Barefoot Style Running - Now at day 10

I have now read Barefoot Running Step By Step by Ken Bob, but before it had even arrived I had given in to temptation and ordered some Merrell Trail Glove running shoes. I had initially planned to go for some Vibram Five Finger shoes, however the sole of the Vibram interested me more than the 'toe glove' style. Seeing as the Merrell shoe utilises the Vibram sole it seemed ideal. I really like the look of them, though they are a huge change from my Saucony Pro Grid Ride 3 shoes. Even more so when you add in the additional Neonene insole and Superfeet insole I have been using in the past 6-9 months the Saucony in an attempt to deal with this foot issue.

From...

  to...

When I first unboxed the Merrell I feared they had sent a size or two below what I had ordered, as the shoe looked so small. But it fits very well ...the depth of the sole at the heel is almost 2 inches less in the Merrell! It is also much more flexible (you can bend it double so that the toe touches above the laces), and weighs half as much as the Saucony.

It won't be an instant switch from one to the other of course, and who knows, it may not work out. But after reading the book by Ken (which I would highly recommend) I have been pretty optimistic about this transition. And I'm always motivated re: running, which is what has made this foot issue such a pain. Recent training log as follows (pace/distance based upon Garmin Forerunner GPS Watch)

27-5-13: Approx. 0.1 mile barefoot, felt very awkward and slow.
28-5-13: Approx 0.3 mile barefoot, as above. [11.3 min/mile average pace]
29-5-13: Calfs suffering aches and stiffness
30-5-13: 0.5 miles barefoot. Focus on keeping knees slightly bent as per book instructions, which helped. But still very awkward. [9.24 min/mile average pace]
31-5-13 Calfs very tight and sore (I guess I was actually doing it right the previous day!).
01-6-13 Calfs still quite tight and sore when barefoot
02-6-13 0.6 mile run in the new Merrells. [10.07 min/mile average pace]. The shoes feel a good fit, but the running was quite awkward. I keep catching my legs switching to a heel strike landing rather than a forefoot landing with heel drop.
03-6-13 0.6 mile run barefoot. [10.16 min/mile average pace] Slightly less awkward sensation.
04-6-13 Calfs quite tight and sore.
05-6-13 1.2 mile run in Merrells [8.26 min/mile average pace]. Now this is the first barefoot type run that felt good! I was trying to bear in mind the "fall forward while cycling" type advice for this running style, and also had only a few accidental 'heel first' strikes. The running didn't feel particularly awkward, and at peak pace I was managing 6.41 min/mile pace.

In the above I didn't mention my normal running, which is typically two 5 mile runs every 3-4 days. I found I could sometime carry this out quite normally even when my calfs felt tight and sore when barefoot - that sensation just vanished when wearing my old running shoes. Which goes to show just how different the style of movement is.

From here I need to make sure I don't overdo it I think, and keep the transition gradual. Ken recommends spending several months running entirely barefoot, but I don't feel able to follow that. However I do plan to continue 'vanilla' barefoot running a minority of the time for better form feedback.