Transitioning

[jjb]

So I had a long talk with an ultramarathoner friend of mine. I shared with him my frustrations with plantar fascitis and he suggested the following:

1. Barefooting on concrete will wreck your feet.
2. Barefooting past ten miles anywhere will wreck your feet.

I know his opinion is just one of many, but it makes some sense. I was doing about 24 miles per week, completely barefoot, but had to stop my running for over a month now due to plantar pain. I am starting to feel like I can get out there again, despite occasional pain in the morning. So I did this: I bought some Altras (fully-zero drop) and am planning to alternate barefoot and shod.

I definitely feel like a traitor to the cause and an apostate, but I want to run again.

 

[Tristan]

Well I am sure you already know but in case you were looking for some verification those two points are completely false (unless you're doing it wrong, of course). I think most on here have done both of those just fine including myself. It seems that runners or people in general that have conventional mindset that harder surfaces increase shock to the foot, they don't understand that with proper technique you cushion your landing naturally - absorbing it in the muscles and not slapping your feet down like so many do with shoes and absorb the impact in your bones and joints. You need to be 'light on your feet' like a ninja running silently. I've run on concrete, sure seemed like an almost ideal barefoot surface to me being so smooth and obstacle free. It doesn't do much to toughen your feet though, but plenty of time for that on other runs. 10 miles? Usually all my weekly or bi-weekly long runs barefoot exceed that. Many of us have run barefoot marathons just fine, and even barefoot ultras. I've done up to 50 miles/ week all barefoot. After my barefoot road marathons, my feet are probably the only thing on my body that doesn't hurt (I joke of course, but really my feet are usually in much better shape than the rest of me).

As for your plantar pain, that might be something that needs figured out, but I'm no expert there. I suffered from PF myself - that is what led me to barefoot running. I really have not had a problem with PF again since going barefoot.

Going halfsies may help, may not. I tend to think going consistently barefoot works a little better and just dialing back if your having problems. But it might be worth a try to mix things up and see if that helps, I hope you can get it figured out!

 

[Lorri]

I agree with Tristan... I barefoot half up to half marathons on tarmac - same as concrete really. Neither running over 10 miles or running on tarmac is a barefoot problem - i love both. I also hill walk and live completely barefoot.

I admit that i did have IT band issues this year which i'm currently building back up from but that is nothing to do with barefoot - IT band is a hip muscle issue. Fixed now, running happily again and faster.

If you have an issue then i would suggest it's down to form and would suggest treadmill work. Treadmills are great in that you can really hear your foot falls and correct them. My view is that you should be able to run on a treadmill quieter than the treadmill motor - if you can't then you need to correct your form to make your foot falls quieter. Give a treadmill a go and see what happens.

 

[jjb]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I do feel that my technique is good. No real way to demonstrate this on here, but I really thought I'd sussed it this year.

I started running (shod and wrong) in January of 2015.
By April 2015 I had a stress fracture in my left knee and pf in my right foot. (I "cured" the pf in my right foot by going barefoot and wearing a night splint.)
I started barefooting in July 2015.
I had a stress fracture in my right foot by December 2015.
I started up barefoot again in February 2016, after reading Barefoot Ken Bob's book and restructuring my gait. So it was definitely a surprise to have pf come up in my left foot by mid-November.

Frustrating to say the least.

The thing I want most was to run a half-marathon completely barefoot, but now I'm starting to think that maybe it just isn't something I can do. I'm starting to think maybe I run the half in the Altras and just live barefoot everywhere else. Thoughts?

 

[rickwhitelaw]

Your friend's statements are false. He probably wears Hokas.

Every case is different, every recovery is different. Shoes may or may not help. You may have to postpone your half marathon.

Fellow sufferer here. Had a bad case in one foot during my barefoot years. Have a mild case now in the other foot in my shod years. What has helped me is PT with electrical and Graston, also reducing my weight (attempting now with my mild case). Keeping the load off of the front of the foot helps too. No faster paces or hills until healed.

