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Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis
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Maybe it's just me; yet, I'll start living with shoes off inside the house or more often when the weather is warm.

Then I notice my Achilles or my calf and wonder how I hurt it in training. When I put some shoes or something with some heel lift back on in the house, it goes away without any change to my training.

Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [IT] [ In reply to ]
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It is not just you. At a certain age (I am 44), these tendons (or the muscles they are attached to) seem to lose some elasticity. We might end up as high heeled drag queens at some stage in life ;-)
Sam
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [IT] [ In reply to ]
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This would demonstrate you have a problem and need to be barefoot more often
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [TriByran] [ In reply to ]
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+1

"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [IT] [ In reply to ]
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I moved to a hot country a few years ago where other than when training or in the office a few days per week I'm basically barefoot or in flip flops pretty much the whole time. Did have quite a few foot and Achilles issues in the first 12 months, looked like the onset of plantar fascitis at one point, and was doing a lot of foot rolling at my desk, stretches, strengthening exercises, etc. Then all seemed to go away and the last year I've been mostly fine, and have got very lazy about the preventative exercises I was previously doing.

So my take is that there is an adaptation period where you need to be pretty careful, but could well be that once you're through that you actually end up in a better place with more resilient feet and lower legs.
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [TriByran] [ In reply to ]
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TriByran wrote:
This would demonstrate you have a problem and need to be barefoot more often
+1

Don't stop when you're tired. Stop when you're done.

- D. Goggins

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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [PinaMan] [ In reply to ]
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PinaMan wrote:
TriByran wrote:
This would demonstrate you have a problem and need to be barefoot more often
+1

Only time I've had Achilles tendonitis was from switching back to a lower drop shoe from a big cushy high drop shoe. Stayed away from cushy shoes since. Been using some form of brooks pure project shoe for the past 7 or 8 years.
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [IT] [ In reply to ]
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I reckon you spend most of your time in shoes with a raised heel and your achilles has shortened to accommodate that foot position. Now, when you have your foot in a normal flat position, the achilles is stretched.

When I switched to zero drop running shoes 7 or 8 years ago, I remember having very tight calves and sore achilles for a couple of months. Once I'd adapted, however, my lower legs and feet felt far better than ever.
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [IT] [ In reply to ]
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As a kid, I rarely wore shoes in the summer. We stayed on Lake Michigan in the summers and I recall the first week walking down the gravel lane to the mailbox I'd have to walk gently. After a few weeks I'd be running down there with no problems. I'd explore in the woods for hours barefoot.

At one point, we didn't go to church for two Sundays in a row and I went three weeks without ever putting on a pair of shoes or flip-flops, which I was proud of for some reason.

Anyhoo, I've been running for 30+ years without a running injury. I sometimes wonder if being barefoot so much as a kid helped. In the summers now I'm barefoot at home and wear flips when out.

I do have a pair of minimalist running shoes, but rarely wear them. I've mostly run in big honkin motion control shoes - neutral feet but I'm heavy and other shoes wore out too fast - but the past few years I've converted to Hokas.
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [TriByran] [ In reply to ]
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TriByran wrote:
This would demonstrate you have a problem and need to be barefoot more often
This.


http://www.jt10000.com/
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [sgy] [ In reply to ]
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sgy wrote:
It is not just you. At a certain age (I am 44), these tendons (or the muscles they are attached to) seem to lose some elasticity. We might end up as high heeled drag queens at some stage in life ;-)
Sam

Ha! Don't feel bad. A high school senior XC runner was just told to take 2 weeks off. Told his mom to make sure Lance wears shoes at home and on the pool deck.

It was our shared experience that triggered the post. He's 17 and I'm 64. I could know better though...

Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [IT] [ In reply to ]
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Yesterday I did my normal Free Friday barefoot run. To be honest I learned a great deal about barefoot running from the Nike Tech Lab. They took me through their entire process of developing the Nike Free. I went home and created a run called Free Friday. At it’s height it was 40 people from the office. It works like this:

Here’s an article from 2005 about the Free project https://www.wired.com/...refoot-breakthrough/

Warm up run to a park, or school field. Take shoes off, do a series of drills and strides barefoot. Put shoes back on and run whatever you feel like. The first few times you do it it won’t feel great. After a few weeks you’ll begin to notice the differences.

