Shoes for BCT

jouno53

Barefooters
Oct 13, 2011
8
0
1
Hello everyone,

I leave for BCT at Ft. Sill on May 29th. I have been running in my minimalist Merrell shoes for several months, however, I cannot go much more than 3 miles without my cavles being sore for days on end. I've been dealing with a bit of a pulled upper calf as well, most likely from trying to do too much too soon and not properly stretching/foam rolling.



I am able to train in PT with my ROTC detachment using my Merrells, however, I have the ability to recover from PT much more than I will for the 8 weeks at basic, which involves much more sustained running.



My question is, should I purchase a pair of shoes like the Nike Free sneakers that will enable me to switch between midfoot striking/heel striking as needed?



What are your thoughts on this matter?



Thank you for your advice.
 
When you can run without the

When you can run without the ROTC, run barefoot, ditch the shoes. See if your calves treat you better. Let your feet lead you. Let your feet limit your ability to do to much too soon. Stay away from Nike-anything. Heel-striking as needed? Heel-striking is never needed. Good luck.
 
When I went into basic my

When I went into basic my shoes were taken from me and I had to purchase one of three pair they offered me. Good luck. I had no choice in running shoes.
 
I had to purchase some but if

I had to purchase some but if you bring your own you can just put those on. As long as you can put socks on under them to be uniform. A lot of people come to basic barely able to run a mile, so they start you at that point and slowly move you up to about 5 miles. 2 is the PT test. So I think you will be fine.
 
Not sure when you did BCT

Not sure when you did BCT NSDR, maybe more recently than I did, 2001, but I had brought brand new running shoes that felt great to run in (at the time). They didn't care and forced me to lock these up and purchase a pair from the PX. Maybe it's because I was at Ft. Benning and Infantry though.
 
Thank you for the advice. I

Thank you for the advice. I just got a pair of Merrell Road Gloves a few days ago that I will be using asap. They are slightly less "cusioned" and more flat than the Trail Gloves.

I'm confident I'll be good by May. From what I've gathered, you have to buy shoes from PX but you can still wear your own. They force you to buy shoes because many of the people who come to BCT do not have good shoes in general.
 
Things have probably changed

Things have probably changed since I was in. For us they told us it was so that we were all uniform and to hell if they hurt our feet, we were not wearing our civilian shoes so suck it up and drive on. Lol! It's cool if they've changed and you really do get to wear your civy shoes. I wish they would have been like that 11 years ago. Good luck!
 
I think it can also depend on

I think it can also depend on your DS. I was in BCT in 2001, so things could have changed since then too. But company to company could be different. There were 10 or so types of shoes we could purchase when I was there so the DS would have to keep track of what was in stock and that sort of thing.
 
gonna have to suck it up for 9 weeks if you aren't going infantry. for infantry basic and advanced training are the same place. once you get stationed somewhere you can wear almost anything you want but in uniform you will have to wear shoes.