Yes, strength plus endurance are what I am looking to build, as well as what I wanted before. I've always done full body workouts, I've chosen not to do "leg days" and such. As a female, I found that my mass did not increase past 125, even though by the end I was calf-pressing 700-1000. Thank you for your feedback! Just to clarify, running with no shoes is best initially because of the feedback I'll get from the nerves in my feet, and resistance training will not cause me injury as long as I'm not running while lactically loaded?
For a bit more info, I've never been a runner, I've gone barefoot for a good portion of my life; especially childhood and teen years. My exercise over the last three years has been pregnancy and toddler-lifting associated. XD
Ah yes, baby-carries and toddler-lifts, along with spouse-repeats, have long been sanctioned exercises by the IFRF (International Federation of Recreational Fitness).
Some will tell you that barefoot running is a very technical exercise, with lots of form cues to keep in mind. For me, I've found that simply running barefoot provides adequate feedback for decent form, stride length, cadence, knee bend, etc., although it's useful to read up on all that if you have time. Also, I'm not a very accomplished runner so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
Steve Magness
http://www.scienceofrunning.com/ just put out a book. He's not a barefoot runner, and a mediocre writer, but he has great grasp of running science, it seems to me. Alex Hutchinson has a great book "Cardio or Weights?"
http://smile.amazon.com/Which-Comes...go_smi?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
that summarizes a lot of the topics associated with running and weight training. Check out McMillian's web page too
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/tips
If you've grown up barefooting a lot, then you're way ahead of a lot of people, and there's a good chance you'll take to barefoot running like a duck to water. I've been a casual barefooter most of my adult life, and used to train karate and run barefoot as part of the training, and I think this has helped.
Contrary to the current functional fitness fad, I think fitness components are by and large best trained separately. So for strength training, I prefer to really focus on strength, and do heavier weights at lower rep-counts. But in the end, what counts most is doing what you enjoy and in the manner you most enjoy it. If doing slow reps or high reps is what does it for you, that's great. I would find it extremely boring and tiring. Some people think it's great to do dumbbell curls standing one-legged on a bosu ball. Well, if they're happy, who am I to argue with the insane?
I'm not sure what "running while lactically loaded" means or how you could run while doing resistance training. But if you mean in a fatigued state, as in conditioning stuff, then yes, I would say it's best to do conditioning separately from resistance training. Resistance training with weights is best done in a fairly controlled manner. In my case, I like to do resistance training one day, and running the next, with a little easy recovery running or walking on the resistance day. I've found that resistance training, done properly, decreases injury risk in running as well as in daily life. I try to do conditioning work at the end of my resistance training sessions, and also get in some intervals/hills on running days once in a while.
There is a thread on the "Health, Nutrition, Injuries & Medical Conditions" forum called "Optimal Strength Training for Runners"
http://www.thebarefootrunners.org/threads/optimal-strength-training-for-runners.7760/page-57, where several of us discuss concepts and experiences. It's quite a long thread, and our thinking has evolved quite a bit, but it might be worth skimming through if you have the time.
Hope you end up participating regularly here at BRS!