The other problem is that BF/VFF running puts more stress on the calf muscles (an inherent attribute of the midfoot strike) than does running in normal shoes.
I'm learning the truth of that! <g> I didn't run yesterday, simply because my calf muscles were so tight. Got back to it today, though, and did a very pleasant 5K barefoot run. A lovely, cool summer morning here in southern Ontario, which helped make for a really great run. I also found that I'm getting back to a decent pace while running barefoot. Now, I have to work carefully at building BF distance; over time, I'll work at increasing my pace too.
So, since my first barefoot run last Tuesday, I've run 16K BF. I'm really happy about that, and looking forward to what happens in the coming week (and weeks). Thanks to you folks for being there and being supportive. It helps a lot!
Alan
So it sounds like you're training exclusively BF? I've heard that's the best way to transition from trainers (as opposed to what I'm doing, which is train mostly in trainers and get a small amount of mileage in BF) - if I didn't have the upcoming XC season to train for I would absolutely transition the way you are.
Also, on your blog, when you say you went "slowly" at 6:24 pace - you do mean min/KM correct? (I'm used to min/mi, being in the US) - 6:24 min/mi would be blazingly fast BF training run!! (at least by my standards) - I might be able to run that shod in a 10K (race) but I can't even sustain 7:45 min/mi BF for 2k!!
