Last year around the beginning of fall, I went on a run and came home with a VERY sore spot deep under the pad of one foot. Felt like a bone bruise or something. I had to switch to minimalist shoes--even needing a little extra padding for awhile. It took about 8 weeks for it to feel all better, and by then it was winter, and I don't run barefoot in the cold anyway, so I stuck with my Vibrams.
I figured I'd stepped on a rock or something, but the odd thing was, I didn't remember doing that. And then I saw someone post on here saying if you have Morton's Toe, you should stay away from sidewalk cracks. A light went on in my brain--during that fateful run, I was out of town, and I ran in a street paved with bricks for awhile. TONS of cracks!! I think I stepped wrong and just did something weird to my foot that took forever to get well.
Well, it's pretty warm here again, so I've been reintroducing barefoot running. The soles of my feet are doing pretty well, but I think I pushed my distance a little too far on Tuesday. I did about 2 miles of my run barefoot--after very little barefoot running for months. Again, I felt that deep soreness afterward, this time under the pads of both feet. Not just under the 2nd metatarsal head (where I think it was before) but also a little further out on one foot. The pain wasn't bad this time, but annoying, even walking barefoot in my house. After a few days it was fine, but I did 1 to 1.5 miles bare again today, in the middle of my long run, and again it's hurting--both feet, but more on the foot that was hurt last year.
Clearly I need to really EASE back into being fully bare. But is there anything else I can do? I'm trying to be careful about sidewalk cracks, but I think some of it is just the impact on hard surfaces--and I am a road runner. There aren't even any barefoot-friendly dirt trails close enough to me for me to regularly run on them. I think I'm a fairly gentle runner when I'm bare but of course I have room for improvement.
I'm wondering if I should ice it. Also thinking about having something on the pad of my foot (like those Foot Undeez but maybe something homemade.) Norm Deplume mentioned this in the "sewers" thread (Gear/shoes forum) because of her foot pad pain, and it does seem like a nice alternative to a fully-covered foot.
Appreciate any thoughts/advice! I'm a runner who will probably never be 100% bare. I enjoy wearing my VFFs. But I like to be able to do some barefoot running, and I don't want this to limit me if I want to build up my BF mileage quite a bit.
I figured I'd stepped on a rock or something, but the odd thing was, I didn't remember doing that. And then I saw someone post on here saying if you have Morton's Toe, you should stay away from sidewalk cracks. A light went on in my brain--during that fateful run, I was out of town, and I ran in a street paved with bricks for awhile. TONS of cracks!! I think I stepped wrong and just did something weird to my foot that took forever to get well.
Well, it's pretty warm here again, so I've been reintroducing barefoot running. The soles of my feet are doing pretty well, but I think I pushed my distance a little too far on Tuesday. I did about 2 miles of my run barefoot--after very little barefoot running for months. Again, I felt that deep soreness afterward, this time under the pads of both feet. Not just under the 2nd metatarsal head (where I think it was before) but also a little further out on one foot. The pain wasn't bad this time, but annoying, even walking barefoot in my house. After a few days it was fine, but I did 1 to 1.5 miles bare again today, in the middle of my long run, and again it's hurting--both feet, but more on the foot that was hurt last year.
Clearly I need to really EASE back into being fully bare. But is there anything else I can do? I'm trying to be careful about sidewalk cracks, but I think some of it is just the impact on hard surfaces--and I am a road runner. There aren't even any barefoot-friendly dirt trails close enough to me for me to regularly run on them. I think I'm a fairly gentle runner when I'm bare but of course I have room for improvement.
I'm wondering if I should ice it. Also thinking about having something on the pad of my foot (like those Foot Undeez but maybe something homemade.) Norm Deplume mentioned this in the "sewers" thread (Gear/shoes forum) because of her foot pad pain, and it does seem like a nice alternative to a fully-covered foot.
Appreciate any thoughts/advice! I'm a runner who will probably never be 100% bare. I enjoy wearing my VFFs. But I like to be able to do some barefoot running, and I don't want this to limit me if I want to build up my BF mileage quite a bit.