Yes. Too much too fast. You just have to be careful if you are going to start simulating barefooting and not actually have your flesh in contact with the ground. I have had the same toe thing and plantar facitis since starting my barefoot journey. Now I can do trail runs for 5 miles in minimal shoes (less than 1 cm of shoe under my foot). The thing that helped me the most was getting rid of any type of arch support in my shoes that I wear everyday and then walking a lot. I had a lot of foot pain at first... walking, running, everything (too much too soon). Also, if you truly go barefoot your skin will let you know when to stop before you do any real damage. If you can walk without pain then I would stick with that until you can run without pain and then only run until you feel that first twinge telling you to stop... often times you can walk a bit and start running again without the twinge, but just know your are flirting with making your injury worse.

After years of listening to my body and pushing through pain I have learned that your body knows what's going on but you have to listen. Yes, you can run through pain and your body will recover eventually. However, your body is sending you those signals so that if you have the option to stop (i.e. you don't need to be running) you will know that you should. Personally, I was always taught as a child / young adult that succumbing to pain is a sign of weakness and that you should push through "unless a bone is sticking-out". Now I realize that I am perfectly capable of running with pain shooting up my leg but that I shouldn't do it if I want to make good progress and be injury free.

Listen to your feet and also take a look at the fit of your vibrams. They are great in moderation in my opinion (I have had my share of nagging injuries with them thru 1.5 yrs of use) but if the fit is not close to perfect you are susceptible to injuries. Part of the problem is that everyones feet are different bit vibram models are all the same. Good luck.....and yes....take it slowly too!

I went through the same thing. Slow down. As soon as I felt my calves get strong I started opening up my runs, and that's when the "top of the foot" pain started. I've read that's because the increased strength of the calves is too much for the ligaments in the foot, which have not gotten strong yet. They take a lot longer.

The frustrating thing is, once that pain sets in, it takes a long time to wring out. I would say I dealt with it for 3-4 months. However, it's now completely gone for me.

The other thing that helped was to really pay attention to form. There are some good barefoot running sites out there that can help, but the best visualization I've come up with is too think of your feet as being on a wheel, and rotate them around and through their impact with the ground. My heel barely touches the ground. I would say only the skin of my heel touches, with little compression, just to give me sensory feedback.

You'll find that good form starts to degrade as you push either speed or distance, so that can also be a gauge on whether you are doing too much too soon.

Good luck!

My feet hurt! I'm on day two and have walked a total of a block. I think I may lose my big toe nail.