Barefoot Running 10/26

Okay, a lot has happened since the last post, none of it good! I got one 5.5 mile run in; it may have even been 5.75 now that I think about it. But then on the 17th I ran a 5K race. It was wet, and cold. My adrenaline was pumping because everyone was high-fiving me, and telling me how crazy I was, etc. Inside I was laughing, because a little 3 mile run is a walk in the park for me barefoot.
Or so I thought - I couldn't feel the ground, and I ran with such bad form that I wound up opening up huge, awful blisters on the bottom of my feet. I mean, you didn't even see a blister, it was just straight up bloody mash on the outside of my feet.
Basically, I supinated just like a runner in shoes would, and had terrible barefoot form. Now, on the 26th, 9 days later, I sit on the couch, unable to put on shoes or do much of anything as I wait for my feet to heal. It will probably be a month before I even get back up to 3 or 4 miles. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Moral of the story: Always, always run with your whole foot feeling the ground, and knees nice and bent low. The barefoot form I have in practice was fine - I wouldn't have run any slower if I used it. So, that's it - my barefooting ground to a halt on the 17th, and won't be back for quite some time. I'm not giving up though, it was my fault, not "barefooting"'s fault. Oh yeah - at least my time was good 20:18 PR,at a 6:34 pace. Wait 'til I'm back in shape!!

October 10, 2009

OK, I'm still in it over here! I started a new google account, and it makes a pain to get on to this old account. Anywho, I just finished up a 5.3 mile run barefoot! I've got one more 5 mile run, and then move up to 5.5 mile runs next week. Maybe I'll just skip to 6's. It's been slow progress, but I haven't had any runs where I couldn't walk for the rest of the day, no blisters, nothing. No injuries to speak of in the foot, ankle, knee, hip or leg either. (of course, that's why anybody barefoot runs).

Pace has slowed from earlier in the blog, but I'm doing longer distances also. I think my overall mileage has declined so much it's resulted in some weight gain, which will straighten itself out over time. Pace-wise, today was 5.3 miles in 41:17. Well, now that I check it that's a 7:47 pace, so actually not too shabby. My last run was 5/39:30/ at a 7:54 pace.

I did a fun run 2 days ago, where I just did 3.1 miles in 21:30. Off my PR time in a real 5K, but still not too bad. I was beating myself up, but nothing wrong with a 6:56 pace. That's it for now, I wish I could remember to just log in here and post mileage if nothing else, but whatevs.

barefoot running update

Man, I can't believe I didn't post for 10 days! Still running barefoot - I did an almost 5-mile run a couple days ago. I've done 4 1/2 twice now, and need to do 1 or 2 more 4 1/2's before committing to the 5 mile. Won another 10K race in my VFF's last week. One Saturday this week will be my first barefoot 5K, count on it!.

My feet hurt less, and everything seems to be going well. I believe I am a week behind schedule, but 5 mile runs will be an exciting milestone. I'm going to keep training with an eye to a March or April marathon.