Newbie

[Lukeor]

Hi everyone.

I gotten started with the minimalist running because after repeatedly injuring myself over the course of two half marathons, I wondered why running barefoot for warm ups at the Dojo didn't give me so much a twinge in current injuries. This was around 6 months ago…

So I did some reasearch, and I saved for some VFF's, and got stuck-in early January. After my calves tightened a bit I had virtually no pain.

Untill, two weeks ago I got a proper foot injury, which I will probably post about in a bit… I'm close to giving up self-diagnosing.

At any rate, not running has made time for me to read 'born to run'. It made me feel silly, with how little I know about running, its just something I have been doing on and off since I was 11, for its own sake, always by myself, just enjoying the world go by, and I have never followed a regime or anything. So joining a community I really want to learn how to improve and learn from other people.

Can't really offer much back to the community other than enthusiasm. I have plenty of that.



Luke

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Welcome, Luke!  I responded

Welcome, Luke! I responded to your other post. Check it out.

 

[Joshh]

Welcome Luke,Enthusiasm is

Welcome Luke,

Enthusiasm is not to be underestimated.

Welcome!

 

[zapmamak]

Hi Luke! Nice to see you

Hi Luke! Nice to see you here. Whereabouts are you from?

 

[Phil Hart]

Welcome to the crew, Luke. 

Welcome to the crew, Luke. I'm sure you'll get some good feedback from the folks here, who are always very helpful and willing to share out of their depths of experience. I just started barefoot last fall after 25 years of shod running, and I did too much too soon (TMTS), and bought myself a stress fracture in my left foot, third metarsal, also running in VFFs. I'm convinced that the first couple of months are best done truly barefoot to learn and cement correct form into muscle memory. Then you can go further and faster, and use shoes like the VFFs if you want to (and I will continue to do so myself sometimes, as they can be great tools). You've already shown yourself to be smarter than me by stopping when you had recurring pain. I'm a slow learner. I hope you heal quickly.

 

[Lukeor]

Hi guys.Running over in

Hi guys.

Running over in London, england. The drabbest corner of earth, as much as I hate everyone being very non-chalont in a city full of crazies; its a great place to stay anonymous in a pair of VFFs.

Thanks to Mr Hart, TJ and the research their comments have incurred, I realise now that VFF's are for when I can actually run barefoot.

Thanks to everyone for a warm welcome. It's really appreciated - nice to know there are people who don't think I'm a bit of a loser for opting for suicide by exhaustion.

Luke

 

[Barefoot TJ]

That's the whole reason we

That's the whole reason we founded the BRS, Luke! Us crazies can hang out together.

 

[Phil Hart]

Luke:Mr. Hart is my father;

Luke:

Mr. Hart is my father; I'm just Phil.

I'm glad we could be helpful; I hope we continue to be so for you. It can indeed be rather pleasant to be surrounded by crazy people, but certainly more so when they're friendly and welcoming. We're hoping to bring our 3 boys to London for a few days sometime this summer or fall (they're 11, 13 and 15 years old). We've been to London and all over England and Scotland. European travel was simpler for us when we lived in Stuttgart, Germany for several years back in the 1990's. Perhaps we could meet you for a run if we end up making it there this year. All 3 of my boys are running with me, but only the younger two are going barefoot.

Ask lots of questions of this crew and you'll get lots of good answers.

Welcome again, and have a great day!



Phil

 

[Barefoot TJ]

The little ones are running

The little ones are running barefoot with dad! How cool!

 

[stomper]

Luke, you mentioned the

Luke, you mentioned the dojo. For myself, I found my martial arts experience was helpful in learning barefoot running. The experience I had gotten in listening to my body in that context helped me get signals from my body about how I was running. Let us know what you figure out..

 

[Lukeor]

Hi Stomper - well,

Hi



Stomper - well, obviously my first few months of BFR have left me with what is fairly certainly a stress fracture. While Martial arts helped me discover BFR, they also taught me to push through pain. Nonetheless, I'd like to think Ju Jitsu especially helped to develop 'intuition' in my feet. If I can roll around, get thrown, throw other people, and grapple without shoes- why not run? I'll see; the terrible finance of working graduate design internships (although I got my first permenant design position two weeks ago) has meant I haven't been able to afford to train in London yet - I know how much my half marathon helped my sparring stamina, and kettlebells improved my stability and strength. Maybe BFR will help with something too?



