Wednesday 20 June 2012

First time doesnt go well........

Eventually picked up my Vibram Five Fingers (VFFs) while on holiday in Florida.   Managed to get them for just over $60, while the UK prices are over £100 which is a heck of a difference - and a lot easier to justify the expenditure too.

The constant piece of advice about changing your running style to the barefoot style is not to fall into the trap of trying to do too much too soon (TMTS).  I would like to add another warning/piece of advice – that being TKTT – Too Keen to Try.  Having waited quite a few weeks to get the VFFs I couldn’t wait to get on the treadmill with the new shoes.

Normally I have a fairly constant regime of stretches, warm ups and use of CV machines, prior to using the treadmill.  I did the stretches as per usual, but instead of a 12-15 spell on the Nordic Ski machine, followed by a 5 mile cycle on the cycling machine, I did 7 mins on the Nordic before skipping over to the treadmill.

The general advice for starting barefoot running is to start at ¼ mile distance, then slowly gradually build up the distance over time as the calf will hurt and that’s what I had intended to do.  After a fair bit of walking and with just 300 yards (American machines are still in miles) into the run – ping !, I pulled a calf muscle.  It hurt, and I slowed down to a mild walking pace right away.  So that was the end of ‘barefoot’ running for a few days.

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