Transitioning to Forefoot and/or Minimalist Running Shoes Part 2

Let me say, at the outset, that I am not a running coach.  Any knowledge that I have on this subject come from personal experience, not from any formal training.  Therefore, please take these comments as my own suggestions, not as expert advice.

Here is a brief summary of my history with running:

Throughout my life I have enjoyed being active.  I played various team sports until I was 12, at which point I started mountain bike racing, rock climbing, and running.  I ran long distance races competitively until I was 19 and then moved to Europe for a couple years.  For the last four years I have run off and on; mostly off because running was too painful and I enjoyed biking and climbing more.

Two years ago, while working at a local shop, the desire to run came back.  I was talking to some friends of mine and my boss, who is an ultra-marathoning nut, overheard me complaining about running injuries and how I wish I could still run.  He invited me to go running with him and told me he'd coach me on how to run with a forefoot strike.  I took him up on it and within a few weeks running became enjoyable again.

My Transition

My transition to a forefoot strike started about two months before my first run with my boss.  I have always worn "supportive" shoes with "good arch support".  When I wasn't wearing shoes I was wearing Chacos with "good arch support."  Over the years my feet had become very weak.  About two months before this run, I bought a pair of Sanuk shoes (oh wait, they're not shoes, they're sandals).  They were some of the most comfortable shoes I'd ever worn and they were on sale.  Sanuks, however, do not have "good arch support."  Man were my feet sore.  For the first three weeks or so, every time I would wear these Sanuks my feet would get sore.  The soreness came because the muscles in my foot were getting a workout and weren't used to it.  It's no different than sore arms after lifting weight.

I wore these shoes more and more and wore other shoes less and less.  As my feet strengthened, I noticed that I enjoyed shoes and sandals that had little support.

The trail run I went on with my boss was six miles long and in the snow.  He taught me that I was overstriding which was causing me to land on my heels.  He also explained that it would be very difficult to run properly in shoes with a big, built-up heel.  Because most shoes have a 12mm drop (the heel is 12mm higher than the forefoot), he'd cut a 12mm wedge out of the heels of his shoes to help him run properly.  So, I shortened my stride and quickened my cadence.

Next he taught me that I should have good posture when I'm running properly.  Because of the big heels of my shoes (and laziness), it was difficult to always have good posture.  But, I rolled my shoulders back, stuck my chest out, and focused on having good posture.  This became much easier once I got shoes that have a zero drop.  

He also taught me that my arms should be pretty compact by my side, swinging forward from the shoulder, not across my body.  I was already doing this much.

Finally, he told me it would take a little time to get used to the new technique and to stick with it.  I did, and after a couple weeks, my knee pain was gone.  As the weather warmed up, I started running on the grass at a park without shoes on.  I did this to help make sure my technique was proper (when I run without shoes, I naturally use proper technique; my posture is good, I forefoot strike, etc) and to help strengthen my feet.

One other thing that was helpful was that I read the book Born to Run  while I was making the transition, which helped me stay motivated to run.  After reading that book, I was convinced that I could eat some chia seeds, lose the shoes, and run 200 miles.  Now I'm convinced that snickers taste better than chia seeds, that marathons are plenty long (though I will do 100 miles at some point), and that, with proper running technique, I can at least run pain free.

Transition Pains

As I transitioned to a forefoot strike, my knee pain went away, but other pains came.  First of all, the day after my first run, I could barely walk.  My calves were so sore!  I hadn't given my calves that good of a workout in a very long time.  This, however, was just muscle pain from a good workout, not joint pain.  I stuck with the running and, after about three weeks, my calves were used to the running

My boss mentioned that it's best to transition slowly, starting with a short run and getting progressively longer as your body gets used to it.  I would suggest this, otherwise you do risk injury by straining weak muscles that have not yet adapted to the new strain.

Another transition pain was from plantar fascitis in the ball of my foot.  I think this was caused by older, poor-fitting shoes.  With the additional pressure on the ball of my foot and a shoe that was too narrow in the forefoot to allow my toes to splay properly, the tendons in my foot started acting up and I soon had pain shooting up my foot every time I would long on a rock or tree root (or even a slight mound) with the ball of my foot.

The more I wore these running shoes, the worse it got.  Eventually I threw the shoes out and got a pair of Altra Instinct running shoes (of which I have already written a fair amount) and the pain slowly went away.  It took about a month for the pain to totally subside.

Now I am super picky about the shoes I run in and wear.  These Altras are so comfortable they have turned me into a snob.  There are few things I am pickier about now than my running and hiking shoes.

