Barefoot vs. Moonboots

Alright, so there is a raging argument between which is better: barefoot running or running in super-technical running shoes with microchips and stuff. (Seriously, Adidas came out with one a few years ago that would adjust cushioning for different runners.)

A couple of years ago, I was running in a pair of Five Fingers, and I was told by a non-runner who had read a few articles on the matter, that barefoot running would destroy my arches. When the book Born to Run came out, running barefoot became such a big deal that you'd have thought it would cure cancer. It seems like there are a lot of people that feel very strongly on this matter either one way or the other. It's not hard to find comments online where people are dropping F-bombs back and forth at each other over their certainty that one form of footwear is superior to the other.

Let me shoot for the middle here. I have tried barefoot running and I have also spent considerable time running in techy, very cushioned shoes. Here is what I have found.

1. Barefoot running makes you feel like either an indigenous man in a loin cloth or a varmint running the streets and trails. Either way, it is smooth, quiet, and a lot of fun, but...

2. Barefoot running can be painful, especially at first. Your lower calves will scream at you and the bottom of your feet will get worked-over pretty well. You'll also run a bit slower and need to shorten and quicken your stride, as hitting your heel with those big, long strides from high school track will really smart. But within a month (even a couple of weeks), it isn't too bad at all, especially over shorter distances (<7 miles for me).

3. If you dive into barefoot running too quickly, you will likely get injured... duh. This idea seems to allude many people, especially those who swear by their cushy shoes. I would expect that a break-in of several years would be necessary to become injury resistant at distances that one used to do in their cushy, supportive shoes.

4. I have a feeling that some people may just have an anatomy that will never allow them to barefoot run for very long. It stinks, but it is true. Being raised with your feet living basically in the casts (fancy, supportive shoes) may make switching very difficult.

5. Barefoot running teaches you to run in such a way that your knees, hips, lower back, and shins will thank you. This means your feet don't strike out in front of you and you strike mid foot. You will have to shorten and quicken your stride to do this, but it is actually way more efficient anyway. Here is the truly novel thing... you don't actually need to have barefoot running shoes on to run this way. Especially if you can find a shoe that doesn't have too big of a heel rise in it.

   
   

   So, which is better? BOTH!!! They are each good for different reasons, and both have their issues. Personally, I use bigger shoes when I am pushing my distances, running in the winter, and running rocky trails. I use my more minimalist shoes when I'm running for fun on warmer days and sometimes just for the heck of it other times as well. I would like to be running exclusively in minimalist shoes in the next five or ten years, though, as I just really like the idea of it.

Periodization

Beginning the HIT strips as well as several injuries have taught me the importance of varying the intensity of training. Basically, all serious athletes do it if they have a clue about how their body works. When I do the weighted HIT strips more than 5 times in a row (~2 weeks when the mandatory 48-72 hour recovery is included), my fingers begin to feel a little tweaked and my weights begin to decrease slightly. This is known to some as cumulative fatigue.

It's then time to take an extra day off and then climb without weight for a while in sets that are long enough that they make you want to whimper over how bad your muscles are burning (called power endurance training). I usually do this for about 2 weeks as well.

After the power endurance, it's time to take a few weeks to climb some endurance (the fun climbing on easy routes that allows one to work on coordination and never be in much pain).

After the endurance weeks, it's time to take a week off and then hit the really intense strength training again, starting the cycle over.

This periodization principle, is one of the keys to increasing injury resistance and to avoid plateaus. Plus, the varying intensity can be synchronized with another sport (running in my case), and during the less intense phase in one sport, you can schedule the high intensity time in the other. This is one of the things that is allowing me to train for an ultramarathon while still not seeing a crash in my climbing strength. It also keeps me from growing to passionately hate one of the sports.

HIT Training is Working Stupendously!!

I find it a little frustrating how very few people seem to post on what they do in their training that is working, so since I've tried a few things that have really worked recently, I thought I should share. A lot of the stuff I have learned will translate well for people in other sports besides climbing and running.

HIT Strips

As shown in the picture, these are basically just big climbing holds that have pocket, crimp, and pinch options. The workout I'm doing (as per the instructions that from Eric Horst, the inventor) involves doing two sets of up to twenty hand moves with each grip with exactly a three minute rest. To keep reps under twenty, you add weight to yourself.

Results:

I really started counting the weight increase after I had done it for two weeks, as the first couple of weeks involve a rapid increase due to training muscle coordination so that you can pull harder with the same muscles. This continues to happen after two weeks, but to a much more consistent and less wildly rapid degree.

When I officially began recording weights I could not complete twenty reps with the following weights for each grip:

Pinch: 5 lbs

Open crimp: 25 lbs

Closed crimp: 0 lbs

Index/middle finger team: 5 lbs

Middle/ring finger team: 0 lbs

Ring/pinky finger team: Not doing due to injury

Just this last week (4 months of training), my weights had risen to:

Pinch: 35 lbs

Open crimp: 55 lbs

Closed crimp: 35 lbs

Index/middle finger team: 55 lbs

Middle/ring finger team: 50 lbs

Ring/pinky finger team: Still not really doing due to injury in forearm.

I can say that a bit of the increase in weights can be attributed to whole body muscle memory making the HIT strip climbing process more coordinated, but a recent change to some really crappy shoes that coincided with weight increases even with my feet occasionally popping off show that the strength increase I have seen is very legitimate.

One other note that I should make is the even though the HIT strips are designed to target finger strength, I have noticed that my pullup test has gone up more rapidly since beginning HIT training. I had been working my pull muscles consistently since the beginning of 2011, and I have gone from ~16 to ~25 ( taken post workout, so some fatigue existed) at a time. My pullup ability seemed to plateau during the spring in the upper teens, but then jumped to ~25 in the late fall.