Barefooting Ups and Downs

The barefoot adventure continues. I finished reading The Barefoot Book: 50 Great Reasons to Kick Off Your Shoes by L. Daniel Howell on my flight to Colorado last month and I was sad to be finished. Luckily, I have Natural Running by Danny Abshire waiting to be started and I hope that fulfills my need to continue my education on barefoot running.
Barefooting experiences:
I ran my first naked steps back in April (maybe march?) and loved every minute of it. I didn’t plan to run barefoot and I didn’t really know what was going to happen to my feet, or legs but I just knew that I wanted to try it and it wasn’t ever going to just happen unless I took my shoes off. I slipped out of my Newtons, held them in my hands and ran on concrete, in the grass, through mud and puddles, on sticks and stones and probably many other things that I’d rather not think about it. After playing barefoot, I put my Newtons back on and finished my run. My first adventure was only about a mile but that mile taught me a lot about my stride. What I thought was a stride that had been transformed over the last 2 years into an ideal midfoot strike, I learned was still a heel strike (or should I say, heel flop). When I ran without my shoes I noticed my cadence increased and my stride was much shorter. I also noticed that I was much slower because I was afraid. I was looking down and reacting to everything I landed on. I was SURE that I was going to look at my soles and have blood spewing out of my brittle feet but post-run, I leaned that was not the case.
The next day my calves were so tight that it hurt to even stand. Getting out of bed was tough and I was actually considering walking on my tip toes all day long. It didn’t take long for my muscles to warm up and stretch out and the pain went away before lunch time. No blisters or cuts. No issues there.
My next few barefoot runs happened the same way- I went out for a run and just took my shoes off halfway through. I was starting to enjoy having options. Not only was barefooting a good opportunity to force my arches to relearn how to support my body, ask the rest of my body to listen to the signals the bottom of my feet were sending it, and work on my cadence, it was a great excuse to go slower. I didn’t seem to care if my pace was slow and people were passing me, because I knew that this slow steady practice is what I needed. Also, it was a good way to STOP me from pushing myself too hard (which I have a tendency to do…especially when there are hot runner guys around).
There were a few times that I was confined to a treadmill and I did my barefoot 1/2 mile or barefoot mile on the treadmill with socks but I still can’t decide if that was a good idea or not. Let me explain- I enjoyed the treadmill because I could listen and hear when I’d heel strike vs. mid-foot. (Try it, it’s an OBVIOUS difference) I also liked that I could push the pace a little bit and thought that it might be a good opportunity to learn to run barefoot at the pace that I run shod. The downside was that I would do my barefooting about 30 to 40 minutes into my run and the belt and platform of the treadmill would be SO HOT that it would burn my feet. After each run I’d have friction and heat burns that would last a few hours and were quite unpleasant.
A great barefooting experience was when I was hiking on a trail in Colorado and I decided to strip my phalanges naked. I hiked about 1.5 miles which, in terms of mileage is not that impressive but it was WHAT I was stepping on that amazed me. I had just read in my book that our feet are stronger than you think they are and if you just focus on landing flat on the objects instead of sliding across them (like sliding across a blade) you’re less likely to get cut or injured. So, I’d step on pointy rocks, leaves, plants, and all kinds objects of the land that I was SURE were going to hurt but it really wasn’t that bad. It was interesting to see my foot mold around each object and redistribute my weight so I didn’t twist an ankle and keep my balance. It was something that I KNEW my shoes couldn’t do.
Over the last few months of sporadically incorporating barefooting into my training regimen, I have also added Yoga classes. Up until this point, I had been attending classes at Fraser Bicycle (which were GREAT!) and doing at home videos but had not had a membership to a regular class at a yoga studio. I noticed that as I was adding yoga, and working on barefooting, my heels were getting closer and closer to the ground in downward dog, until one day, they touched! I took that as indicator that my calves, hamstrings, and Achilles were finally allowing the transformation to barefooting to take place.
