So having upped the distance I can run to 10k, the only problem I seemed to be encountering is blisters. I keep getting blisters on or around the landing point on the balls of my feet. I found this odd as the landing is so soft that this in itself surely can’t be the reason. The skin on my pads are now much thicker then they were before. Why then was I still getting blisters?
I started to try and examine what was going on during the stride and I came to a startling conclusion. It appeared to being caused buy the friction between my foot and my barefoot shoe – but only on my right foot. This is probably down to something wrong with my form – i.e. I’m doing something different with my right foot than with my left. Alternatively it could be that my right foot is in some way smaller than my left and thus has more room to slosh around in the right shoe. Either way when my foot bends up onto my toes just before take off I can feel the ball of my right foot slide back slightly in my barefoot shoe. This repeated rubbing action is causing the frictional heat that in turn is causing the blister. Anything of 5k or under doesn’t sustain this for long enough for my skin to react, but stepping up to 10k really shows this up.
So what to do? Well I’ve been thinking for a while that I should try running actually barefoot. That’s right, no shoes at all. My pads just aren’t getting tough as fast as I’d like them to and going totally shoeless will surely sort that out for me. But I’m scared by this. I guess this is just the same reservations that everyone has, so I’m not bothered by my fear. But stepping outside of the comfort blanket of my barefoot shoes is a big leap. I’m just not sure I could do it.
However last night help was at hand. My girlfriend wanted to start to do some power walking around the common and asked me to come along. Sure I said, as long as I can walk barefoot. I figured that walking 6k barefoot would do my pads some good and could only help along the thickening up process. Anyway, halfway through the walk she challenged me to a short run. Before I knew it I was running barefoot along pavements, across roads, on dirt tracks. It was easy and there was none of the friction I’d been experiencing in my barefoot running shoes. Okay, most of the circuit was walking and not running. But now I know I can do this, I’m going to give it a go. I’ll have to drop my distance down to allow my feet to get used to it, but I don’t think it will be too long before I’m back up to distance again.
I’m not going to give up totally on my barefoot shoes though. As far as I’m aware, virtually no one ever gets used to running on gravel, so I think there will always be a place for them. And also, running actually barefoot is supposed to be the absolute best way to work on your form. So maybe this will fix my form if that is what was causing the difference between both my feet in the first place. Last night I took some barefoot huaraches with me and put these on for the last kilometre. By then my skin had just about had enough. I must always remember the barefoot running mantra – take it slowly.