Transition to barefoot!

Good day to y'all...

Today saw my first bare foot run of substance.. I say ‘substance’ as I do recall running barefoot at some point in the early to mid 90’s..

……..From a BBQ at my house, (well, the parental home), to Jacksons, (local shop),  for more alcohol.. I also recall that it took my achilles around 3 weeks to forgive me! Fortunately I’m no stranger to zero drop having transitioned slowly from New Balance 1080’s, (too small, made me big toe nails fall off), to  Saucony Rides, (many pairs – Ride 7’s 9’s), then to the Saucony ISO Freedoms, (fantastic shoe.. But I managed to wear a hole in the upper after 100m so got a refund). Actually, having checked the ‘Veloviewer’ I ran 209.8  miles in the beasts before sending them back!!! Bloody good of them to re-fund after that amount of use, though one does hope to get more than 5 weeks out of a £120.00 shoe!

Then I slummed it and went back to a new pair of Ride 9’s but only managed 33 runs before their now bulky/clunky, (post Freedom ISO’s), frame forced me to relegate them to the bin, (once you go knitted upper….)… Well, they were relegated to the ranks of ‘Dog Walking Shoes’, the final call before landfill! 

…. Anywhoo… After the aforementioned slummed 33 runs I stepped into the wonderful world of the Skechers, (go run 5’s don’t ya know), and at 4mm drop, the same as the ISO Freedoms, I was, subconsciously, heading  in the right direction.. By far the best shoe I’d had at that point, so much so I bought 3 x pairs on the bounce AND a pair of ‘Go Meb Speed 4’s’ for racing, (though I didn’t do much racing in the beasts due to a ticker issue.. But that’s a whole ‘nother story). Then from the Skechers I made the conscious jump to Zero Drop with the:

**ALTRA ESCALANTE**

So good it gets written, (above), in bold… Is ’14 big’…  Underlined, and sports a fancy ass ‘Broadway’ font!!

…..That’s some pretty special shit

Only a 4mm shift from the Skechers but I did feel a few twinges in the achilles/right calf with the Escalante and the Superior over the first few weeks, but they eased off after a month, (and I took it very steady)! The biggest test came on the 07/07/2018 when I took the Superiors on a 28 mile trail race, (5,729ft Elevation)..  6hours 42 minutes and 5 seconds or bone dry rocky and very technical trail, but the Altra’s were amazing. Absolutely Zero foot issues during or after. And the Escalante’s also looked after my brown and dry feet during a 27 mile commute, (13 and a bit miles each way)!

And now here I am, 10 and a half month since the switch and 622 miles into the latest Escalante’s and a complete convert to the world of the zero drop. The next pair are already waiting, (sat in a box in the wardrobe, where they’ve been for 2+ months now)!

A fancy ass pair of Altra Escalante 1.5’s

Seems a shame to break them out when the old shoes are doing so well!! Especially now it's getting warm again as they double as fantastic 'dry trail' shoes when there's a lot of road transition in between! This leaves the Altra superiors to the more taxing trails!

If the 1.5's hold up as well I reckon I'll be sticking With the Escalante as my road shoe for a good while...

..... It always pays to be objective mind you, and though I enjoy the Superior I’m more than tempted to try the ‘Merrell Vapor Glove Trail’ for the next step towards minimality, (if that's even a word)! Have stumbled a few times in the Superiors and a tighter lighter shoe might do me well!

Shoe Timeline:

From 18/04/2014 - ?mm Drop     Whatever Gym Trainer was on the rack (Probably a big ass drop)

From 10/09/2014 - 8mm Drop     555.0 Miles: New Balance M890 V3 - Tokyo

From 31/03/2015 - 8mm Drop     531.9 Miles: New Balance M890 V4 - Garmin

From 10/01/2016 - 8mm Drop     460.2 Miles: Saucony Ride 7 – Pair 2

From 10/05/2016 - 8mm Drop     467.7 Miles: Saucony Ride 7 – Pair 3

From 18/09/2016 - 8mm Drop     455.2 Miles: Saucony Ride 9 – Pair 1

From 05/02/2017 - 6mm Drop    47.6 Miles:  Asics gel Fuju Runnergade – Trail Shoe

