scouted before running (you can't see what all is down in it at running speed), but it took months before I was able to run in these soft surfaces without instantly reverting to bad habits from 25 years of shod heel-striking.

 

[NickW]

Phil: I know exactly what you

Phil: I know exactly what you mean about the Army's sustainability goals. I was only in for 4 years, but came out a broken man so to speak. By age 30 I was only able to walk with a cane because of degenerative issues with my back. Basically wear and tear from packing around too much weight, wearing poor boots, and ignoring any pain I had and popping the 800 mg ibuprophen they give out like candy to help hide that pain. After 2 back surgeries, finding out I have a degeneritive arthritis in my foot from too much wear and tear, and still having pain in my back I discovered barefoot/minimalist living. Now at 34 yrs old, I am able to run/walk pain free. Hopefully, I will be able to do so for the rest of my life.

 

[Phil Hart]

Well in the category of minor

Well in the category of minor good news, Saint Nicholas, I was in for 9 years with similar experience, though not as much damage. It drove me to BFR, which has been very good for me as well. Our medics not only handed out the 800mg Ibu., but they dispensed the bottles of it to us on the first hint of aches and/or pains. Glad we've both survived and thrived anyway.

 

[Go Barefoot]

Phil - Now that you

Phil - Now that you mention it learning to run on hard surfaces instead of starting out with grass or dirt areas does make sense. When I first started running on the local paved trails I had blisters form on my heels and on two of my toes on my right foot. I studied my form one night while running a short distance with the blisters and used these blistered areas to determine what could be wrong with my form. I found that the blisters on my heels came from a slight twist while running with each leg. Correcting this slight twist was easy - but the blisters on my right foot took awhile to correct. The blisters on the toes came from pushing off and this habit was hard to break but I did get this problem solved. The hard surface - pavement in my case- does give your body quick feedback as to problems with your form. I can see now that if you did start on a soft surface these necessary corrections may not come to light until on a hard surface where you would end up having to correct your form at that time. Thanks for the heads up on starting on hard surfaces.

I was thinking about getting a treadmill to run on this winter to keep my form up somewhat and my legs in shape so I am not starting completely over when I hit the trails in the spring. Any advise on this or recommendations on keeping up on BF running in the winter months? Thought for more realistic trail like conditions of glueing sand paper to the tread mill belt! What grit shall I use? Just kidding!

 

[Phil Hart]

Go:I also had the

Go:

I also had the "heel-twist" and "pushoff" blisters early on. Same process you followed to get rid of them. The more your form gets cemented into muscle memory, the better BFR feels. Of course, the farther you go, the more tired you get; the more tired you get, the sloppier your form will become without deliberate attention. Tired or distracted either one have a strongly damaging impact on your form. Just keep that in mind as you go longer. Have a great one!

 

[NickW]

Go, the only suggestion about

Go, the only suggestion about the treadmill is to be wary of how hot the belt gets. I've never run bfr on a treadmill, but have read accounts of the belt blistering peoples feet because of how hot it gets. I've read that some will wear socks when running on the treadmill because it is enough to keep the heat from bothering them. I'm lucky, I live in the Pacific NW so I can run outdoors pretty much year round. We only get one or two days of snow during the winter and maybe a couple weeks worth of ice. Good luck with the treadmill!