When you run barefoot you can expect to feel some aches and pains in your feet and ankles when doing some hard training — especially when you wake up in the morning. At least that is my experience. What I did not expect was blood in my urine when I returned from a fast 8 miles with my Dog around 10pm last night. The air temp is still 100 degrees when I went out. I do not think I had enough water, but I drank at least a pint on the run. So I am not sure if the blood in the urine was from impact on my feet, or from enlargement of the membrane that keep the blood separated from the urine, or from the the walls of the bladder hitting each other. The last can happen if you bladder is empty. Mine was after the first 1/2 mile. The tinge of blood in urine happens to distance runners, and to barefoot runners. It is not a serious problem from what I understand unless is happens consistently. Basically I am taking this as an indication of how much I am pushing myself to increase my speed.
Now that was not the only surprise for me. As many of you know, I have been documenting my weight gain, even though I am certainly burning huge calories. I have been striving to change my diet from a eat anything and run hard and long, to eating and training smart. So before I took off on this run I ate an incredible dinner prepared by my wife Michelle of Salmon, sautéed baby squash and onions, on rice. My beverage was water. The surprise was when I woke up to get take care of the twins (they are just a few days shy of 1 year of age).
Normally after a fast run like I did last night I can expect my calves, ankles, and feet to be tight and sore. Sometimes taking a few minutes to stretch out when I get up, and for the soreness to subside. As I slipped my feet off of the bed there is this pause and hesitation as you are going from sleep to walking to brace for the wobbliness as you get on your feet. So I step down, stand up and take the corner around my bed to see why one of the twins is crying. As I am doing this I have this huge realization that my feet, ankles, and calves are not tight, sore or creaking. My guys are teething and so a few ounces of cold milk in the bottle seems to be quite calming. I get the bottle from the kitchen, return to the crib, back to my bed, and quickly back to sleep. Since I have twins you know that this pattern will repeat again. It does, and again I feel the same ease in steps to the crib, to the kitchen and back. I feel the same way when I wake for the day.
Now yesterday was the forth of July. I ate my traditional fare of food. Waffles and eggs for breakfast, chicken and beans burritos for lunch and a lot of crap for dinner. Potato chips, dips, Coke, veggies, and dips. This morning as i woke up, I am back to my routine of lower body tightness, creakiness, and soreness.
Wow!
There is no question in my mind that the correlation of this lower body tightness, creakiness, and soreness is directly related to my diet.
On David Goggins on competitor radio. It is pretty cool.
Michael Carroll
Years ago I was training 5k for speed. I had an urge to urinate badly during one of the runs. I peed blood. Come to find out I had a bladder stone. Had a catheter and ultrasound done and it passed.
Yes, I wondered if it might be that also. I have passed a stone and my kidneys were screaming like a hot knife had been shoved in them. No pain, no cramps, leeds me to believe that it was not a stone. Nice to have you post a comment on my blog.
Regards,
Michael Carroll
I’ve had just this same experience with a few of my early ‘barefoot’ runs – not actually barefoot but in Vibrams. I’m sure that for me it’s to do with traces of heel striking and hard foot landing which remain, as I have now learnt how to eliminate it – albeit by running slower.
I am not sure what is the cause, because I have run some tough stuff and have been running barefoot or minimal for a bit now and this was a first time experience. I ran fast that day, but I do not think my foot impact changed. So you would think that it would have shown up earlier.
Michael
Hi Michael, I too have had the issue with blood in urine and it scared the heck out of me the first time. I am a lunchtime runner, and when I was on the East coast I’d stretch it out for up to 8 miles. If I emptied my bladder completely before or during the run, my bladder would “get beat up” and cause blood in my urine. Since that happened a few times, I’ve made sure to never run “on empty” and never had the issue again.
Hi! Do you still have the same pair of Vibrams? I bought a pair of the sprinters the third week of June and have been wearing them everywhere. I’m bummed because today I noticed a tear/hole in the sole! How have yours held up?
I do – I am getting ready to post up my 800 mile update on my original KSO’s. I would love to hear how you are running and wearing your Vibram’s. I wear them everywhere too.
I love them! I run 40-50 miles a week in them. Of course, there was an adjustment period at first as my feet and legs got used to life without sneakers, but now I barely notice. Do you get a lot of attention when you wear them? It seems like at least three people ask me about them each day. And people look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them that modern running shoes could possibly be hurting more than helping, and that they should transition to Vibrams/barefoot. It’s weird how Nike, Adidas, et al, have most everyone convinced that their feet have ‘problems’ that only their heavily-padded sneakers can ‘fix.’ I’m glad that I’ve seen the light.
Hi Mate, really liked your post on yahoo groups about what I call the consciousness of running could not agree with you more.
As for your diet related experiences I can only encourage you to keep going the way you are and examine that relationship as an athlete I have only seen an increase in my ability by moving to a raw food diet.
You may not want to be so extreme but the more raw and live foods you can get into you the better off you are
https://www.runningwarehouse.com/catpage-MRSINOV8.html
I would order mine from here our zappos maybe. I have the 315’s.