Posts Tagged ‘barefoot’

Half marathon success, minimalist style

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

I don’t know how I never got around to writing about this, but after months of training, and culminating a few years after first hearing about barefoot running, I successfully completed a half marathon in my Vibram Five Fingers! Almost barefoot…

It was a long journey to get there, but in the end was a great success. I first wrote about my barefoot quest a couple years ago after reading the book Born to Run, and posted a few updates along the way.

The first 6 months or so of minimalist running showed significant progress, at which point I sort of tapered off. When I started pushing myself, I think I went too hard and injured my calf, which kept my distance low for a while. After over a year of just sticking to low miles, I decided that if I really wanted to up my distance I needed a […]

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Barefoot running progress report

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

It’s been a while since I started my barefoot running journey. Last fall I began experimenting, and though I was having mixed results at the time, I was definitely hooked. Fast forward almost 6 months, and I am happy to say that I am making great progress, though a bit slower than I would have hoped.

Last time I posted about it, I was just switching to my Vibram Five Finger shoes. The transition set me back, and for a while I was continuing to nurse a strained calf. But now I am happy to report that I have gotten over the first major hurdle. My calf injury is long gone, and for the first time in my life my runs actually feel like runs, and I feel like I am actually getting a workout as opposed to a beating.

The transition to the Vibrams definitely took some time due the changes […]

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NPR Segment – Humans Were Born To Run Barefoot

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

It now seems that barefoot running is picking up steam. I first started experimenting after I read the book “Born To Run” last year, and am still working at building up my calf and achilles muscles as well as my distance. As anyone who has read about or tried barefoot running, you know that once you get past the adjustment period, it’s more comfortable and less painful than running in shoes. Aside from the dangers of glass, rocks, and the like, the posture adopted while running barefoot is, especially for me, much more comfortable due to the lessened impact on the heel, which had always caused me pain.

So I was very happy last night when I caught a segment about barefoot running on NPR on my way home from work. As I’ve learned first hand, and as the anthropologist in the NPR segmente found during his studies, “runners in […]

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Barefoot running update plus Vibram Five Fingers

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

For maybe 4 or 5 months now I’ve been experimenting with barefoot running. I’ve written about this before, so I won’t bore you with any old details. However, I am happy to report that after nursing my calf injury back to health, I’ve been able to get out and run 4-5 days a week now, mostly on rocky trails in the canyons near my house. I’ve not been going totally barefoot, but instead until last week have been going with just a pair of Speedo water socks. They provide adequate protection from the ground (from both the rocks in the trails and from the debris on the roads) and also are minimal enough that I’ve been able to adapt my running style and moderately strengthen my feet, ankles, and calves.

Because I’m still fairly new to “barefooting”, I haven’t been going more than 3 miles at a time, but the runs […]

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This weeks barefoot running update

Friday, September 25th, 2009

I guess it’s about time for my barefoot running update. The first couple times I tried to run barefoot I had extreme soreness in my arches and the lower part of my leg, I’m not sure of the muscle, but basically from the calf down to the ankle. There was no pain, but I definitely could feel the soreness, especially when I would get up after sitting for a few hours.

Two weeks ago I finally made it to Sports Authority to buy a pair of aqua socks. I know, not the most stylish footwear, but they do seem to work as far protecting my feet while still allowing barefoot style running. Right around the time I first tried going barefoot, I was having recurring calf pain while running in my sneakers, but since I’ve gotten the aqua socks, things are feeling better. I’m not even up […]

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Barefoot running update

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
Barefoot - Footprints in the sand

Footprints in the sand – Photo credit Apidya

The running, and more specifically the barefoot running, hasn’t been going as quickly as I would like. I am still nursing a sore calf, so any progress is limited as I can only comfortably run 2-3 days per week, and only for 20-30 minutes at a time.

Also, I have been lagging in getting to the store to get a pair of water socks to start running in. I read water socks are actually great minimalist running shoes, which around here I really need since barefoot is hardly an option, unless I make it down to the beach. (There isn’t a whole lot of soft grass in San Diego.) The theory behind the water socks is that they provide a fair amount of protection against objects on the […]

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Ultra marathons and barefoot trail running

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Ultramarathoner Scott Jurek and Tarahumara runner
Photo credit: not sure, I think here

My new interest. Well, an interest maybe, but that’s about where it ends. I do run, but typically only 3 miles at a time. Hardly even a 5K, never mind an ultra marathon. Though I do love the idea of being able to run long distance, it is just so raw and primal and is truly the way we were meant to get around. But is it really possible for anyone to run 100 miles at a time?

I’ve been reading the book Born to Run and it’s just amazing. I’d heard of Dean Karnazes and ultra marathoning in the past, but sort of just figured he was some super human guy and there were only a few crazies out there who did this sort of running. But after flying through the first half of this book in just a few days, I’m wondering if it really is true that anyone is capable of running great distances. Not only does the book thus far tell the interesting story of the Tarahumara natives of Mexico who regularly run distances of 100+ miles, but there are a few profiles of other some interesting people who actually do this sort of running regularly too.

The most I’ve ever run at a time is when I did a half marathon three years ago, and that took 3 months of training to be able to complete. And for me that was tough, as I’ve never been a runner and never found running that enjoyable. But maybe there is something to it, a technique that most people just can’t figure out. I know that since I’ve started running semi regularly, I’ve been able to adjust my technique to a point where I can do it a bit easier, though conditioning is still my issue.

Maybe I’ll try it barefoot or with sandals like the Tarahumara. I’ll get on it right after my calf heals from when I pulled it running last week…