The Big I AM: Ego and Running

I have just come back from a tough run...I put on my Vibram KSO for a more barefoot experience because I do like the "barefoot" feel... and I suppose I like the idea of being a barefoot or almost barefoot runner. Its kind of like an exclusive club, particularly in my very traditional market town in which I live (I am the only one, I think, who runs in Five Fingers).

In fact, I have not run for a couple of weeks due to a tender set of muscles in my lower leg, including the Peroneus Brevis, anyway, I should have reduced my run distance, and eased myself into running again. That was what I planned to do, I really did. but then....

... my ego got involved


As soon as I saw the road up into the woods I had this thought of "I am not going to reduce my mileage - why should I that's like a backward step" and then I was off, and before I knew it I had covered 4 and three quarter miles across a rocky trail path. My feet had gone numb and I wondered if I had really done myself an injury. As I sit typing this blog post and sipping a recovery drink (and feeling like I want to vomit) I am still wondering whether I have seriously done too much.

It reminded me very much of a story my father used to  tell me about an endurance race between British Special Forces and some Australian Aborigines (or should that be Native Australians??) which covered hundreds of miles of Australian bush. Now this is completely from memory so I can't vouch for the accuracy but it goes something like this:

The White SF guys ran off from the start line at a fast pace, in boots and army gear and laden with very heavy ruck sacks - very competitive as you would imagine - and the Aborigines trotted off in the opposite direction, barefoot with just a spear each and dressed in a loin cloth. Three days later the Special Forces staggered into the finish line as the race winners and then collapsed and were carted off to hospital, A couples of days later the Aborigines trotted in completely normal and were told they had lost the race. Unconcerned they shrugged and jogged out into the bush again to run back home again to do another couple hundred miles!!.

Who were the real winners of that race? The ones who run the day after....I can't even make five miles without hobbling myself for a week. Food for thought.

If you enjoyed this please also see http://creole-adventure.blogspot.com

Review of Barefoot Running: Is barefoot running only possible for a minority of runners?

I read a top podiatrist online stating that he finds barefoot running interesting but couldn’t do it himself as it “would rip his knee cap off”. Slightly melodramatic perhaps but he is The Professional so we cannot really doubt him. In any case it is quite clear that the biomechanics of barefoot running completely different than “normal” running, so is this “ability” of barefoot running really only reserved for a small minority? I mean I haven’t ripped my knee cap off yet and I am an average sort of guy...not an athlete that’s for sure.

The common foot cycle is depicted below.

It a simple cycle of heel strike, foot balance, and then toe off. Of course this works find in shoes but when you go barefoot the diagrams would look something like this:

This is especially so when running; the lateral foot takes more pressure on contact with a sort of momentary supination with a rotation of the foot from lateral to medial pronation, as part of the midfoot strike. Finally there is no “toe off” as such but “foot lift”. Hence the forces involved are completely different.

Having been minimalist running “almost barefoot” in the Vibrams since January 2015 I have noticed some interesting things. (a) I have not experienced shin splints; (b) I have not had any major injuries or major aches and pains, (c) the muscle which is particularly sore at the moment is the Peroneus Brevis, (D) I have red marks (protuberances) after a run on the front of my ankle, and (e) particular tightness in the calf muscles / Achilles tendon.

Above: Muscles which take a pummeling in barefoot running! The Achilles tendon can also gets tight after a run. 

Above: red protuberance after a run on the skin around this tendon, and the one medially running along side of the big toe. Makes me think that tendon and muscles are utilized more for foot stabilization in barefoot running than is used  in conventional running in trainers.

So it would appear (superficially) that the muscles involved in barefoot running are the ones involved in stabilizing the leg on the foot and those involved in the process of supination to pronation (includes the Peroneus Longus and Brevis); and those that act as the shock absorbers (muscles of the calf). Strengthening a specific set of muscles in thus key to barefoot running and hence barefoot running is a skill like any other. It needs practise, perseverance, rest and reflection.

And study. You have to study what your body is telling you.

What I can conclude is that that barefoot running is common in the majority of children but is very uncommon in adults. Our often sedentary lifestyles does not assist this, nor our habituation of wearing shoes. Hence I suppose it is only possible for the minority of runners.

However I don’t think barefoot running is intrinsically any more dangerous than running in trainers. I think you can feel barefoot running more in your muscles so you can take rest before it becomes a stress injury, whereas in trainers you can run on an injury without realizing how bad it is...and realize you have an injury only when it is too late - necessitating a prolonged absence from your running routine.

Verruca! An experiment with some folk recipes.

Verruca pedis is a type of wart which grows on the plantar surface of the foot;  an inappropriate  growth of skin cells and blood vessels into a simple sort of benign tumor, caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). There are countless folk remedies including rubbing a silver sixpence on the verruca, praying on the bible, cutting it in half and burying one half in the earth (the verruca that is not the bible), rubbing on wild turnip, bananas, applying Duct Tape, Tea Tree oil...

According to an old book of mine, in Redwood California a remedy is to put a dead cat under a porch under a full moon and your warts will disappear...mmmm, probably won’t try that...

Well, as you can guess I have a steadily growing collection of the little blighters. I caught this virus when I first learnt to swim at five years old and have been plagued ever since. Even though removed they always come back. I guess I have a poor immunity to the virus... I have had them cut out, burnt out, frozen out, I have used salicylic acid, tea tree oil, myrrh essence but to no avail. They go and then at some point they invariably reappear.

I mentioned this to my Father the other day,  “why, dear boy, you should put pee on your feet”.

Hmmmmmm.

So I googled it and surprisingly rubbing your own urine into the verruca can cause them to miraculously disappear. An experiment was conducted and the results were...

Conclusion 26th May 2016
I can report honestly and truly that rubbing pee-pee unto your verucca does not work at all, at all. The surprisingly efficacious treatment I have found is....

DUCT TAPE - AN AMAZING TREATMENT!

Conclusion.
Remove excess skin with salicylic acid such as Bazuka and then start applying Duct Tape - a miraculously efficacious remedy - guaranteed!