For eons we were perfectly content to run barefoot around the world with no problems other than the apparent ones. We wouldn’t run through a cactus patch without shoes on, but there’s a very good chance early man didn’t either. Commons sense, particularly about feet and cactus, somehow feels innate.

Somewhere along the timeline, someone decided we need shoes on our feet, particularly when we’re running.

Even though we’ve worn running shoes for a very long time, there’s an emerging trend of barefoot running or minimal footwear which is described as any footwear lacking a cushioned heel, a stiff sole, and arch support.

Here’s a look at some of the specifics of barefoot running and how you can involve yourself at any level you desire.

Flickr: paperkim

Avoiding Hard-Surface Injuries

Contrary to popular opinion, running barefoot on a hard surface doesn’t increase the likelihood of an injury. Our bodies are amazing and have an uncanny ability to protect itself against these types of injuries.

In fact, in 1960 an Ethiopian runner by the name of Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon as a barefoot runner.

The combination of muscles, joints, ankles, and nerve endings cause our legs to naturally adjust their shock-absorption to account for harder surfaces. Whether perceptible or not, our legs stiffen just enough to deal with the additional force generated by the harder surface, while still giving us the range of motion we need to run.

Experts say people can learn to strike harder surface with proper forefoot and midfoot form to further reduce any risks of injury, as well as create a more comfortable style.

Unexpected debris—Barefoot running does present a higher risk of some injuries that might not arise when wearing running shoes, even minimalist shoes like the “Vibram FiveFingers Bikila” and “Nike Free” series. These potential dangers include:

• Broken glass
• Nails, staples, and other pointed metal objects and debris
• Sharp rocks
• Puncture thorns, spines, and prickles
• Jagged, uneven sidewalk and street surfaces

Many running shoes, even those categorized as “minimalist” will protect your feet against all but the worst examples of the dangers listed above. However, bare feet have little to no resistance against most of these items, which could prove quite troubling, particularly if you’re at your farthest point from home base.

Be prepared—Should you suffer a puncture or cut while running barefoot, what will you do? The best course of act is to stop running and assess the damage. If you’ve suffered a severe cut you should immediately dial 911 or someone you know who can immediately retrieve you. Foot cuts can bleed profusely, and continuing to run or walk on the injured foot will worsen the injury.

Clean the wound to the best of your ability and apply pressure to stop the bleeding. When running barefoot it’s a sound policy to carry an adhesive bandage made specifically for feet, and some antibiotic ointment. Neither item will take up much space in a pocket or bag and could stave off further problems.

Additional preparations include Tetanus boosters. Under normal circumstances we should have a Tetanus booster shot ever 10 years, but many doctors and nurses will administer one upon sustaining any type of injury like mentioned above. Check your shot records and if you have any questions or concerns pertaining to the last time you might have had a booster shot, call your doctor and schedule one.

If you’re going to run on an asphalt track at your local school, take the time to chose a lane and slowly walk the full distance. Remove all debris that could potentially cause you problems. Don’t be embarrassed to show up with an outdoor push broom to use on your chosen lane. After all, they’re your feet. Who’s to say what preparations you can and can’t make prior to running?

Flickr: marylkayoe

Tips for Transitioning to Barefoot Running

Walking barefoot— The natural transition into barefoot running is to start walking barefoot as often as you can get away with it. Experts suggest no more than a mile every other day, but at least a quarter of a mile to start. To assist in making the transition as smooth as possible, do not increase your distance by more than 10 percent each week.

The sidewalk around your neighborhood is a great place to start. This keeps you close to home in case you suffer an injury and offers just enough differing terrain to begin the process of toughening and strengthening the soles of your feet.

Run in place on your forefeet—Your forefoot is the area of your foot that includes your toes and the thick pads just behind them. If you’ve ever heard the term “the balls of your feet,” this is a direct reference to your forefeet.

Your forefoot is the strongest part of your foot, which means it should be where your place your focus are you’re training your feet to run barefoot. Run in place, on a hard or moderately hard surface, to help strengthen your arches, Achilles tendon, and calves. These are the parts of your body that will be most impacted by the transition and it’s important to gradually get them in shape and properly conditioned.

Expect some soreness localized to these areas, similar to what you would expect if you started exercising new sets of muscles elsewhere in your body. You can help alleviate lingering pain and rejuvenate tired muscles by stretching both before and after each workout.

