I started this process 3 months ago. walked for a month, then started working in short runs while reading books and watching vids to try and correct my bad form. have been through a lot of blisters and soreness on top of my left foot, as well as plantar fasciitis. i know my form has not been correct, i've never been able to run further than a half marathon because of knee pain. my heal strike was terrible in shoes
1 month ago i did a 5K barefoot (prematurely) and it was decent, but tore my feet up pretty bad. took several weeks off because of that...i know my form was suffering
Then, 2 nights ago i figured out what i was doing wrong, i was simply running too fast! by mistake on a walk I was testing my feet and almost fake running at a very slow almost walking pace, and thats when it hit me. If I slowed way down maybe I would get closer to the form needed
So i set out an hour later for my first run in nearly a month. I ran REALLY slow, 1.5 miles...at a 13.38 min pace (my normal in shoes was 9 min pace) and it worked! I still had some tender spots on my feet from the 5K but they didn't blister at all. I couldn't believe it...but didn't want to overthink it and jinx the whole thing
Last night my feet felt pretty good, even though it had only been 24 hours since that last run, so I went for it again. This being the first time ever I had even thought about running BF 2 days in a row. It worked, i was able to increase my pace a hair (12:45 min) and the result was the same after 2 miles this time...i could have even kept going i think but didn't want to chance it.
I cannot overstate how overjoyed I am. Parts of me were starting to question whether I'd ever figure the form out. I think my biggest fault was thinking "Too Much Too Soon" had mostly to do with distance, when in reality for me it's "Too Fast Too Soon". I'm confident now that I'll be able to strengthen my soles from more frequent runs, which I know should then allow me to increase my speed gradually, and eventually my distance as well.
I hope I'm not jumping the gun...but it feels amazing to have run BF two nights in a row and my feet feel just fine. can't believe it.
My goal is the Dallas White Rock HALF Marathon in December, completely barefoot. Let the training begin!!!
1 month ago i did a 5K barefoot (prematurely) and it was decent, but tore my feet up pretty bad. took several weeks off because of that...i know my form was suffering
Then, 2 nights ago i figured out what i was doing wrong, i was simply running too fast! by mistake on a walk I was testing my feet and almost fake running at a very slow almost walking pace, and thats when it hit me. If I slowed way down maybe I would get closer to the form needed
So i set out an hour later for my first run in nearly a month. I ran REALLY slow, 1.5 miles...at a 13.38 min pace (my normal in shoes was 9 min pace) and it worked! I still had some tender spots on my feet from the 5K but they didn't blister at all. I couldn't believe it...but didn't want to overthink it and jinx the whole thing
Last night my feet felt pretty good, even though it had only been 24 hours since that last run, so I went for it again. This being the first time ever I had even thought about running BF 2 days in a row. It worked, i was able to increase my pace a hair (12:45 min) and the result was the same after 2 miles this time...i could have even kept going i think but didn't want to chance it.
I cannot overstate how overjoyed I am. Parts of me were starting to question whether I'd ever figure the form out. I think my biggest fault was thinking "Too Much Too Soon" had mostly to do with distance, when in reality for me it's "Too Fast Too Soon". I'm confident now that I'll be able to strengthen my soles from more frequent runs, which I know should then allow me to increase my speed gradually, and eventually my distance as well.
I hope I'm not jumping the gun...but it feels amazing to have run BF two nights in a row and my feet feel just fine. can't believe it.
My goal is the Dallas White Rock HALF Marathon in December, completely barefoot. Let the training begin!!!