First Barefoot Run (since I stopped being barefoot)

Went out Sunday morning for my first barefoot run. My wife recommneded a section of a Blue Mountains trail that is part of the first leg of the North Face 100. This is a 100KM foot race that led me to barefoot running. It was when trainng for this event that I realised that something had gone horribly wrong witht the way I was running. I could get out to about 25KM, then I would get an ache develop in my knees that would rapidly grow to unbearable, and I would be facing a 5-6Km walk home from where ever I was. I have run this section quite a few times, so the familiatity was good.
The trail ran along the top of the cliffline and then drops down into the valley. The longest flat bit of this section of the trail maybe fifteen meters long if your lucky. It is all made up of exposed and eroded sandstone bed rock, so you end up placing your foot at a series of changing angles with each step. This meant you had to stay focussed watch the track and place your foot carefully. No just plonking one foot mindlessly in front of another as you would on the road.
What a rush, I felt as if I was flowing over the rocks, more aware of what was going on around me. As my foot fall was almost silent I could hear the sounds of the forrest, and siddle up to and past hikers up for a day in the woods like the wind.
The "this guy must be crazy" looks were very satisfying.
After about forty minutes at the end of the run I felt aglow. There were all the good feelings of a run and none of the bad, my knees felt energised with no sign pain, I wanted to just keep going. Prudence won out and I knew there would be more to come. On monday, back at work I would be taking it to the road.

Why Bare Foot Running

Like many, I imagine, I have been drawn to bare foot running after reading "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. Here was a middle age guy who it seems was less suited to being a runner (in the traditional sense of how we imagined runners to be) than I was, on the verge of giving it up, and now he's running better, further, and stronger than ever.

Like a lot of guys I was a talented age group runner, it was the late Seventies, early Eighties. I set a bunch of High School records at bunch of distances from 800m to 10K, won a few medals at State competitions, and competed at some Australian age group championships. So it seemed I had the build and talent to carry me through a life of recreational running.

Additionally it was the leading edge of the running shoe boom, and like everyone else I bought into it. As my running was important to me I bought top of the line running shoes from all the big names, Nike, Asics, Brooks. As I continued to run I was plagued with aches and dull pains, always in the knees. Fortunately I never had serious traumatic injuries, I just felt I was wearing down, at the joints, one step at a time. After a big run I had to take a few days off to recover. Chris McDougall's experience suggested there was hope yet, and the premise was just so damn strong.

Two years ago I made the decision to adopt the Paleo eating principal which has a similar premise, we evolved doing this so how can it be wrong.

So decision made, time to start training. But wait, there was just the small matter of an existing running injury to get over first. BBtR (Before Born to Run)I had worked out I must be doing something wrong biomechanically. Trawling the Internet I stumbled across POSE, it seemed to make sense, and worked for some top athletes, including an Aussie 800m Olympic medalist. In an attempt to achieve a fore/mid foot strike in over-constructed pronation controlling shoes I believed I hyper extended and injured my right calf.

In hindsight this may have been a good thing. I was stuck walking for the first two weeks. Everyday I would try to walk for an hour over varied terrain in bare feet. For the first week my feet would tingle for the rest of the day as my feet adjusted to the stimulation. It felt great.

This morning I went for my first barefoot run... ...Thats the next post.