Proper stretching required—As with any form of physical activity, a proper warm-up period is essential. Stretching your calves and hamstrings, while transitioning to barefoot running, is one of the main keys to an effective transition.

Stretching your calves—To properly stretch your calves, keep your entire foot on the ground and take a normal step forward with your other foot. You will feel your calf muscle stretch. You can bend your forward leg at the knee to stretch the muscle even farther. When you’ve reached a comfortable point, hold it for a few seconds and then step back.

Continue this method, alternating calves, for 10-12 stretches per calf. Do this before and after each workout, which will increase the blood flow to the muscles, help prevent them from cramping, and keep them limber between workouts.

Stretching your hamstrings—The hamstrings are a group of massive muscles located on the backside of our thighs, and actually contain three individual muscles: the biceps femoris, the semitendonosus, and the semimembranosus.

They function as a group to give flexibility to knees and hips and allow us to stretch, hold various postures, and turn quickly. Because of their size and their potential for long-term injuries should they become damaged, it’s critical to warm these large muscles before running.

The best method for stretching involves laying your entire body flat on its back. With one leg left in position, slowly pull the other leg toward your chest while bending at the knee. With both hands on the topside of your knee, pull your leg down and toward your chest. You will feel these large muscles stretching. When you’ve reached a comfortable point, hold that position for several seconds.

Continue this method, alternating legs, for 10-12 stretches per hamstring. Like your calf stretches, do this before and after each workout for the very same reasons.

Take care of your arches—Also, massaging your arches frequently will help breakdown old scar tissue, which has built-up differently from running in shoes. It’s important to listen to your body and if your arches start hurting, stop running and massage them.

With your thumb of your left hand on the bottom of your right foot, gently rub your arches with your fingers. Your and will naturally contract, which in turn will cause your thumb to simultaneously massage the mid-foot section of your foot. You can wiggle your toes and bend your foot at the ankle to assist in the total massage of your arches.

Repeat the process on your other foot. It should only take one or two massages in any give setting to help those muscles relax and feel revitalized.

With proper training and preparation, you can become part of a growing exercise trend and will likely see you distance increase while your times decrease. Remember, slow and steady is the key to success.

Never exercise a muscle or tendon you believe you’ve injured and properly stretch before and after each session.

Source: flickr - smemon

Getting out the door for a run feels impossible some days. Whether it be telling ourselves it’s too cold, too dark,  or we’re too busy — there are myriad reasons you won’t get your ass out that door.

I know, I do it. And I fight it. Each day is another chance for a success, and another chance for a failure.

1. Sign up for a race.

There’s something motivating about knowing that in 3 months from now, I’m going to be towing the line whether I like it or not. Races give us goals, things to work for, and a purpose that may be lacking in our running routine.

When you think about skipping that day’s run, you will know that you aren’t damaging some unknown future you, but a very real goal race in the upcoming future. Often times, that’s the extra mental boost needed to get yourself out the door.

2. Get a running buddy, or running club.

If every Tuesday you do a long run with the ladies, you’ll be guaranteed not to skip. A running buddy, or group holds you responsible through a social commitment to others.

When you don’t feel like running, you won’t need to think about skipping, you’ll just head out anyway and get it done. Your presence will also help others to overcome their excuses not to run.

If you’re not sure where to look for a club, start by checking out information from your local running store. Often times they have classes, disguised as group runs.

3. Start small, add small.

Last week I ran 30 miles, so think week I’m going to try to run 60 miles. That’s a daunting task which will set you up for defeat.

If you’re new, or coming back from injury, start small, and add small amount of mileage. It doesn’t matter how great you feel after the first run, do not over commit yourself. There’s no quicker way to start feeling bad about your runs than to schedule more than you can handle and feel like you’re cheating yourself.

Be kind to yourself by giving yourself reachable goals.

4. Set aside time. Schedule a meeting with yourself.

It’s easy to stretch your tasks to fill the time in your day. If you schedule a run, just like you schedule a meeting in your calendar, you will be much less likely to miss it.

Think of running as an appointment you make with yourself to spend time alone, thinking, and enjoying the thrill of floating on your own two feet. With all of the things you do for other people, for work, for your family — it’s silly not to set aside some time to enjoy and improve yourself.

5. Let go of the guilt.

So you missed the past few days? Don’t look back and think, “I’ve missed two days already, what’s the harm of missing a third”. Instead, think, “I haven’t run in awhile, now is a great time to start a new streak”. It’s all about perspective, keep your thoughts on the present.

