Primitive Running 3 - Worst Idea Ever?

Hey followers. Don't have a lot of time to write, but I want to get some thoughts out there before they leave my head.

During our group track workout on Monday some of us ran a portion of the workout barefoot. I've been doing this for a while now, but not everyone in the group has. Quite a few people decided to try it. Today I ran into one of the barefoot experimenters and she told me it was the worst idea ever and that her calves were super sore. Walking a flight of stairs that normally takes her a few seconds was now requiring minutes. I asked her if she thought it was an injury or just a serious case of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). She said if they're still sore tomorrow she'll consider it an injury. If not, I'm pretty sure it's just DOMS. I've had lots of DOMS myself since starting the forefoot strike/primitive/barefoot running stuff.

I also pulled my calf doing barefoot skipping during the track workout. Had an extensive warmup, but maybe my time off (sickness plus holidays) combined with going for too much on the high-knee skipping did me in. As of Wednesday the calf was well enough for some easy jogging, but still injured. Should I blame barefoot training for this mishap? Yes and no. YES because the injury probably would not have happened if I were doing my normal in-shoe heel strike, but NO because it also probably wouldn't have happened if I had been running barefoot for many years.

Guess I haven't spoken yet about how barefoot running and a forefoot strike are related. Watch this video for a quick primer, then maybe in a later post I'll revisit the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9itkEkcQ8WM

Cheers y'all!