I'm guessing Budd. And yes I have raced barefoot on fells.Originally Posted by Margarine
I'll stick to shoes thanks
I'm guessing Budd. And yes I have raced barefoot on fells.
Run on a pristine 5 mile beach barefoot once a week. Couldn't tell if it helps my running but it's bloody lovely!
Interesting that some are having trouble with there calf muscles, I wonder if it would be possible to figure out whats causing this. Folks just running on there forefoot seems a bit too simplistic, although maybe the reason I haven't experienced this is because beaches a flat and soft. Maybe I run more on my forefoot than I realise! No fancy shoes though.
Personallly, from painful experiential learning (first barefoot run I did was 7 miles and my calves seized up after 5 miles and ended up walking the last (road) hill home) I think it's because a) people start landing on the forefoot but don't shorten their stride and increase cadence thereby putting added strain on the calves and b) don't learn to land lightly by pulling up the foot before it lands on the ground (thereby turning what would have been a 'footstrike' into a 'foot landing'. I'm still learning after two years but these are two things I wish I'd better understood at the start.
That makes sense to me.
I tend to run with a short stride/high cadence even when shod and try and run 'lightly'. Mainly trying to save my knees for later years. So guess that may explain why I was fine running 10 miles on my first barefoot run.
I would like to get more into the 'minimalist' approach to running, but a couple of things puzzle me a bit; How do people avoid those inevitable stubbed toes when out on the hills, and how does the grip of a shoe like say, the Merrell trail glove, hold up to fell running?
I have an old pair of water shoes which are pretty minimal and went for a run of about 3 1/2 miles on the moor the other day, and I must admit they felt good (apart from the toe stubbing!) but there wasn't much elevation involved, and the peaty tracks at the time were soft and springy...
winter bog would probably be a far different proposition, and going downhill on wet grass requires some studs, surely?
I'm more than a bit cynical about all this barefoot running, especially when barefoot running in fact means wearing running foot glove whatchamecallits and therefore isn't barefoot at all. And its no coincidence to me that the only person I saw limping out of 200 hundred odd runners at the end of the Burn Valley half marathon at the weekend was a runner wearing one of those footglove thingies and carrying the other with an obviously sore foot.
I love running barefoot on sandy beaches or in sandy sea and could even envisage running barefoot on well cut grass in parks but running on roads or in the fells is just stupid. My salomons, bought from new at the beginning of the year and used for running in the hills and non-roads for virtually all of that time, are now completely shredded. Thats not just the bottoms but the uppers too and along the way they have protected me from all sorts of rocks, sharp stones, barbed wire, twigs, heather and other assorted 'terrain' in a way that wearing nothing on my feet wouldn't have.
And another thing, viewed purely from a style point of view, those foot gloves with toes will give anybody an immediate -10 to their street cred rating
Last edited by Stolly; 07-07-2011 at 07:36 PM.
Forces are transfered from the knee to the ankle when people barefoot run. This leads to massive problems for the calf and achilies for all but those that sensibly progress to zero differential or are lucky in their mechanics. Its a fad that has been and gone many a time.
I disagree, you need to load up the foot to take full advantage of the spring you get from the foots arch and the achilles tendon. If you claves cannot take it you have progressed too quickly or have not developed a style to accommodate these forces.
Stolly I have had it out with this lot before about this. All got back was a one dimensional argument and a link to hundreds of biomechanical studies on the subject. I read them all and did not change my viewpoint at all. You see none of these studies showed a significant reduction in injury prevelance or a performance increase.I'm more than a bit cynical about all this barefoot running, especially when barefoot running in fact means wearing running foot glove whatchamecallits and therefore isn't barefoot at all. And its no coincidence to me that the only person I saw limping out of 200 hundred odd runners at the end of the Burn Valley half marathon at the weekend was a runner wearing one of those footglove thingies and carrying the other with an obviously sore foot.
I love running barefoot on sandy beaches or in sandy sea and could even envisage running barefoot on well cut grass in parks but running on roads or in the fells is just stupid. My salomons, bought from new at the beginning of the year and used for running in the hills and non-roads for virtually all of that time, are now completely shredded. Thats not just the bottoms but the uppers too and along the way they have protected me from all sorts of rocks, sharp stones, barbed wire, twigs, heather and other assorted 'terrain' in a way that wearing nothing on my feet wouldn't have.
And another thing, viewed purely from a style point of view, those foot gloves with toes will give anybody an immediate -10 to their street cred rating
These barefoot thingys and barefoot running got quite a plug on Look North tonight with presenter visiting accelerate shop then going for a trot with 2 runners thru' some woods [nowt on yer feet , why would you] last time i bought some shoes from afore mentioned shop they never told me i could run barefoot if i wanted ,what have i been missing out on, i suppose it was nice to see Look North pluggin somat else other than Harry Gration's beloved Scarboro' or the only famous yorkshireman Dicky Bird [theres other plces/people in Yorkshire ffs] i know going of subject but they dont half wind me up
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