Best Barefoot Week Yet -- 24 Miles!!! (6 Mon, 8 Wed, 10 Sat.)

Hello Barefooters,
Wow, God is good!

I hope everyone had as nice a week as I did running barefoot.  I got in another 6 miler on Monday (only 48 hours after my first ever 6) and the feet felt fine.  I did have a slight couple of hot spots on the ball of each foot but nothing major.  I also noticed a slight TOFP on the right foot, which should have made me think twice about running even further on Wed. but did I?  Well, yes I did think about it and at my mile 3 point, I decided to go for my first ever 8 miler!  The feet still felt pretty good when I got back and I really enjoyed the 5 min ice bath this time.  However, I was disappointed that I was feeling the start of two small blisters after this one...but the thrill of having gone a full 8 miles did feel pretty special.  I had to take a picture of my dirty foot this time.  The TOFP was a little more noticeable now, and I was glad I wouldn't be running again until Saturday.  The full Thurs and Fri off felt good and I got a massage on Friday and was kind of amazed that the normal hamstring and ITB tenderness wasn't as prevalent as in months past. 

On Saturday morning the feet were feeling fine so I set off for a "6 maybe 10" in perfect weather.  I did my first 6 mile loop to see what the day would bring.  I was a little aprehensive since I'd done so many miles already this week, but this first loop went really well.  At the 5 mile point a large group of bikes past me with lots of smiles at the crazy barefoot runner and an "Ouch" comment from the gal in the back of the pack.  When I got back to the house, I was amazed at how good the feet felt and decided to go out for a 4 mile loop (with option to cut to 3.1).  I again re-evaluated at the decision point and although I was getting tired and the right foot "hot spot" was more noticeable, I decided to go for the whole enchilada!  The last mile was downright painful and straight into about a 15 MPH westerly headwind.  The wind combined with a couple of slight uphill sections, had the balls of both feet screaming by the time I reached the house again.  And yes, I did end up with a blister on the right foot again...for some reason my right foot isn't "learning" as fast as the left!  But I figured now was the time to push it a little, what with great weather and about a 2 week break coming.  Yes, I'm off to Honduras on Monday for a two-week mission trip with 26 others from 6 states on a church building project.  I've never been there before, so I'm not "planning" to get any runs in ...but there are several other runners on the trip so maybe I'll get in a recovery run or two. 

Now its off to MacGregor Park with Megan (my 11 year old barefooter) to do the 1.7 mile loop probably walking only and definitely with me in the Vibrams.  Talk to you all in a couple of weeks.

Happy Trails!   

Barefoot Dan Lutes

Total Barefoot Miles for the week = 24 Miles

Beautiful Autumn Day - First 6 Miler

Hello Barefooters, today was my first ever 6 mile barefoot run and it went really well.  I came back from my Californina/Mexico business trip late yesterday so this morning I kind of slept in a little.  I had my signed copy of Barefoot Rick's book waiting for me so I read the first chapter before going out on my run.  It's really a great read and just what I needed to get me out the door and moving.  The run was absolutely effortless and I really enjoyed the great Fall weather.  I went on my normal 6 mile loop which was a first since switching over to barefoot.  I found out some of the pavement wasn't as smooth as I previously thought running it shod, but no problems, the feet held up just fine.  At about the 4 mile point, I had another runner come up behind be and say "Wow, I don't see how you do it barefoot!" and I just smiled.  What I was really thinking was "How do you do it in shoes!" because wow, you're really pounding...and I could hear him coming up behind me WAY before he caught me.  He was a bigger guy, with the IPOD in the ears and was heel striking, overstriding, and sweating his was along and my first thought after he passed me, was of how uncomfortable that looked, even though he was pulling away from me!  That is actually one of the great "secrets" of barefoot running is how quiet the foot landing is.  I nice way to think about it is to pretentd like your sneaking up behind somebody and you don't want them to hear you coming...and in a race, thats good.

I hope to keep working on distance until the cold weather sets in, and then shorten it up and work on the speed.  This 6 miler was respectable however, since I finished in 59:02 with a nice comfortable 9:50 pace.  I did an ice bath on the feet for a full 5 minutes after and then to the hot tub for some relaxation...I added another 2 min foot bath at the end.  I only have one more week before leaving on my Honduras mission trip.  Not sure how much (if any) barefoot running I'll get in on this two week trip but hopefully a little, and I hope it's not too cold when I get back to Indiana to keep working on increasing my barefoot mileage.  I also appreciated the fact that the calves are beginning to feel better both during and after the runs which seems to make it feel more natural.  I'm hoping that soon, I'll be able to go back to running every day but for now I definitely need the day off in between to get over the previous run.  Happy Barefooting Everyone!  BF Dan -- Barefoot miles for the week = 14 miles

