I'm trying to increase my mileage while also improving my form so I dont get hurt so I've been trying to change my running from heal strike to forefoot. I dont have the money to buy the vibrams running socks that help with this so I'm stuck trying to learn with my running shoes. I am now running 6-7 miles and trying to forefoot strike 1-3 miles to get used to it but... it hurts like hell and I run slower, not to mention I fell like i'm tiptoeing and not running.

I usually run 6.4 miles in 58 minutes( I know i run slow) but my times improve as I train and endurance builds.
Should I ditch forefoot and just stay heel strike?
Anyone have any links to help my forefoot journey?
The Tri season is over for me but I have a few foot races coming up so I have 8 weeks to train.

A painful meniscus was one of the reasons I took a break from the sport a couple years ago. I tried to start running about a year ago, but the pain returned. I had good shoes, Kayano 14s, 2 pairs. Last March I started walking/jogging a few miles a day & now average about 25 miles a week. I've only had a mild calf strain. The biggest factor for me staying injury free is that I stay off the tarmac, 95% of my running is on soft shoulders.

I have toyed with running with a more flat footed foot strike, it works well for me when my legs are tired. It seems easier on my body to go with shorter strides & faster cadence. When my legs feel solid, the flat foot style seems way too slow, especially downhill. I haven't noticed much discomfort running this way other than my shins got a bit tight at first. If it was any worse, I probable wouldn't have continued with it.

I also run slow. https://connect.garmin.com/activity/49567354

I won't try to give too much specific advice, because every person's physiology is a bit different. But to enhance your feel for striking with the ball/instep of your foot, run hills.

More and more hills.

When you do so, "commit your body" to the hill--meaning, lean way forward (into the hill) and project in the direction you want to go (parallel to the ground). Basically, you apply force through the balls of your feet & toes so you do not bounce, but move in the direction you're going.

After you run lots of hills this way, when you run on flats, try to project forward--that is, apply power forward instead of into a bounce. Typically, when you do this, you will naturally roll your body forward a bit and land on the front half of the foot.

This is all hard to explain...a running coach would do a fantastic job helping you.

BTW -- if heel-striking is really a habit you're looking to break, as you very well should, try running barefoot in grass sometime. And spend more of your day barefoot if possible. Being barefoot will help develop relevant muscles; running barefoot will help you with the form I tried to explain above.

+1

+1 for barefoot running in the grass

You can't jump into the forefoot strike, your foot's not ready for that. You'll strain it. I went to barefoot running, overran and screwed up my foot. I had to go all the way back to running a half-mile, slow, focusing on form, then up to a mile, then a mile and a half, and so on, until my feet go strong enough to deal with that new foot strike and running form. It's not a fast process. Saying that, I love my Vibrams and I love the way minimalist running feels. Not sure you'll be able to get the footstrike right in any shoe that has a heel because that heel won't allow you to have the proper stride for a mid/fore foot strike.
This is a great blog for that kind of stuff:
https://www.runblogger.com/

A book on long distance running and some new shoes prompted forefoot and barefoot running. That goes against conventional running advice for the last several decades. I think what makes sense is just do what comes naturally. For most of us, that's a heel strike. For others (think it's something like 30%), that's a forefoot strike. When one does what isn't natural to your body and counters years of what it's used to, injury occurs.

However if you do want to learn to run that way, hills are the key but not uphills - it's down hills that lenthen your strides and then you can land on the ball of your foot. Learn to lean forward, keep your upper body perpendicular to the ground, and let the weight of your trunk "pull" you down the inclind. Resiste the urge to land on your heels as "brakes." Warning - only do this once or twice a week and not for any long periods. It's really easy to get injured including stress fractures from over doing it.

I agree that downhills are more effective, and that they can do a world of good for running form. However, they are more mentally taxing on many runners trying to adjust form. I've had clients get really uncomfortable when we would do downhill exercises, but they learned striking form well going uphill.

But to the OP, this is good as well. Takes a little while to adjust, so expect that.

i just kinda gave up on form it was killing my calfs, at least till the off season. What i did do was started making sure i land under my hip and doing shorter strides and high cadence and it did help but i started having hip pain, I cant win for losing!
BUT.... i did it in 57:32 the other night so I'm getting faster.

Hills are out I live at the beach in North Carolina so-no hills. I got alot of advice on slowtwitch about upping my milage so I think i'll start walking/joggin during lunch on my off days and keep going every other night. but right now my wife is asking i drop back to just 3 nights a week so i'll work it at lunch somehow.

has anyone got a plan for a 20 weeks out 13.1? Half Marathon in March even if I have to crawl I'm determined to make this happen!

From a Proofs professor of mine who helped me train for my half during summer--start at a brisk 5k. Up your mileage a kilometer per week while maintaining a desired race pace. That puts you at 25k (or 15.5 miles) by the week before at or above your race pace.

That is a once or twice per week run. Always have an LSD run, and if you're really concerned about speed, do a day of intervals each week as well. Total of four days per week, so just alternate days for sufficient rest.

Worked for me, YMMV.

yea i managed a 8:13 last night for my first mile but struggled at 3-4 and had to walk twice for 30 seconds and then felt dead the final 4-6 ended up with a 58:13 for 6.32 miles. way above my target of under 55 by November but i felt like crap, it was raining and still had the 90% hummidty to fight with. atleast my target 10k is the second weekend in november so I'll have better times with it being colder and no hummidty.

finished the 5k leg of my run last night in 24:45 and thats when I got slow. i need a long distnace run the most I've done is just under 8 but i feel like it would help my overall to do 1 a week of 10+ miles.

Hmmm, looks like you have two different things going on. One goal is to add mileage + speed, the other is to change your form. (Okay, maybe that is 3, I never claimed to be good at math though). I hear mixed opinions on changing running form - some say you run like you run, others say you can re-train. I'm personally more in the re-train camp. I used to look like I was running in flippers, long legs, really long strides, major heel striking. I read Ken Mierke's book and made some changes a few years ago. Big key for me was to stop thinking about speed for awhile and just focus on form - proper posture, +1 on the slight lean, and shorter and quicker strides. At first it felt like I was running in "baby" steps, but I did increase my turnover significantly, and that eventually began to translate into faster run splits. Just started the Romanov video, and I've enjoyed parts of it as well.

well i have improved my stride but i'm still getting a heel strike just not as bad now. its more flat footed.

2 good things have happened though thats improved my game.

1. I run a 1 mile and walk a 1/2 mile with my daughter to get her ready for her race in November shes 9.

2. when I do the run with her its warmed me up and got my muscles pumped so i've been running my 5k training runs in 23.0-23.15 minutes. yep thats right I'm now running with a 7 minute mile time frame.

but I can't keep up that pace on my 10k's not yet anyway. my best time is 57.13 which is horrible considering i'm doing 23-24 minute 5k's. I haven't had a pre-run yet though.

i'm curious to see my times with the pre-run warm-up. wouldn't it be cool to have a sub 50 minute 10k!!!

I got a lot of useful information out of "The Triathlete's Training Bible", it may be worth a look next time you're in a barnes and noble...or you could just watch kenyans run in slow motion on youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r3_sKkHnTU

i've had a few friends that rushed into the vibram craze only to end up with some busted up ankles and unable to run for a couple months, be careful with these shoes and gradually move to them as your forefoot strike gets stronger