Hi barefoot runners!
After reading "Born to Run" I was inspired to try out the barefoot running for myself. I weigh about 185 lbs and am in otherwise good shape. I started doing this on the treadmil at the gym (I actually wore socks), and kept my distance down to about a mile at 4.5-5 mph. Although my calves hurt initially, the pain wore down by the end of the week, and I read on the forums that your heels actually "kiss" the ground ever so slightly. I did another mile on Friday and everything felt great.
On Saturday, I decided to take it outside, and ran on one of those red oval highschool running tracks made with that synthetic rubber (totally barefoot). I read that it was important to choose a hard surface so that your body will auto-correct itself based on the pain you would experience if you had improper form before moving onto grassy trails. I think I got this off of Barefoot Ted's website.
Although I only did 5 laps around this track, by the end of it I was pretty much limping down to my car, and by the next day a fluid bubble had formed on my foot (sorry if this is gross). Is this a normal experience for people when they are first starting out? My foot is better 2 days after the fact. Should I avoid the red track altogether and just try it again on asphault or concrete? I was thinking that maybe the basketball court at the track would be a good alternative if I want to avoid hurting my feet on gravel on the roads. Or should I just stick to the treadmils?
Thanks and any advice you can throw my way would be greatly appreciated! Happy Memorial day