I'm glad barefoot is working for you, and there's some cause /effect there. Stepping up in distance can lead to injury as you've experienced, without changing your shoes if you'd concentrated on doing what you've done (improving form, building strength / stablilty) in switching to a different foot strike you'd likely have solved the problems anyway. Hard to prove though...
My experience, and why I won't go barefoot...
First Marathon 2003 - legs in bits, ITB trouble made it around sub 4 lots discomfort. Lesson learned = stretch more, listen to niggles.
2004 -> 2005 = hip injury, caused because core strength/stablilty not there, go away and work on solving it + start swimming etc. Followed by a couple of steady seasons establishing in Tri.
2007 -> 2009 - near uninterupted training year and a half (only memorable injury was where I jarred my foot on a rocky path during a race, so not training related). Marathon PB brought down close to 3 hrs, sub 29 for 5 miles, low 36 for 10k.
edit 2010 - didn't race, couldn't commit to regular training /edit
All on low mileage. In the Marathon prep for April 09 I ran Jan 45, Feb 75, Mar 112, Apr 113 (including the race). My monthly ave over the 16 months data I've got to hand is 60 miles, so roughly 15 per week on average.
Long runs are in Asics GT21 series, shorter / races in DS Trainer or similar. Some XC and trail running too.
So, based on my experience, I don't feel I need to run in Barefoot technology (or to do high mileage - another recent trend) to enjoy the sport or keep injuries away.
That's not to stop others from doing so though, nor me from saying it's not the only option...
I'm glad barefoot is working for you, and there's some cause /effect there. Stepping up in distance can lead to injury as you've experienced, without changing your shoes if you'd concentrated on doing what you've done (improving form, building strength / stablilty) in switching to a different foot strike you'd likely have solved the problems anyway. Hard to prove though...
My experience, and why I won't go barefoot...
First Marathon 2003 - legs in bits, ITB trouble made it around sub 4 lots discomfort. Lesson learned = stretch more, listen to niggles.
2004 -> 2005 = hip injury, caused because core strength/stablilty not there, go away and work on solving it + start swimming etc. Followed by a couple of steady seasons establishing in Tri.
2007 -> 2009 - near uninterupted training year and a half (only memorable injury was where I jarred my foot on a rocky path during a race, so not training related). Marathon PB brought down close to 3 hrs, sub 29 for 5 miles, low 36 for 10k.
edit 2010 - didn't race, couldn't commit to regular training /edit
All on low mileage. In the Marathon prep for April 09 I ran Jan 45, Feb 75, Mar 112, Apr 113 (including the race). My monthly ave over the 16 months data I've got to hand is 60 miles, so roughly 15 per week on average.
Long runs are in Asics GT21 series, shorter / races in DS Trainer or similar. Some XC and trail running too.
So, based on my experience, I don't feel I need to run in Barefoot technology (or to do high mileage - another recent trend) to enjoy the sport or keep injuries away.
That's not to stop others from doing so though, nor me from saying it's not the only option...