Barefoot Running

[KnottedYet]

I haven't read it. I'm pretty focussed in on the research papers, not so much on the semi-fictionalized stuff. Eventually I'd like to read it, if only because it's the first exposure so many people (who didn't run track in school, or who didn't run before the latest fad in shoes) have had to the concept of barefoot running.

When I get through the huge backlog of research stuff...
(I'm getting quite a kick out of all the papers from 1905-1910 about running barefoot. Truly there is nothing new under the sun!)

[OakLeaf]

Okay, okay, I've drifted this thread far enough.

As far as shoes: if I plan to continue to run shod, which I will for the time being, the message is "patience, grasshopper." As much as this bunion freaks me out, it's mainly because I have a name for it now. It's been building for years, since I was wearing much smaller shoes than the ones I have now, and it is not going to turn in to the Bunion that Ate New York between now and May 16 if I put another 300-400 miles on the shoes I have now.

But back to barefoot.

I get this feeling like there's a pebble between my first and second toes. It gets to be pretty uncomfortable. Anyone else get that? Any idea whether that's form, structure or conditioning?

[KnottedYet]

I get this feeling like there's a pebble between my first and second toes. It gets to be pretty uncomfortable. Anyone else get that? Any idea whether that's form, structure or conditioning?

Is it in the ball of your foot?

Google "dropped metatarsal head". Didn't I write up an exercise program somewhere on TE for that? (in fact, wasn't it for *you*?)

Anyway, folks feel the "pebble" on hard surfaces and when the muscles that are supporting the met arch fatigue and the met head starts dropping.

[Blueberry]

Is it in the ball of your foot?

Google "dropped metatarsal head". Didn't I write up an exercise program somewhere on TE for that? (in fact, wasn't it for *you*?)

Anyway, folks feel the "pebble" on hard surfaces and when the muscles that are supporting the met arch fatigue and the met head starts dropping.

Here's the linkey: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showp...2&postcount=40

I saved it last time you posted it. This is *most definitely* my problem. Quick question: I assume the thumbs are towards the outside of the foot on the top during the stretch?

[KnottedYet]

Quick question: I assume the thumbs are towards the outside of the foot on the top during the stretch?

Yup. The thumbs end up kinda on to the outsides on top and the fingertips are kinda in the middle on the bottom. Almost like you are pushing upward on the dropped met head with your fingertips while pushing downward on the sides of the foot with your thumbs.

I always think of cleaning Dungeness crab when I do this... y'know after you've taken the top shell off and you are breaking the crab into left and right halves. Mmmmmm, crab.....

[KnottedYet]

Oooh, this paper is a lot of fun! http://webh01.ua.ac.be/funmorph/kris...t_al_2009b.pdf

You can order it through a journal service ($$) if you have trouble getting the pdf above. Footwear Science vol 1 No 2 June 2009, 81-94

A fun stat mentioned in passing in that paper: 88% of healthy women in a USA study were wearing shoes smaller than their feet! (Frey, 1993)

[OakLeaf]

Oooh, this paper is a lot of fun! http://webh01.ua.ac.be/funmorph/kris...t_al_2009b.pdf

You can order it through a journal service ($$) if you have trouble getting the pdf above. Footwear Science vol 1 No 2 June 2009, 81-94

A fun stat mentioned in passing in that paper: 88% of healthy women in a USA study were wearing shoes smaller than their feet! (Frey, 1993)

.pdf came through fine for me.

That statistic is kind of "no duh" to me. Women's non-athletic shoes are made to stay on your feet by compressing them all around. Shoes that aren't too small, fall right off. Even when I was wearing athletic shoes that were two sizes smaller than the ones I wear now (which are just barely on the edge of being wide enough), I had to buy my dress and casual shoes a size or two smaller than that. Now that I'm not working, and living in pretty casual areas, it just isn't worth it to me to buy new shoes for the two or three times a year I need them, so whenever I do need to wear them, I feel like Cinderella's step-sisters. "Do I cut off my heels, or my toes?"

I wonder what the percentage would be if they limited the query to athletic shoes.

[OakLeaf]

Yep, been doing the exercises. Thanks. Also strengthening in yoga and short barefoot runs and walks. If conditioning is what it is, then I'll continue building slowly. Just wasn't sure.

(I confess, as I did confess before, that I slacked off the exercises when it was just too cold to take my socks off even for a few minutes, except for in the shower, literally. Yep, even in Florida, my toes are on the edge of blue most of December, January and February. But I'd already gotten back to the exercises now that it's warmed up a little.)

I wouldn't necessarily characterize it as the ball of my foot; it's more toward the toes. But maybe it just feels that way because my second met head is so far forward from the first. That sounds right, anyway.

[GLC1968]

I haven't read it. I'm pretty focussed in on the research papers, not so much on the semi-fictionalized stuff. Eventually I'd like to read it, if only because it's the first exposure so many people (who didn't run track in school, or who didn't run before the latest fad in shoes) have had to the concept of barefoot running.

When I get through the huge backlog of research stuff...
(I'm getting quite a kick out of all the papers from 1905-1910 about running barefoot. Truly there is nothing new under the sun!)

Actually, I don't think there is anything fictional about it. The stories are true. Whether or not all the research is solid is not something I can speak to, of course.

And his historial annecdotes about Nike are fun to read particularly living in Nike-central here.

The whole book is fun once you get the hang of the authors style (which is a bit disjointed).