Barefoot Running in January?

After my disastrous first attempt at running in Vibram five finger shoes a few weeks ago I decided to give it another try this evening. After a good week of running and putting some miles in the bank I thought it was time to start training in earnest with the VFF's. I started with a good warm up (in shoes) on my way to the track, and then did a slow mile at the track as added warmup. After two miles I pulled off the shoes and slipped into the VFF's and ran a half mile before taking off the vibrams and running totally barefoot for another two laps. Unlike my earlier attempt I took special care tonight to run with a gentle "natural" gait. I didn't get too far forward on the balls of my feet, and also didn't land too hard on the heel. When I slipped off the VFF's and went to a totally barefoot run it was a really unique feel. I expect my feet to be cold, but they were surprisingly warm for running on a cold track surface. I found that if I took lots of little steps-as opposed to long strides-I covered the same distance and it felt great too.

The key to barefoot running is pacing yourself in the training, careful foot placement and strike, and attention to form.

More posts to come as as the (gentle) barefoot training continues.