At 60, I run in a variety of shoes especially racing flats, and do 3-10 miles/week barefoot on grass or turf. Barefoot jogging and strides help set any niggles straight as I can get proprioceptive feedback and adjust footplant, etc..
At 60, I run in a variety of shoes especially racing flats, and do 3-10 miles/week barefoot on grass or turf. Barefoot jogging and strides help set any niggles straight as I can get proprioceptive feedback and adjust footplant, etc..
I tried Five Fingers, even ran a marathon in them in 2:35, picture of the finish for the curious:
http://www.utahvalleymarathon.com/2009-results/459.jpg
but after a couple of months at around 90 miles a week found them problematic - the pounding gave me some irritation of the heel bone and I had to cut down to 40 miles a week on grass or in regular shoes for a couple of months to recover. Once I recovered I switched to Crocs and never looked back. I have been running in them almost exclusively (the only exception is cross-country racing and when the road is very icy) since 2010 with zero injuries of any kind serious enough to cancel a speed workout - I recall one time I had some irritation in a hamstring tendon and slowed the pace down, but other than that, nothing sufficiently disruptive for me to remember.
I am 44 years old and have been running with no break longer than 3 days since 1984. In the last 20 years I do not believe I ever had a week with fewer than 5 days of running. At the highest I averaged 120 miles a week, now around 75-80 - most of it on asphalt. So according to some I should be getting a knee replacement or something of the kind. So far no such problems, knock on wood though I am not supersitious :-). I give credit to the ability to last this long mostly injury-free to the following:
* Keeping easy runs easy
* Healthy diet - fruits, vegetables, grains, light meat, fish. No alcohol, caffeine, artificial sweets, or other forms of junk.
* Knowing what makes me injured and staying away from it (track, spikes, skewed surfaces, lifting heavy things carelessly after a hard run)
* Consistency in running - my body is never surprised by what I do to it.
* I have taken Sunday off without exception every week since the fall of 1993. Initially just for religious reasons, but eventually also appreciating the physiological benefits of regular rest.
Daily record of the training since 1999 is available at
As you start to run more and more you'll realize not all pavements are created equal, and it unfortunately does takes quite a bit of time to get really used to all types of pavement. But sidewalks are great and you can get comfortable running on this without problems after 100-200 miles.
A couple of things happen as you put more and more miles on your barefeet. One is that your body will add deposits of fat (not a ton) to thicken the cushion on your feet. This protects your foot from getting bone bruises (a common injury associated with barefoot running).
You'll also squeeze out moisture and compress the dead cells on the bottom of your feet into a thicker tread which will make it easier to handle the abrasive surfaces. I don't know that I'd call them calluses, since these tend to form more from friction and with a barefoot stride your body will naturally inclinate towards a less frictional stride (where your foot slides around less after touching the ground).
Your tendons will also strengthen, allowing you to handle the new mechanics of a more forefoot strike. Often referred to as top-of-the-foot pain, this is one of the most common ailments of people that start doing too much too soon.
And I used to run more in minimalist shoes (Merrell Vapors, etc) but I've swapped out and run all my mileage now in either more cushioned Topos (they're a great company, all their shoes have a zero or near-zero drop). I don't like minimalist shoes because I find that they allow you to maintain most of the bad habits of a thick shoes and don't promote the better stride mechanics of running truly barefoot.
Why not set up an experiment? Have half the kids do their run shod, half barefoot. Compare rates of injury with the 2 groups. It seems like tons of high school runners get shin splints anyways because of overtraining, growth spurts, etc.
Also, why start the kids running barefoot on workouts? Should start with easy runs, 1-2 miles, like on their warm up to the track. Some start with barefoot strides on the grass, but this does almost nothing to improve form as the soft grass just acts like a cushioned shoe. If you want to use barefoot training as a tool to improve your runners' form you need a harder surface to give the foot feedback about how it's landing. The ideal mechanics of a stride would have the body storing all of the force of the body landing in springs as potential energy and then releasing that as the foot pushes off the ground. A hard surface transitions the landing towards the front of the foot, storing that energy of impact in tendons, which then get released. The body will naturally gravitate towards this foot pattern with time.
That's why patience is key. If you do too much too soon (this could be in terms of volume or intensity) then all that energy gets shocked up the skeletal system. If you're wearing padded shoes, no problem, they absorb the impact. But if your barefoot and land heel first, that impact goes right up the skeletal system resulting in shin splits, knee problems, lower back problems, etc. So it could be your both right.
Barefoot running and MFS?
What's the science say?
Not good.👎
https://www.runresearchjunkie.com/impact-loads-in-barefoot-and-shoe-running/
Don't get fooled wrote:
Barefoot running and MFS?
