Xero Shoes lightweight sport sandal - hiking running backpacking

Friday, July 1, 2011

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...

Two days ago I posted that I had gone for a 2.5-mile barefoot walk and everything went well (except the little hot asphalt incident...). So yesterday I decided that it wouldn't hurt to just take a little jog down the street and back. If I could handle a 2.5-mile walk surely I could handle a 300-meter jog, right? . . .Wrong! I must have had the WORST barefoot running form ever witnessed. In just 300-meters I managed to turn the hot spots on the balls of my feet into blisters and I also managed to bruise my left heel from "setting" it down to hard... I was not heel striking in the traditional sense of running but in an attempt at being completely loose and not forcing my feet I let them be too limp and found a new way to heel strike... Fortunately my heel is already starting to feel much better and the blisters have gone down and aren't noticeable, it's mainly my pride that got hurt in this one.
In hindsight I think I must have been reaching forward with my feet instead of setting them down directly under me. When I run in place and set my feet down directly under me it seems almost impossible to hit my heel that hard. I guess the pain that I experienced from poor form is a good example of the kind of feedback that even minimalist shoes can mask. That being said, I'm grateful to be beginning my running career barefoot learning proper form rather than setting myself up for injury down the road... (Yes, that was a pun.)

1 comment:

  1. I've had the same experience: a really great day, then a crushing failure the next. I think it's helping me to not be an experienced/form ingrained runner as well. Keep it up!

    Tim
    http://restartrinserepeat.blogspot.com

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