Got back from a long weekend at the beach where I had 2 great runs on the beach followed by two half-mile finishes with the Five Fingers.Saturday July 3rd – I ran 4.5 miles on the beach and ½ mile on asphalt with the Five Fingers. I felt pretty good.
Monday July 5th - I ran 5.5 miles on beach and ½ mile on asphalt with the five fingers. I am feeling good about these shoes. I can definitely tell that I stand more erect. I had an interesting complication though. A small piece of asphalt got wedged in the heel counter of the shoe and became embedded in the back of my heel. I had to teach my wife a little Podiatry maneuver to excise this rock. No blood though, she did pretty good.
Wedneday July 7 - I did a brick of 1.5 mile run, 15 minute swim, then 1.5 mile run followed by 6 minutes with the Five Fingers. I haven’t had any complications with the shoes yet and feel my posture is very good also.
I plan to slowly increase my times and distances in the next couple weeks, so keep watching.
You can learn more about Dr. Beckman at www.TxFootDoctor.com. I thank him for continuing to share his experiences and look forward to more.
Dr. Schneider,
ReplyDeleteI find it fascinating that you are a Podiatrist trying barefoot running in Vibrams and Iam anxious to hear the results of your experiment.
I am a recent convert to barefoot running after not having done much running for quite a few years. I love it so far, but have encountered a few bumps along the road. I had pretty much stopped running because of back and knee pain, but have much less of that now with the Vibrams. However, there are new stresses on my calves and achilles tendon. I'm pretty sure my calf pain is just muscle soreness. The achilles soreness worries me a bit more, but it is so much fun running in these things that it is hard to give them time to recover. Interestingly, I have had virtually no foot problems.
I feel like I have built up my mileage pretty slowly. In fact, for the first month or so, I could barely make it around the block and would have to wait a few days before attempting another run. Now I am running between 3 and 6 miles every couple of days. Even though you are certainly the expert, I would urge you to take it slowly and good luck!
Thanks so much for the comment. I do want to point out that it is not I, but my colleague Dr. Randy Beckman, who is trying out running in his Vibram Five Fingers. He has been good enough to share his experiences as a guest writer on my blog. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!
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