Readers of this blog will be well aware that my minimalist running progress is going very well. I am enjoying it, maybe a little too much and in real danger of moving into the TMTS (Too Much Too Soon) category.
I have been lucky enough to find my mid-foot strike form quite easily and now that i’m 50+ miles into the barefoot running i naturally fall into and out of the mid-foot form depending on the shoe. It is with this in mind i decided over Christmas i would try to run parallel training patterns that will allow me to build my foot strength and elongate my barefoot runs while also running greater distances over all.
I want to be able to run my first marathon the end of this year or the beginning of next year. I have just signed up for the ING NYC Marathon in November. I will have to wait until April however to see if i have a number. So i want to get some distance running in, something i don’t dare do yet in my minimalist shoes. I have decided the best course of action is to continue to run my 5-6 mile routs in my Merrell‘s and Vibram‘s and build foot strength. A pace that some already consider to be TMTS, but i am happy with.
I have got what i consider to be intermediate shoes, like the Nike Free that will allow me to run with a mid-foot strike or heel strike and give me some padded protection for the distance. I decided on a pair of Saucony Kinvara
Saucony KINVARA
I felt this to be a good intermediate shoe, Limited support for the foot, a slight heel to toe drop and enough cushioning for me to get some distance in. I have done a few runs in the shoe so far and have been able to hold my mid-foot strike form in them. My last run in them is here. A nice 9 miles.
So going forward my plan is to run my 5k and 10k races in minimalist shoes and my half and marathon training and running will be done in the Saucony’s. I will be sure to label runs and posts correctly so it’s clear what i’m doing. To be honest it’s also nice to be able to wear some warm socks in this cold weather right now!
So lets see how this concurrent training goes and how easy i’ll be able to switch shoes and on occasion running form.
Sophie and Simon's new barefoot Merrell Trail Gloves
I have read a few reviews and criticisms of the Trail Glove which i feel to be unfair as the review seems to have forgotten that the shoe is a “Trail” (The clue is in the name) shoe and not designed for running on the hard top. For my part i have had nothing but a positive 3 months with my shoes. My 9 year old daughter also has a pair and loves them,
The Trail Glove is a 6.2 oz zero drop minimalist trail shoe. It has a Vibram sole and a 1mm impact plate in the mid sole to take some of the shock absorption away from the foot when hitting stones etc.
The inside is seamless and so designed for you to not wear socks with the shoe. The shoe required no breaking in and has never rubbed or caused any blisters of any kind. It also has a Aegis® antimicrobial solution footbed that claims to resist odor. Which i think works pretty well as they still smell pretty good and nothing like my soccer boots that i wear socks in. So a big thumbs up there. It also helps that the shoes are machine washable.
So far my shoes have shown very little wear and i would expect many hundreds of miles in the shoes. The soles being quality Virbram’s you would expect this and the uppers are the usual high quality you expect from Merrell.
The fit is great for my feet. My feet are narrow at the arch and then wide at the mid foot and toes. The trail gloves have been criticized for being too narrow at the arch. I feel this to be somewhat an unfair criticism as you need a trail shoe to be tight and glove like as you don’t want the the shoe to move independently underfoot when running on slopes or difficult surfaces etc. Something you don’t need from a standard running shoe. The toe box is very wide giving plenty of room for your toes to splay out and feel the ground as you are running. The rubber bumper around the toes providing you with that extra protection when hitting the rough stuff.
All in all i give the shoes a solid 8 out of 10. These are great minimalist trail shoes. High quality, offering you strong foot protection and still allowing plenty of feeling. The only downsides are potentially if the narrow fit around your arch is going to be a problem and they are slightly more expensive than the Virbram equivalents at $110
After running my fastest ever 4.5 miles on thursday i put in another good 4.5 run on saturday. Form felt great and i was only 6 seconds a mile slower in pace than Thursdays effort. The only thing was i was left with a dull pain in my left foot. right in the center of my mid foot landing area. Im hoping that this is a case of tenderness after cranking out 9 miles in two days.
With my left foot still a little sore on sunday i did not want to make it worse, so i pulled out the old traditional running shoes and decided to try to clock up a bit more mileage. Overall my run went well. I have found that i can switch between running styles quite easily now. I recall reading in a Barefoot test on minimal shoes that half the people in the test switched to a mid foot strike within the two weeks, while the other half stayed with the heel striking form. It seems luckily that i would be in the first group as i can, and do switch automatically depending on what shoes i am wearing.
