Some Barefoot Running

I took delivery of these yesterday morning. I ordered them from this website. They cost about €67 ($100 - exchange rate is very good at the moment) including delivery from Utah - although they are made in China.

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Apparently they are the nearest you can get to barefoot without wearing nothing. They were recommended by Matt Fitzpatrick in "Brain Training for Runners" - makes sense really - with cushioning on shoes we are not walking or running the way god or 100,000 years of evolution intended.

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I though I'd give them a go to see what changes they would impose on my running stride. The only protection they offer is to numb the feeling from sharp objects (stones, twigs, etc.) - you still feel everything.-I tried them on the threadmill yesterday lunchtime (I was that keen) with no ill effects but gave them the acid test this morning over a 5.2 mile recovery type run. I intended to turn back after 1 mile if I felt the slightest hint of a niggle - after all I had never run barefoot on asphalt or concrete (wouldn't dream of it normally).

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While it required a bit of skill to match up the toes to their respective "holders" (particularly towards the smaller end of the range) it was worth the wait. It certainly felt a bit strange at first, but as each footfall did not yield pain I soon got into a stride at about 08:30 pace. I certainly could feel every variation/texture change in the road/path surface through the soles. While strange at first I certainly felt closer to my environment. After stretching following the first mile I continued on for a 5.2 mile circuit and even felt I could go longer (20 minutes is initially recommended - actually Matt Fitzgerald recommends to only consider using minimalist shoes when injury is a common problem with normal running shoes).

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You will certainly never heel strike in these shoes and survive for long. I did have some tenderness in the ball of my left foot, particularly during the last mile when I upped to pace to about 07:30 mins/mile (I had to find the boundary) however the overall experience was very positive - great to feel the texture of the running surface, splashing through puddles as if I had no shoes on but without the expected discomfort.

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My cadence was slightly higher than for my normal runs (88 versus 86 approx) with shorter stride lengths, which I would expect as the tendency would be away from over striding (heel striking). I will include a "barefoot" recovery type run in my weekly schedule and see how it goes.

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Yesterday morning I went for a tempo run as part of an 8.6 mile circuit. After a warmup mile I upped to pace to between 06:45 & 07:00 mins/mile for about 4 miles, only stopping as I noticed I had lost my glasses from the pocket in my reflective bib, which was also held my headlamp. I put the glasses in when it began to rain and pulled the headlamp out 3 miles later to cover the dark mile on the straight road - glasses must have popped out when I pulled the headlamp out and i didn't notice due to the relatively hard effort I was maintaining. I doubled back to look for them but after a half an hour walking back and forth with the lamp I could not find them and ran for home covering 9.2 miles on the extended run (a further search in daylight was equally unsuccessful - I wouldn't mind but I only got them a month ago - lucky I got a second pair - my old abandoned pair will come out for my early morning runs in future)

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Wed 9.2 Miles in 01:09:33 (07:34 pace @ 143 HR) with 4 miles @ 06:51 pace & 160 HR

Thu 5.2 Miles in 00:42:15 (08:07 pace @ 131HR - Barefoot