San Diego - Rainy Run in Old Town

Well I left the great Indaina weather behind for some rainy weather in San Diego (go figure...it never rains out here).  But I arrived yesterday afternoon and decided to brave the rare southern CA rain for a quick run from my hotel to the "Old Town" area of San Deigo.  Thinking I probably wouldn't go 5 miles again, I took off and soon found lots of different surfaces to explore, from rough concrete to smooth asphalt and everything in between ("old town" indeed!)  This area is a neat historic site with a nice walking plaza and lots of neat little shops and cool history laden older buildings.  It may have been the combination of hopping up and down on curbs and the distraction of looking around at all the cool buildings, but pretty soon my feet were getting tired so I decided to call it a day after only 3 miles....I'll save it for a longer weekend run.  It was still nice to know that I "could" have gone longer but I'm still a little paranoid running on wet surfaces.  Happy Running, BF Dan

New Milestone - 5 Miles!

Good Evening Barefooters...I'm celebrating my first 5-miler today.  The feet feel pretty good and the weather was just perfect.  I do have a couple of hot spots again on the ball of each foot near the second metatarsil.  But compared to how they have felt in the past this is real progress.  The deep bruise trauma from last Friday seems to almost have completely healed so the Traumeel must be doing the trick.  The improved foot landing is becoming more natural to me and my cadence is always above 180 when I measure it.  I have measured it as high as 220 which is usually toward the end of the run as the feet are getting a little tired and tender. Keeping the cadence up high is definitely the secret to the soft landing. I will keep increasing the distance for now and not worry about the pace which is still hovering around 10 minute miles on smooth/semi-smooth surfaces.  Once I begin to work on speed I will definitely have to cut back on distance.  But for now I'm just happy to be at the 5 mile point (finally).  Looking forward to a nice run in San Diego on Wed or Thurs this week.
Happy barefooting,
BF Dan

Windy and Cooler Weather

Hello Barefooters.  I had another great week of barefoot running.  4 miles on Monday (my first 4 miler!), 2 miles on Wednesday (cut short due to rain), 4.2 miles Friday (hit rock hard at mile 1.5, ouch!), and 2 miles today (2 separate runs).  The first run today was with my 11 year old daughter Megan who ran it in her socks.  We ran on the Midland Trace Trail in Westfield for a quick out and back on the smooth pavement...at 37 degrees and windy, that was enough...but we had White's Donuts waiting for us back at the truck so it was worth it (great carbs!)  Then later I took a letter out to the mailbox and decided to go another mile.  It was now a little warmer (44 degrees) so the feet didn't go numb.  I was happy that the injury from the day before wasn't hurting too bad either. 

Yes, the day before I went out for my first 4.2 miler.  It was 55 and VERY windy.  But I was enjoying the run and it was challenging "pushing" against the strong northwest wind.  At 1.5 miles, without warning, I stepped on a huge rock very hard with the outside of my right foot...so hard I said "OWW" outloud...expletive deleted!  I continued to feel the pain throughout the rest of the run.  I did my normal ice bath afterward, this time 4 min, followed by the hot tub, and then another 1 min ice bath (feet only of course).  Later that night I applied some of my Traumeel that I recieved the day before and it seemed to help.  I bought the Traumeel on-line on a recommendation from Tellman (of Run Tellman Run fame) and it must have helped since I was able to run 2 miles the very next day.  As you can see, the bruise actually wraps up to the top of my foot (red cap on the Traumeel tube points to the bruise), so I have been continuing to apply it.  Overall my feet feel great, even with the deep bruise, and they feel like they're getting more muscular day by day.  It really feels good and the toes are starting to spread and feel more "alive."  I'm hoping the super cold weather holds off for a while since I'm having so much fun increasing my mileage and improving my form.  I'm getting more confident in my form as the blisters on the ball of both feet (under 2nd metatasil) have begun sloughing off with the recent rainy wet weather running, and yet no new blisters seem to be forming.  The one bad thing about this right foot bruise is that it seemed to be my right foot that was the slowest to "learn" the proper foot landing and how to fully "spread out" the pressure across the entire foot.  I'm hoping I don't start babying the outside of the right foot and begin unlearning those good lessons of proper foot landing.  I'll be travelling to CA again next week so I should get in a warmer run out there.

Anyway, please enjoy the barefoot running everboby and continue letting me know what you think by emailing me at dlutes1@irf.com or comment below and follow the blog. 

Happy Barefoot Running! 
BF Dan -- Barefoot miles for week:  12.2miles