I posted about it<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\nThe transition to the Vibrams definitely took some time due the changes in the muscles I was using. Initially it was my feet and arches, but those seemed to strengthen up quickly. Then it was my calves that were holding me back. Not hurting me, but starting to tighten after about 3 miles or so. So for about a month I leveled off there, doing about 3 miles 4 days a week. And finally one day it just clicked, I came home and instead of having sore feet or sore calves, I just felt great!<\/p>\n
And now I’ve bumped my distance up to about 5 miles at a time. I know it’s still not great, but considering when I started I couldn’t even make it 1\/2 a mile in my Vibrams without aching, I feel like it’s been great. And now that all my muscles are in sync I have actually increased my speed too, finally getting to a point where I get a great cardio workout as well, and don’t collapse when I get home.<\/p>\n
It feels great to go out for a 45 minute run, put 5 miles in, and actually feel great<\/i> when I get home. Not to mention I’m experiencing no soreness, having no knee problems, and no shin splints or anything like that either. The only thing I noticed after my last run was that the bottoms of my feet felt worn out. But I would expect this, since it’s certainly still new for them to be so unprotected from the concrete. I would imagine that if I could find a nice dirt trail I could probably increase my distance by 25 to 50%.<\/p>\n
(As a side note, I just noticed this morning that I actually have arches now! My entire life I have been close to completely flat footed, but now I have a visible arch. Amazing!)<\/p>\n
From here on out it seems that I’ll just keep bumping up the distance and the time as my body sees fit. It’s just going to be a constant challenge, and I’ll just listen to my feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The transition to the Vibrams definitely took some time due the changes […]<\/p>\n
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