Ran a track workout with the group again this Monday and the new running form is feeling less and less awkward. Still a little tightness in my calf from the skipping incident, but well enough to workout if I don't push it.
I ran some 200s, 400s, 800s and strides with one of my star athletes and was able to maintain a forefoot strike the entire time. The things that have been bothering me the most since beginning this attempt to change my form have been a sore left forefoot, sore/fatigued calves and tightness in my upper left hamstring. I still feel the tightness in my hammy, but I think my calves are adapting nicely. I don't really get super DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) any more, but it's still a bit stressful. No pain in the left forefoot this time. My weight isn't going down significantly, so I guess the new running muscles are just getting stronger. I even tried purposely lapsing into my old heel-striking technique and it felt very awkward. That's a good sign of progress!
I didn't do any barefoot stuff that day, but like I said I maintained a forefoot strike the whole time. I also concentrated a lot on minimizing the time my feet spent on the ground with each step, which is also one of the subtle key differences between great runners and not so great runners.
Looking forward to tomorrow's group run. I'll keep updating and try to put up some posts with more interesting discussions of barefoot running, primitive running etc.
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Hey Rick... I finally got around to reading your blog. I like it! I, too, have been trying to run without a heel strike for the past two weeks and my calves are killing me! I was stupid about it, though. My first full run doing it was five miiles. My calf started bugging me with two miles still left and I kept going. I just couldn't believe how great the rest of me felt. I tried to switch back to a heel strike, but it made me feel so tired so quickly that I decided to sacrifice the calf. Guess I probably should have just stopped! Oh well, I'm still at it and the calves are getting better (well, the distances are shorter, too). Yesterday, though, was tough. I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet, however. I'm going to chalk it up to being tired and too much shoveling! Thanks for writing. I'm looking forward to reading more!
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