How many people include barefoot running into there training?
Also is barefoot running now recognised among fell runners as a valuable part of strengthening & progression to becoming a better runner?
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How many people include barefoot running into there training?
Also is barefoot running now recognised among fell runners as a valuable part of strengthening & progression to becoming a better runner?
Should this include a poll?
I don't. And, no I don't think it is.
Edit: Aha, I see it does now. Nice one Sefton.
I am completely flat footed and use orthotics in my shoes (all the time not just for running), so it would take a lot of work to get my feet to work properly... I don't think it's really worth it - orthotics work fine!
That said I would quite like to give it a go. Just to see :)
I keep thinking about giving it a try but never get around to it.
The whole idea of barefoot running seems bonkers to me; I mean running over gritstone and limestone rubble, boulders and crags or over scree and slate or through cotton grass, heather and ferns or through bogs, mires and becks all barefoot is nothing short of fricking stupid I'd say.
Okay if I lived near a sandy beach or even those big open horse trimmed lawns like you get in the New Forest then yeah okay, but I don't
Having spent 15 mins digging a splinter out of my heel this morning using a mirror as I couldn't actually see it with my own eye I think I will pass on the barefoot running. :thunbdown:
I assume by "barefoot" you're also including minimal footwear such as Vibrams... if yes then I'll always do about 2-3 of my weekly runs in them.
yes minimal footwears cool!Quote:
Originally Posted by nikalas
I'm halfway through "born to run" and I'm like "hmmmmm" it makes complete sense!
Do a fair bit on Dartmoor - miles of soft grass and peat and I carry aquashoes for the knobbly tracks. Wouldn't fancy bf in the mountains unless I bite the bullet and invest in VFFs.
I met, ran with and interviewed Chris McDougall a couple of weeks ago and he was a really sound down to earth guy. I think a lot of people miss the point of barefooting and that includes 100% barefoot only evangelists as much as the nay sayers. Going completely au naturel 100% of the time is unnecessary, pointless, potentially dangerous and unrealistic. Chris agrees 100% with this and, if running rough trails, will don his FiveFingers or fell shoes. However incorporating regular barefoot sessions into your training, if only strides/repeats on a playing field, hardwires better running form which can then transfer to your shod running. This transfer is obviously more effective if you adopt more minimal footwear that allow the foot to behave more naturally. I find that my barefoot strides, full-on off road runs in my Fivefingers and regular running, primarily in Inov-8 F-lite 195's and X-talon 212's, is a perfect blend. By doing this for about 18 months now my niggle quotient has dropped to zero and I'm definitely a quicker and more efficient runner.Quote:
Originally Posted by SEFTON
I'm very excited about the Inov-8 Baregrips that are coming out next spring....
I dont get this bf running thing - I admit that I have not read up or into it but I could not think of anything worse :confused:
Going for a boring steady run? Try taking your shoes off for a spell in the middle, its superb.
It feels fun and free and you'll be surprised how much you enjoy the feeling.
I hate putting my shoes back on after.
I don't know anyone who hasn't loved it.
As far as I'm concerned if you are going to do it then run genuinely barefoot.
barefoot shoes !!?? eh ?
Given the point that there is no need to run barefoot 100% of the time then you can run truely barefoot when the ground allows it. You don't have to buy shoes and line the pockets of Innov-8 or Vibram so you can pretend to be barefoot.
Choose your ground to be safe and soft, try it and get confident (I started on the cricket club behind my house). Before long you'll find yourself pushing the boundaries and running over wood chip and rougher harder ground, eventually I ran up a mountain with plenty of rock stones and gravel (though not down it)
start with 3 or 4 minutes and over several weeks build up to 20. Do that 2 or 3 times a week and you've added a great new dimension to your running.
You can do your reps or hills barefoot.
It really just good fun.
(Also barefoot running is my personal cure for pulled calf muscles)
read "born to run" its a good read even if you dont like the idea!
Hi
I put I only run bare foot, but actually wear VFF Flow Treks. I do the last 1/2 mile of my run on tarmac completely barefoot. My feet are too girly to do the whole run bare foot as I have found that even nice soft grass seems to have nasty sharp thorns hidden in it. As my feet toughen up I intend to do more without VFFs. I have suffered with lower leg problems for years and the only way I have found to avoid injury is to run in minimal footwear. I am really looking forward to the level 1 cushioning inov8s that are coming out soon as I am hoping that I might be OK in those.
