Motivate Me

Been doing the barefoot running seriously for the last month. Worked up from 1/2-mile, 3/4-mile, to the mile/1.25 miles I'm doing every other day (or two) now. Great.

But I keep getting some rawness on my (mostly) right foot. It'll show up just behind the big toe as well as on that ball of my foot where the fifth metatarsal is. The feeling will be like I'm about to get a blister, maybe if I pushed myself another 1/2 to 1 mile I'm certain a blister would be there. But as it is, no real blister, pain goes away in the next day, and I'll go out on the second day after. On occasion, the more deadish skin will try to peel away.

Sure, lift my feet more. Got it and I'll keep working on it. But is it really a lifting issue or just the soles adapting to running? Surface I run almost exclusively is a poured concrete sidewalk with varying degrees of roughness. Not as bad as that chip-n-seal stuff that makes up the street, but I feel like its a good starter surface to build up the form, soles, and miles.

Any advice? Am I going to make it to a barefoot runner?

The lifting the foot thing is overrated. Sounds like you may be overstriding a bit. Try taking slightly shorter, faster steps. Alternatively, have any video?

Also, one month is still very very early on. Some people seem to take right to it, some take years to acclimate, some get injured right away, some go in fits and starts. Seems like you are somewhere on that spectrum, but now is probably way too soon to tell whether you should give up, unless you are not into it at all.
One more thing: your form is not necessarily perfect to start with no matter how hard you try. That's may be one reason to keep distance low as you work on developing a new muscle memory for running.
So don't give up is my advice. Keep trying different things and experimenting with tweaking your form.

Jason thanks for the perspective. I feel like I'm lifting vice pushing, which is about all I really think "lift the foot" means. I'll try to concentrate on the stride length and what not next time I go. I know my foot strike rate is slower than 180 unless I try to keep it up, that might be contributing.

scedastic, thanks for the advice. Not ready to give up, ready to move on to more mileage! I guess what I'm experiencing is about normal... I'm thinking there's a combination of better form and tougher feet I need to get through. I don't think its exclusively better form or exclusively tougher feet.

If I get a video I'll re-post and re-ask. Any other motivators?

TJ- the landing is where the shearing action happens that's likely causing the problem. Once the foot is on the ground, the likelihood of those injuries being caused by a twisting motion on pushing off is remote.

If the cadence is below 180 AND those hot spots are developing, the most likely cause would be overstriding with a midfoot strike.

Lifting the foot often causes runners to pick up their foot too early in the gait cycle. As compensation, they often overstride. Since HH mentioned a focus on lifting the foot, it seemed like a likely conclusion.

Umm, I think it is more down to the relaxing while you are running. I find that if you aren't relaxed you land harder and that can be enough to cause blisters especially on warmer surfaces. Its more of an art than a science this barefoot thing. You have to feel it. It's not something that is easily explained. I went through a blister patch a year earlier this year after coming back from an injury. I had been running on hot ground, 50C and it was just a little too much. The lifting comes easier the more relaxed you are.

+100!

It's cool that you're already thinking about form, but I would give the plantar skin another 2-3 months to adapt before I would worry about it. I had a hard spot in my right forefoot for a long time. It finally evened out. Why, I'm not sure, but I assume that my form got better on its own and/or my foot adapted more. As long as you keep at it barefoot barefoot running (as opposed to barefoot shoes running), you should establish a nice feedback circuit between your soles and biomechanics. I don't know why barefooters think it's necessary to lift your feet or bend your knees consciously. That stuff should fall into place naturally, and are mainly reflexive actions anyway. The keys for me are proper foot landing (slightly in front of your center of mass) and posture (slight lean, otherwise erect and aligned but relaxed), everything else seems to fall into place. After your plantar skin has developed a good base, it will continue to develop over time, but the main thing then will be to keep toughening your bones, ligaments, and muscles as you continue the adaptation to barefoot barefoot running. Depending on your genetics and past athletic/running history, this part can take anywhere from no time to two years, judging by the experiences reported here and elsewhere. It took me about nine months, partly because I kept trying to jump to higher mileage, several times, instead of building up more gradually. 1.25 miles after a month sounds good. I jumped to 3 miles after a month and it turned out to be too much. Then after six months I jumped from five to ten miles and got a tiny stress fracture. Just keep plugging away and rest if your feet are more than mildly achy, then pick up where you left off once the aching subsides. Also, stretch out your feet after each run, that helps me a lot.

Having a video section somewhere on the site sounds like an excellent idea, especially if it were to include Jason working with his students or clinic participants.

Cool. In addition to posting individual videos for analysis, it might be nice also to give standard examples of all the bugaboos, like pushing off, overstriding, low cadence, and so on, maybe performed by the someone like Jason or you who has seen it all, with corrected gaits following for comparison.

Yah, I know I sometimes project my own experience onto that of others, and I see a lot of shod runners run past my office window with often very strange form (although others seem to have good 'bare form'), so I know decent form isn't natural for everyone. It's just that it seems to me that if the foot is landing properly and posture is good, then issues like bending the knee and stride length become moot, but that's just personal experience. I'm not disagreeing that it might not work that way for others, just skeptical.

To put it simply, one month is not a long time. You will experience different discomforts and abrasions on the feet, which will be completely normal. Sooner or later all these areas will adapt and you will be fine. But, continue to run barefoot to condition the feet totally!

Everyone's description of what you're supposed to do is so different.

One thing you will hear almost everyone say is "Listen to your body." Pay attention to your body while you run and you should turn out fine. Pay attention to how you feel 24-48 hours after the run as well, some times it takes a while for the body to start talking. I have been BFR a little over a month now and I just had my first abrasion-free run (except for the razor sharp bur that my foot found in the dark). I actually had the EXACT same problem as you.