Finally Figured Out My Perfect Stride

[1babystep]

It's been awhile since posting here after a dissapointing stress fracture while running bf. Typical TMTS.... Back to square one. As I started my runs ever so cautious- constantly evaluating my stride, foot strike/plant wondering if I was doing this right, discovered that I had it backwards...

I found my perfect stride/footstrike not by thinking of how my feet touched the ground, but looking at the top of my head. One day as I was running, remembered something I had once read about keeping the head still while running meant the body was moving forward, while a head bobbing up and down meant wasted energy and higher impact.

So, using the early morning sun observed my shadow. At first, I did notice that my head did bounce up and down. Not a super lot, so I concentrated on making my head as quiet as possible and to relax and not think about my feet.

After concentrating on just this one "key" discovered what naturally followed in regard to my stride and foot strike:

1. My posture was more upright.

2. My stride length was shorter.

3. Instead of landing directly on the balls of my feet, was landing just slightly back on the balls where my heel would lightly touch. I also noticed that my impact seemed softer.

So far so good- I almost gave up running bf and going back to shoes and realized that sometimes success is a result of failure...

Tom

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Very well stated, and I'm

Very well stated, and I'm glad you didn't give up. It's not necessarily running barefoot that gave you a stress fracture. Shod runners get stress fractures all the time. There's not way to know that if you went back to shoes at that time or never left shoes in the first place whether or not you would have received a stress fracture anyway.

What's most important is that you found a lighter, softer way to run, even if that means your failure to get it right the first time taught you a valuable lesson in the process. "sometimes success is a result of failure... " Beautiful, Tom!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Oh, BTW, on this evening's

Oh, BTW, on this evening's run, I saw a girl bounding around a corner, hauling hiney, with her ponytail just swinging right and left. I saw mine in my shadow and noticed it was swinging too (but not as bad). I held my head up straight and relaxed, and my ponytail stopped swinging. ;-)

 

[barefoot kean]

way to go!

way to go!

 

[Phil Hart]

Welcome back as a fellow

Welcome back as a fellow alumni of the school of stress fractures via TMTS. "Easy, light, smooth" to quote Caballo Loco, which is the best way I've heard it put, and which sounds like what you've discovered for yourself. The last time I had a pony tail was in high school. Enjoy the hair and the running.

 

[Barfuß Chelsea]

Caballo Loco...hahaha. Cool

Caballo Loco...hahaha.

Cool that you finally "found" your stride! The same happened to me a little over a month ago, and it was such a great feeling to have everything just click. Happy barefooting!

 

[1babystep]

Thanks all..TJ- I do believe

Thanks all..

TJ- I do believe my stress fracture was a result of my running barefoot and I'll tell you why I think so... I have been a runner for over 20 years running shod ( several marathons) and never suffered any injuries... I was a heel striker. Took my shoes off and everthing changed.... Up on the balls of my feet running 4 miles (easy) I was barefoot groovin....Feeling good and finding myself 2 miles from home, decided to run these last two miles at a pace faster then I have ever run bare foot. My feet were not ready for the stress. Something had to give. The bones broke. My feet were weak...



Tom

 

[Gkikas]

1babystep wrote:Thanks

Thanks all..

TJ- I do believe my stress fracture was a result of my running barefoot and I'll tell you why I think so... I have been a runner for over 20 years running shod ( several marathons) and never suffered any injuries... I was a heel striker. Took my shoes off and everthing changed.... Up on the balls of my feet running 4 miles (easy) I was barefoot groovin....Feeling good and finding myself 2 miles from home, decided to run these last two miles at a pace faster then I have ever run bare foot. My feet were not ready for the stress. Something had to give. The bones broke. My feet were weak..

Wow man, this is a wakeup call for me. I'm a month and a half into running barefoot with very little running experience prior to this. Compared to you, I'm but barely taking my first steps.

This morning, I decided I was ready to add some speed to my run, having been inspired by that awesome video posted in another thread here, the one with the MD running with gazelle-like form. I managed pretty well, running 1.81 miles at average pace of 8:57, much faster than my 10:30-11:30 min/mi normal pace. All I suffered were some sensitive hot spots on my soles, but reading what you're writing makes me realize that I'm probably lucky to've gotten off as easy. I'll learn from your mistake and keep it slowwww (which is getting harder and harder to maintain... damn ego) until I get some miles under my belt.

Cheers!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Yes, I agree your feet were

Yes, I agree your feet were weak; that's a given. And I agree that barefoot running exposed this weakness. But there's no way to say that it wouldn't have cracked eventually in the shoes.

 

[1babystep]

Gkikas- A couple of things I

Gkikas- A couple of things I didn't mention and since you said what you said, will throw this out... The 4 mile run that I had planned ended up being 6. Never had I run anything barefoot farther than 4. (Made a wrong turn) I too average 10:30 -11:30 Pace bf, and that was the pace I was running through mile 4. Picked up the pace to sub 9's for th last 2 mi.

So, combine that 50 % increase in distance at a much faster pace, was the straw (I believe) that broke the camels back.

What's interesting here, it wasn't until my next run (two days later) did I realize something was seriously wrong. Out for my 4 miler and 2 miles into it, had to stop and walk home...

Went to the doc and the x-ray revealed two metatarsal stress fractures. He explained to me the analagy of a coat hanger. Like when you bend it ever so slightly back and forth, eventually it will start to fatigue and begin to crack.

Simply put, stress exceeded load capacity and something had to give...

Tom