Feeling guilty about running only clouds something which you enjoy. If you’re feeling guilty you won’t want to think about running, since you associate that with negativity.

Even after you complete a run, you may think, “whopteedo, one run, I’ve missed so many days, I haven’t gained anything”.

Just let it go and treat each day as a new opportunity to better yourself, no matter what has happened in the past. Think positively and your experience will most likely be an enjoyable one.

Well? What keeps you running? I’d love to hear.

Snell speaks about myriad items, all of which resonate with the patient and experimental runner.

“It’s a relatively simple formula,” says Snell. “Develop endurance as early as possible. Developing endurance is difficult and time consuming. Developing speed is a relatively short process with a fairly strong genetic component.

“Try and understand the need for adequate recovery,” he says, “a balance between hard training and recuperation. That’s part of the art [of coaching/training]. I still have the thought that the science of training comes primarily from the trial and error of coaches.

There is brilliance in his logical and exploratory type of training and current research.

Check out Peter Snell’s books, which are next on my reading list: Use it or Lose It, Peter Snell: From Olympian to Scientist, No Bugles, No Drums. The only problem seems to be getting a hold of them for a reasonable price for review.

Source: Flickr (hardloperhans)

What can be done to improve your running? Many things involve significant effort and investment: interval workouts, tempo workouts, high(er) mileage, better nutrion, and recruiting a coach.

Sometimes we just look for something simple and easily understood to improve ourselves. If that’s you, here’s what you should consider.

1. Consistency

If there was only one thing you could pick to become a better runner, pick this! Running consistency is crucial.

How do you achieve running consistency? Run more often. Instead of running 8 miles 3 days a week, try running 4 miles 6 times a week.

We start to lose our fitness after 2 days off from running. It only gets worse each subsequent day you take off.

Instead of battling regression of progress with runs, provide your body with a steady stream of runs from which it can recover and steadily improve.

Think of it like this: if you were trying to fill a large container of water, one bucket at a time, would you rather have a big heavy bucket, but there is a hole in the container — or would you prefer a smaller bucket and a container which doesn’t leak?

I’ll take the smaller bucket. Easier trips and no waste!

If you’re already consistent with your running schedule, you still have room for improvement. Run doubles (running twice a day) if you can, even if one run is just 2 miles. This gives your body twice as many opportunities per day to heal.

2. Recovery

Recovery Food. After a run, you should plan to consume carbohydrates and protein as soon as possible, ideally within 30-45 minutes. Muscles rely on carbs for fuel. They rely on protein w/the carbs to stimulate faster glycogen replacement and optimize muscular repair.

You can get very specific with that grams of carbs and protein you should consume based on your weight and effort, however it’s best to start simple. If you’re not used to eating after a run, start by just having a healthy snack after the run which you know has carbs and protein in it.

If you want to dig deeper into nutrion, check out Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook. This is a comprehensive guide on sports and food.

Recovery Duration. If you’re beating your body up through quality workouts, you need to ensure proper recovery time between the quality bouts.

If you still feel sore or tired going into a scheduled “hard” workout, make it an easy day. You may not gain anything by forcing yourself through a mediocre workout but you risk quite a bit.

Take an extra easy day and let your body rebuild — after all, you get better at running when you heal, not when you break down.

3. Strides, added at the end of an easy run

Pick it up ( 1 mile to 5k pace) at the end of an easy run by running 4-8 quick strides, 30-45 seconds each. Make sure you jog easily between each stride to recovery fully.

Strides help keep the fast twitch fibers recruited even when you’re in a regimen of running easy every day. Strides also improve your running efficiency and form by stretching out your stride length.

As you run, focus on turning your legs over quickly (do not overstride), feeling relaxed (don’t clench your whole body like you’re going to impact a brick wall), and standing tall (you shouldn’t be hunched over).

4. 180 Steps Per Minute

Keep your stride rate at approximately 180 steps per minute. This is a simple method to determine if you are turning over your legs too slowly.

Regardless of how fast or slow you are running, you should be taking approximately 180 steps per minute. It is your stride length that should change, not the number of steps you’re taking for a given set of time.

To check, keep track of how many times your right foot hits the ground in a 30 second period and multiply it by two. If you’re not in the 85-90 range your leg turnover is too slow and you should improve it.

