My First Foray Into Barefoot Running

I got a special package from Zappos this week: my first minimalist, or “barefoot,” running shoes.

Though I’d sworn off long-distance running after finally setting a personal record in the Hartford Half Marathon last fall (and then running a Tough Mudder in November), my wife recently started complaining to me about my current lack of exercise and, let’s face it, my body doesn’t look like it used to.  Part of this may be age.  But part of it may be my increasingly sedentary lifestyle in my supposedly post-half-marathon era.

Vibram Five Fingers, the poster-boy for minimalist running

So I’m back up and running, considering doing the Hartford Half again this fall, and maybe tacking on a marathon a month or so later.

And a key part of my plans are my new Saucony Hattoris, one of the more minimalist of minimal running shoes.  Weighing only 4 ounces, there’s zero drop from heel to toe (traditional running shoes have a 12 millimeter drop), and so force you to run as you would run barefoot: by striking the ground not with your heel but with the mid- or forefoot.  This relieves the pressure on your knees, tendons and lower back that traditional running can often produce.

But there are drawbacks.  And the biggest one is the long lead time required to get up and running barefoot for any meaningful distances.  Apparently, our foot and leg muscles aren’t accustomed to this historically “proper” running style, and they often tighten up.  Some barefoot running gurus counsel starting off with only a quarter mile to a mile of barefoot running every other day, and increasing distances only 10% per week, in order to ease your muscles into this transition.

This slow transition period didn’t sound great to me: If I’m going to run a marathon in mid-October or Mid-N0vember in my target time, I need to be running over 30 miles per week, right now.  10% weekly increases from a quarter mile or even a mile, will not get me there in time.

So I’ve been pushing it harder.  And sure enough, my calves have tightened up.  After day 1, when I ran 1.5 miles with my barefoots, then 3.5 with my conventionals, then another 1 in my barefoots, my right calf was quite sore.  After day two, when I ran 1.75 miles in my flats, then the remainder of a 5 mile run in my gels, both calves were sore.

I suppose this is natural.  Probably I’ll start alternating days with flats and no flats, and keeping my flat distances short for now on the days when I do use them.  The current soreness I’m feeling may well be a sign to back off for now.  At the very least, I want to be sure I can keep running in my traditional shoes while I transition to barefoot running, so I can put up the mileage I will need for a good marathon.

But I’m pretty insistent that I run the marathon (or half marathon, if that’s all I muster) in my flats.  I don’t like the constant pounding my knees and lower back take while running in traditional sneakers.  It’s one of the reasons I swore off long-distance running after my half marathon last year.  And ideally I can not only run the marathon/half marathon in my flats, but complete most of my training runs exclusively in them.

So I’ve been doing some research.  Some gurus seem to think that if you run barefoot/minimalist with proper form, calf stiffness shouldn’t be a problem.  One key to proper form seems to be bending one’s knees as much as possible.

But this feels very awkward, and many gurus say nothing about it.  Besides, soreness seems natural to me.  When I start lifting weights after a long absence, I get sore.  And if I really overdo it, I really get sore.  There may be nothing wrong with some calf soreness if I’m starting a new form of running.

And the good news, meantime, is that so far the soreness isn’t impeding my traditional running at all, and doesn’t even prevent me from putting in some distance each day in my flats.  I’ll let you know how my training progresses, and hopefully I’ll have some conclusive answers for you soon on how to transition in successfully.  Meantime, if you know more than I do, I’d love to hear from you.