Those that know me, know that my “faith” in life is science . It is because of my faith in science that i decided to change my ill ways and try to run “correctly” barefooted.
Vivo Barefoot has put together a great mini e-book on the science of barefoot running with Harvard professor Dan Lieberman and “Born to Run” author and ultra runner Chris McDougall.
Jogging and Running foot feedback points
You can download the whole 20 page document here for free:
You will just need to sign up to download it.
From my stand point it makes a lot of sense. Most of what is described in the book rings true for me. I can already feel my posture change and my form take a lighter and bouncier form. As i mentioned in my Treadmill post my running form was considerably lighter than the man on the treadmill next to me.
My big challenge is to perfect the form and get the ligaments and muscles in my feet and lower leg strengthened and in shape to run the distances I have been used to running in my old sneakers. Without smashing my feet to pieces in the process!!
I thought i would give my feet a break after reading a bunch of posts on taking it really slowly moving into barefeet running over at Runners World. Using the opportunity to have plenty of sponge under my feet i was planning on putting in some serious mileage, that did not go to plan.
After the 4th mile i was not feeling it. I don’t know why exactly but my legs were heavy and tired and i never really got into my groove. Not sure if it was the heavy sneakers compared to my Merrell Trail Gloves, my lack of eating this morning beforehand or trying to run in a correct form in sneakers, maybe some of all the above. Either way it was not a good run.
I’ll be back to the Merrell’s tomorrow or Thursday.
So here is my 2012 race calendar. Not complete but certainly something to work on and start booking dates and times. So i’d love to see you out there running with me, so let me know who is in and when?
Warrior Dash Central FL – Jan 21st (Register here) 5k
March is going to be a crazy month and add to that my first half marathon into the mix. I’ll keep adding to the list as additional runs come available.
Note: The Warrior Dash for NC is on the same weekend as the GA one this year.
So as usual my lack of patience got the better of me, i was itching to get a decent length of run in and wary of using the old running shoes that will encourage bring the heel strike back.
So i went for it in the Merrell trail gloves. Slightly shorter than usual but still a healthy 4.5 miles outside on varied terrain. Details can be found here at runkeeper.
Overall it felt pretty good. I feel i managed to control my running form throughout the run maintaining the mid foot strike. It is much easier to keep track of the form running on concrete than over grassy surfaces that are not flat.
I am actually pretty delighted with my progress. This is really only my 3rd real run in the shoes trying to adept to the barefoot mid foot strike and it seems to be going well. My calves are taking a beating from the change in foot posture but really other than that nothing serious to report.
The Merrell Trail Gloves feel fantastic with no blisters or rubbing problems to report. Which i am very impressed with as I don’t wear socks with them. I will write a full review post of the shoes shortly.
So this morning i had to have my work out on a treadmill. As it happens this worked out quite well. I decided i would go for 5k and see how it went. It turned out within the controlled environment and static terrain of the treadmill surface it was quite easy to concentrate on my foot landing and get into a rhythm. So i feel i hit my mid foot landing the entire time. Great practice and it felt much easier and more natural.
It also made a couple of observations. The treadmill had 3 default settings, walk, jog and run, It looked like the guy next to me had also set his to the “run” setting which was 6mph. With us both running, myself trying the mid-foot strike and he was firmly a heel striker i noticed a couple of key differences.
Firstly the sound. His was a clear “clomp, clomp, clomp” as his heel struck the matt and plastic frame of the treadmill, where my steps were clearly quieter and more of a “tap, tap, tap” sound. I am assuming this must be from the fact that my feet are now hitting the surface far more gently?
Secondly and granted he was taller than i am which I’m sure accounted for a large part of this, my stride was much quicker / shorter than his even though i think we were running the same speed (6mph)
So overall i felt really good about this run, lets see how the calves hold up later today. Then hit the treadmill again tomorrow morning.
So day 2 on the barefoot journey. Really tried hard to focus on the mid foot strike and avoiding the heel strike. This was very hard and really had to focus on every step. I’m still not really sure if i am correcting my form to a correct variation.
Still i have started to try to lean forward and flatten my foot when its pushing forward, I think you will see from the video this is giving me somewhat of a mid foot strike or at least a flat foot.
I found this to be very hard work on the calves though with the overall feeling that i was trying to run on tip toe. It seems so sad I have got so far away from natural form that when i try it, it feels totally unnatural!
After going on a brief run with Sophie i went out on my own for a quick 2.2 mile run. (http://runkeeper.com/user/simonjcole/activity/59775754) I started well but could feel the heel strikes coming back as i started to tire. I hope my feet don’t hurt too much tomorrow. I did however hit a good pace. It screwed up on runkeeper but the pace was a 9:02 / mi
My name is Sophie Cole.And I just got some shoes from Merrell. Before I tell you about how to get these shoes let me tell you about them in general.
OK so their very comfortable, they allow you to run freely also they allow you to run correctly because they let you run on the ball of your feet. Now let me tell you some ways to buy these shoes while your at home.
Now about my life. I have an awesome dad named Simon, it was his idea that we do this blog thing. My mom is really awesome to, she’s the only one that cleans the house. Well, most of the time.
My favorite sports hobby is CLIMBING!!!!! I am even on a climbing team.
The run went well but i could tell that i was not landing correctly, so i had Kris take some video and pics of Sophie and I running and the results were not good.
I have a real heel strike problem that i need to correct. Any helpful advice would very welcome. Sophie fared much better, in fact her right foot always seemed to land correctly, but the left would sometimes get lazy and heel strike
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Here is the video of the runs in slow motion. Overall i really liked the feel of the Merrell Trail Gloves.
Welcome to Bearfeat. This blog is about the running journey my daughter and i will be taking as i transition to barefoot running. The “Feats” we will achieve and races we will run.
For reasons of heart health i needed to up my exercise and so i started running to add to the soccer i played each week. To be honest i don’t really enjoy pounding out mile after mile on the blacktop so i needed to find some motivation to keep me going. I found this inspiration in the form of the Warrior Dash (www.warriordash.com) A fun weekend in the north GA mountains with a muddy 5k in the middle of it all. I loved it running and jumping through the mud and obstacles took me back to being a kid again. I was hooked and mud runs we clearly the way to keep me motivated.
Since then i competed in the North Carolina Warrior Dash and the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run (www.downanddirtymudrun.com) The later being a 10k which i came in 27th on my age bracket with a time of 1 hour 10 mins.
It was around my training for the Merrell Mud Run that i started to get into the concept of barefoot running. I have been a heel strike walker / runner all my life. A look at my shoes wear patterns will show that straight away. Looking at my running calendar i have a break of about 2 or 3 months before my next mud run over the holiday period. I have decided to use this time to start all over and correct my running technique. So my 9-year-old daughter and i will be starting out our barefoot running journey together . We have both got a pair Merrell Trail gloves’ and are raring to go and learn to run all over again!
Sophie and Simon's new barefoot Merrell Trail Gloves
barefeat 