In my ongoing quest to gather the world's wisdom on barefoot running, I asked Chris Adams, otherwise known as The Running Coach, a Vivobarefoot certified coach from Chesterfield for his top tip. Here is his sage advice:
"My advice would be understand what you are trying to achieve from the transition, why you are attempting this and how much you are prepared to work at it. Learning any skill requires time, patience and practice, as well as conditioning your body to support this if this involves a physical activity; which of course running does.
Simply put, practicing barefoot running is teaching yourself the skill of running again. For example, if you have been running incorrectly for 25years, whilst you can be taught the skill in a day's session, your body will not adjust so quickly and your coach should help you identify the area's you need to strengthen, increase flexibility, and the tell tale signs to look out for during your training/adaptation."
The main point that struck me here is the way Chris talks about the role of the coach. I suppose he would, being a coach, but it makes sense. I'm the kind of person who likes to do a lot of research (you may have spotted that by now) and then go out and try to put it all together on my own. But there is a lot to be said for someone with more knowledge and experience than you looking on and identifying weaknesses and errors. I'll give you an example:
I recently went skiing for the first time. In Cyprus, would you believe. There is a tiny handful of slopes in the mountains, in the middle of the island, and it is not unknown for holiday makers to ski in the morning and sunbathe on the beach in the afternoon. Fortunately, I was there with my friend Steve who is a level-something qualified ski instructor and all round good guy. He started me off with the snow plough, as any good instructor will do, and we'd progressed to going down a short run by the afternoon. Good progress you say - I doubt I was ready, but we were only planning one day so I needed to feel like I'd done some actual skiing.
But I was struggling with agonising cramping in my hips every time I tried to hold the snow plough position. I couldn't understand how everybody was doing it so easily and painlessly. This was until Steve took the liberty of filming me and playing it back. I discovered that my version involved holding my knees together as if tied with a rope and splaying my legs outwards. It was utterly bizarre and not entirely physically possible. I had no idea I was doing it and, if that's my usual level of leg control, it's a wonder I can run in a straight line! But having somebody with more knowledge and experience looking on meant he could spot my mistakes and help me to correct them. I can now confirm that skiing is considerably easier if you don't hold your knees together.
So, the question is - will I involve a coach, or do I back myself to learn the technique from videos and websites? I'm assuming that it does come naturally to a certain extent. That's part of the reason for changing to minimalist shoes - they insist on a different style. But how will I ensure that I'm not learning some new, bad habits? I guess Chesterfield isn't that far away, I could consider a trip for a training session. But I am a reluctant spender (I also don't know right now what it would cost, there are no prices on the website). The simpler alternative is to ask the coaches at Barrow Runners to help. They're not barefoot specialists, but they will know how to identify bad running technique. In the end it's the technique, not the shoe, that makes the runner and plenty of faster runners already effectively employ a barefoot technique.
Or perhaps I'll ask Steve to film me, and discover that I run with my knees joined together too. Now that would be worth putting on youtube...
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