From 16/05/2017 - 4mm Drop     209.8 Miles: Saucony ISO Freedom

From 25/06/2017 - 8mm Drop    455.2 Miles: Saucony Ride 9 – Pair 2

From 27/07/2017 - 4mm Drop     421.5 Miles: Skechers Go Run 5 – Pair 1

From 31/10/2017 - 4mm Drop     401.7 Miles: Skechers Go Run 5 – Pair 2

From 03/02/2018 - 4mm Drop     339.3 Miles: Skechers Go Run 5 – Pair 3

From 26/04/2018 - 4mm Drop     120.0 Miles: Skechers Go Meb Speed 4

From 04/06/2018 - 0mm Drop     401.6 Miles: Altra Escalante – Pair 1

From 25/06/2018 - 0mm Drop     140.1 Milres: Altra Superior (Trail) – Trail Shoe

From 21/10/2018 - 0mm Drop     622.5 Miles: Altra Escalante Pair 2

From 29/04/1976 - 0mm drop     3 Miles: Vaughan 1976’ers - Barefoot

Waiting in Box    -    0mm Drop     000.0 Miles: Altra Escalante 1.5

1F

Soooooooooooo, Why zero drop? Well… Running is a journey, (s****, EVERYTHING is a journey, but therein lies the fun/adventure), and mine started out, (as it does with most runners), with chasing a time. My hook was the 5k, (and beating my colleague who’d racked up 3.1 miles in 22 minutes), from there the distance preference increased to the 10k.. Then to the Half where it sat for a while. Still chasing times, (and shifting goal posts), but this is where I finished up:

5k           Wanted sub 19:00            - Managed 19:05 (though to be fair to myself I wanted to get consistently into the 19’s, which I did, then ended up chasing the 18’s)

10k         Wanted sub 40:00            - Managed 40:03

Half        Wanted sub 1:30:00        - Managed 130:43

Tantalisingly close wot wot..

My training involved long, (ish), runs - 10-15 miles avg pace 7/mi, hill sprints, intervals.. The usual prescriptive s*** you see it on almost every runners plate. I was making gains but, (unconsciously), placing my body under a whole lot of stress. This came to a head during a half marathon in which the body, (well the ticker), started misfiring but, as mentioned earlier, that’s a whole ‘nother story.

This wee medical issue, (when rectified), prompted a whole new perspective and forced me to slow down, (stepped on board the MAF train), and to look at my diet, (now low carb). As a result of this, and hanging amongst the podcasts promoting said training/diet, was lead down the minimalist road..

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanf from there we now arrive at here.. And my first ever barefoot mileage! B***dy lovely so It was, just wish I had found a bigger field as it took 13 laps to knock out 3 miles.. And I am no fan of running in circles, (or any laps for that matter). Hoping to get at least one barefoot run in a week to strengthen the feet and just to feel the ground underneath them!

Time wise, the above targets are still in the very, very back of my mind, (though it took a while to find their way there), but these days I’m more fussed about improving my aerobic base. Though I do have an eye on improving my marathon time, (currently 03:39:27)..

… A wee update, (a week and a half post barefoot run), the day after when out for a gentle dog run, I had me a wee twinge in the right Achilles. This happened a couple of times on the back mile, (I only ran 2, and both no faster than 09:20 /mi).. But it was that kind of twinge that makes you think ‘F**’ something ain’t right here.. So, instead of resting I went out for another, (granted only short), steady dog run and had the same. Granted this time the twinges were much less offensive.. But still there!!

… NO miserable end to this story though, 2 x days off followed by another steady one.. And ZERO issues.. Even when I ran 16 miles on Sunday. Though I do think my ageing Altra’s, (now retired @ 646.4 miles), were causing me issues. Ever expanding holes in the uppers of both had my feet sliding about somewhat. So, I’m back on the old OLD Altra’s, (my first, (the black), pair @ 406.8 miles).. Will rock these until I break in the 1.5’s, (Still in the box)!