Harvard Study

This is what happens when you run in shoes and heal strike! (If you were wondering why your knees hurt... watch this!)

By running barefoot on a hard surface, you can change your form instantly to this.

http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html

Huarache

This is our new project to improve barefoot running. We went out and got some old used tires from midas, and bought some string to make ourselves some Huaraches! These are the sandles that the indigenous tarahumara tribe wear when they run hundreds of miles through the copper canyons in mexico. It is made traditionally with deer skin as the sole and some sort of string to hold your foot on. We tried to cut up some tire rubber for the sole, but the tire was lined with steel making it almost impossible to cut through. I made a demo pair out of the soles of my old flip flops. I ripped off the tread of my flip flops and then tied some string on! It has already ripped once, but it still helps while running through dirt and rocks!

Me or Pre

Barefoot in Snow

Snow has struck Reno again! For some reason, I love to run in snow. I think that it makes me feel hard core, which is a great feeling. On Sunday, the roads were much too icy to even drive on, but I decided that I wanted to go out for a quick run. I ran along the very small, snow covered shoulder on a road that goes in a loop around the city (McCarran). Something about the snow, whether it be the numbing of my limbs or the beauty of it, makes me want to never stop running. I ended up running 5 (5.05) miles out and 5 miles back, and I did it in around 73 minutes or so. I didnt really want to run more than ten miles, so I checked my watch around 35 minutes in and it was at 4.8. Good timing! I really wanted to pick up the pace on the way home, but it was mostly up hill and I hadnt planned for this run. I am pretty sure that I ate a bowl of cereal and had half a glass of water. I was starting to feel weak near the end, but I kept pushing. There is no greater feeling in the world than doing something you didnt believe you could do. It is quite an accomplishment.

The next day, my roommate Joe invited me to do a loop around the Marina barefoot (2 miles). I knew that I probably shouldn't because of my intense run the day before, but I have a really hard time turning down a good barefoot run. He wanted to do a lap in shoes first which was probably a good idea, but I didn't bring shoes with me. While he was doing his first lap, I decided that I would get warmed up and walk around for 20 minutes barefoot. I was about 10 minutes into the walk when I could no longer feel my feet. There was ice everywhere and I even had to trot through some snow! The temperature outside was probably around 30 degrees and I was freezing! I ended up running back to Joe's car and sitting on his trunk with my feet in my sweats, trying to warm them up again before the run.

Joe got back pretty fast after that and yanked off his shoes so we can start our barefoot run. As soon as we got moving, my feet started to feel a little bit better, but that was because we were on smooth concrete. We had to go through a couple patches of rough pavement with pebbles and ice, and my feet were just cold enough to be tender but not cold enough to be numb. Joe was a champ about it while I was complaining about the pain. I finally took a mental breather and toughened up, and after that I felt great! I wasn't cold anymore and felt very at peace. Surprisingly, barefoot running in the snow was quite enlightening and when I got in the car afterwards, I didn't even feel cold.

Finally

It has been almost a month since my last post, but that is largely due to the poor running conditions in reno. I mean, I have still been running, but not barefoot at all. A lot has happened in this past month, but very few advances in my running.

My roommate, Joe, is out doing a 2 mile barefoot run on pavement right now, and I would be there if I didn't have so much homework to do (which is what I should be doing right now)!

The weather outside today is beautiful! Not a cloud in the sky and temperatures of up to 70 degrees. I ran to school and played a couple hours of tennis, and I broke a sweat because it is so warm! Apparently there is snow in the forecast for later this week, but I don't believe it.

Since school has started, I have been put in a pickle between my pursuit of music and my pursuit of barefoot running. I love them both very much, but with 1 - 2 hours of practicing on my various instruments (tuba, viola, piano) every day along with music theory packets and music history tests, I have chosen music. It wasn't a very hard decision to make, seeing as music is my life, and running is a hobby, but I am sad that i can barely get 15 miles in per week.

I am very glad that I have inspired Joe to start running barefoot even though his doctor said that he shouldn't even be walking around barefoot due to the condition of his feet. I personally think that his doctor, despite how cool he sounds, is full of crap. Barefoot running is going to hurt a lot for him, I am sure, but it will be more beneficial in the long run that cushioning his feet.

I did get a chance to run barefoot a couple days ago, and I chose to alternate between a track and some soft turf. The biggest challenge in barefoot running for me is stopping. Once I get started without my shoes on, I feel so good and lose track of distance. Since I am not strong enough yet, I need to take it easy. I learned this after doing over 2 miles around the track. My calves were in serious pain, but in my eyes, it was worth it. I cant wait to get back out there and run barefoot. Tomorrow's weather looks promising for this, but now I must get back to my homework.

