Week 2

Distance: 38

Sessions: 4

BF Sessions: 1

BF Miles: 5

Terrain: Road

BF Surface: Pavement out of town, clean road

Runs in VFF: 4

BF Weather: Clear, dry

Feet Condition: Some blisters, from VFF. No pain though.

Comments: When I did a couple barefoot miles last week I noticed two things right away. First, I had a huge smile on my face. It was actually a lot of fun. There was no pain from running barefoot.The second was how great the road actually felt. The nice warm temperature felt good. It was interesting going from the grey pavement to the white or yellow lines and feeling the temperature differences. Or when you run over a shadow and it gets a little colder, but you look forward to getting past the shelter belt and into the sun again. Feels great, and I can’t wait to do it again.

Just before I get back into town the roads get pretty dirty again so I put the Vibrams back on. Putting the Vibrams on after running barefoot is like…taking a drag suit off in the pool or putting a set of race wheels on the bike. I am not at the point yet that I can run at the same pace BF as shod. So when I put the VFF back on I feel more swift then I already did in them, before running BF.

The ability of Vibrams to block sensory information is not something I like when on a training run out of town. However during a race it is actually beneficial. Running faster then I should really physically and naturally be able to, due to the sensory inhibition between my feet and the ground, is acceptable for a race. However over and over again I see older or more experienced runners say the main cause of probably 75% of running injuries is too much running too soon. This is another benefit of running barefoot. Doing so really prevents you from doing too much too soon. You cannot up the mileage until you are ready.

Nasting Things:

Injuries:  None