minimalist horror stories

I lost a foot from trying it

If I had it to do over, I would transition gradually. I lived with months of soleus and achilles tendon soreness. Everything's good now, though, doing 40-50 mpw in H Streets.

u running anymore in other shoes or is that it?

minimalist wrote:

Everything's good now, though, doing 40-50 mpw in H Streets.

"Doing it made me into a jogger!"

I sucked ass in high school. I basically did it over one summer and barely made a DI college team (can't tell you where I go). Now, one season later, I am the team's number 2 distance runner and I could blow my highschool a$$ out of the water. I say it is worth it.

you improved because you went minimalist or because you actually ran all summer?

"It's gotta be the shoes!"

I worked my way down to the streak vapor 4 (low heel, low flexibility) and was out 2-3 months with a messed up achilles because of it. When I came back I built up my fitness with tolerance for low profile shoes, but running with aquasocks (it was winter, decent snow, but some on pavement). I was running low (40-50mpw) with a high week of 65 in there randomly, including a 22km long run all on hilly pavement with the watershoes on. They wore down and I got some h streets. I upped my training to 60-70 mpw now all in the h streets and an old school pair of nikes. Some on pavement and concrete, but most on grass, trails, and gravel paths. I have no problems now, and consider it worth it, but those 2-3 months of no running I was hurtin'. I've been in the H streets fulltime since March-ish, when the aquasocks were just too fallen apart to wear.

started off way too fast. thought it was the most amazing thing going barefoot. actually felt tremendous pain in the top of my feet. i ignored the pain, and low and behold, i felt a snap in my second metatarsal. damn. i couldn't run for 4weeks! this was the summer before last. now i've been training in the vibram five fingers on roads and i've felt pretty damn good.

I have run in Frees for several months, but the first time I went on pavement for a 20 miler my IT band was completely inflamed afterwards and I couldn't run for two weeks. It was a stupid choice to use the Frees, but I wrongly assumed that my body was used to it.

In my personal experience, minimalism is GREAT if you have soft surfaces to run on.

I wore aqua socks/ surf shoes I bought at Walmart for about 5 months. I started out on grass, then progressed to doing the last mile of my runs in them. I still progressed too fast and quickly did 13 mile training runs into them. Got plantar fasciitis after about 2 months and still have it 3+ years later. Didn't know what the pf was, though my heel was bruised from lack of cushioning and saw it went away 10 min into run, so i didn't worry about it. I loved the minimalist running because i had zero sciatic symptoms after wearing them. Right now i wear cheap 30-$40 simple Nike running shoes which cause me to have mild PF and mild sciatica. Where as if I wore high heel shoes I'd have no pf, but painful sciatica, vice versa.

I'm kinda interested in trying it. I sort of developed a little plan that would take me 8 months just to get down to the asics DS trainers (currently in the landreths). What's the general consensus, should I give it a go? Naturally I'm afraid of hurting myself and screwing up my collegiate career, but I haven't exactly been injury free in regular shoes (2 stress fractures).

dangerous.... 2 stress fractures already? there's a reason we called the vapor's "injury makers" on our team after the coach gave them to everyone and half the team (those who ran in the vapors) ended up injured at the end of the season from overuse injuries.

Plantar fascitis with a vengeance.

awesome wrote:

dangerous.... 2 stress fractures already? there's a reason we called the vapor's "injury makers" on our team after the coach gave them to everyone and half the team (those who ran in the vapors) ended up injured at the end of the season from overuse injuries.

It's called adaptation.

I think it's great for your legs, but as I mentioned earlier, I would never advocate minimalism if you need to do a majority of your running on pavement. I don't know, perhaps I'm not as hardcore as some... but if you've had stress fractures before I would try to stay on trails as much as you possibly can.

dean moriarty wrote:

I think it's great for your legs, but as I mentioned earlier, I would never advocate minimalism if you need to do a majority of your running on pavement. I don't know, perhaps I'm not as hardcore as some... but if you've had stress fractures before I would try to stay on trails as much as you possibly can.

I had 7 stress fractures while wearing trainers/orthotics and running 80% on grass/dirt. I'm going on 3 years now in flats and have had no problems putting in 20+ milers on concrete/asphalt. If anything.... the less shoe makes it easier and more tolerable to run on hard surfaces. You can feel the ground and step more lightly, which jars the feet and legs 'less'. It's all about adaptation.

Did you ever do form drills prior to the switch?

I did tons of drills between high school and college, lots of weight training (not too much with the lower body), stretching, etc.. I cut it all out, moved to a lighter shoe, added in barefoot running, and haven't looked back (although I started back with core training recently). The less shoe, stronger muscles in the feet/lower legs, combined with higher mileage (which I couldn't achieve in trainers) has resulted in a progressively more economical and natural stride. No drills needed. Recovery is very quick (esp. long runs and races, since I train/race in the same shoe). I see it as an advantage over my competitors, who likely require more time to recover from racing in a shoe they're less accustomed to. I was recovered in 2-3 days with my last half marathon.