trouble going back to minimalist

[Bare Lee]

When I go from barefoot to shoes, I have to work hard to keep my form similar. The biggest thing is that my cadence seems to want to slow down and I have to continuously think about keeping it fast.
Jim

Funny I noticed that today too, and I'm not someone who usually thinks about cadence. To avoid heel-striking, I had to consciously up my cadence. But I'm quite lazy about form issues, so I just let myself heel-strike. Then, a bit later, I noticed my body had self-corrected and I was mid-foot landing. Then, a bit later still, I took off my shoes. Ahhhhhhh. It was warm enough that my frost-nipped toes didn't evince any cold sensitivity. Should've risked it earlier in the run.

 

[NickW]

Funny I noticed that today too, and I'm not someone who usually thinks about cadence. To avoid heel-striking, I had to consciously up my cadence. But I'm quite lazy about form issues, so I just let myself heel-strike. Then, a bit later, I noticed my body had self-corrected and I was mid-foot landing. Then, a bit later still, I took off my shoes. Ahhhhhhh. It was warm enough that my frost-nipped toes didn't evince any cold sensitivity. Should've risked it earlier in the run.

I think it takes practice to run the same in minshoes as you do bare. I used to have a hard time keeping my form the same and I would really have to focus on my form when in minshoes. Now it's second nature to me. I guess it depends how much you're willing to practice. It took a long time for me to learn barefooting form, guess it only makes sense that you have to learn how to keep that form in minshoes too.

 

[Bare Lee]

I think it takes practice to run the same in minshoes as you do bare. I used to have a hard time keeping my form the same and I would really have to focus on my form when in minshoes. Now it's second nature to me. I guess it depends how much you're willing to practice. It took a long time for me to learn barefooting form, guess it only makes sense that you have to learn how to keep that form in minshoes too.

My solution, of course, is simply to run faster to improve my form, shod or bare. I prefer physical effort over mental effort. I get enough of the latter while I'm working.

Still, it may be the case that the velocity threshold for good form is lower bare than shod, maybe something like 9mm versus 8mm pace, respectively, or something like that, because I don't have to think about foot landing while bare. Of course, the cushioning of both the Bare Access and Sketcher GoBionics makes it harder. With the Moc3s, heel-striking is rarely a problem, and I don't feel like my gait differs too much from bare running.

 

[Tristan]

Well I thought a while back that faster pace was better for my form, but with a few races under my belt bare, and then back in shoes for the last one, I don't think that is the case for me anyhow. But there could be a balance, a fast pace might help with form a little, but pushing it beyond that into race-pace starts to degrade, especially at a faster 5k race where my feet feel like there moving so fast I don't even know what’s going on down there. But my feet have come away from most races better off than some of my training runs!

Cadence isnt my issue, well it is - but because so I still listen to a metronome app. I usually play the metronome in the background along with music, and I know it sounds weird to listen to both but I've been doing that over a year now.

Form is a funny thing. When I am bare now, I don't even think about it for the most part. But in shoes, when I have to concentrate, I have a hard time remembering all those little things about form from when I was new to bfr. And even when I try to implement them, the lack of feedback leaves me unsure if I am even doing it right. I end up trying to shift my feet all around landing differently, and never do find anything that feels right. Frustrating.

 

[Bare Lee]

Well I thought a while back that faster pace was better for my form, but with a few races under my belt bare, and then back in shoes for the last one, I don't think that is the case for me anyhow. But there could be a balance, a fast pace might help with form a little, but pushing it beyond that into race-pace starts to degrade, especially at a faster 5k race where my feet feel like there moving so fast I don't even know what’s going on down there. But my feet have come away from most races better off than some of my training runs!

Cadence isnt my issue, well it is - but because so I still listen to a metronome app. I usually play the metronome in the background along with music, and I know it sounds weird to listen to both but I've been doing that over a year now.

Form is a funny thing. When I am bare now, I don't even think about it for the most part. But in shoes, when I have to concentrate, I have a hard time remembering all those little things about form from when I was new to bfr. And even when I try to implement them, the lack of feedback leaves me unsure if I am even doing it right. I end up trying to shift my feet all around landing differently, and never do find anything that feels right. Frustrating.

Yah, I wouldn't advocate the faster pace = better form solution for everyone, but it works for me, and it's also part of a lot of pro trainers' toolkit.

Totally agree with you that running bare leads to better form more effortlessly. I've been running shod for the last two weeks, and it never feels quite right, although once again faster paces help.

 

[Zetti]

Yah, I wouldn't advocate the faster pace = better form solution for everyone, but it works for me, and it's also part of a lot of pro trainers' toolkit.

Totally agree with you that running bare leads to better form more effortlessly. I've been running shod for the last two weeks, and it never feels quite right, although once again faster paces help.

My issue here is that often, when I run minshoed I tend to run faster (significantly)....but I def. push off way more in minshoes....its been hard to tame down....but I'm a pretty novice runner too.

 

[jldeleon]

Form is a funny thing. When I am bare now, I don't even think about it for the most part. But in shoes, when I have to concentrate, I have a hard time remembering all those little things about form from when I was new to bfr. And even when I try to implement them, the lack of feedback leaves me unsure if I am even doing it right. I end up trying to shift my feet all around landing differently, and never do find anything that feels right. Frustrating.

I used to play around with form a lot, meaning, trying to "force" it to be correct. Then I managed to convince myself -and perhaps this is denial- that if I was "born to run" then I should quit worrying about "forcing" my form and let my body care of itself. My body changes it's form, depending on what I put on my feet, for a good reason -I am sure of it.

 

[Tristan]

Well I hit the trail with 3 different types of footwear yesterday. Tried my new vivo ultras running for the first time and my unshoes feathers and pt's which I hadn't ran in since summer. With all I was wearing original weight injinjni outdoor socks.

I liked the ultras except the toe box wasn't quite wide enough and was up against and pushing on by big toe. About two miles I had to swap. I like em for walking around, but I think they won't work out for running for me unfortunately. Next up I tried the feathers. These just want to rotate under my foot and the strap cuts into my toe. Again good for walking but I couldn't even do 1/2mi. Pah tempes next... These felt great, and they always had. But less ground feel. And back to the original problem, when I get up to a 9mm pace I started getting painful cramps in my arches. I give up.

Looking at the weather I think my next couple runs will be barefoot thankfully. I think after that I might try the pt's again and just limit my pace, I think it's something with my form changing at faster paces with less feedback.

 

[Tristan]

Just for the record I ran the exact same course today bare. No stretching, rolling, messaging, just the same slow warm up and cool down. No problems. 8:30 pace for the most part.

 

[Sid]

If you like the Ultra, consider the Aqua Lite. I think that it's the widest shoe that Vivobarefoot has, as I've tried several of them.

I found that an extended period of running in shoes will change my form ever so slightly. After doing about 60 miles in shoes over a period of many days, I found that when I switched back to bare, that I was landing harder for the first several hundred yards. Once I realized this, it took me a few seconds to correct. I agree with Jen that our bodies probably make these adaptations when wearing shoes for good reasons.