Day 2 - The absence of soreness

A lot of the advice regarding barefoot running, and the transition thereto, is about starting small. People, especially experienced runners, set off too quickly, heading straight out for a long run in their new shoes and damaging themselves in the process. So I've been keen to heed that advice. I've been cautious in my ambitions and deliberately limited myself to half a mile the first day. I've read about sore calves being the usual response to this change of shoe and, though I honestly felt I'd barely gone 10 steps yesterday, I was expecting that today.

But there was nothing. Not a hint of soreness. A slight pain on the top of my left foot, but that was there already. It's one of those pains that appears and disappears with running - you don't know why it is there, it's unusually sharp, and then it is gone a day or two later. I think I've learned to discern the difference between that kind of phantom pain and a real problem by now, and as such I almost don't want to mention it. But in the interests of being thorough and transparent I think I should. But it's nothing. Honestly. (Hmm)

My calves feel normal, so does my achilles, so do my feet. Do you know what this makes me think? I didn't run far enough. I could have done more. That's my natural reaction. My research tells me to still be cautious but my inner voice, which wants to build strength quickly, is telling me, "Go and do a couple of miles. You'll be fine." I do know that some coaches, eg Lee Saxton at VivoBarefoot (who most acknowledge as the expert) talks about doing 1 mile at first, provided you've already done some strengthening exercises, which I have. So it's possible that I am treading a little too carefully.

I won't be running again till Thursday night, when we have a club grass track session. My plan is take the barefoot shoes with me, warm and do some of the session in my old Brooks, and then slip the Merrells on towards the end. I think I could move up to 3/4 of a mile, on the grass. Or am I already slipping way from my considered, cautious approach?