Phil - I plan on healing by summer, so that'd be nice. I'd offer to help put you guys up, but I basically live in what an American might term a 'frat house'. Except no art school I know has frat groups, and I've graduated. Definately not what your boys need to see (can I just say, I wish my dad would have run more often with me when I was growing up!). At any rate, a run'd be good.



Luke

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Maybe BFR will help with

Maybe BFR will help with something too .

Patience

 

[Phil Hart]

Luke:I'm a bit older than

Luke:

I'm a bit older than you (42), and the bone itself took about 10 weeks to be fully healed and ready for anything. I'm still having some discomfort, tenderness and lack of flexibility around the middle toes/forefoot 5 months later. I think that I did some connecting tissue damage in addition to breaking the bone. You may not have the same problem, and even if you do, your younger, more resilient foot should heal itself faster than mine. While I am only 42 (which is probably close to twice your age, but still not really that old), 9 years as a soldier have put some hard miles on my body that probably add another 10 years' worth of wear and tear to how old my body thinks it really is.

You should recover faster, but let me also caution you about how you limp around while healing. You can also mess yourself up by walking on your heel/outside edge of your foot continually for the weeks of healing. I think one of those hard boots would be a great idea. My adapted limping for 10 weeks may have also contributed to the pain I'm still feeling.

I wish you the best in healing. Thanks for considering us visiting, but you're absolutely right. Three essentially teen-aged boys take up a lot of space, and they indeed don't need that particular image right now. I'm getting ready to move with my work (as a defense consultant for the Army) to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the home of the Airborne and of US Special Operations Command. There are thousands of great young soldiers there; but while they are great soldiers, they are not necessarily great models for the values and character I want my boys to develop before deciding on their own lifestyles at their impressionable ages.

I do hope we can make it there and that we can run with you.



Phil

 

[stomper]

Luke,  I have mixed feelings

Luke, I have mixed feelings about "pushing through the pain." On one hand you might do that in the dojo once in a while and discover that your body can do much more than you think, a "mind over matter" type of thing. On the other hand if you're teaching yourself to ignore what your body is saying, you are just asking for injury.

I'm so glad you mentioned grappling because I feel that was the martial arts discipline that really encourage me to listen to my body. (Not that I'm a great grappler or anything, but it has been instructive.) First of all, it helped me think of my whole body (not just my hands and eyes ) as a sensor to what's going on. And second, because when you're trapped under some 200 pound dude, really, you need to relax. You can't "push through the pain" of being crushed. You have to figure out what's happening and relieve the pressure somehow. I remember vividly the first few times I realized my opponent had overweighted me on one side. All I needed to do was STOP resisting and then I was able to reverse him with like zero effort. You've probably had a similar experience. Well, that's what BFR is like.

cheers

 

[Barefoot TJ]

If you do have a stress

If you do have a stress fracture, you should wear a boot. I think some people take longer to heal, not just because of age or bone density health (of course those are factors), but also because they aren't stabilizing the area that was fractured, allowing it to truly heal. It takes longer for bones to heal if they are in constant motion. Find out if you have a fracture and let us know.

 

[Lukeor]

Hi guys, Thanks, the

Hi guys,



Thanks, the footwear issue is something I'd been thinking about too. I got back my old working boots (steel toes etc.) from before my recently got my white collar status.



Seems they're much better for load bearing, but I have to walk a fair bit, and then they seem to cause more pain. I've found talking the time to walk on the forefoot less painfull, initially in my squash shoes and then in a more sturdy, roomy basketball shoes. I'm assuming here that less pain = more healing.



However, I have a feeling that this may actually be more down to me (subconsciously) thinking I can lay into the road with the boots?



Also Stomper - as a 6'5 200 pound guy myself, I always end up under someone whos about 6'0 (low centre of gravity) and (last time) 210 Pounds. Exactly the same experience though; all in working with what they give you, and then BAM. Unless they happen to be vastly more experienced, in which case they've fed you a hideous trap and you end up being crucified infront of all your mates. I think its a brilliant analogy though.



Thanks guys, and thanks again TJ for contacting the doc on my behalf.

 

[Phil Hart]

Luke:TJ and I were talking

Luke:

TJ and I were talking about a "moon boot" that you wear (hard plastic shell with padding inside) during foot injury healing, not Doc Martens. I went without it, and my adaptive walking - which was on the outside edge of my foot and my heel - probably complicated my healing and extended the time it took. Less pain is generally a good sign of more healing, but less use guarantees more healing; that's what the "moon boot" ensures.



Phil