James
Couldn't agree more. I don't run barefoot, but I can't really get my head round the concept of barefoot shoes. It seems like an oxymoron to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by andy k
"I went skinny dipping yesterday at my local pool... wearing my all-over speedo swim-suit"
I would agree barefoot shoes sounds daft, that is pehaps why minimal footwear makes more sense. I would say that they are there only to protect the feet from thorns, cuts etc and not to provide support.
I would disagree that there is no need to run bare foot (or in minimal footwear!) I have found over the last 20 years that if I put on any form of running shoe with cushioning I have ended up injured, to the point I had given up trying to run. The only way I have found to run without injury is in VFFs. I'm sure other minimal footwear would be as good, I just have not shelled out for anything else.
James
Just had a quick look at the poll and am amused by the choice "yes but only when the price of barefoot shoes drop". Something of a contradiction here?
If you only run barefoot some of the time, when the ground suits, when you feel like it or whatever and you have to buy another pair of shoes (that you didn't previously know you needed) to do it then it begins to seem like another wheeze (sorry, Wheeze) to sell more shoes. Walshes, Gladiators and other classic fell shoes provide very, very little cushioning, are almost as stable as bare feet but provide some protection as well as much, much more grip - Borrowdale in bare feet isn't really an option, is it?
But then Borrowdale in heavily cushioned road shoes isn't an option either and I find it hard to imagine doing 60-70 miles a week in bare feet (with or without barefoot shoes) so, while I don't doubt the book is a good read and the story about bare foot running clearly captures the imagination, I am still struggling to understand how it might help me or anyone improve their fell running and I also still struggle not to see the while thing as a huge and increasing successful marketing exercise not a million miles removed from selling kids toys that originated in a book or a film.
It's an attractive concept and I keep meaning to have a go at strides on the big playing field behind us, but still haven't got round to it.
I did the last 2 miles of a cross country race in 1980 having lost a shoe and a sock in a swampy pig farm, but I wouldn't recommend it.
I want my Rob Jebb barefoot action toy. :wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by IWCharters
it does sound kind of crazy if you think of it like that. "shoes are bad, barefoot is the answer...now buy our very expensive minimal shoes" hehe.
ok since running barefoot or with minimal shoes have you found your getting injured less? (due to improved running techque and strength etc)??
Found it full of typical American exaggeration and poorly researched.Quote:
Originally Posted by SEFTON
According to McDougall( on page 96) Jim Peters was ten minutes under his world best time for the marathon at the ten mile point in the 1952 Olympic race
Peters marathon best at that time was 2-20-4.2 (assuming he ran fairly even pace he went through 10 miles in 53.30 so in Helsinki according to McDougall he went through 10 miles in around 43/44 minutes - utter bullsh*t!) In actual fact Peters went through 15km in 47.58 together with Jansson with Zatopek 2 seconds down (10 miles time would have been around 51.30)
If Mcdougall can't get simple facts right how much else of the book is believable?
As for the mexican race being one of the world's toughest races - the Ultra Tour of Mont Blanc beats it hands down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0gff...eature=related
They will be in the shops for Christmas - Sweatshop have prototypes alreadyQuote:
Originally Posted by noel
Yes I run barefooot - completely barefoot. About once a week except during winter I will do about a mile barefoot around some parkland at the end of a longer run. I've done it for the last 2 years and while not copletely convinced of the benefits, it certainly hasn't done me any harm !
I run barefoot to the loo in the middle of the night!
I run barefoot whenever the terrain permits it... so not on the fells, well, haven't tried it yet... think I will end up with bruised footsoles!
I found I always got injured when running on the road in supportive shoes. Then I started fell running and discovered that I do much better to run in minimal shoes. Next step was to go shoe-less. It gives me a completely natural gait and good biomechanics. NO injuroes whatsoever... I have yet to step into a piece of glass or something like that. Mind, I do live in the middle of nowhere...
I'll accept the overly "American feel" to the book, but hey, the guys an American. I think you're getting snagged in the (slightly geeky?) detail and missing the overall point and burning question.Quote:
Originally Posted by Epocian
If you accept the compelling anthropological and anatomical evidence that we evolved as a running species, why then do modern human runners suffer from so many running injuries?
