You want to find out how really out of shape you are as a runner?

[Barefoot Gentile]

Do sprints, it's a whole other level.

I did about 6 100 meter sprints in KSO's, makes a 20 mile run like a walk in the park. Now I truly know why people reccommend track work for marathon training.

 

[Abide]

I made some of my running

I made some of my running mates do 10-200s with me last week. They were pretty pissed at me the next day.

Be careful Adam with the vffs and and sprints escpecially if you haven't done them in a while.

 

[twinkletoes]

I'm pretty sure each time I

I'm pretty sure each time I got peroneal tendonitis in my ankles was because I did some hard sprints during the week in VFFs then went out for a 10mile run where there is a nasty grade of 1/3+ mile at the halfway point. It's a pattern because it happened in each ankle on two different occasions as well as I've experienced several other pulled/sore muscles that sidelined me for a bit. The right ankle is the worst strain I've ever had and why I stopped running in VFFs. It feels so good to sprint in those things, but now I understand that the soles of my feet will prevent me from exceeding my body's overall physical limits.

 

[Mike]

How do you do sprints

How do you do sprints barefoot? Seems like you'd rip your feet up pretty bad to me... uzzled:

 

[Danjo]

You just can't take off as

You just can't take off as fast as you would if you had spikes on. You should be able to reach about the same top speed though, probably a higher speed even because of the lack of anything weighing down your feet. I would probably not recommend doing sprint workouts with anything on your feet, because you will almost definitely push off if you are sprinting. If you're totally barefoot though the track will eat the skin right off your feet if you try to push at all, and you will quickly learn to not push off. I think it would probably be best to do something more like a build-up, starting slow and increasing your speed until you are sprinting all out, or at least start with a jog before you take off. Launching into a dead sprint from a standstill barefoot (or in minimal shoes) sounds like a sure way to get injured.

 

[Barefoot Gentile]

I brought my 4 year old son

I brought my 4 year old son to the track today, they have a playground as well. Fisrt time in my KSO's since 7 months, I have to say they fit like a glove. I was hating on the Vibrams, but came back to reality. They are still the best minimal shoe out there.

I know full well not to do sprints barefoot, this a brand new rubber track they put in, and it's like rubberized chip-n-seal. You do sprints barefoot on this you are going to slice up your feet.



Then I did my usual pullup routine on the jungle gym, and jumping off things.



This stuff is nasy right here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uDJc-3ODog&feature=player_embedded





Abide: thanks mate, I certainly will take heed to that warning, because it's very true.

 

[SillyC]

Oooh - I HATE speedwork.  It

Oooh - I HATE speedwork. It really helps if I go to the track with my friend that loves it. I'm good for 200s, but the 400s always make me feel so sick to my stomach.

 

[BFwillie_g]

 I was doing an interval

I was doing an interval session (5x400m) with my running group on a long, paved bike path a couple weeks ago and took off and carried my shoes (I sometimes wear my Inov-8s with the group because I never know where they're going to run and don't want to get hung up somewhere where I can't keep up BF or even MF). It was the first heavy BF speedwork I'd done and I gotta say, it felt GREAT. I'm certain that my speed was on a par with what I was doing last year when I did Pfitzinger's 55/70 mpw marathon program (Pfitz likes speedwork!), and mainly because of the naked feet, couldn't be from anything else.

My friends got a kick out of it, for sure, except that I was stronger than all of them. And holding my shoes in my hands, which sucks.

But I agree that if you want to get hurt, sprinting is probably a good way to go about it. Pick-up striders, like Danjo described, are a LOT safer and, imo, better training overall for distance runners. Regardless of how you do your speedwork, you should be finishing each rep faster than you started. If you fade at the end, you started too fast (imo) and should adjust accordingly the next time. Think of it as practice for a strong finish.