The Barefoot Revolution: Part 1

Well, I know what you are all thinking, “Is he talking about barefoot running? What is he crazy!?”  Well, yes, and that remains to be seen.  There is growing evidence, though much of this subject still remains controversial, that running barefoot is better for you.  If anything, not spending $80-100 on running shoes every 1.5-2 months would sure be nice!

As part of a series of articles, I will be documenting my transition time from running with shoes (shod), to running shoeless (unshod).  I am not going to get into great depth with regards to the research behind this.  There is a lot out there, and as it is such a heated topic, I am just going to leave that section alone.  Should you feel that you would like to do some research on the topic, look for articles that are published in scientific journals and not ones published in newspapers.  Above all, I do personally feel that since we were not born with shoes on our feet, and that we existed fine for 10s and 100s of thousands of years running either barefoot, in sandals, or in shoes with no cushioning, that this is good enough anecdotal evidence for me to at least try it out.

Lastly, before I begin, I would like to clarify that my barefoot running will be done not technically barefoot, though at times I will be running completely free of anything, but with a minimalist sandal called the Huarache.

OK, so now to discuss my first couple weeks of transition, and let the madness, literally, begin!!

After reading some scientific evidence to suggest that my leg and foot health could be improved by running barefoot, I decided, like all things with running, that perhaps I just had to try it and see if it was for me.  Thursday, July 30th, I went for my first barefoot run.  For the previous month I had been suffering from shin splints that had caused me to take 4 days off from running and then greatly reduce my training plan so as to ease back into my previous mileage of about 100 miles/week.

That Thursday, I ran for 25 minutes, mostly on paved roads and sidewalks, and what a different feeling that was!  For days after this run, my calves remained very tight.  I had to stretch, massage, and apply heating pads multiple times a day, through the weekend to loosen them up.  If this barefoot thing was going to work, I wanted to make sure I did things right to give it a proper shot at success.

That weekend, while massaging my calves, I came up with a tentative, 10-week transition plan.  This post will cover these first 2 full weeks.  The first of those weeks, the week beginning Monday, August 3rd, would hold two 30 minute barefoot runs.  The crux of my plan would include a weekly addition of 1 barefoot run, and 10 minutes added to each of the runs that week.

So, that first week had me at 2 runs at 30 minutes each.  My first 30 minutes was fantastic.  It had started to rain, which I always enjoy running in, and running barefoot in the rain was so primal, I felt like Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans.  By Thursday, I had bought a sheet of 6mm thick Vibram Cherry soling, and some latigo leather laces to make my huaraches just like the Native Americans in Copper Canyon use to run their 100+ mile races.  That Thursday run in the sandals was definitely an experience, those sandals would take some getting used to.  Already I was wondering what types of things I would have to deal with in by barefoot transition and I had just finished my first official week!!

My next week consisted of three 40 minute runs, which I ran in my huaraches.  My calves still required frequent heavy stretching after these runs, and now my feet, especially my arches, started to feel it as well.  However, after one particular run, the 3rd of the week, I started to feel what I hoped was a taste of the bounty that the future might hold.

I had just completed a 40 minute loop shod, and was now lacing up my huaraches for their 40 minute portion of my run.  As soon as I started I noticed how light my feet felt.  With no shoes, my stride seemed to be much more free to be natural as it wanted.  I finally stopped noticing the laces on my feet, and could run as if the huaraches weren’t even there.  I completed this loop only 1 minute slower than with shoes on, and a 1 minute difference over 40 minutes is really next to nothing when you aren’t paying attention to the time!!

So, 2 weeks were down, 8 more to go.  I want to wear my huaraches for at least half of the 50 mile run I want to complete on Halloween, so trying to make the next 8 weeks go by smoothly will be key.  Little did I know that I would partially sabotage my own efforts early in week 3.  Stay tuned for the next installment of this adventure to find out what happened!!

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 by Blake at 9:27 am and is filed under Barefoot Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.