Looking to Transition into Minimalism - Help!!!

True minimalism is running nude and barefoot through the park on a warm, rainy morning.

If you're serious about it, invest some time lengthening your calves. Do some calf stretches 3 times a day. The one I use is pushing against a wall at an angle, stretching one calf at a time. When I switched to too minimal of a shoe I got plantar fasciitis. Took two years to figure out it was because my calves were tight, and stretching them religiously for a couple weeks and then occasionally since then has fixed the problem completely.

Start by chopping off your pecker Woody!

I switched to flats(Mizuno Wave Riders to Mizuno Mushas) after a 4 month injury. I figured since I was starting over at the bottom and would give it a try since I had struggled with injuries for years.

I was a forefoot runner before switching to trainers and had chronic calf issues, mostly heart attacks. So I was a bit skeptical to see what might happen to my calves.

Currently 4 months into it and I have been running the most consistent injury free mileage in years. It took me about a month to break into them. I've seen others on here saying they run maybe 50% trainers/50% flats to start, but I went 100% flats since I starting only running 10 mpw. My shins were basically destroyed the first 2 weeks and had to stay on roads and packed dirt trails. As of now I am running probably 70% grass/30% road. Calves have never felt better.

That being said, I spent those 4 months doing glute/hip/calf strengthening. I'm not sure whether that helped alleviate the injuries more, or it was a mix of the shoes too. Either way, the experiment is going well.

Many people say you should forefoot strike with minimal or barefoot, but I think the correct way is midfoot strike. From my experience, I've developed metatarsalgia from forefoot striking and when I've change to midfoot, pain's gone. Also, when midfoot srike and keeping your ankles flexed a little, you're able to land very soft and quietly which is good.

My question RollTide would be "What, if any, injuries/issues are you having with what you have been running in so far?" If the answer is basically none, then why on earth would you want to change? Who cares how good it has been for someone else. You aren't them.

That being said, start wearing the Streak a couple of times per week. If that goes well go to 4 days a week. If that goes well, lose the Pegasus entirely. Still working? Then switch to VFF's/minimus (whatever) a couple of times a week. Follow the same pattern until you are either running barefoot all the time or when something goes wrong. If something goes wrong, move back about half a step and you have your ideal footwear mix.

if people cared about their training/mileage as much as they care about their millimeters heel/toe drop in their shoe theyd be a little faster.....

I just started doing all my training in Adidas Adizero flats about a month ago. I'd had really bad achilles tendonitis, since last Summer and hadn't run much since then. I'm finding that the flats seem to be helping with the achilles, but I have to take a day off every 3 or 4 days to allow my shins to recover. I've also been trying to do core on a more regular basis and strengthen my hips, since the whole outside of my right leg is really tight and (I think) is contributing to the tendonitis.

The thing that I really love about the flats is that my stride rate (and possibly length) has improved dramatically compared to running in trainers without expending any extra energy. I used to do my easy runs at around 7 min/mile, but now 6:15 min/mile feels about the same, in terms of effort, and I'm not really in very good shape yet either. Granted, I might slow down a bit more once I start upping the volume and incorporating workouts back into my training, but I'm hoping that the flats will improve my running economy.

You should worry that your tight calves will be exacerbated by running in flats. It's those of us who read your post who are exasperated.

Also if they cared about dropping pounds from their bodies as much as they care about dropping ounces from their shoes.