Chip seal question

EricJ

Barefooters
Dec 8, 2010
7
0
0
Hello,

I've been slowly increasing my distance running on a chip seal road and I love and hate it.

This chip seal is the road outside my house. It is small sharp rocks about 1/4 of an inch. The worst is where they are patching it and there is lots of loose rocks also. From a few pictures I've seen it's on the milder side as far as how it can go.

My best run so far was just under 4 miles and the first half the run felt so good. I was running on the worst parts of the road intentionally and was amazed how good every stone felt. It always had some discomfort before but this felt really good. Towards the end my feet got sensitive and I chose to walk the last bit. I had a small hot spot on the ball of each foot. I could see where the skin had worn away a little.

I probably started over striding after a big hill, but all the runs on chip seal are kind of like that, they start easy on the feet and gets harder. The easier is getting amazingly better; I remember when I first started and it hurt to just walk on it when going accros the road to get the mail.

Will chip seal always tear up the feet? Am I just developing thicker skin so it takes longer? It can feel so good it makes me wonder how it can be bad, and if the problem is only my form.

Thanks Eric
 
You will get better at

You will get better at running rough terrain as you gain better form, and as you get a thicker skin on your feet. That being said, chip seal will always hack up your feet a little bit. You'll just be able to run on it for longer before your feet become sensitive.
 
I'm not exactly learning from

I'm not exactly learning from new more restarting. I had worked up to about 6 miles barefoot or with minimal shoes last fall, on concrete, pavement and some trails.

Then I went crazy and ran a trail I normally run, but in the rain.. and I increased it to 8 miles. Well the rain made the trail much more technical with all the mud jumping and hopping and running off to the side of the trail where it was not flat. It was so much fun, but my ankle swelled up the next day.

After taking a few months off running for it to heal. Then I decided to only run barefoot and not to run anywhere else until I could run to the end of the chip seal road I live on and back.

I thought it would ensure I didn't push my ankle to hard, and help work on form. What I did not antipate is how it would change my perception of where I can and cant run.

I think you are right pbarker, it is time to go play on other stuff.
 
Ah, punishment, it's good for

Ah, punishment, it's good for the soul, or sole in this case. ;-)
 
 Eric Wow learning on

Eric



Wow learning on chipseal, that is impressive.

I find gravel and chipseal do not give me blisters or abrade my skin like asphalt does. My feet become very sensitive and my form improves very quickly. I can not imagine chipseal ever feeling good but it is excellent for perfecting good form. Find some foot candy (smooth concrete) and give yourself a well disserved reward.
 
I did most of my running on

I did most of my running on chip seal in the beginning. It was tough for me, but that's all I had near the house. There was no way I could run 2 days in a row. Sometimes it would take 3 or more days for my soles to recover. I'm not sure if there was any benefit to that at all except on local 5k the terrain was usually no problem.

More recently I found a nice paved trail that is a bit of a drive but after running on chip and seal for months that trail is like running on butter, except now I have an IT band issue and I'm watching my soles turn into panzy feet.
 
I imagine over time you can

I imagine over time you can condition things to about anything if you can stick with it. I am chipseal certified. That is about all that is around here without hopping in the car. I can rate it on a scale of 1-5 on a basis of discomfort and abrasion. I ran six miles on the nastiest stuff on Saturday and my feet felt like someone beat them with a meat mallet afterwards. I had some abrasion but no blistering. Three days later they are back to normal.

Talonraid, I know what you mean about butter. There was a quarter mile section of my run that was middle of the road chipseal. When I started running on it I was like ahhhhhh this is great. I ran in the city last week on concrete sidewalks and asphalt roads that were heavenly. I am jealous of the BFR's that have those sort of surface conditions out their front doors on a daily basis!
 
@sole foot:  Right you are.

@sole foot: Right you are. I have a friend in San Diego who walks about a block to find miles and miles of beachfront concrete...I hate him.

There are a few places on my normal runs where the rough stuff gives way to a half mile or so of that smooth black asphalt. I get giddy when I get close to the smooth stuff and it's funny how the mind will start playing games. When I'm about 10-20 yards from the good part my mind will start telling me I can't stand the rouch chip and seal and I start running kind of like I'm gimpy until I'm on the smooth asphalt. Does that make sense? Kind of like when you have to pee really bad and the closer and closer you get to the bathroom the more you have to pee and your mind tells you, "you're not gonna make it!"
 
My first barefoot marathon

My first barefoot marathon was 90% chip-n-seal, it was intense. I enjoy chip-n-seal here and there it good for conditioning. Running on smooth surfaces barefoot becomes extremely boring, I purposely will run on technical conditions but i miss the sensation I get. I found a gravel/limestone trail that goes for miles, and i try to run on that once a week to keep things interesting.
 
Lee,Great pictures -- thank

Lee,

Great pictures -- thank you for posting them!

Have you run on chip seal where the chips are not limestone? If so, how did it compare with your regular limestone chip seal?
 
Chip/seal does get easier, or

Chip/seal does get easier, or less bothersome, with time. Lots of surfaces that were really bothersome when I starting running barefoot (2 years ago) don't bother me anymore, including: chip/seal, hot pavement, loose gravel, and even stiff weeds in the lawn. Of course I still have limitations and any of these things would make my feet tender if I ran on them for more than an hour, but for the running I do, they don't bother me anymore. I still can hardly walk on loose crushed limestone, though, let alone run on it. Maybe that's my next challenge! In the last two summers I usually ran on the smoothest part of the chip/seal roads, whereas this summer I find I actually enjoy the roughest part best - I just like the way it feels now.