Josh explains Barefoot Running

Chi or Chia?

I just got back from an amazing run on the snowy streets of Reno. I was only planning on doing 4 miles, and I wasn't planning on doing it easily. The snow was coming down pretty hard and I had 6 hours of class today, so I wasn't feeling too energized and pumped for this run. The first two miles were very rough. They were straight up hill, climbing almost 500 feet. It was also very cold and I hadn't eaten more than a donut and a can of chili today so I was not feeling strong and knew that I should probably not be running. As soon as I finished the first two miles uphill, I got to turn around and come down the hill, and that felt amazing! My legs started to loosen up while my stride tightened up and I stopped fighting my own body and began running like I should. I took a deep breath and just kept going as fast as I could, turning this run into more of a meditation session. I kept breathing and running, and there was not a fiber in my body that wanted to stop. I was pulling off an average pace of 7:20 minutes per mile (which is fast for me), and I felt great. I completely stopped checking my watch for the distance of my run so far, and I just let myself run and my enjoyment grew with every step i took, with every pedestrian I passed.

I ended up running 4 more miles on top of that, which was the easiest 8 miles I have ever run! I do not know what to think... could it be

that my Chi is getting stronger? Could it be the Chia seeds that I have been eating.

I am hoping that it is a combination of the two. I felt completely at peace when I was running, and I also felt like I had a lot of energy to waste, and no matter how much energy I wasted, it wouldn't run out!

I am really happy at how well this Chi running is working out for me. I might not follow the physical technique completely, but I try my hardest to follow the mental technique.

My new UNR Wind Breaker!

Why does my knee hurt??

I went for a run with my sister on Thursday night, my last night in las vegas. We probably only did less than a mile barefoot and it felt great! I probably shouldn't have done it barefoot, but my shoes were already packed and I really love running barefoot. I also did about a mile in tonopah yesterday, but I did that run in shoes. That felt pretty good too, but I wasn't following ChiRunning form, I was just running in my normal sloppy form. There were lots of hills, loose dirt, and rocks so I was not sure how to include a lean and a mid foot strike on that type of terrain without killing myself.

Today (saturday), I was running some errands up in reno where the weather is about 35 degrees and cloudy, but I love it. I walked up a flight of stairs and the outside of my left knee (IT band) was hurting! I dont understand! My knee was feeling great when I went on both of those runs and I have been stretching it and using the foam roller every day sometimes twice a day. Could it be because of the cold?

I really don't know why it is happening. The only explanations that I can come up with are: Barefoot running too much, my IT band is getting weaker, and the cold weather.

I am going to do a short trail run today in shoes, and hopefully that wont make anything worse!

The Chi in Progress

What is Chi?

I am still in the process of discovering the answer to this question, but it becomes clearer to me every time I run or workout or do anything for that matter (while focusing on my inner self). Chi is an inner feeling of peace, kind of like the soul (what is a soul??). Having a very strong Chi is something that can be achieved through a lot of practice and mental strength, but the Chi can always be improved so it is a never ending process. The process for strengthening your Chi is also the process for strengthening your Chi. The Goal is the process!

Some concepts that I am learning about from

the book, "ChiRunning" are all focusing on simplifying and relaxing the running style. Some of the ideas presented in this book seem a little Hocus Pocus, but they are all applicable to my current running style in a good way. This book talks about how the western running world uses the motto "No Pain, No Gain!" excessively. I have really grown to love this saying because of the way a really tough run makes me feel stronger, like nothing can stop me, or that I am more prepared for anything... like a MAN. With the pain of this type running, there may be muscle gain, but there is also a much greater risk for injury. I really enjoy the feeling of pain after a workout because it shows me that I really got in a good run, but with ChiRunning there is a different feeling of satisfaction after running. A satisfaction of my legs feeling better than when I took off from my run. I feel more at peace with myself and with the universe, like I can do anything not because I am strong enough physically, but because I am strong enough mentally. I think that my goal is to become a sort of hybrid between the western style of running (no pain no gain) and ChiRunning.

I went on a barefoot run tonight for a little less than a mile. I tried to let my muscles relax and let gravity do all of the work. It takes a lot of focus to keep all of your muscles relaxed when I am used to being so tense when I run, but I think that I made some progress and it felt great afterwards. The feeling of being refreshed after a run, rather than dead tired is a nice change, but I was becoming quite good friends with the painful feelings.

