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Unfortunately, this isn’t quite true, at least for now.

While barefoot running or using a barefoot running technique has some tremendous advantages for ultradistance runners, it’s something to tread into lightly and extremely slowly.

Barefoot running can help you run lighter, faster, farther, and more efficiently than ever before, and with less impact and less chance of injury. But it requires patience, diligence, and time to build into. Though you are born with the natural ability to run and with proper stride, it takes time for your body to relearn.

Whether you’re working into minimalist footwear, or some fully barefoot running, you’ll want to start fully barefoot to begin. (You can find more tips on transitioning at RunBare.com or in our book Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth.)

Begin with only a few hundred yards, just enough to let your feet feel the ground and begin to wake up. You have more nerve endings on the bottoms of your feet than almost anywhere else in the human body—it’s why you’re feet are so ticklish and why reflexology exists. By going barefoot you’re taking the blindfolds off your feet and letting them feel and sense the ground, finding your lightest stride possible.

Going fully barefoot lets your skin be your guide. It helps keep you from doing too much, something we’re all too capable of doing as ultrarunners. Turns out the fitter we are and the more of a distance athlete we are, the more likely we are to overdo it. So go fully barefoot for the first few weeks, letting your skin stop you when it’s tired. Carry your shoes with you as “handweights” and never be afraid to put them back on early if your skin tells you to.

You see, it’s much better for your soft and sensitive skin to tell you to stop, rather than cooking the muscles, ligaments, tendons and even bones on the inside. So let your skin be your guide.

Getting into barefoot running or a barefoot running style takes time for several key reasons. First, our feet aren’t used to moving three-dimensionally; they’ve been trapped and adapted to the world of a two-dimensional shoe. That means the twisting and rotating that a bare or nearly bare foot experiences is more than it’s used to. Second, the foot, calf, and Achilles are all weak and atrophied. The muscles of the feet take time to build back (the great news is you can grow an arch, and you can strengthen those feet!), and your calves and Achilles, once stuck in shoes with a high heel, have to stretch, elongate, and slowly return to their natural length. (Your Achilles can shorten up to 50 percent in high-heeled shoes.) Check out your running shoes—they have higher heels than you thought! Additionally, barefoot running is running nice and light on your forefoot, which is the equivalent of doing a calf-raise with each and every stride. Picture doing 100 calf-raises a minute for the next 20 to 30 minutes. That’s several thousand calf-raises for only a 5k. Picture what that’ll do to you if you don’t build in slowly. (If you’re reading this, already own a pair of Vibrams, and didn’t start slowly, then you know what I’m talking about!)

To transition safely, you’ll need to start with very short distances and build up slowly. Increase 100 yards every other day, always “resting” (no barefoot time) on the in-between days. You can continue your normal runs with your traditional stride and distance. As your barefoot time builds up over time, cut back your traditional shod time accordingly. (I have a 3-times rule. Until you’ve fully adapted, 1 mile barefoot is the equivalent of 3 miles in a shoe.) Always do your barefoot time first, before your feet are hot and sweaty, and before your body fatigues. (Barefoot running is all about proper form, which trumps strength and endurance any day.) Then when you’re back in your traditional shoe, go back to your old form for now (giving the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bones a chance to recover and build back stronger).