Starting over in new shoes

This year's training for the half-marathon was not focused at all. I did gymnastics, climbing (a little), sling-training, kettlebell-training, running, cycling...

I start a new blog to share and documante my journey with "barefoot" (or rather "minimalist-shod")- running. I will wear Merrell Barefoot Shoes which are different to common running shoes because they don't have any cushion and no difference in height between forefoot and heel. Since I ran only from time to time the last months, I experienced a little pain in my left knee. I know this pain from back in 2007, where the same knee hurt for a couple of days after running the half marathon at the Vienna City Marathon. Then I contacted a physiotherapist and went there for three treatments which helped me to get rid of the pain.

But now I have been thinking of what I can change in my training and life to avoid pain. Did the pain return due to the inconsistency in "training" (I'd rather not call it training at all, because it was not focused at all) ? I don't think so. If I argue like, this time, I trained to less, so my body couldn't get used to the strains and stress back in 2007 I could have argued that I trained to much.

These days barefoot running did become quite popular and I'm starting to think about the opinions that are against ordinary running shoes, with thick soles, cushion and everything.

When I look at the great runners from Ethiopia, Kenya and other countries, that trained most of their lifes barefoot and are better than many Europeans (of course it is due to their genes as well), but they are the living example that you don't need shoes (or super soft cushioned running shoes) to be a good (and healthy) runner.

So my next step (before returning to my physiotherapist) will be to try barefoot running for a few weeks to see where it will take me.

I did my first run in the Merrells last thursday (only 3,8km). That's usually not a big deal for me, but the next day I literally couldn't even walk normally! I had such sore calves, it was incredible! I started reading about other barefoot/minimalist shod runners on the web and found out, that the soreness/muscleache in the calves results from not being used to the stretching of the achilles tendon. If we wear shoes with thick padded heals, gel or air or whatever soles, then there is no such extended stretching of the calves and achilles tendon and therefore no muscle pain. It's also a totally different feeling to run with those minimalist shoes. You have to use so many muscles of your feet and calves, that you never used before, when your feet had a limited range of motion in ordinary running shoes. So far I banned my old shoes and only run in these! Yesterday I already managed to run 8km in them- with no muscleaches today! My legs are getting used to it pretty fast! I plan to keep runs short for the next weeks and probably start intervall training by the mid of September, if my feet and legs feel strong enough by then. I will participate in two 5km races in October and I'd love to run in my new Merrell Barefoot Shoes!