5. Mix up the surfaces you run on.

If you usually pound the pavement, find your way to a trail, if for only part of your run.

Do you insist on always seeing the forest surrounding you while you run? Try running on the roads to your favorite trail spot.

Your body adapts well to a single types of terrain. Changing up the terrain can improve your strength and flexibility while reducing the chance of getting injured (as long as you step over that tree root!)

What simple advice do you have for others to improve their running?

About me

I’m 27 years old, 5’11”, around 170lbs, and fairly fit. I have always disliked shoes (all shoes trap heat and moisture in a way I find uncomfortable), and I ran barefoot quite often throughout my youth. I’ve also always lived in shoes-off households, so I spent much of every day barefoot even before changing my outside footwear. My previous outside footwear included Chuck Taylors and today’s conventional tennis shoes.

I changed my shoe preferences two years ago because it fit with my general health philosophy (i.e., evolved mechanics are probably best), not because I was experiencing any kind of pain. Also, I was blessed with an uncanny ability to not give a fuck, which helps when starting out barefoot running.

In the last two years, I have spent an embarrassing amount of money on minimalist shoes. I have VFFs, Vivo Barefoots, Unshoes, and Softstars: i.e., minimalist all-stars.

My story

The exact timeline is fuzzy because it’s been a while.

Months 1-6

Relatively soon after I changed my shoe preferences, my problems began. The first thing was plantar fasciitis in the left mid-foot. It was mild at first, but gradually got to the point where every step was painful. I figured too-much-too-soon, switched back to regular shoes until the pain went away, and eased back into minimalist shoes/barefoot . I also went to a doctor who suggested I perform a variety of stretches and exercises: a regime I complied with. That took about 2 months, but once I finished the slow transition, the PF didn’t come back, so I was pleased.

Months 6-12

I noticed calluses building up in my right forefoot. This didn’t bother me for the first 4 months, but after a while, I noticed the underlying bone was very sore. This blossomed into metatarsalgia, and my arches started to fall. It seemed like what I was experiencing matched up with Morton’s foot-type issues, so I tried putting a Morton’s pad into my shoes. This didn’t really do anything, so I went to a podiatrist for the first time. He wanted me to wear $400 orthotics. My response: “LOL NO. Barefoot, barefoot, etc.,” so nothing came of this visit.

Months 12-18

By this point, every step I took with my right foot was painful; my second metatarsal had “dropped,” and it was like I was walking on a stone. Running was completely out of the question, and I just wanted some relief. I tried fancy insoles for a month or so, and those did nothing. My plantar fasciitis came back in my left foot, and I started having top-of-the-foot pain. The latter developed into a visible bump as the tendon over that metatarsal became increasingly inflamed.

I started practicing a number of foot exercises, foam/ball rolling in the hopes that they would help. I still do all of those (because, hey, who knows), but they didn’t resolve my pain.

Months 18-22

This is where I tried toe-spreaders and had real relief for the first time. My plantar fasciitis went away, along with the top-of-the-foot pain. The pain from metatarsalgia greatly decreased, but remained, as did the calluses and the small bump. After easing into them, I wore the toe-spreaders religiously 24-7 in wide shoes for about a month. I could walk comfortably as long I wore them, and I was thankful for the relief.

Months 22-24

Then the metatarsalgia pain started coming back in force, leaving me pretty exasperated. One day in Costco, I saw a pair of arch supports  for $9. I bought them because I had already spent so much money on shoes and other curatives that I figured it didn’t matter. I put them into my Vivo Aquas and started wearing them around. Within three days, my feet were completely pain-free.

It’s now a month later, and I don’t have any calluses, my metatarsal is back in place, and the bump on top of my foot is gone.

Leftovers

My own feelings about this experience are pretty complex. I invested a lot both emotionally and economically into BR. I can’t say for sure that switching to “barefoot” caused my problems. After all, it could have been part of aging, etc. Given my relatively young age, overall health, and the sequence of events, however, I do think it’s more likely than not that the switch did cause my issues.  And that bothers me.

I’m sharing this story because I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did. Scientific and anecdotal evidence suggests barefoot is good.  It works for a lot of people. But, if it’s not working for you and you’ve given it a fair shot, I suggest trying something else. After two years, all I care about is that I can walk pain-free and run again.

For now, I’m still using the arch supports in case the soft tissue hasn’t completely healed yet. I’m hoping I can eventually take the supports out and my feet will be able to function naturally one day.