Too many Barefoot choices....!

Whilst minimalist shoes are rife on the internet, there's non too many available in the running shops just yet - at least not in my locality.  My local Teddington SweatShop did carry the Nike Frees, and as I loved my Nike Pegasus shoes (and the brand in general) I decided to pop down the next Saturday and try them on for size. However, on the day I was thwarted by the Olympic bike road race effectively cutting me off from the shop.

Impatient to get started now I had set my mind to it, I decided to order online.  I couldn't decide between brands, and there was so much choice!  Hubby wanted to try the Merrel brand next due to a recommendation, so based purely on this I decided to try them.  Remembering hubby's bruised soles in the Saucony 3mm sole, I went for the Merrell Bare Access range that had zero drop, but with a slightly thicker sole (8mm).  You can read a bit more about the Merrel Barefoot range here: http://www.merrell.com/UK/en/Barefoot_Bareform.

During my research it had become clear that when moving to a minalmist shoe YOU MUST TAKE IT SLOW - having relied on lots of cushioning for years, calves and feet get lazy, and you have to build up strength in your muscles again.

Bearing this in mind I decided to run 1K - 1.5K in them every day for a week, then increase this by 0.5K - 1K per week until I was up to the same distance that I run in my beloved Nike Pegasus shoes, whilst staying in the Nikes for my longer weekend runs (at least until my legs and feet adapted).

The Merrell Womens Barefoot Run Bare Access Arc.

Excitedly I awaited my package, and when they arrived I was delighted in how light they were, how bendy the soles were, and that there was so much room in the toe box for my toes to spread and grip.

I decided to wear these shoes without socks to stay as close as possible to the barefoot principle, and off I go for a gentle 1.4K loop around my road.

My feet felt so light! My cadence automatically went up, and I focussed on landing on my forefoot, which in turn increased my cadence further.  This was easy peasy!

Hang on though - by the 1/2 kilometre mark my calves were burning and extremely tired, and in all honesty this took much of the pleasure away from what should have been a very gentle run in an extremely beautiful setting (I'm lucky enough to live on a road that is more trees and fields than houses and cars).  It was tough, but I finished my planned loop and went the rest of the day with aching, sore calves.

Its OK though - I expected this. I read in several places that you have to build up calf and foot muscled that have effectively atrophied having been overcompensated for in modern shoes.  It will just take some time.