Transitioning Tips from Altra

Considering my running "coach" is one of the founders at Altra, I often look to them for information about technique and transitioning.  This is what their website has to say about it:

Transition to Zero Drop Footwear

Most Running Shoes are built on a 2-to-1 heel-to-toe ratio (Twice as thick in the heel as the forefoot). Zero Drop footwear by ALTRA has been built on a 1-to-1 ratio (The heel and forefoot are the same heights off the ground).
A lifetime of wearing an elevated heel has neutralized your Achilles and lower calf and THEY NEED TIME TO REDEVELOP!
Depending on your foot and calf strength, many runners will experience some lower calf tightness due to the natural loading effect of running with Zero Drop. Getting into Zero Drop Shoes will be an adjustment for many. Please read the appropriate directions depending on your shoe.

Minimalist Zero Drop Shoe Transition Guide

How to transition from traditional running shoes to Altra's Zero Drop and minimalist shoes… Running Minimalist or Barefoot Transition Program for Average Feet (i.e. Occasionally walk around barefoot; doesn’t wear supportive insoles)
This program is built for runners & walkers who have average foot strength in order to help them transition to barefoot, minimal (i.e. Adam/Eve), or cushion Zero Drop (e.i. Instinct/Intuition) footwear. Candidates are people who use their feet a fair amount, exercise regularly, don’t wear overly supportive shoes or insoles, and those who may occasionally walk around or run barefoot. I suggest doing the following program as part of regular exercise routine. Simply take some time during your workout in your minimalist footwear or bare feet.
For your first outing, go 1 mile wearing your minimalist shoes or barefoot. The following day, evaluate your level of comfort*. If you have no soreness, then add a ½ mile to your routine the following day. Continue running one day, evaluating the next until you get a bit sore. Once you get sore, you’ve found your base line and foundation to build from. Once you find your baseline, simply add a few minutes every couple of days to your routine and continue to evaluate on a regular basis. Within a few short weeks, you should be able to run long distances with no problems.
*The key to being successful in phasing in a minimalist routine is to evaluate your level of comfort and to find a base line to build from. If you get to the point during your workout where you feel uncomfortable, you have probably gone too long and will most likely be a little sore the next day. This is the premise for the whole program.

Closing Thoughts

This is me again, not Altra:

Listen to your body.  If there is pain, that's your body's way of saying that something is wrong.  In my experience, it is much easier to stay motivated to make the transition if you start slowly to help minimize the pain.  If you transition too quickly and you feel a lot of calf soreness, you are less likely to go out the next day for another run.

Running Injuries and Minimalist Shoes

I used to run a lot.  In fact, for about seven years I ran competitively (not ever really winning, but also not totally losing; I was usually near the bottom of the top third).  I ran because I enjoyed being in shape, and it kept me in shape for all the other activities I enjoyed doing, like rock climbing and backpacking.  Probably the most addicting thing about running for me was how good I felt when my body was in shape.

Well, I moved to Europe for a couple years, stopped running, and life was fine.  When I got back to the States, I decided I needed to take up running again.  The problem was, as soon as I started running, my knees started to ache.  Over time, the pain became so severe that I could barely walk.  I had no idea what the problem was.  When I biked, my knees felt fine, but as soon as I'd start to run, the pain would come back.  It was so frustrating.  So, for a few years I relied solely on biking and hiking to keep my cardio up.

I was talking to my boss one day about running (this is while I was working at a gear shop).  My old boss is an incredible runner.  He runs multiple ultra marathons each year (and occasionally wins).  Well, I was complaining to him about how much I missed running and how it was so frustrating to have this knee pain.  He convinced me to go trail running with him the next day after work.  He said that he would bet my knee pain is related to my running form, and if I were to change the way I run, the pain would go away.  I assured him that I run no differently now than I did years ago and I didn't have any pain then, just now.  He said that he would coach me on my form a little and see if the pain would go away.

So, the next day we went out and ran six miles together on the trails.  The whole time he was giving me pointers on how to run.  The biggest thing he taught me was to not land on my heels, but to shorten and quicken my stride and land on the balls of my feet.  It was awkward at first, but I trusted him.  By the time we got done with our run, my calves were so sore that I was hobbling around the parking lot.  Also, by the end of the run he had convinced me to sign up for a trail marathon that was coming up in about four months.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to do the race because of my knees, but they didn't seem to hurt much after our run, so I went for it.

A side note on running technique:  When you run barefoot, your body tends to automatically want to run properly, naturally.  It doesn't allow you to heel strike.  Instead, you land on the balls of your feet, with your knees bent.  Overstriding and heel striking is simply too painful without shoes on.  When you land on the balls of your feet with your knees bent, the impact is absorbed by the muscles of your legs and by the muscles in the arch of the foot, the way the body is designed to do it.  If you run with a heel strike, you land with your leg straight, not bent.  That means that all of the impact force when you land is sent to the joints in your knees and lower back.  There is no shock absorbing mechanism in your knees or lower back (no, your meniscus doesn't count).