Yesterday, I started the day with yoga then decided to do a barefoot run a little later in the afternoon. This time I decided to leave my apartment without shoes. I didn’t really think it through; I just knew that I wanted the convenience of not putting them on, not taking them off, not carrying them. I left with my iphone, my garmin, my heart rate strap, my specialized sunglasses, my ironman visor and my naked feet. I figured it was necessary to point out that yes, I’m still a walking advertisement for triathlon gear, and still far from running “free” of all this stuff, but I’m at least I’m making progress. My first barefoot steps were blissful. The pavement was warm, the sun was beaming down, and my attitude was positive! I started with a walk that progressed to a run. I didn’t run faster than a 10min/mile the entire time. I stayed on the asphalt for the first mile until I decided that the grass might be a nice break. When I got to a stoplight, I started noticing- HOLY SHIT THIS IS HOT! I paced back and forth on the grass until the ‘walk’ light flashed. I continued to run ½ mile until I realized that every step away from home was one more towards home and I probably shouldn’t push it beyond 3 miles. I turned around shortly after the 1.5 mark and started to feel the burn literally. Yup, pretty sure my feet were melting to the bike path. I hopped between shading pavement and dry grass for the remainder of my journey. I tried to ignore the pain but it was clearly NOT enjoyable. When I finally got back to my apt and hit STOP on my Garmin, I had ran a 5k with about 3k with my feet melting off my body. Okay, I’m being a little dramatic, but the burn from the heat and the friction made it feel like that. I limped up to my apartment, opened the door, crawled to the freezer to get ice and headed to the bath. I turned on the freezing cold water as I sat on the ledge without realizing I forgot to turn the handle to allow the water to flow from the faucet instead of the shower head. I was now soaked and broken, sitting in my apartment with no one to blame but myself. I made a nice little ice bath and just stared at my feet. They looked fine. Well, they were actually pretty nasty- dirty, peeling, red, with little stones stuck in them. But I didn’t see any cuts, or blisters or anything! I soaked and washed them and stepped outta the tube hoping for some type of relief. It hurt like HELL to walk. I sat down again, staring at my feet. What the hell is wrong with you guys?! As the day went out, I started to notice the blisters. I took pictures, that I will probably NEVER share with you guys, but I figured it was a useful way to assess my form issues. Blister locations: Along the outside edge of my left heel, middle/outside right heel, right forefoot, left big toe. As much as these blisters hurt it was nice to see where I was rubbin’ my feet the wrong way. As the evening went on, I ended up hobbling over to my sister’s house where she provided me with a cane to walk with. I laughed but ended up using it because it was very handy! I was confident that I would be fine the next day (because for some reason, I always have an ignorant hope in these types of situations) and I assured her that I wouldn’t need the cane tomorrow and I would be wearing my heels to work. I went home and (this is gross to even say…) popped my blisters. Ewww, I know, but that was the only way I was going to be able to walk. I woke up this morning and I’m walking like a champ! I haven’t looked at my feet yet, but I’m sure they’re fine. These things really do heal up quick!
Figured I’d share that story because I only seem to find barefooting success stories or stories that are written by a barefooter looking back at their journey without a clear recollection of the trials and tribulations of the journey. With this fresh in my memory, I knew it would be nice to type it out so I could look back at it when I’m more experienced and people start asking me what it was like to start up.
I must also admit that I’m not 100% committed to this transformation and I can’t promise that I’m willing to be in the time and effort to make my feet barefoot ready when I know I can currently race faster in shoes. I also struggle with the thought of wearing flats to work instead of heels. I know that every time I step into my heels that I’m working against the progress I’m making in barefoot world, but it’s hard to imagine my outfit looking this good with flats! I do have a ton of reasons to continue trying though- with number one being that barefooting allows me to feel things that shod running does not allow. Regardless of whether or not I become a devout barefoot runner, I believe it is a great training option. And it’s nice to know that if you forget your shoes, you can still run.