NickW
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Somebody needs to make sure Jen see's these. She might like these for her winter running instead of the super expensive seal skin socks.
Stupid Newbie Question #3
- Thread starter ThomDavid
- Start date
Why do I feel like people are making fun of me? What's next, Sansabelt slacks?
Just kidding. If I didn't mind the abuse and odd stares from others, I wouldn't have taken up barefoot running in the first place.
No abuse. These threads inevitably veer off towards inanity and tangents and projections of our own running habits. Like Willie says, don't take any of it too seriously. And don't ever feel like any question is dumb. Just remember that all answers will be loosely sortable into two sets: the just run approach, and the rules approach. Both sets of responses will have good info. Only you can decide which approach is best for you, for any particular area of concern. Great to have you on board!
P.S., Nick, I ordered some of B&A's socks for my dad. I'll let you (and Jen) know how he likes them.
P.S., Nick, I ordered some of B&A's socks for my dad. I'll let you (and Jen) know how he likes them.
I chalk my "rules-based" approach to my newbie-ness. I like to cook, and I approach cooking in much the same way: I do the recipe exactly the way it's written the first time I make it. Then, if it has potential but is just missing something, I'll veer off into "just cook" category and go from there. The way I figure it, someone has gone to all the trouble to lay the groundwork for me, so I might as well follow their instructions the first time around. If it's awful, no amount of tinkering will matter. If it's worth the trouble, then it's worth my time to go off the well-worn path and make it work for me.
So, I'll listen to both approaches during these early days: the rules-based folks, because clearly there's something worth knowing there, and the "just-run" folks because that appeals to the "where I want to be" side. Eventually, I hope to just toss it all, throw on a pair of shorts, and head out the door for a nice, long barefoot run in the cool morning air, and not give a hang about the technical stuff. But that isn't me today (I know what I don't know, as the condition of my soles so accurately attests). It's a blessing and a curse to be as coach-able as I tend to be, because my lack of perspective tends to send me down some pretty ineffective roads from time to time. Still, I learn from it all (if nothing more than perhaps to more quickly spot what isn't going to work before I waste too much time on it).
Just want to again say thanks to everyone on this board who's taken the time to respond to my questions with such patience and good humor. One thing I'm sure of: being an aspiring barefoot runner puts one in a distinct minority in the already small group of "Americans who get up off their asses and move on a regular basis." So, thanks for letting me know that I'm not the only freak out here. You folks rock!
What a can of worms. I like to belong to both approaches. I love everything, the numbers, the guidelines, the just run, everything. I just experiment and find out new things on every run. Part of the fun.
Ok, so your question? I don't know what slow is. Everyone is different, but in my case, slow made a huge difference. 1. less knee pain 2. great gains in distance 3. able to handle rougher terrain 4. shorter recovery 5. less hydration and fueling concerns. Need I go on? So, for me slow is better at the moment. Probably will change soon. My posts are very inconsistent, still learning and my opinion changes constantly.
In your case. I think you are going too fast right now. Let your blisters heel, let your feet and muscles develop to the new changes. Add a few minutes to your pace and see what happens.
Ok, so your question? I don't know what slow is. Everyone is different, but in my case, slow made a huge difference. 1. less knee pain 2. great gains in distance 3. able to handle rougher terrain 4. shorter recovery 5. less hydration and fueling concerns. Need I go on? So, for me slow is better at the moment. Probably will change soon. My posts are very inconsistent, still learning and my opinion changes constantly.
In your case. I think you are going too fast right now. Let your blisters heel, let your feet and muscles develop to the new changes. Add a few minutes to your pace and see what happens.
I'm gonna post an update, though I doubt it'll be read. Maybe more for my own reference for down the road.
Having heard some pretty wise counsel in this thread, and wanting to test out a few things of my own, I went out for my every-other-day run at lunchtime today. Though I'm not entirely convinced yet, the Maffetone notion of a slower heart-rate effort intrigues me, and since lots of you have told me to take it easy and slow down, I thought this method would be a good guide to helping me keep it slow. So, after a decent warm-up with some form drills and bf walking, I headed out on some mixed pavement, focusing on keeping my effort slow and my HR to within a few beats either way of my Maffetone number.
