News and articles from Running Training Plan
By May the Inov-8 off-road shoes I had run the 2010 Half Marathon in had well and truly worn out. My birthday was coming up in June and I was very excited as Inov-8 had made the move into truly minimal shoes. So a month later I received a pair of Bare-Grip 200s – an off-road shoe with no midsole, no cushioning and no height differential between heel and toe.
Again, a great pair of
It’s been six months since my last post now but I’m still an aspiring barefoot runner, if not blogger. Perhaps that should be a committed minimalist runner, which, for me, seems more practical in the UK. To get up to speed and with the benefit of hindsight I’m going to reflect on the year between the Bristol Half Marathons of autumn 2010 and 2011 in four short posts.
In 2010 I ran
First run in some Inov-8 Mudclaw 270. I believe these have just been updated as the Mudclaw 272, so you might find some 270s discounted like I did.
Some of us don’t like too much shoe on our feet, and many models in Inov-8’s range can be used pretty effectively on the road, but this isn’t one of them. These shoes are all about grip on terrain where road shoes just will not cope.
I’m finding that the effects of barefoot running often only reveal themselves with time. It’s impact, in both senses of the word, is not as immediate as with conventional running. I’m used to something hurting if I’m doing it wrong and the pain or discomfort stopping when I cease to do it. Barefoot seems a lot more subtle, or at least slow to catch up.
I felt good after the hash
I have to be careful – I have a faddish tendency. My modus operandi is to come upon a new project, throw myself in, become completely obsessed and then, without a second thought, drop it and move on.
It took me a while to realise this and develop some skills in self-monitoring and self-control. Running certainly could have fitted the mould but by the time I started at the end of 2002
