Starting from scratch advice

Daibhidh

Guest
Hey everyone. :)



I'm posting here hoping to benefit from the experience of trained barefoot runners. There are simply none that I have found it my area.



I wish to start running again, having given up over a year ago as I get a nasty shin splints in my left leg. Is BFR the answer? I'm hoping that people can recommend a way of training from nothing to everything.



So far I've purchased some EVO IIs which I am wearing to walk to work ~1 mile and throughout the day as I walk around the laboratory. I'm planning on continuing this and hopefully will build up a selection of minimalist shoes I can wear in a number of situations. I would love to train up through 10k, HM to marathon over some time but I'm not totally sure on how to do this. Almost all sources on the internet describe a transition for runners already suited to big distance in normal shoes.



Will anyone suggest a basic training regime that I might try over some months?



Thanks a million. :exmark:
 
Hi Daibhidh & Welcome,Some

Hi Daibhidh & Welcome,

Some of the most experienced barefoot runners here have designed start up and transition plans for novice barefoot runners. My suggestion for you would be to look at the Library here at the Barefoot Runners Society (BRS) and also go to Jason Robillard's website, BarefootRunningUniversity.com. He has several good resources for beginners, and he also posts regularly here at the BRS under the name 'Last Place Jason'.

Go slow and enjoy!
 
Follow this plan:

Follow this plan: http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/howtostart.html It's conservative to keep you from doing more than you're ready for. In my opinion it doesn't matter what kind of mileage you can do in shoes, your feet still won't be able to handle any significant amount of barefoot mileage starting out. Anyway, the most important thing to do when starting out is to pay attention. Pay attention to your form and how your body reacts a day or two after a run and don't push it and you'll be fine. Also, while I understand that you might not want to go barefoot due to cold I really recommend you reconsider if you have access o a treadmill or indoor track. Your soles will teach you about running form much more efficiently than any number of posts and videos will.
 
My brother had wicked shin

My brother had wicked shin splints before he went minimal with Vibrams. So yep, I think your shin splints will go away with time...

+1 on Jason's plan. It's great!

I'm also a fan of http://therunningbarefoot.com/ ... Ken Bob is seriously awesome and has some very good advice. His site was the first I went to starting out.

But it is winter, so I wouldn't expect you to put your sole-to-ground yet. But when you're indoors be sure to do some completely barefoot running, even if it's running in place on your living room carpet. It keeps the form in check.

Welcome!
 
Daibhidh I have to agree

Daibhidh I have to agree entirley with the advice posted so far on the subject of starting out. I went from running a steady mrathon distance in (normal) trainers. Back down to 1 mile when I went minimal or bare. It took me over a week for my calfs to recover the first time. After 12 weeks or so I am up to 5 mile. Calfs still get sore and the prosess is slow, but then we do have decades of shoe damage to undo. Be patient and listen to your body. A good inspirational read is "Barefoot Running" by Michael Sandler or "Born to Run" by Chris McDougal. Most of all ENJOY...
 
The Barefoot University - How

The Barefoot University - How to Start mentioned above is a good overall guideline to follow. One plan you could use for the specific training aspects is the Couch to 5K training plan. It's scheduled as a nine week plan, though it took me longer than that when I first started running. Part of that was from the need to reduce the load to accommodate the achilles/calf stretching. Another part was just not being able to do it all to begin with as I was too heavy and too out of shape. And, I also got sick during it. But, you can repeat the schedule until you make it and then move on. I did the first week three times before successfully completing it. There is nothing that requires you to keep any fixed schedule for the training plan. I just like the C25K plan as it provides a progressive target to aim for in each workout, that, and it's free. The C25K link above has links for the plan, podcasts, and tools. There is also a forum of others on the same journey, though, when I was doing it, only one other person began to try minimal/BF. You'll get much more info at that aspect here. If you want to follow my personal C25K journey, I documented each workout on a blog post here. The posts are listed in reverse chronological order. The first post is here. I started C25K using minimal footwear (VFFs). By the time I started doing barefoot later, I had progressed far enough into the plan that starting to run BF for a whole workout was difficult and it became limited mostly to just segments like the cool down. I wish I had started it barefoot from the beginning.

Tim
 
I'm just prompted to say a

I'm just prompted to say a word about discomfort.

If you go with just about any plan, you're going to have days when your feet or your calves or your ankles or something will just feel sore. You'll probably have moments of acute "Wow! That hurt!" I want to assure you that that's OK and that they all pass and most especially, that none of that stuff materially detracted from my deep pleasure in the entire "coming up to speed" body retraining experience.

In my case, it was literally from the "c" of Couch to 5k or however far I end up going. I had a lot of coming up to speed to do, and am still not out of the woods.

Luck and joy to you!
 
...Oh.  I just went to look

...Oh. I just went to look at your profile. You're from Scotland, the cold part, you say. You're plenty tough already, then, and need no words about discomfort. It's like teaching my cat to take it easy, no doubt.