Quote Originally Posted by GLC1968 View Post
I still haven't tried running in my VFF's yet, but I do have a new barefoot running goal.

Two days ago I did a mini-tri at a local lake. The run was a trail run over hard packed dirt trails and a few sections of asphalt (~2 miles). I found it very difficult to do effectively in my new running shoes. I think this is because I bought my shoes a size bigger than normal to get more toe space. It makes them feel a little like clown shoes on terrain where I need to be nimble. Not good! I had to slow WAY down to keep upright. There is another mini-tri at the same lake (same course) in two weeks. I want to run it barefoot. I'm not sure I'll be ready!

My calves and feet are conditioned since I run in my barefoot shoes up to 4 miles now, so that'll be fine. The soles of my feet are not. My longest truly barefoot run is now 1 mile and that was on rough pavement and cement. I've never run barefoot on a trail before. Since this lake/park is near my house, I'm going to give it a try a few times prior to the next tri, but I will also need to work up to longer distances on my regular routes too. I've heard that the soles of your feet will toughen quickly, so I'm hopeful.

Any thoughts? Has anyone else had to toughen up the soles and how long did it take?
You might run (jog, walk) this route in your VFFs to learn about how your feet need to adapt to the route. Where are there roots, rocks, or other things that you need to pay attention to, and how does it feel on your feet.

Next, I'd say the soles of your feet will be decent on the dirt/trail (depending on roots/rocks/etc but you might have trouble with that even in VFFs), but the asphalt might be harder (no pun intended?). The biggest problem I think would be that when pavement gets hot, it's HOT. I can feel hot pavement through my VFFs and socks, and when walking barefoot have had to put them back on because it was too hot.

I'm always afraid of stepping on rogue rocks and weird stuff being barefoot-barefoot, the VFFs basically let me be a little more lazy (on a scale of 1 being super careful to 10 being running shoes, I think the VFFs are a 3 but being barefoot would be 1). I've considered starting to run barefoot also, especially for short runs, but as the season wears on I just don't think I can take the heat on my feet. Maybe that's something you build a tolerance to as well?