What's the science say?
Not good.👎
https://www.runresearchjunkie.com/impact-loads-in-barefoot-and-shoe-running/https://www.runresearchjunkie.com/running-economy-barefoot-in-minimalist-shoes-and-traditional-running-shoes/
Duh, that study just shows that more cushioned shoes provide more cushioning.
It's all in the interpretation y'all. Don't get fooled yourself.
Endless debating society wrote:
Duh, that study just shows that more cushioned shoes provide more cushioning.
It's all in the interpretation y'all. Don't get fooled yourself.
Duh, it's all in the reading comprehension in which a joker like you lacks. 😄
Stinking up the joint wrote:
Endless debating society wrote:Duh, that study just shows that more cushioned shoes provide more cushioning.
It's all in the interpretation y'all. Don't get fooled yourself.
Duh, it's all in the reading comprehension in which a joker like you lacks. 😄
"Conclusions. This indicates that barefoot and barefoot inspired footwear may place runners as increased risk from running related tibiofemoral pathologies."
Note the word "may" there stinky? It's just an opinion and a very contentious one.
Don't do it if you are too heavy (over 71kg).
I do about 20-30km/week barefoot on tarmack & some dirt roads.
The first time I just felt like taking my shoes off and giving it a try, only made about 1k before my soles hurt too much. A few days later I managed 2k and so forth. Now do maybe 2 or 3 runs a week barefoot.
The most I've done is about 20k, but my feet did feel pretty tender for the rest of the day.
I'm 48 started, with the barefoot running 3 years ago, have not been injured.
I'd just like to state I'm 172lb and run 90mpw barefoot, 16:45 on the roads barefoot.
I've been running in zero drop minimalist shoes since March. 130-200 miles per week. Achillies issues disappered. It's not for everyone.
LightWeightRunner wrote:
Don't do it if you are too heavy (over 71kg).
http://www.unisa.edu.au/Media-Centre/Releases/2017-Media-Releases/Heavy-runners-risk-injury-in-lightweight-running-shoes/#.WY7_bRJJus1
Well anyone would end up injured in ASICS.
Teage wrote:
As you start to run more and more you'll realize not all pavements are created equal, and it unfortunately does takes quite a bit of time to get really used to all types of pavement. But sidewalks are great and you can get comfortable running on this without problems after 100-200 miles.
A couple of things happen as you put more and more miles on your barefeet. One is that your body will add deposits of fat (not a ton) to thicken the cushion on your feet. This protects your foot from getting bone bruises (a common injury associated with barefoot running).
You'll also squeeze out moisture and compress the dead cells on the bottom of your feet into a thicker tread which will make it easier to handle the abrasive surfaces. I don't know that I'd call them calluses, since these tend to form more from friction and with a barefoot stride your body will naturally inclinate towards a less frictional stride (where your foot slides around less after touching the ground).
Your tendons will also strengthen, allowing you to handle the new mechanics of a more forefoot strike. Often referred to as top-of-the-foot pain, this is one of the most common ailments of people that start doing too much too soon.
And I used to run more in minimalist shoes (Merrell Vapors, etc) but I've swapped out and run all my mileage now in either more cushioned Topos (they're a great company, all their shoes have a zero or near-zero drop). I don't like minimalist shoes because I find that they allow you to maintain most of the bad habits of a thick shoes and don't promote the better stride mechanics of running truly barefoot.
Have you tried the Topo ST-2? How are those? I've wanted to try them since Altras are getting too cushy.
Yes if you stay off roads
Teage wrote:
I used it as a tool to improve the efficiency of my stride and it's helped significantly. I've dropped my 5k PR from 15:09 to 14:51,
jamin are you listening?
If Zola Budd had only worn Nikes she would still be competitive today.
LightWeightRunner wrote:
Don't do it if you are too heavy (over 71kg).
http://www.unisa.edu.au/Media-Centre/Releases/2017-Media-Releases/Heavy-runners-risk-injury-in-lightweight-running-shoes/#.WY7_bRJJus1I do about 20-30km/week barefoot on tarmack & some dirt roads.
The first time I just felt like taking my shoes off and giving it a try, only made about 1k before my soles hurt too much. A few days later I managed 2k and so forth. Now do maybe 2 or 3 runs a week barefoot.
The most I've done is about 20k, but my feet did feel pretty tender for the rest of the day.
I'm 48 started, with the barefoot running 3 years ago, have not been injured.
I don't know what 71g is.
O P wrote:
If Zola Budd had only worn Nikes she would still be competitive today.
It makes me feel good that this thread actually came back. I am the original poster.
Now can anyone tell me who Gwen Berry is. No one has been able to answer that question on LRC. I have asked that question many times.
No but Gwen is!