For my run today in my traditional running shoes, i fell straight back into my old form. Heel planted into the ground. well in front of my body, and a slower stride rate even though i was running about the same speed. I can still run like this as i clocked in 7 miles, But i don’t like it any more. All the pains i used to feel running come back. Specifically in my knees as i’m far more aware of my body feedback now, and i know how painless running can be.
This run was 2 miles further in distance yet a full 50 seconds a mile slower in pace. I might run a 5k next week end, The Jingle Jog (http://www.jinglejog.com/) so lets hope the foots tenderness is all cleared up by then.
So you’re looking to get into barefoot running. You go out and pick up a new pair of Merrell’s or Vibram’s and ready and raring to go. But how much should you do. There is a huge amount of data on the web about running form and listening to your body. There is also considerable information including warning labels on the boxes of those shoes to slow down and take it easy. All great information and excellent advice.
I am new to barefoot (read minimalist shoe) running only about a month into it now. I realize that i have to strengthen my feet, Achilles and calf muscles and i am taking it steady. I am only running 5 miles at a time and probably running half that on grass. The running is great. I feel fantastic. My form is really coming along, my foot strikes are light, frequent and midfoot. I am working on my arm movements (thanks Verity), My energy and efficiency in running coming along nicely as I could go on further if I were not “taking it steady”
I’m not suffering any aches or pains that would worry me so my body i feel is telling me all the right things, so should i press on? This thread on Runners World (http://www.runnersworld.com/community/forums/runner-communities/barefoot-running/please-slow-down) has me already well over doing things, as they are taking 6 or more months to build up to 2 miles in some cases which seems incredibly slow to me.
The thing that scares me most is a stress fracture. Common with “too much too fast (TMTF)” syndrome and barefoot running. BLAM! 6 to 8 weeks out, putting a major halt to my running, races and screwing up my soccer as well. But when your body is loving what it is doing and all the feed back is positive what is a man to do? Do i push on?
As a follow-up i did my best ever run today. I finally broke into the 8 min/mile pace over 4.6 miles 30+ seconds per mile faster than i have ever run in running shoes with a heel strike.
Here is a great post from Sam Murphy, He attended UKSEM’s (UK Sport and Exercise Medicine Conference) debate on natural running. It was a panel debate that consisted of Professor Daniel Lieberman, podiatrist Simon Bartold, Professor Benno Nigg, Professor Daniel Howell and Dr Matthias Marquardt.
From what little i know, as a relative newbe to this field, i agree with Sam’s conclusions that running is all about form and injuries stem from poor form. The major trouble being the traditional running shoe and it supporting a non-natural running technique. One of the key interesting points of the debate, regardless of the panelists views of the current barefoot running trend and the various shoes that are sale now, they all agreed on what a running shoe does not need. That is that: a running shoe shouldn’t need: cushioning, stiffness, medial posting, arch support or a heel raise.
Great writing from Sam, and it will be interested to see how sneakers start to change as this debate goes on.
It came to me this morning during my run, Somewhat of an epiphany. After my rather heavy and laborious run of two days ago ( blogged about here in my “back to sneakers ohhh dear” post) in sneakers and then cruising through the exact same run barely out of breath and feeling no tiredness in the legs, running in my Merrell Trail Gloves. It came to me. It’s all about EFFICIENCY!
I have been really focusing on my barefoot running form and that’s going pretty well. It occurred to me when i am wearing my Merrell’s, several things happen. My stride shortens as i concentrate on landing on the mid-foot and in doing so find my stride landing below my body. Now I am no expert and as you can see from the video below i may still be slightly over stepping. I welcome your opinion on this. I have read that ideally I should be trying to land “behind” me.
This shortening of my stride must in turn be allowing me to better use the natural elasticity in my ligaments, in an overall more efficient running form. Noticeably so. I don’t know but i need to pick up a pedometer so i can check my stride timing. I must be closer to the optimal 180bpm running barefoot. Two days ago for the same run my legs felt tired and heavy, it was not an enjoyable run. Today felt fantastic as i cruised home effortlessly and could have gone on much further had my Achilles and calves been stronger.
I shot a short video of my form running in traditional running shoes as a comparison below.
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!!
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 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
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.
barefeat 