The Day of Rest

Today I was scheduled to run the red rock loop (in shoes), but I did not feel that my legs would appreciate such a run. It was really hard for me to not go run today, but I am going to try to follow a schedule by the barefoot running university to help me ease into it better. I have already ran too much barefoot and I need to let my legs recover. With all of the padding in modern running shoes, the Achilles tendon is shortened. When running on pavement without any padding propping up your heal, the Achilles tendon must stretch out. If I don't give it time to heal, it will cause injury to my tendon and calve region.
I ran in place (like the training program suggests) today for about 45 seconds. I could actually feel the pain in my shin and tendon area! This helped me to realize that I need to take it slow and ease into barefoot running.
I am going to slow it back down and start out with a maximum of 1 mile per week for the first week, and increase by half a mile until i reach 5. By that point I should be in shape enough to do more workouts barefoot and my shoe running should also drastically improve.

I went to the athlete's foot today to return a pair of running shoes that I received for Christmas. The store has a policy that only allows exchanges on shoes that have already been worn. This was a big downer for me because I was planning on taking the money from the return to buy a pair of Vibram 5 Fingers so that I could continue to run barefoot in the cold up in Reno.
It is probably a good thing that I was not able to get these barefoot shoes because it will force me to run less in my bare feet.

I did manage to exchange my running shoes for the newer model though, and they are SWEET!

Asics GT-2150

The First Week

I have done a total of 3 runs in bare feet. All three of them have been in my subdivision on black top pavement. The first run that I did was immediately after finishing the very long chapter 28 of "Born to Run," where it talks about Nike and the way that they are to blame for the growing number of running injuries. Before Nike, all running shoes were basically like socks to protect your feet from debris and what not. They provided a little bit of support, but not enough to blind your feet completely from the world around it. As soon as I read about that, I had to go and try it for myself. I ran once around my block (which is about 600 meters or so) and I felt AMAZING! Really being able to feel what was happening under my feet was an incredible change. I was used to the feeling of running with shoes on and them forgiving my mistakes (that I wasn't even aware I was making). Running that lap around my block really showed me what was wrong with my stride and forced me to fix it instantly. It also helped me to realize how weak my feet really were, because within a couple of hours after my run, my legs were starting to get sore. They were getting sore not only in the feet and calve muscled, but in muscles I didn't know that I had! Obviously this would be different from normal running, but I want different! A little change in pace from what I had been doing for almost 10 years in shoes.

The next day, I introduced this brilliant concept to my sister, and together we ran twice around the block. Well, SHE ran twice around the block and I only ran once, but I did a 5 mile run earlier that same day in shoes.

She loved it too! It has been so hard to pace ourselves since this enlightening experience so we went out again tonight and did almost a mile and a half in our subdivision. It felt great as usual. The longer I go, it seems I get more and more peaceful. I am feeling some pain though in the calf region so I am going to take a day off or so.

I am going to try to trade in a pair of running shoes that I got for Christmas for a pair of Vibram five fingers so that I can continue to run barefoot in the snowy Reno.

The Inspiration

This will be my first blog post, and I hope that there will be posts in the future.

I decided that this might be a good idea to keep a log of my progress as a barefoot runner (and a runner in general). I have started barefoot running only just this week after completing Christopher McDougall's "Born to Run". This book might not have been entirely factual, but a lot of the ideas were still very inspiring. It talks a lot about 'studies' that were completed saying that the more expensive your shoe, the more likely you are to get injured in it. This makes sense i suppose, but might be a over exaggerated a little bit. Running with expensive running shoes creates a cushion for your foot which allows you to run sloppily. With these big pillows on your feet, you can't feel the mistakes that you are making in your stride which causes you to develop terrible running form. Terrible running form is a cause of injuries.

Running barefoot is a great idea for every runner, in moderation. Since you instinctively run with greater form while you are barefoot, it will help create better form while running in shoes by making you think about your form more and listen to your body.

Listening to your body goes hand in hand with barefoot running. Running with shoes on your feet dampens the ability to listen to your body because the shoe is supposed to do all of the work for you. This is one of the reasons that I have come to love running barefoot. It allows me to feel everything that I should be feeling, and creates an environment in which my body is one with the earth below me. It is so peaceful and painless, like everything I do is perfect. The stars are aligned above me and everything is in place when I am barefoot. I want to be able to harness that energy and use it to run in shoes more effectively, but I don't think it will be easy. Until then, I will be running barefoot in between my regular workouts in order to ease myself into becoming a permanent barefoot runner and a complete hippy!

It is going to take a lot of patience and perseverance to become a barefoot runner. Lowering my weekly miles and really understanding my body will be the hardest parts about it, but i think that the work will pay off.