Monday, June 08, 2009
















Longest Vibram Run Yet

I did about 11 hilly miles.
And it felt really great. One thing that continues to astonish and amaze me is that I have NO muscle soreness. If I run in shoes, and run hard and long...I'll get the usual stiffness afterwards. Especially after I get up out of the car after I've driven home from the trail. But yesterday and today...nothing! I haven't read anything about this barefoot phenomenon anywhere else...but in this experiment of one there is no muscle soreness. Infact, they feel better than just not sore...but almost massaged by the run.

The only "problem" I've encountered is a little bit of fluid accumulation above my right knee. No pain whatsoever though. And the puffyness went away overnight. I'm thinking it's a protective reaction to the change in stride and hopefully not a problem at all. My right leg is definitely my weaker leg, I broke my tibia a few years ago so I think that its relative weakness may be causing this. I'll keep an eye on it and if anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment!


















3 comments:

Billy said...

That is a beautiful, beautiful trail. Congrats on the distance PR in the VFFs!

Question: did you experience any problems as far as footfalls and sharp rocks/twigs/other misc items were concerned?

CoyoteGirl said...

I actually did not encounter any of those problems...surprisingly. I anticipated at least one mishap, like a toe jam or two. But as you know, you end up watching out where you are running more in VFFs/barefoot than in shoes. And your footing is WAY more surefooted because your foot molds to the ground. It felt more like sticking to the trail like fly paper rather than skidding around on it like I often feel in shoes, especially on rocks. I'm convinced it's really much more safe. I don't think I can run in shoes on a trail anymore. Yikes.

Julie said...

Hi CoyoteGirl! I saw the link to your blog on the Runner's World Forum. I'm new to VFFs too and have been blogging about it at couchtohalfmarathon.blogspot.com

Come by if you want to compare!

I'm not running as much as you (just started back to running several months ago), but I'm also not having muscle soreness (or very, very minimal soreness). I keep thinking I'm not pushing hard enough though my Heart Rate Monitor says otherwise!