So my trails here at home present a wide variety of running surfaces even though the entire loop is only 1.5 kilometers. I have soft sand, freshly tilled hills of rich loam (from the activity of pocket gophers and other diggers) hard baked crusty dirt (or it would be if it ever stopped raining), grass, weeds, roots poking up through the ground and so on. The only thing I do not have is hard rocks or gravel although there is a section of trail carpeted with pine cones which are quite interesting to run on since they are hard and also they roll and break underfoot.

And I have some minor hills. I can and will extend the trail system to be much longer but they need a lot of maintenance.

So today was my second run in my VFFs outdoors under real trail conditions. I cannot emphasize too much how absolutely different it feels to run on an indoor cushy track versus running outdoors. The indoor track (and I presume any road surface one usually runs on), is completely safe and you do not have to worry about your feet at all. You just sort of lock everything in its place and start cruising down the road or track. However, if you run on real trails, you begin to notice that you feel everything, as I have said before. I do not run as quickly as I would on a track. On a track or road there is no problem with your ankles or joints because they operate exactly the same with every stride and they operate on the same plane with every stride. On the trail, this never happens. Every footstep is different and your ankles twist and turn every which way to compensate for the uneven surface. Surfaces which seem hard at first suddenly yield unpredictably to your weight and you instantly compensate by actively redistributing your weight in real time to avoid injury or to avoid falling. Running on the trails with minimalist shoes is kind of like snowflakes: No two steps are alike. When the surface of the ground is hidden by vegetation, even though closely mowed down, you cannot see some holes which do cause problems. Any hole or depression large enough (say 3 inches or more in diameter) is a problem when it is hidden by vegetation, and on my property there are thousands of holes from thousands of hole making creatures.

The effect of this is that you run very cautiously, meaning you cannot run as quickly as on a safe uniform road or track. Of course, if you run the trail often enough, you will know when you can speed up and run with abandon and when not to. Another effect which I feel is astonishingly good and important is that you have to focus closely on every square inch of the surface you are running on and react instantly to any odd thing you may feel with your sensitive feet. This means you are using foot muscles and flexibilities that you have not used for a long time. It also means your brain is working very hard trying to sort out all those new challenges and inputs and is burning new neural pathways.

So yes, I think minimalist running is very interesting and worthwhile. I have not tried other types of shoes like the Nike Free for instance so I cannot comment on how they feel. Nevertheless I think the term “minamilist running” should be defined so that it is independent of any specific type of protective foot covering, whether that protection is a nothing at all except really tough calluses on your feet, socks, Vibram FiveFingers, or any other kind of protection. So my suggested definition is any kind of running where you have no stability structures, cushioning, or support, and your feet have every degree of freedom in movement that being actually barefoot can provide, at least for running purposes. That would be three degrees of freedom. As to cushioning, that would be anything obviously designed to absorb impact such as gel inserts as opposed to the hard pad of the sole designed to protect from cuts and abrasion.

I would like to point out that this is not quite true. Certainly, if you do not eat and continue to work hard, in desperation your body will begin to burn everything and anything it can for fuel and that includes muscle tissue. But this only happens if your store of carbohydrates are 100% depleted and you do not eat or drink. However if you eat properly before and during a race, you need not worry at all about this happening.

For the following discussion, I have taken my facts from an article written by Bobbi Barbarich, Msc RD, an Edmonton based contributing editor of the Canadian Running magazine. Her article is highly informative and very valuable for knowing how, when, and what to eat. I will give the link to the article at the end of this post.

In general, the level of effort per unit time decreases as the run gets longer. For example, if you run a 5 km, you can literally burn pavement and go all out. For a 10 km run, the intensity tones down a bit and you have to go slower. For a half marathon, you can still run at a pretty good clip, but for a marathon, and more still for an ultra, you run at a much slower pace. The energy requirements for a run depends on at least two factors.

The first is how trained or fit you are. A trained runner can store approximately 800 grams of carbohydrate which at about 4 calories per gram equals 3200 calories. Ordinary folk, however can store only about half that much. This carbohydrate is stored in the muscle, the blood stream, and the liver. The liver functions to keep the blood levels at a steady state, or tries to. Once that is depleted, the runner hits the famous “wall” at around 32 kilometers for a marathon.

The second is how fast you run. The faster you run, the more energy per unit time you need. Which is why elite fast runners who have twice as much carbohydrate storage capacity than we do still hit the wall at 32 km.

I have taken the liberty of lifting verbatim a portion of Bobbi’s article to illustrate what kind of fuel you need to run these distances:

HALF MARATHON

Intensity: High

Calories: 1,300

Fluid: 2 L

Goal: maintain hydration.

Fuel used: 250 g carbohydrate.

Fuel intake: None necessary. Sports drinks may benefit, especially if glycogen stores are low, and temperature or intensity is high. Experiment during training.

FULL MARATHON

Intensity: Moderate to High

Calories: 2,600

Fluid: 4-5 L

Goal: Maintain glycogen stores and hydration.

Fuel used: 450 g carbohydrate; some protein and fat.

Fuel intake: Maximum 60 g of carb with 15 g of protein per hour. Sports drinks are critical. Gels and bars may be useful, but do not consume more than maximum. Do not eat fatty foods.

ULTRAMARATHON

Intensity: Low to Moderate

Calories: Minimum 3,000, plus daily metabolism (400 or more, depending on race length)

Fluid: 750-1000 mL per hour

Goal: Maintain glycogen stores and hydration, limit protein catabolism.

Fuel used: 600-800 calories per hour; 50% carbohydrate, up to 50% fat, some protein depending on carb intake.

Fuel intake: Limit to 280 calories per hour. Aim for 60 g carbohydrate and 15 g protein for hour, split into 15-minute increments. Sports drinks, bars and gels are vital. Taste fatigue plays a role; vary your drink and bar flavours. Eat savoury foods like salted pasta, soups, potatoes and pretzels. High-fat foods like nuts and cheese will be needed in events 100- miles and longer.

The link to this article is here.