I live in Southern California so I can do this year round. But I will add we moved to Germany for 3 years and I did this through the winter. Again the first time taking you shoes off when their is snow on the field was really difficult. But then I got used to it.

My point in sharing this is, I’m 55 now and have not had any foot or Achilles problems since I started. Among many things, barefoot running as a tool, has kept me running and a good level for years.

Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed

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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [SDJ] [ In reply to ]
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SDJ wrote:
Yesterday I did my normal Free Friday barefoot run. To be honest I learned a great deal about barefoot running from the Nike Tech Lab. They took me through their entire process of developing the Nike Free. I went home and created a run called Free Friday. At it’s height it was 40 people from the office. It works like this:

Here’s an article from 2005 about the Free project https://www.wired.com/...refoot-breakthrough/

Warm up run to a park, or school field. Take shoes off, do a series of drills and strides barefoot. Put shoes back on and run whatever you feel like. The first few times you do it it won’t feel great. After a few weeks you’ll begin to notice the differences.

I live in Southern California so I can do this year round. But I will add we moved to Germany for 3 years and I did this through the winter. Again the first time taking you shoes off when their is snow on the field was really difficult. But then I got used to it.

My point in sharing this is, I’m 55 now and have not had any foot or Achilles problems since I started. Among many things, barefoot running as a tool, has kept me running and a good level for years.

Thank you much Dave. I might be too far gone as I need Hokas and a golf course for running these days (age 64). Just bought a pair of Sketchers to walk in because at times I have gout like symptoms when it feels like I'm walking on pins/glass if hydration and diet's not right.

Does the issue begin while wearing shoes when NOT training? And if injured or trying to avoid further injury, the better thing to do is slip on shoes and try again later?

Some people are more adaptable than others and no one is beyond injury. Whether it's achilles, hamstrings or hips few people can train without a strain.

Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.
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Re: Beware of summer/barefoot achilles tendonitis [IT] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the compliment, I don’t think I’m more adaptable than anyone else. I think I just work really hard at it.

1. I had a really bad bike crash at 22. Everything took time to fix up. My hips however were a wreck. I did Kona at 24 and couldn’t run because of sheer pain at 27. It took 3 years when I found the solution. A chiropractor and only one who knew what to do. The other 8 or so simply told me my legs were different lengths, he figured it out. Since then I know the pain instantly because my body hasn’t adapted. I feel the pain, go to the chiropractor and he fixes me. I’ve learned through Yoga to limit the times I have to see him but I still see him 2-3 times a year.

2. Running Shoes - I never run in the same shoe two days in a row. I rarely run in the same brand two days in a row. Even when I worked for two different brands I ran in other brands. Simply put I never run in worn out shoes and my feet are never settled into a specific shoe. I have never found that perfect running shoe because of this but I don’t think I’m missing anything. Only a few times have a replaced a running shoe with the next model or the same model.

3. Barefoot - You don’t have to do my Free Friday run. I like that run because it grounds me to the earth. There are other ways to do that especially where I live. Just a walk on the beach will do it. As mentioned I do Yoga. I’m on SufferFest every evening doing the 15 minutes of Yoga. There were positions in that Yoga there was no chance I could do but now I’m fairly good at all of them. Screaming toes still gets to me but not as much as 2 years ago. The key here is it’s all barefoot.

I have a friend who can pick up a set of keys, put the key in the key hole and unlock a door with her toes. She’s a trainer and aside from everything else she trains she gets everyone young or old working with their bare feet. He first tool is a towel on the floor. She makes her clients put the towel on the floor and scrunch the towel up with the bare toes of each foot. She works with professional golfers, professional hockey players and the occasional pro skater. But her biggest client base is older women in the area who complain about foot pain. All of them do the towel on the ground trick.

Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed

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