Snow

It has been a while that I write something on my blog, the reason was that I was recovering from an knee injury caused by kickboxing. I have learned to listen to my body and give it time to recover. But sometimes it keeps frustrating! I did not run for almost three weeks until I don’t feel my knee anymore, than I gradually started running, 20 minutes every two days for a week, 20 minutes every second day and then expand my run every two weeks with 5 minutes. Everything was going well and suddenly out of nothing at the end of a run I felt my knee again. At that time I get frustrated, but luckily  it started snowing! When it start snowing you have to get used to this low temperatures so you must shorten your time outdoor. With that as reason it was more acceptable to shorten my runs, in psychology they call this reframing and for me it works. Even a short run in the snow creates a smile on my face and gives me a strong feeling!

Hello Huaraches goodbye Five Fingers !!!

As I told in my last blog I ordered a pair of Huaraches at invisible shoes from SteveSashen. I could not wait for them. But after five days a finally get them by mail. Unfortunately I had no time to modify them ( I ordered a DIY-kit). But yesterday evening I had finally time to make them. First of all this was really easy, I made them in about 15 minutes with the clear instruction video’s from Steve. It was late but I could not wait to try them, so I put them on and I ran a few times up and down the street. I was even more enthusiastic, it felt great!! This Sunday I planned a 1 hour 20 barefoot run so I left and when I came back I  put my huaraches on and did a 3 km test run. Because of the fact I was running barefoot before I tried them on I was able to compare them with the barefoot feeling. It was unbelievable!!! You almost don’t feel them because they are very light weighted, you can feel different surface through the 4mm sole (I ordered the 4mm Contact) and your feet are still bare which is a great feeling and for me very important. Before the huaraches I use VFF’s for harsh conditions (melting asphalt) because I thought they were a good alternative for barefoot. Nothing more is true, comparing with Huaraches the VFF’s feel heavy and the sensitivity is zero. Beside that you don’t have bare feet and that is one of the reasons I like barefoot running!! With this my VFF’s had their longest time on my feet!!

Huaraches instead of Vibram Five Fingers

Every year we go to France to spend our holidays, this year was great. The weather was great, four week blue sky and temperatures between the 32 and 39 degree Celsius. I like the high temperatures like a snake lying on a rock in the sun, also I like to run in this temperatures. It’s a great feeling to feel the sun on your body ( I am working on my tanning while I am running so I only wear my shorts) and watching your shadow on the ground in a perfect cadence. The only thing I don’t like is the France asphalt, it’s a bad surface to run with bare feet. They use very sharp gravel to cover the surface to protect the asphalt from wear and tear. The first time I go out barefoot, after returning from a 30 minute run I had real damage on my feet and also melten asphalt. So there was no other choice than to use my Vibram Five Fingers. It’s the first time that I have to run on my VFF’s. After four weeks running with my VFF’s I am reasonably satisfied with them during training. The protect your feet good against the rough surfaces and the melting asphalt, but the lost of sensitivity is major. The last 10 minutes there was a new part of the road with white stripes on the side, great to run on when it’s hot, so I put of my VFF’s and go barefoot. The difference was huge!! Comparing with barefoot running with VFF’s feels like running with heavy shoes. This experience made me to look for an alternative for the VFF’s, and I decided to order some huaraches, the famous running sandals of the Tarahumara. I ordered a DIY – kit on Invisibleshoe.com and I am waiting for them. I cannot wait to put these on to try them!! If I receive the package I will write about them as soon as I tried them. Until then I will use (if necessary) my VFF’s.

My Vibrams 

Sunflowers Chateau Neuf sur Isere

No heel strike

Sometimes the answers are easy!  Looking at the picture of my last run I was confused, it looks that I landed with a heel strike. But that is almost impossible if you ran barefoot on a surface that is very rough. By chance I met a guy who is working for a company that is specialized in motion sensors and he told me that he had a colleague who is also running barefoot. So I contact the guy and he send me some links to video’s he uploaded, and one of these showed me the answer on my questions about the heel strike. Just watch this video and you will understand why. On this site from Xsens you find a video where they demonstrate how to use motion sensors in sport, at 3 minutes and 10 seconds you will find Vibram Five Fingers in action!

Heel strike ?
Barefoot running has everything to do with pushing the boundaries. First you have to put of your shoes and start walking barefoot, after that you have to start running barefoot. Then you have to increase your time and mileage. And if this is not enough you have to encounter different surfaces which also has influence of all the items I mentioned before. This weekend I reached another stage, in mileage, time and surface, running the Kadeloop in a place called Schipluiden. The track is 7 km of asphalt and 5 km of trail with pebbles, stones and gravel. I was a little nervous for this trail but it went well. At the trail I changed my strike to a more mid feet strike to land more softly. After the run I don’t had any blisters are other damage on my feet, positive feedback on my running style! But after looking at the picture a friend of my made I was surprised because it looks like a heel strike! I am almost sure that it is not possible, because a heel strike on a surface like this will hurt very bad and I did not feel any pain at all during the run. It is the only picture I have so it is not possible to analyze it but it made me very curious!