I started running on the trails about four days a week, focusing on the new form that my boss had taught me.  Within about two weeks of running with this new form, my knee pain was gone.  Totally gone.  I was really enjoying running again, and within about three weeks I was doing 12-16 mile trail runs on a regular basis.

About two months later, a different ailment surfaced.  This time, every time I would land on an uneven surface with the balls of my feet, I would get excruciating shooting pains up my foot.  I'd dealt with plantar fascitis (which this was) in the past by not running, but I'd already signed up for this marathon, so that wasn't an option.

I talked to my boss and he explained that traditional running shoes can often lead to foot problems, such as plantar fascitis, because they are too narrow in the forefoot and they don't allow the toes and forefoot to splay properly.  Also, after running miles in a shoe, the foam packs out a little bit, packing down more at the center of the shoe, under the ball of the foot than on the outsides of the shoe.  This is due to the way the shoe is made and because the majority of one's bodyweight is centered on that point of the shoe.  That means that after months of running, the footbed of one's shoe, under the ball of the foot, is concave.  This forces the bones of the foot to push together, not allowing the foot to work properly and often inflaming the tissues in the bottom of the foot.  Therefore, traditional running shoes may have been causing more pain than they were helping.  My boss suggested running on grass without shoes every once in a while to strengthen my feet and allow my feet to work properly.  I did this and the pain started to subside, but very slowly.

By the time the marathon came around, I was excited to get it over with.  I was sick of having foot pain (which was still there, but not nearly as intensely as before) and knew I needed new shoes.  I ran the race, enjoyed the first 25 miles of it, and then started to cramp for the last three miles or so.  This marathon was slightly longer than the normal 26.2.  When I got to the finish line, my friend (previously my boss) was waiting for me to welcome me in.  He ended up taking first in that race.  He then introduced me to a few of his friends, one of which was Golden Harper, the founder of Altra Running shoes.  Altra was in its prototype stages back then.

My previous boss, Brian Beckstead, left that gear shop to help his friend start the company Altra.  They had been working for years and years learning about the foot, working in running stores, altering their own shoes (cutting a 12mm wedge out of the heel of their shoes), and ultimately designing new shoes that are supposed to allow your foot to work naturally.  While Brian was my boss, he showed me a prototype of their new shoes.  They looked radically different than the trail runners we sold at our store.  First of all, they were shaped like a foot; narrow in the heel and VERY wide in the forefoot and didn't come to a point at the toe.  Second, they were built on a zero-drop last (Altra coined the term "zero drop").  This means that the forefoot and the heel are exactly the same height off the ground.  Most other shoes have a 12mm drop (sometimes more) from heel to toe, which makes it very difficult (almost impossible) to run without landing on the heel.

It took another year or so for Altra to make its debut and start selling shoes.  They were a small company at first and couldn't keep up with demands.  Within weeks they were sold out of shoes.  A few months later they had some more, but they sold out again before I could get my hands on some.  Finally, Icon Fitness bought Altra and started funding the company, allowing them to make enough shoes to keep up with the demand.  Last November my wife bought me a pair of Altra Instinct running shoes for my birthday.  They didn't have the Lone Peak in stock at that time and I thought I may be doing more road running during the winter than trail.

I hadn't done much running between that marathon and November because all my running shoes hurt my feet and I was enjoying biking and climbing too much.  But getting the new shoes was a little more motivation for me to get after it again.  I have been running off and on since November and I am happy to say that my foot and knee pain is gone.  The only discomfort I have is in my calves when I haven't run for a while and then overdo it.

With all that said, the next post will be a review on the best running shoe I have ever used (and I've used a lot of them), the Altra Instinct.

A note on minimalist shoes and proper running technique: Because of my background I am convinced that the trend toward minimalist/barefoot running is a step in the right direction.  I know a lot of people believe in barefoot running.  I think it's great, but I personally am not man enough to do it.  I like having the protection of shoes when I run, but I don't like shoes to work against my body and cause injuries and discomfort.  So, you won't find me running marathons in Vibram Five Fingers or Altra Adams, but you will find me preaching zero-drop shoes and proper/natural running technique.  I know there are varying opinions about what proper technique is.  To define what I consider proper or natural technique, take off your shoes and run for a couple hundred yards.  It is pretty much impossible to land on your heels.  In fact, it hurts a lot to land on your heels.  Your body naturally lands on the balls of the feet and uses your leg muscles, bent knees, and the arches of your feet to absorb the impact.  That's what I consider natural or proper running form.