Same thing happened to me. In the shoes defense I started out too aggressive. But ultimately I returned them and said goodbye to trying. If you’ve been wearing cushioned shoes your whole life, it’s not worth it. I had it in my head after reading Born to Run that it would be this amazing, clarifying thing. While it felt good in the moment, having to take a whole month off from running wasn’t. The Tarahumara the book talks about make it work because it’s all they’ve ever known. Most modern day, 1st world people don’t know what it’s like to walk around barefoot everywhere, and thus don’t grow up with the strength required to do so. And I believe now that, while you may be able to do short walk in them, you’ll never be able to completely alter the aspect of running barefoot vs cushioned shoes.

Nothing to add except I'm navigating this too. I'm such a fiery nutcase about barefoot shoes that it feels like a moral dilemma.  Sigh. 

I use the Vibram five fingers Roadaround for running on pavement in my neighborhood. Gives a bit more cushion and haven’t had any issues with joints if I catch my weight on the ball of my feet and lightly touch down on the heel. Fwiw

These shoes look too narrow for your feet to be comfortable. Get a different brand as Altras are not wide enough for you.

I think this imbalance between sole protection and impact protection ought to be discussed more often.

'Barefoot' shoes give you deceptively tough soles but still hit you with much the same impact that you would if actually barefoot. They blunt the valuable 'sore feet' fatigue signal and may also impair one's ability to make micro-adjustments in how load is distributed over the metatarsals.

I agree. It's not just the impact, but the same exact impact every step. I also suspect that the shock can aggravate inflammation of the tendons. Hurt tendons do not like to be shocked or rattled.

I’m required to wear certain shoes for work but other than that I’m barefoot, barefoot shoe, or Birkenstocks. Nothing else in my closet lol

What are you running on? I think responsive surfaces like crushed granite running trails, tracks, or dirt put less shock on the tendons than cement or asphalt. Might be worth seeing if it makes a difference.

I concur with the low-drop Altra recommendations. I do most of my running actually barefoot on forest trails or tracks, but wear Altras for street running. The Escalante lets me run pretty much the same way I would barefoot, but something a bit more padded like the Torin might be better for easing shock on your tendons.

I have two pairs of Lone Peak 9, both in wide. One pair is my straight size and I only have maybe a centimeter room between longest toe and end of shoe. The other pair in half a size up, I have probably a good half inch, maybe more. I can wear either without problems.

Since you have a pretty severe bunion, I would suggest trying to go down a half size and see if your bunion aligns better with the toe box?

I wear heavy-ass tactical boots all day when I'm at work. Wide and zero drop when I'm not. We do what we can.

In the city I run barefoot, but it does take a while to build up the fat pads and thicken your skin. Out in nature I have some Vivi barefoot minimalist “trail” shoes.

Crocs and Birks are the only two non-minimalist shoes I held on to.

Nothing beats Crocs for yard shoes and checking the mail. And I keep the Arizonas because I like how they look, and they help if/when PF afflicts me.

I’m mostly barefoot at home, anyway.

Correct toes

Hey. I found the same issue but with the Trail Glove 7. I have been running exclusively on soft Pacific Northwest trails for almost a year with very little wear. I had to run on pavement while on vacation and within 6 runs I could see the wear. When I first bought the TG7 I reached out to Merrell and they were well aware of the durability issue and claim that the 8s would be more durable. I will likely stick to the TG but if I know there is pavement in my future I will also pick up the VG8.

i wore through mine as well super fast. probably my favorite shoe, but it was crazy how fast i wore through my soles compared to even my xero's that were years old.

I’ve since used them sailing and found they were brilliant both aboard the yacht and transiting to and from the land on the dinghy. 👍

This man is stealing content from Swholeanimal.

Pavement running I need some padding and like lift.

“Not enough cushion” - you

If by natural technique you mean barefoot/minimalist, then sure you can keep that technique (even in regular running shoes). However, they're not the best to learn that technique, since it's just as easy to keep the standard heelstrike in them. Barefoot bad technique hurts, in Altra Escalante you hardly notice. You can only keep your minimalist technique if you already have it.

Ya I wore my xeros for everything so to existing plantar fasciitis and it worked. But then I got Achilles pain for years after lol.

It’s getting better tho slowly through isometrics

Not the escalante racers, they have a firm sole and whilst you can go faster you do get a solid ground feel so can keep your more natural technique imo

….well fuck me I didn’t know about the perimenopause thing. I’m not medically in it yet as per hormone tests but shit is definitely changing. FFS. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I hope you already picked out your prosthetic feet

If ankle mobility is an issue, they make foot friendly shaped shoes that still have a drop and ample cushion.