The Brutal Truth of Minimal Running and My Newbie Self.

What you see in those pictures, is an ugly sight. It is the feet of an untrained huarache-wearing minimalist newbie runner. I did 2 whole weeks where  every thing was going very well,I even ran up to 2.5 miles in my Invisible Shoes (or huaraches). Then I suffered this minor setback when I ran in the rain with my Invisible shoes and the strap rubbed between my toes causing a blood blister on each foot. I was trying to grip the pavement while running on a downhill stretch and that caused the blisters on the toes. I used to love those downhill stretches, now I avoid them.

When I came home from this run I was pretty discouraged: I wanted to just know how to do it, I wanted to be an automatic expert since I am a runner. That may be one of my biggest hurdles though, that I have taught myself wrong for years and years. How do I unlearn practiced behaviour that is almost second nature? I guess it is by practicing a substitute behaviour that will become second nature in time.

One thing, more important than the rest that I learned is that I haven't arrived yet. Surprise! Blisters are a sign that something that is going on above the feet is out of line, posture, knees not bent enough, landing to hard, landing out in front of your body, leaning, pushing off- or maybe all of the above. From what I have read the blisters on the toes are from pushing off rather than just lifting and letting the foot fall. The blisters between the toes are a combo of getting the tension right on my huaraches, and that I am landing out in front of my body putting much more pressure on that segment of my foot than should be there, also the sooner I put my foot down the longer it is on the ground- and the goal in minimal running is to keep it super quick, like running on hot coals.

For now though I am here to stay because I love this whole process, as long as the injuries remain surface level I can hack it. But it is a slow refining process, and although that is some of the fun, I want to see some progress as well. It is like the brutal honesty of a best friend, you know they are right- but it hurts like your skin being ripped off, literally. So I will work on the things I have found to be true and go from there, day by day.

I went out two days ago and ran a block and turned around and got my running shoes on. Bad day. Since then I have considered that I maybe would benefit more from just going all out barefoot and seeing if it is just the Invisible Shoes that are more of the problem for me. I am having a really hard time gauging tension on them,especially when the blisters are already there.  The plan for now is to try absolute barefoot running  and supplement with some new New Balance Minimus that are on their way.

EDIT: I will have to do another review on this Huarache running sandal, as I have learned a bit more and run in them often now with no pain. Because the responses to this post, I took off about 30 minutes ago and dared to run on my blistered feet to see if it would work out. I knew I was overstriding, I am short and I think it is something I have done for a long time, so I wanted to see if that was the biggest of the problems.

Drum roll…….

I ran for 25 minutes and there is no wear on my feet at all, they are completely comfy and I am one happy runner. I wore my trusty Invisible Shoes and thought about the things I needed to work on: not pushing off- but lifting, bending my knees more, and most importantly (at least as far as the blisters go) not overstriding- but setting my feet down right under my body.

I have no calf pain, my blood blisters (that were there from my previous missteps) were not affected at all.

Thank you Steven for going the extra mile, it really helped me out! I was so concerned about getting the tension right that I wasn’t paying attention to my form problems.

In the meantime I have finished reading Barefoot Running Step by Step by Ken Bob Saxton and Roy Wallack, and highly recommend it. It is by far the most informative barefoot running book have found. Quirky always, but informative. Maybe I should review it in more detail in a future post. I am a book reviewer after all! :) I've also been searching youtube for good videos on barefoot running techniques- thinking maybe by seeing it it will come more naturally.

Hopefully my next running pictures won't have any blood or blisters in them.

If you still don't get the whole barefoot running thing, or if you are interested in a little more info watch the following video: Barefoot Running NY Times.

Any suggestions?

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