For a few months now I have been experimenting with barefoot running, a trend that seems to be catching some steam in the running community. Over the weekend, I found myself reverting back to my old heel-striking form which has caused me to get injured again. Today, I wanted to introduce you to some of the basic principals of this philosophy and what I have learned so far. Hopefully, you will be intrigued by the idea as well and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
i used to barefoot run when i was at school but that was 25yrs ago but wouldnt mind giving it a go again .
Great advice – thanks Marc.
Really helpful and your both ups and downs nicely explained.
I began running about a year ago and as I’ve alway tried to wear shoes as little as possible – usually wear birks or thongs – a switch to barefooting was inevitably going to be on the cards.
Just got hold of some VVF’s classics – awesome.. how great to actually ‘feel’ the ground beneath my feet.
Am practicing adapting my strike. Noted will take time but it’ll be fun to feel the change take place. I’m in training for the London Marathon to raise money for a kids cancer charity and wish now i’d started training barefoot a year ago but it’s too late now as race is in 7 weeks – still – i’ll aim maybe to run bf next year!
I’m going to check out that chi running site too – sounds interesting.
Oh, just saw your post re getting booted out of the rec centre for running in socks. Cannot believe that happened – what was the outcome?
Thanks again – cool site. Have signed up to follow you in twitter too.
Max
Glad you found the site! Thanks for following along!
The gym thing ended up that socks were a no-no but Vibram FiveFingers were okay… so I just wear those. Something about sweat getting through the sock on the machines. Protocol…
Spring is coming, so don’t think I’ll be in the gym quite as much anymore regardless.