Beginner bare feet learning how to strike the ground lightly.

1. Raw Food = Great! Raw Feet = Not so Great!
Don’t run until your feet are raw. Bring your shoes (I call them hand weights) and put them on, or return home once your feet get sensitive.

2. Never go until you blister.

3. Resting. It’s not being lazy. It’s being smart.

Between workouts, give a day of rest for your pads to develop. If they feel a little hot and sensitive after a workout that’s a GOOD thing, you did well!

4. Just Say “No” to Pencil Erasers.
Stay off of the wet-stuff when building pads…it’s too easy to turn them into pencil erasers when you hit coarse terrain. Then you rub off all of your hard work.

5. Hot, Cold & Everything in Between.
A little heat is good for pad development, as is a little cold. It means coarse surfaces can be good over time, as well as truly rocky ones. Just start slow. If you’re wearing off your pads, you’ll never build them back stronger. Pad growth should be slow and incremental, building layer on top of layer.

I’ll Catch YOU Barefoot!

~Coach Michael Sandler
]]> http://www.runbare.com/200/5-tips-to-building-strong-healthy-pads/feed/ 5 http://www.runbare.com/53/michael-sandler-of-runbare-running-barefoot-in-deep-snow-on-photo-shoot/ http://www.runbare.com/53/michael-sandler-of-runbare-running-barefoot-in-deep-snow-on-photo-shoot/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:07:39 +0000 Admin http://runbare.com/?p=53

For several years now I’ve been running barefoot through the snow, becoming somewhat of a ’snow runner’ when conditions are good. I’ve always wondered when the day would come it’d be captured on film. Two days ago we were working on a barefoot running video with Ray Keller when inclement weather began rolling in. We asked if Ray’d be up for shooting in the snow, and he was.

So yesterday Ray, Jessica, and I headed out in the snow to have some fun. It was a fantastic day, with over 18 inches of snow on the ground and falling! Thank you Ray Keller for filming in such difficult conditions, and Pearl Izumi for the gear. Enjoy this little clip, and enjoy Mother Nature!!!

runBARE's CCO, Michael Sandler coaches a barefoot running clinic on a Fall morning in Boulder, CO.

Here are 5 things to expect on your path to running barefoot:

1. Skin will be soft and tender. If you run or walk every-other day, the skin has a chance to grow back STRONG.

2. Your arches will fatigue. Try toe scrunches or working with a golf ball (grabbing it with your feet) to strengthen the arches. Then give them too a day of rest in-between runs.

3. The ground will feel hard. This is a great thing! Don’t look for soft surfaces, but hard surfaces such as pavement or asphalt to feel the ground and learn to step light. As soon as your feet fatigue, or you start to hit hard, GO HOME, you’re done.

4. You’ll learn a new stride. You’ll learn you have to stand tall, to keep your core engaged (stomach and back), and you’ll have to land on your toes. Land light and listen. Slapping the ground hard…get forward on your toes. Pitter-pattering light, you’re doing it right!

5. Everything under the skin will fatigue, then grow strong. It takes time. Listen to your feet and in particular your skin. Even if you’re a strong runner, or especially if you’re a strong runner, you may not know your ligaments and tendons need strengthening under the skin. You’re using them differently, waking things up, strengthening things long weakened, and relaxing muscles long-since tight. Being a strong runner, or jumping straight to Vibrams can trick you, if you don’t start slow. Consider going barefoot only every other day, and starting truly barefoot…even if you love your Vibrams. When you go without shoes, it’s hard to go too far…because when the skin gets sore, it’s time to go home. In this game, it’s all about awareness. Awareness of yourself, awareness of the ground, and awareness of how fast you can adapt. Learn to be aware, and you too, will fly!!!

Michael Sandler running barefoot in Boulder, Colorado at the start of an April 2009 snowstorm.

When you run barefoot in the cold, your muscles are forced to do the work to support your feet that shoes or over-supportive boots used to do. Before, when you ran in the cold, your body shunted blood AWAY from your feet and to warmer parts of the body because the feet didn’t need the bloodflow. But when you’re barefoot, your feet NEED the bloodflow to stay warm…so, instead of shunting blood AWAY from your feet, the body pumps more of the hot stuff TO your feet.

AKA, your feet stay warm in the cold. Yes, warm enough to run in the snow. And while I love running in the snow in my shorts (my legs get beat red and my feet sweat for hours,  keeping a good layer or two on the legs helps the feet stay even warmer. Just watch your stride, it can be thrown way off by the clothes.