A few articles: http://www.irunfar.com/2016/01/hard-facts-for-fast-plantar-faciitis-recovery.html

https://www.painscience.com/tutorials/plantar-fasciitis.php

Also search this forum and you will come up with some links and posts.

 

[Makamaespm]

i haven't done it personally, but there are a few threads on here where those starting their transition posted a video of their running and this lovely community banded together to help. Someone even helped out by further taking the original video, slowed it down, and zoomed up on the feet so that they could really dissect the person's stride. that could be an option to demonstrate and double check if you're doing it right.

 

[Lorena]

I started my transition 8 months ago, i can tell you that I just had wish to have found this website and Ken Bob expertise before. I did the same mistake, instead of going barefoot all the time I listen to other people who have never even try barefoot and got a pair of altras among many others. The more I was running without shoes the better I was doing. During long runs I was told to mix them from barefoot to shoes. I just know that while barefoot all was great. Once I was wearing shoes damn! My training was messed up. There's only one way to do this correctly, go slow, listen to your body. If blisters come after some time your soles will get stronger and forget about shoes. I'm no doctor at all. Just talking by experience. oh! Definitely hard surfaces are the best!!!! Another little mistake I did, instead of going on them first, I did on grass pretty much in the beginning.

 

[Lorena]

One more thing, I did another huge mistake. Before my transition I got injured while racing. My first real injury. My quad. I wasn't doing strength exercises or taking days off. Just running and healthy diet but never as I do now. I declare myself I was a complete ignorant about all what this requires. Still learning of course. Now, I understand how important is to build foundation. Strong muscles are our armour. Balance, cross training, anti inflammatory food and yes, rest. It can be a lot but it definitely worth it. I'll turn 47 soon, I can tell you that I never felt this strong. So far I have had 2 set backs due to doing too much too soon. Basically tendons inflamed on my left ankle which by the way that foot feels stronger well. Now, stress reaction on my second metatarsal due to a tight calf, a big knot that I should had tried to get rid of it first instead of keep increasing mileage. I was trying to make it to a full marathon. I'm not ready yet. Are these real injuries? Hmm.... Not sure, I would call them more than warnings from my body telling hey! Go slower, we'll get there but not yet LOL! I'll make it I know, and hope my experience help you a bit. it's never too late when you decided to become antifragile ha-ha not a super human or woman of steel certainly

 

[Neil_D]

Sounds similar to my recent spate of injuries due to ignoring warning signs. Even after 8 years of barefoot running you still have to be attuned to imbalances in the muscles that can lead to injuries and think about why they are occurring, do I need to strengthen the quads, ease knots in the calves. One thing I learned to stop doing was calf raises or drops. The calf usually gets enough exercise during the run and it can be too much for them to add weight resistance training to them as well. If the calf muscle is sore from weights and you run you are going to give your ankle tendons some problems. I'll only do calves now if I don't have to run for a week after.

Neil

 

[jjb]

Small update and reply:

So I went out three times in the Altras and by the third run I decided I hated them. I took them off two miles in and walked barefoot the rest of the way home. They felt bulky, constricting, deadening. My plantar pain continues off and on and yet I just don't want to chuck barefooting. Plain and simple, I like it.

And yet, I'm starting to wonder whether some people are able to do this, physiologically, easier than others. As much as I gravitate towards the unilateralist approach to just about everything, I suspect that for some people, barefooting doesn't work. Indeed, the friend of mine who suggested I pick up some zero-drop shoes (no, rickwhitelaw, he doesn't wear Hokas) and alternate between them and my feets has run ultra-marathons behind Tarahumaras and watched them put shoes on twenty miles into their runs.

I guess my takeaway is this: if I never end up being able to run a half-marathon (or a marathon!) but I'm able to do short miles barefoot for the rest of my life, then fine.

 

[velcrochicken]

I think we tend to over think injuries. They are happening because of 1 of 2 reasons, you are still to weak for the distance you are trying to cover or your form is off.
Every human should have the ability to run barefoot, its just a case of a very very slow buildup. All foot injuries I tend to think are related to your calves being too tight/weak, work on them day and night with a hard ball and pvp pipe, drop the distance right back and see how it goes.