Sometimes, it is just time to run.

DTolo,

As you know I'm involved in the same effort to transition myself to barefoot running as you are. I had gotten to where I was running up to three miles completely barefoot and around 5 miles in VFFs. One week I decided that I had adapted pretty well and decided to run to and from the bus stop everday (1.5miles) and do my normal 3-4 mile runs on Monday, Wed, and Friday. All either barefoot or inVFFs. I feltthat my form was pretty good andgetting better butb y the end of the week the pain on the top of my right foot made me stop running. Here I am two weeks later and it hasn't gone away.

The moral of this story is definitely take it easy. Hopefully you're healing quicker than me since you are so much younger but either way I implore you to make sure you're really solid on the shorter distances before you start stretching it out too much. Right now I'm in a position where Ican't really do any run training for my PFTthat is coming up. It's killing me. I was on schedule to do pretty well.



Semper Fi,

WD

WD,

First, thanks for stopping by, reading, and replying! I will be moderating for sure, but I think the competitive and aggressive side of me wanted to get out, run, and see where my "breaking" point was/is at. I can't say I was totally aware of the thought, but I know part of me wanted to see just how much fatigue I'd run into by the time I started sacrificing form.

I had been running with time limits. First, I ran out for 5 minutes, and then returned the same route, trying to maintain an even split. My first runs covered about 1.5 mi or less. If two days after my run I had no soreness, then I'd add one minute to my "run-out" time. I slowly increased until I was running out for 8 minutes, and returned in about the same covering 2.25 miles. However, none of my runs let me see how it felt or where my limit was at so that my form got compromised. I can say now, I did get that feeling on the 5 mile run. I really had to start reminding myself of proper form not too long after 3 miles, and the last mile took an effort to make sure I was running correctly.

So, with that, and the bit of advice you've given from your current experience, I can say that another 5 miler is not going to happen in the near future. Instead, I think I am going to maintain 2-3 mile runs, at about twice a week. I am thinking about getting to a track with a grass field and doing some sprint and form exercises. I'll likely incorporate some full body calisthenics, 40-100yrd sprints (on the grass), and then 400m jogs with the focus on correct form. I will keep the drill to not more than 40 minutes including rest times between exercises.

Keep me posted how that TOFP is turning out for you though, and if there's anything you find to help rehab. I know the nerve complex on the top of the foot is fierce, and if one nerve gets angry, his friends tend to follow. I learned the hard way once. I landed a couple of round kicks with the top of my foot on my opponents hip at a Pankration tournament. I didn't think it was such a bad deal, until I tried to get out of bed the next day and fell over. Had I not known better, I would have thought I broke my foot... but nope, just group of angry nerves in the top of my foot letting me know they were not happy with my previous day's activities, LOL.