Running barefoot questions

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi all,

Long time lurker, third time poster, crappiest runner ever.

After following the threads on running barefoot/landing on balls of feet I gave it a try this a.m. out of desperation. I was at the track and I could not shake the nagging aches in my ankles and knees. I took of my shoes and socks and ran in the grass. It was much less uncomfortable than what I had just been doing. However, I was left with some questions that I hope you all can answer.

First, I felt like I was running uphill, for lack of a better term. Like I was tipping forward. Is this normal?

Second,I ran faster (or at least felt that way) which made my heart rate higher. Should I slow down to run within my range? I tried slowing down but it made me pound the ground more. What to do?

Finally, my feet and ankles feel tired and weak now, but not sore. I feel like I should do some exercises to strengthen my ankles (each have been broken before). I looked at the running barefoot website, but could not find any specific strengthening exercises. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

2

I used to do some track workouts barefoot in college. to answer your questions:
grip sand with your toes, walking barefoot, moving a towel back and forth with your feet will all make your feet/ankles stronger.
Amazing what happens when you don’t have shoes on. Often you will feel a bit different, in your case running leaning more forward, than when wearing shoes.
Your running faster and that will make your HR higher. My question to you is since when is running faster a bad thing? I’d personally not worry about staying in whatever zone and run fast. 100% of the time, if you run faster you finish sooner.