Barefoot Series: Part III

Running barefoot is the ultimate coach for learning to become a better runner. Just about any surface is suitable, but there are definitely beginner friendly surfaces for people entering the world with a fresh pair of feet. I would advise beginners to stay away from the grass as it just does not have the features to give you the necessary feedback to adjust your movement patterns. It is soft and allows you to make mistakes because almost no matter how you land it will feel comfortable on your feet. It is often the case that the softer the surface, the harder the impact. Whether you are walking around on pillows (cough… Hokas) or on soft grass, your feet want the feedback of a solid surface. You have to let the ground teach you.

One step at a time.

Moving along harder surfaces will allow you to adjust your movement style in order to minimize pain. In turn this will cause adaptations that will lead to smoother and less jarring impact forces on your knees, hips, and back. Contrary to popular belief, concrete is not only less dangerous than grass - it may be the safest way to start going barefoot. This is because concrete is smooth and predictable. You never know what is lying beneath the grass. You could risk a misstep and sprain an ankle, or worse, step in dog shit… With concrete you can see the obstacles ahead of you and avoid anything that may cause injury. The same principles that apply to grass apply when running on a sandy beach. There could be sharp objects underneath the soft surface, and moving along these soft surfaces is quite energy intensive. A short jog around the block of your local neighbourhood can teach you a lot. If it hurts, you may be doing something wrong. If you are getting blisters, you may be doing something wrong. If you are getting stress fractures, you may be doing something wrong… There are numerous ways to that you can learn from the pain you may experience when beginning your natural running journey. I have listed several cues to keep in mind.

• Stand tall.
• Engage the hips.
• Be lighter on your feet.
• Land with slightly bent knees.
• Land closer to the middle of the foot.
• Adopt a shorter stride.
• Increase your running cadence.

If you focus on staying relaxed, increasing your cadence, and landing midfoot instead of landing heavily on the ball or heel of your foot, the rest of your running form should follow. Increasing your cadence simply means to shorten your stride length whilst maintaining the same speed. The magic number appears to be approximately 180 steps per minute. http://running.competitor.com/2014/07/training/make-a-high-stride-rate-work-for-you_54957 This may be a lot to think about, but any new skill will become automatic after you progress past the declarative and associative stages of learning. The key is not to think about how you are moving, but instead to feel how you are moving. You want to feel light, strong, and springy. You want to feel the flow. Blisters are usually a sign of excessive friction. To prevent blisters you can apply the same principles involved in minimizing impact forces. These means you want quick shortened strides - with your feet landing below your center of gravity and not in front of you. If your foot lands in front of you, you will tend to slide forward with each step instead of landing vertically. An important mental cue that I have found to help my running is to stand tall with a slight forward lean (dependent on pace) and imagine falling forward. In order to catch yourself from falling on your face you keep your momentum by lifting your feet using your hips and hamstrings as opposed to pushing off the ground using your glutes. The latter tends to increase contact time with the ground, which tends to increase friction, thus causing blisters.

You will develop callused feet in the beginning.

A certain level of thick skin does come with the territory. In the beginning you will be hypersensitive to any potential stick or stone you may step on. Increased padding on the foot along with a natural desensitization over time will makes things easier. You will experience neuromuscular adaptations over time causing your reaction times to decrease and allowing for effective redistribution of your weight to other parts of your feet quickly. But your main defense will be your technique — think of your feet “kissing” the ground gently with each step. Any new movement pattern requires an adaptation period for your muscles, joints and ligaments to grow stronger. Barefoot running is not something you want to muscle through. The initial discomfort you may experience is your body telling you to slow down. All too often there is the story of the person getting injured because they did too much too soon, myself included. Running without the traditional support of modern footwear will put more stress on your muscles and tendons — especially in your feet and ankles. Not to worry! Your body has evolved to be able to handle those stresses. Be prepared to develop jacked legs and feet. I would like to address the worries in regards to whether or not you lose cardiovascular endurance if you are starting from scratch. It is true that in the beginning you will only be running a couple hundred meters at a time if you want to learn to run barefoot and avoid injury while doing so. So if you have relied mainly on running for cardio, you may indeed lose some fitness. However there are things that you can do to keep progressing and actually help you to become an all around better athlete. Imagine you are learning to improve your push up technique. Your total number of reps may decrease, but so will your risk for injury. In the long run you will increase your strength gains by doing the movement with strict form. Sometimes it is a setback like an injury or the development of a new movement pattern that helps us get back to the basics, allowing us to improve upon our weaknesses and get over potential training plateaus. While your mileage is low you can incorporate more resistance and cross training into your schedule. I would recommend a combination of calisthenics, yoga, and cycling. Depending on your current fitness, diet, and lifestyle — you can expect to be back running 5 kilometer distances barefoot in 6 - 12 months time. Remember, consistency over time will yield results. You can even run barefoot on the side. However, this is not recommended because you will not be providing your body with the necessary stimulation to encourage a change in your running form. Every time you slip on a pair of traditional running shoes and go out on your usual run instead of running sans footwear, you risk slipping into bad running habits like long, heavy strides. This may keep you from losing endurance, but it will also take you a longer time to develop the habits necessary to increase your running economy (efficiency) and resistance to injury. You may still be skeptical that the easiest way to start is by running on concrete. Unfortunately there is not much I can do to convince you. You just have to get out there on the road and feel it to believe it. People have romanticized natural surfaces. At a glance natural surfaces like trails appear to be more comfortable. As an experiment go walk or run on a trail with variable surfaces including rocks and roots. Then continue running on the concrete — it will feel easy, even soft like a pillow! This is not because the ground has become softer or because your feet have been tenderized to a pulp, but because you have taken your approach to trail running back onto the road. Trails tend to have an overwhelming amount of sensory feedback, and with all of this feedback you are adjusting your gait step by step to accommodate your foot over the difficult terrain.

Natural surfaces shown above. Irregular and unpredictable, not exactly forgiving for bare feet.

Unnatural surfaces shown above. Smooth and predictable, perfect for a morning run. Mr. Bear says hi.

The whole point about running barefoot is learning how to move gently across the ground so you don’t pound yours knees and hips into a pulp by the time you are 50. This is about building a sustainable exercise habit that you can carry on into your 80’s. And it isn’t about being barefoot all the time. This is a practice to incorporate into your life to help you become more mindful about your bipedal locomotion. Shoes are tools that are helpful in cases where we want to protect ourselves from cuts and bruises. I will go into minimal shoes and why they are better for your feet than traditional shoes in the next blog. I know this may be a lot to take in, but for now don’t think about it too much. Go out, start slow, and experiment for yourself.