This is why he brings up the Tahahumara as they, as part of everyday life and play, run massive distances over very rough terrain and don't suffer classic runners' injuries. Is this because of their minimal footwear? The race involving the western runners was slightly contrived but never billed as being the "toughest". However, the Tahahumara ball games would certainly be up there with the UTMB, Western States and Leadville.
2 people "only run barefoot"?
Care to elaborate either of you? I'd find this hard to believe under normal circumstances. Is this during a current period of rehab from injury?
I'd be interested in hearing if even minimal barefoot/minimal footwear training has changed the way you run in regular shoes.
or are you now aware of how you should run and have to make a conscious effort stride by stride?
just found a few things from inov8...(probably old news but hey):
http://blog.fitnessfootwear.com/inov8-evoskin-review
http://picasaweb.google.com/11317868...14102558408258
I'm thinking of giving it a try on some of the surrounding moorland more out of curiosity than anything else. But I'm such a jessie that the first scrape, pinch or nick will probably send me hurtling back to the shoe cupboard in a blind panic...
Its been a slow progression, moving from supportive shoes on roads, to more minimalist shoes on fells, to thinking well why not give it a try? I've found that the more I strip back the support, the less injured I seem to get.
Except when I fall over, which is happening a lot lately.
I had a 200yd jog across the field at Burnsall last summer without shoes after a wash down in the river following the fell race and it felt amazing. What concerns me is I already suffer with tight calves and the thought of making it worse by running without shoes. As it is I only wear Walsh PBs and Inov-8 285, which are both pretty lightweight and low-profile anyway
2 people "only run barefoot"?
Care to elaborate either of you? I'd find this hard to believe under normal circumstances. Is this during a current period of rehab from injury?
Hi
In my original post I did say I run in minimal footwear, VFF flow Treks. I have just found that whenever I do anything in shoes with cushioning I get injurerd. I seem to be doing fine without cushioned shoes, so do not feel tempted to try them again.
I do about half a mile a day completely barefoot and intend to increace this as the soles of my feet get tougher.
James
I tried 5mins of barefoot running on the treadmill last night. It’s a pretty old treadmill so if you run with a heel strike the whole machine rocks however when running with your forefoot, small strides and slightly bent knees there was no rocking or movement at all from the treadmill at all!
That's the idea - heel-striking when barefoot hurts, so the theory is that barefoot running teaches you to run biomechanically more efficiently, and by landing on the mid to forefoot there is less direct impact force travelling through the legs.
I've recently started doing barefoot running on a grass playing field as part of my interval training, up to about 1600m. Early to say about benefits, but it hasn't caused me any problems as yet and it feels great.
Interestingly, although I feel like I'm actually running with less effort (possibly from concentrating on where I plant my feet to avoid anything sharp and trying to land on the midfoot) my interval times are almost exactly the same as in my cushioned road shoes or fell shoes. I get the feeling that I could go much faster barefoot tahn with shoes once my confidence and technique has improved.
One thing that really puzzles me though, is why are minimalist shoes made with less materials more expensive than other running shoes? Does seem that this is a bit of a bandwagon being jumped on at the moment (and I'm far to stingy to splash out £100 on a pair of VFFs!)
The cost of minimalist shoes if a good old fashioned protection racket from running shoe manufacturers... we've been hurting you for years without you knowing and now we're going to make you pay through the nose for not hurting you.Quote:
Originally Posted by stumpy
This might sound a bit simplistic. But couldn't you just land on the balls of your feet when running in shoes? If you knew you were supposed to be training towards that, you could concentrate on it.Quote:
Originally Posted by nikalas
I don't heel strike when I walk barefoot, but I do when I walk in shoes. Might the same thing happen for people who train barefoot sometimes and in shoes other times. If your goal is to learn to run properly in shoes, shouldn't you train that?
good point, I've been trying to run like this "in shoes" but its a concoius effort. but the "very few" test runs I've done barefoot I seem to run forefoot automatically.
I would be intrested in hearing if you can "re program" your gait by including barefoot into your training "unconcoiusly"?
I've just had an idea that will make someone a million dollars (maybe Zimbabwean dollars). It trains people to forefoot strike when running, without the need to buy faddy expensive "barefoot" shoes.
What do people reckon?
Good idea Noel. Maybe step it up to a drawing pin for rapid adaptation!Quote:
Originally Posted by noel