Improving Running form

After the session with Wouter Buist I made a great progression. With the adjustments in my running form I ran more easy with the same speed. A week after the session I ran a 5K and I realized the same time as the race where I had blisters on my feet. This time I had no blisters and I ran with using less energy. The most spectacular improvement is the change of landing, I had an extensive forefoot landing with a stride which was a little shorter than my shod stride. Now I changed it to a fore-mid food landing and a much shorter stride. This results in less “crawling” with the toes and with that no more blisters. Also the impact on my calf’s is reduced whereby I can run for a longer time. Before the session I was running maximum 30 minutes and in four weeks I made a progression and I had my first 10K race (51 minutes). For now I keep on working on improving and training my running form!

Wouter Buist

After the experience with the 5K race I thought it was time to consult an expert to figure out what I did wrong and how I can improve it. So I made an appointment with Wouter Buist, a Dutch movement scientist en physiologist which is a specialist in barefeet running. It was incredible what he learned me about my running form in a two hour session. This session gives me a total new point of view considering the right running form and it also becomes clear what I did wrong. My longest training I ever did on barefeet was 35 minutes during this session we where training for almost two hours and it wasn’t a problem at all. I made a great progression in understanding the running form. I also learned that I have to slow down to adapt this new running form. Wouter gives on a regular basis workshops barefoot running, but you can also consult him for a personal training. If you start running, barefoot or shod I can recommend you to do this! For more information about Wouter and the barefoot workshops I recommend you to visit his site

My first 5K race!

On the 21th of april I ran my first 5K race barefeet, the time was not very good but that was not the goal of the race. But even when I was not running full speed, I was confronted with a change in running form due of the higher speed. Two blisters on the top of two toes make that very clear. But besides that it went very well, and the most important thing for me I felt great!! With this experience it is time to go more in dept how to improve my running form so I can ran on higher speed. So time to listen to the body!

Running as if you are riding a bike

Yesterday it was 11 degrees Celsius and almost no wind, the perfect conditions to go out and run. I am still building up with barefoot running so I had to run 22 minutes. I always start inside with a warming up of 20 minutes on the cross-trainer, this prepares your body for action and your feet are wakening up through the relief on the footsteps. Outside I start slowly and after 5 minutes I speed up if the body and feet feel good, yesterday it felt good. I speeded up to a speed I never did before with bare feet. I ran with I high cadence from over 180 and it felt like I was riding a bike. With my history as a amateur road racing cyclist I have ridden a lot of time challenges. During a time challenge you have to reach a stage where your legs are going round in a perfect cadence. Yesterday I reached that stage while I was running, I think I reached a new stage in barefoot running!

Soft feet

Always’s when I’m running people ask me if it not hurts and if I’m not scared for glass or other sharp subjects on the road. I’m running barefoot for about 10 months and in this time I never had wounds on my feet caused by running barefoot. Everyone thinks that callus prevents you from wounding your feet, but I don’t have callus on my feet. If you have a good running form, you run smooth, friction with the floor is minimal. My feet are so soft that during kickboxing my feet get hurt by the floor in the gym. So ladies if you want to get rid of your callus go running barefoot!

Ice man

Today I reached a new stage in my barefoot journey. This morning I did my 20 minutes run in the snow with a temperature of -7 °C and a cold eastern wind. Yesterday evening I had some doubts and I was thinking to put on my VifeFingers, but I like to run barefoot. So this morning I go out on my bare feet. The first minutes it felt cold but gradually my feet became warmer despite of the snow and wet roads (with salty water on it). The first 10 minutes I had the wind in my back, the last ten minutes I was running with my head in the wind. And that made that my feet on the upper site felt very cold but not unpleasent.
I had a great start of this day and these runs proves that the human body can more then we think. Every run on my bare feet makes me stronger, not only physical but also mental!

Barefoot winter

Het nieuwe jaar is begonnen, een jaar waarin ik mijn eerste wedstrijd barefoot wil lopen. Het maakt me eigenlijk niet uit of het nu een 5 km of een 10 km wedstrijd wordt. Ik heb het gevoel dat mijn lichaam langzaam begint te wennen aan de nieuwe manier van lopen. Ik voel nog wel steeds dat ik andere spieren gebruik als bij het hardlopen op schoenen. Vooral het optillen van het standbeen in plaats van het afzetten naar achteren vraagt veel van de bovenbeen spieren en de Hamstrings. Het is tot nu toe een zeer goede barefoot winter, de laagste temperaturen die we hebben gehad zijn -6 gr. Celsius.Tot mijn verbazing gaat het prima om bij deze temperaturen op blote voeten te lopen. Ik zorg altijd voor een goede warming up op de crosstrainer waarbij mijn blote voeten door de profielen op de pedalen lekker gaan doorbloeden. Daarna gelijk naar buiten, de eerste drie minuten voelt het of je met je voeten in een bak met ijsblokjes zit, maar al gauw daarna worden ze warmer en is het lopen geen enkel probleem. Wat echt een fantastisch gevoel geeft is wanneer je na een koude training langzaam de warmte weer in je voeten voelt komen, daar kan geen sauna tegenop!!