Week 6

• Total weekly miles

 1 mile.

• Number of running sessions

3.

• Total weekly barefoot miles

1 mile.

• Number of barefoot running sessions

3.

• Running terrain

Flat circuit outside my house on pavement.

• Ground surface of barefoot runs

A mix of smooth and rough pavement and road.

• Runs in minimalist shoes, e.g. Five Fingers.

None.

• Weather for barefoot runs (rain on road?)

One dry, two wet.  Some puddles on wet runs.

• Condition of skin on feet — hotspots, blisters

Good.  All the dead skin I reported before seems to have gone, probably as a result of running with no shoes.  My skin is fine, the biggest change I’ve noticed with my feet over the last few weeks is that they seem to have become a lot more flexible.  If I massage my feet now (either by hand or using a massage ball) I can feel the joints in my feet flexing and moving in response to the pressure.  It feels good, and I think it helps me to run (and walk) barefoot or minimally shod more comfortably because it means my feet can mould themselves around stones or bumps or irregularities in the ground surface as I move, thus reducing localised pressure and pain.  Also, my feet haven’t hurt during my wet runs this week.  Seems my tactic of deliberately shortening my stride has paid off.

• Interesting/amusing comments received during the week: e.g. ‘You’ve got no shoes on!’

No comments, but I think I’ve surprised a couple of people when I overtake them or run past them when I’m running.  They obviously can’t hear me running along behind them.  Quite amusing (for me!), and I guess it shows my form is OK, I can run without too much noise so therefore the impact of my footfalls must be quite low.

• Treading on nasty things: e.g. glass, thorns, poo — how you dealt with any

Living in the UK, autumn seems to have arrived early this year.  As a result there are a lot of fallen berries and fruit around on the pavement, lots of chestnuts and things like that.  So there are a lot of fruit stones and nuts underfoot in a couple of sections of my route.  I must have stood on some (I can see stains from fruit and berries on my feet and between my toes when I get back from running), but I haven’t actually felt them when I’ve been running.  Maybe my skin is getting tougher, maybe the increased felxibility in my feet has enabled me to run over them without noticing, I don’t know.  So I’ve pretty much dealt with those things by not noticing and then washing my feet when I get home!

• Changes in your running style that you’ve noticed.

Again, I deliberately shortened my stride and kept my turnover slightly higher than normal.  Seemed to help with both foot pain when running in the rain and with smoothness of gait (i.e. no bouncing around and minimal impact on footfall).

• Injuries incurred, or reduction of existing symptoms.

None.  My toe is recovering nicely from the injury, although the nice pink new skin is a bit soft.  Luckily it’s right on the end of my toe, so doesn’t make contact with the ground at all.  I guess that will help me to remember not to push off from my toes! 

• Useful tips and nuggets of info you’ve picked up along the way.

None this week.  I’ve brought my mileage back down to 0.3 of a mile per run for this last week and have had no problems.  No foot pain, no tiredness.  So I’m going to increase the distance again this week and see how I feel.