Well, the first thing I noticed was that, although my cadence was a little less than 180, I was definitely taking shorter strides, and I felt as if I was landing just a wee bit lighter on the forefoot, transitioning easily to the mid, and then just barely touching my heels before the foot lifted. My sense was that my torso and hips were just a bit forward of my footfall, and my shoulders felt relaxed and down, while I was very conscious to keep my head lifted. The course I ran had a slight downhill grade at the beginning, then a very short uphill near the end of the first mile, so I repeated the loop a second time. My goal wasn't to run 2 miles, but rather to run for about 25 minutes, then cooldown for another 15 by walking easy.
I ran S-L-O-W, first mile split was 12:52 and the second was 12:29. But when I finished, I felt pretty damn good, and my feet felt good too. No blisters, just a bit of heat under the ball of my left foot (so, some imbalance is at work that I need to work on).
I'm saying all this because I want you all to know that your input is truly helpful and appreciated. This was without a doubt the best run so far in my early bf days. The biofeedback of the HR monitor and trying to keep my HR low really helped in keeping my pace from getting away from me, which in turn kept my feet under me, my strides shorter, and my form better. So, I'm thinking that this is a good way to go for me at this stage. Slow definitely makes a difference here in the early days.
To all of you who took the time to comment -- thanks! I'm feeling just a wee bit "less stupid" these days.
Having heard some pretty wise counsel in this thread, and wanting to test out a few things of my own, I went out for my every-other-day run at lunchtime today. Though I'm not entirely convinced yet, the Maffetone notion of a slower heart-rate effort intrigues me, and since lots of you have told me to take it easy and slow down, I thought this method would be a good guide to helping me keep it slow. So, after a decent warm-up with some form drills and bf walking, I headed out on some mixed pavement, focusing on keeping my effort slow and my HR to within a few beats either way of my Maffetone number.
Well, the first thing I noticed was that, although my cadence was a little less than 180, I was definitely taking shorter strides, and I felt as if I was landing just a wee bit lighter on the forefoot, transitioning easily to the mid, and then just barely touching my heels before the foot lifted. My sense was that my torso and hips were just a bit forward of my footfall, and my shoulders felt relaxed and down, while I was very conscious to keep my head lifted. The course I ran had a slight downhill grade at the beginning, then a very short uphill near the end of the first mile, so I repeated the loop a second time. My goal wasn't to run 2 miles, but rather to run for about 25 minutes, then cooldown for another 15 by walking easy.
I ran S-L-O-W, first mile split was 12:52 and the second was 12:29. But when I finished, I felt pretty damn good, and my feet felt good too. No blisters, just a bit of heat under the ball of my left foot (so, some imbalance is at work that I need to work on).
I'm saying all this because I want you all to know that your input is truly helpful and appreciated. This was without a doubt the best run so far in my early bf days. The biofeedback of the HR monitor and trying to keep my HR low really helped in keeping my pace from getting away from me, which in turn kept my feet under me, my strides shorter, and my form better. So, I'm thinking that this is a good way to go for me at this stage. Slow definitely makes a difference here in the early days.
To all of you who took the time to comment -- thanks! I'm feeling just a wee bit "less stupid" these days.
TD: I would stop comparing your present barefoot running to your history of shod running, it will drive you nuts. You are starting from scratch, that's the way I looked at it when I first started. You are doing great!
You might try running fast at the end of your runs, maybe just the last 100 yards or so, because (1) it's very hard to run with bad form when you run fast, so it will help you get a feel for it, and (2) it's good for your development to practice different ranges of motion. This has worked for me and I say this without at all in any way meaning to imply that it will work for everyone or that people who do something different are misguided 
speed is fun. remember Bob. baby steps. keep telling yourself "baby steps".
Yeah, mine always do. I did one today. I felt like I was moving so slow. The good thing is that I was still around an 8:45 pace, so it wasn't too slow. HAHA. But I did feel like I could do the workout again and within a few minutes of stopping my HR was back down to 74 BPM so it wasn't too intense (3.43 mile run). After this marathon I will try to incorporate some longer MAF runs to work on my distance endurance and improve my time before the next marathon. Right now I just have to build up to the distance first...haha.
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