Barefoot running is a pain in the ......calf

At least it has been for me.  Just over a week ago I purchased a pair of minimalist shoes on the recommendation of both my hubby and my personal trainer, and I've been slowly adapting to them by running a short 1-1.5KM circuit daily.  At least that was the plan.

By day 4 my inner calves were so sore and fatigued, I had to give them a days rest.  One days rest turned into two to allow me to do a longer run, but by day 6 I was ready to go again.

Alas, the sore calves were back again with a vengeance.  It felt like the 'flexor digitorum longus' and 'soleous' were hosts to hundreds of  pixies were hooking themselves into by means of red hot claws on their hands and feet, and once soundly attached were proceeding to bite with razor sharp teeth and then suck out all the energy from my lower leg, leaving it stiff and tired.

Now, I fully expected to have to build up muscle that had become lazy, but this felt like I was doing something wrong rather than just needing more practise or greater calf strength.

Reading 'Barefoot Running Step By Step', I've come across a few tips and tricks of barefoot running that translates well into running in general, regardless of what kind of shoes (or lack thereof ) you may be running in.

The key point that stood out for me was that co-author Barefoot Ken Bob, who has been running barefoot for decades, noticed that shod runners don't bend their knees enough.  If you bend your knees whilst running the ball of your foot automatically makes contact with the ground prior to the heel, therefore removing the painful and knee damaging heel strike from the equation.  Keeping your knees bent also automatically relaxes your calf, so when your heel does touch down its fully decompressed and entire leg (hips, knees, ankles, quads and calves) act like a giant spring.

Ken Bob also talks about focusing on lifting your foot up rather than pushing it down for a gentler gait, yet a faster cadence.

Whilst I've not yet had the courage to actually run barefoot, I've been using these techniques for my last few runs, and have seen huge improvements when wearing both my traditional Nike Pegasus running shoe and my minimalist Merrell Barefoot shoe.

For example - running down hill, rather than locking my legs out and braking, I've been bending my knees and letting gravity carry my down.  It's a little scary as without braking you end up flying down hills so quickly, but its just like being a kid and requires virtually no effort at all.  On a steep hill, by the time you get to the bottom your legs are moving so fast it feels like they're about to fall off! The momentum carries you halfway back up the next hill too - fantastic.

My cadence is up - I'm easily achieving a 90+ cadence, whereas before I was was struggling to reach the 80s, and as a result my speed has picked up by about 20 seconds a kilometre - that's quite a jump for a few days work!

And as for the the little energy-vampire pixies that were attaching themselves to my calves by means of red hot claws on hands and feet?  Gone!  I can still feel the muscles in my feet and calves working a bit harder than I was previously accustomed to, but there is no pain.

Another interesting side effect is I'm no longer having any shin pain.  I've always had some shin pain since starting running - most of the time it's barely noticeable, and I think I had just stopped noticing in general, but it's now become apparent by its absence!  Some time ago during some running drills, my trainer James Morris impressed upon me the importance of relaxing your calf and foot whilst running. I understood what he was saying and thought I was achieving it, but it never really clicked.  What I was actually doing was relaxing the calf as the my foot came up, allowing my toe to point, then flexing my foot back so that the ball of the foot would hit the ground first, and tensing the calf to do so.  The shock of a tensed foot and calf 'hitting' the ground caused a whiplash like reaction on the front of my leg, causing tenderness, and on some occasions, pain.

Barefoot Ken Bob and Robbo

Notice the word I used there: 'hitting' the ground. No wonder we injure ourselves due to impact when using words such as 'hit' and 'strike' to describe how our feet land!  Using Ken Bobs method of bent knees the foot is automatically at an angle to allow the ball of the foot to 'touch' the ground gently first, before the heel and toes also make contact.  By bending my knees more something clicked for me: Bent knees also means relaxed calves, and relaxed calves mean less impact, less potential for injury, and more 'springiness' in your step. For me, this resulted in reducing the tenderness in my shins and speeding up my pace.  Maybe it would help you with sore heels, knees or hips?

I'm not qualified or experienced enough to instruct anyone in running technique, so if this is something you want to try I wholeheartedly recommend it - but please be careful and don't just use the snippets of information I'm sharing here as a basis for experimentataion, so make sure you research the technique fully to be sure you understand it otherwise you could injure yourself. You can buy the book or visit Barefoot Ken Bobs website for more information.