Week 6, Run 2

Last night's run was decent. It was raining a bit, so my GPS results are a little wonky. The increased humidity also made it hard to keep cool.

It had been raining most of the day, so everything was quite wet. Wet feet are soft feet, and soft feed get chewed up by street running, so I decided to run in my black/orange KSOs which I haven't worn much. They're a bit thinner on the sole than the Trek, which was good, but I also noticed they were a little heavier. I'll probably continue to run in them when it's too wet for barefoot.

This run was basically the same as my last solo run, minus one interval. My pace was every so slightly faster, based on how far up the hill I got before my last interval was over. I actually felt so good at that point, and was so far from the house, that I threw in a few minutes more running. It was good. I'm getting a good idea of what kind of pace I'd need to meet my 60 minute goal time for the Sun Run. At this point I'm not able to sustain that speed for long enough. Maybe on a flat route, and after I've warmed up, I could keep it for a few kilometers, but certainly not 10. But hey, I'm only at the half way point, so I've got lots of time to build on that distance!

First Barefoot Run of 2010

It's funny how restarting something you've done before can be new ground...

I transitioned to running and walking barefoot and in Vibram FiveFingers last summer and am familiar with that process. Getting back into it, however, is new to me.

I just got back from run 2 of week 5. My goal is to do my mid-week runs on Tuesday and Thursday night, but that hasn't been working as well for me as I'd like. Oh well, better a day late that skipped.

According to the Weather Network, it's 5C/41F outside. Perfect for me. It was a 5 minute warm up walk followed by 8 intervals of 2 minutes run, 1 minute walk, and then finished off with a 5 minute cool down walk before stretching. I carried my pair of black Treks in my hands expecting to slip them on after an interval or two when my feet started hurting or get too cold. I ended up carrying them the entire time!

It was another brutal run for me, effort wise. I felt sluggish and tired for almost the entire time. The hills are particularly hard on me this year. Either I'm pushing myself harder this year, or I've fallen further than I thought from my peak. In either case, this is the tough period. I'm looking forward to it getting easy again like it was near the end of last year. I'm also looking forward to doing it at a faster pace than last year.

In addition to easing back into running in general, I guess the only other thing I need to watch for is how much skin I'm wearing off. Now it's time for a shower and thorough foot scrubbing before crawling into bed for the night. Hope my feet are still happy when I wake up.

First Barefooting of 2010

Nothing big, just a quick trip down the block to put a letter in the mail. The ground and air were the perfect temperature for me. Overcast, 7C (45F).

The biggest surprise to me was how natural it felt after wearing shoes (well, FiveFingers) for the last 5 or 6 months. I expected it to feel like the first time, with my feet overly sensitive and my gait feeling awkward. Seems my feet didn't go back to sleep like after the first twenty-something years of wearing shoes and there was no sensitivity problems. As for my gait, I'm giving the credit to Vibram for the design of their FiveFingers line of "shoes".

I'd been dreading the re-conditioning I'd have to do in order to add barefoot running to my Sun Run training, but not so much now. Things are looking up in barefoot land.