Hi everyone,
I am new to minimalist/barefoot running and too have been suffering from TOFP. There seem to be an abundance of posts that indicate that TOFP is a lingering issue for people. I have found something that seems pretty promising in terms of relieving the pain.
A little background: A month ago I went for my first run in my Bikilas, 1 mile, and I was hooked. Prior to that run I was doing 30-40 miles a week in my cushy Sauconys. So, I was getting plenty of miles on my legs. Took a few days off after my 1 mile interlude due to soreness and then restarted my running program.
Up to this week I had been wearing my Bikilas for runs of 6 miles (much slower but still running) and under (3 days a week) and my Sauconys for long runs on Fridays. There was some definite soreness in the first week, second week was better, third even better, and this week all miles have been run in my Bikilas with the exception of 1 barefoot run of 6 miles and no blisters! The barefoot run was simply awesome. Really slow at 11 minutes a mile compared to normal pace of about 9:30 but awesome nonetheless.
So that is where I am coming from in terms of fitness. My feet feel pretty good and are getting stronger except for TOFP in my right foot. I couldn't seem to shake it. This may be expected due to the short amount of time I have been in my Bikilas but everything else has felt really great. This is where I started doing some digging and found some information about extensor tendonitis (I am not saying you or I have extensor tendonitis, just that the pain is similar to TOFP). Several websites suggested that some of the TOFP associated with this type of tendonitis could be due to excessively tight calf muscles. This makes sense especially for we newcomers because we are now using our calf muscles in a way that wasn't necessary with our sofa cushion shoes. The suggested remedy was to (obviously) focus on really giving your calf muscles a good stretch. Easy enough.
I found this site which had one popular stretch and one other stretch that I hadn't see before. The first is called the Gastroc stretch. Probably the stretch you think of when you want to stretch your calf muscles. The other is called the Soleus stretch and is one that I hadn't seen or done before. The Soleus is really amazing, that little sucker gets right into your calf and does some pretty great stuff.
Last night I did both stretches 3 times (for about 30 seconds a set) on each calf and then some basic ham string stretches also. I repeated this process this morning and went for a 12 mile long run in my Bikilas. Wow what a difference! The norm for me was my right foot would start with a dull ache at about mile 4 and hang with me until I was done. A little post run TLC with ice and my my massage stick on the bottom of my foot usually took care of any lingering sensitivity.
This run was different. No TOFP at all throughout the run. What a great feeling. I stopped at miles 6 and 9 just to give my self a quick in-run stretch to keep my calf muscles as loose as possible. I expect next week's barefoot run to be just as comfortable.
In sum, my feet are getting stronger by just going easy and continuing to run in my Bikilas. This will naturally take care of some of the TOFP. However, I really think that taking the extra time to stretch out my calf muscles helped immensely and might also help with your current TOFP issues.
Best of luck.
CJPHD
I am new to minimalist/barefoot running and too have been suffering from TOFP. There seem to be an abundance of posts that indicate that TOFP is a lingering issue for people. I have found something that seems pretty promising in terms of relieving the pain.
A little background: A month ago I went for my first run in my Bikilas, 1 mile, and I was hooked. Prior to that run I was doing 30-40 miles a week in my cushy Sauconys. So, I was getting plenty of miles on my legs. Took a few days off after my 1 mile interlude due to soreness and then restarted my running program.
Up to this week I had been wearing my Bikilas for runs of 6 miles (much slower but still running) and under (3 days a week) and my Sauconys for long runs on Fridays. There was some definite soreness in the first week, second week was better, third even better, and this week all miles have been run in my Bikilas with the exception of 1 barefoot run of 6 miles and no blisters! The barefoot run was simply awesome. Really slow at 11 minutes a mile compared to normal pace of about 9:30 but awesome nonetheless.
So that is where I am coming from in terms of fitness. My feet feel pretty good and are getting stronger except for TOFP in my right foot. I couldn't seem to shake it. This may be expected due to the short amount of time I have been in my Bikilas but everything else has felt really great. This is where I started doing some digging and found some information about extensor tendonitis (I am not saying you or I have extensor tendonitis, just that the pain is similar to TOFP). Several websites suggested that some of the TOFP associated with this type of tendonitis could be due to excessively tight calf muscles. This makes sense especially for we newcomers because we are now using our calf muscles in a way that wasn't necessary with our sofa cushion shoes. The suggested remedy was to (obviously) focus on really giving your calf muscles a good stretch. Easy enough.
I found this site which had one popular stretch and one other stretch that I hadn't see before. The first is called the Gastroc stretch. Probably the stretch you think of when you want to stretch your calf muscles. The other is called the Soleus stretch and is one that I hadn't seen or done before. The Soleus is really amazing, that little sucker gets right into your calf and does some pretty great stuff.
Last night I did both stretches 3 times (for about 30 seconds a set) on each calf and then some basic ham string stretches also. I repeated this process this morning and went for a 12 mile long run in my Bikilas. Wow what a difference! The norm for me was my right foot would start with a dull ache at about mile 4 and hang with me until I was done. A little post run TLC with ice and my my massage stick on the bottom of my foot usually took care of any lingering sensitivity.
This run was different. No TOFP at all throughout the run. What a great feeling. I stopped at miles 6 and 9 just to give my self a quick in-run stretch to keep my calf muscles as loose as possible. I expect next week's barefoot run to be just as comfortable.
In sum, my feet are getting stronger by just going easy and continuing to run in my Bikilas. This will naturally take care of some of the TOFP. However, I really think that taking the extra time to stretch out my calf muscles helped immensely and might also help with your current TOFP issues.
Best of luck.
CJPHD