Not all footpaths are created equal

Stepped it up today in preparation for the marathon in mid May. Having run almost 15km barefoot during the week, which was the furthest I had been sans-shoes until then, today I decided was the day to find out once and for all if I could do the marathon barefoot.

The judges scores are in, and it's a win for the unshod. I ran 27km over 2 1/2 hours, and would have kept going if it hadn't been for a lack of water. Very happy! I definitely have tender feet, but given it's the furthest I've ever run shoes or no shoes, I'm not concerned at all. I know they would have been tender even in shoes. I have one blood blister to show for it, but given I used to get more blisters than this when wearing shoes, I reckon that's a stunning success.

Not all of the paths were smooth sailing however. Some were a little rough. I took a picture on one section of the footpath here:

This was taken on a stretch of path on the Nepean Highway 

near Dandenong Road. I may steer clear in future.

So yeah I had to take it easy in some sections, but the majority was fine, and at times I completely forgot I was relying on the soles of my feet for padding.

Some things I learned, and I'm glad for the early heads up:

• I took a recently purchased fuel belt with 4 fuel bottles. I filled 3 up with coconut water, and 1 with plain water. The ratio needs to be reversed! I barely finished one of the coconut water bottles, but was dying to suck down some regular tap juice, and this is what ended my run a few km's short on the return journey. Otherwise this was a winner.
• Chafed Nipples. Must find an answer. It didn't happen until well into the second hour, but by then I was wishing for something to protect the poor buggers from exploding. If anyone knows an easy solution other than vaseline (it stains shirts) I'm all ears.
• Need something to hold the home made gels. A snap lock plastic bag aint cutting the mustardo. A squeezable / washable / refillable pouch of some sort would be ideal. Something akin to a toothpaste tube, but with a bigger opening.
• Speaking of gels, these were like liquid gold. A few times I started to feel tired, and forgot that I had the gel. Once my memory came back, a quick hit of these had me back full of energy. The recipe can be found in Brendan Brazier's Thrive Diet book. This book is a fantastic resource for exercise fueling facts and recipes. I think a hit every half hour will do the trick.
• My hydration strategy was one sip of water every km, alternating between coconut and regular. This was fine, but I need more water to wash down the gels. Water won't be an issue during races with drink stations, but out on training runs there are no volunteers. Selfish bastards.

I'm now feeling quite confident about the marathon. Better to iron out the kinks well in advance. I'm tired today, but a good tired. 

I sometimes forget that it's unusual to not have injuries from running. Well, I still haven't had any since going minimalist / barefoot. 9 months and counting. No strains, no tears, no rolled ankles, no plantar fascitis, no achilles soreness, no shin splints, no ITB, nadda, nyet, zip, zilch. I don't even bother stretching any more. Yet people in shoes look at me like I'm the crazy one.

Run for the kids

The run for the kids came and went yesterday. I completed it in a time I was happy enough with, 62-63 minutes give or take for 14.38km. I wasn't too thrilled with the way I felt though. The first 10km were ok, then I hit the wall and the last few kilometres I felt ill, which is a first for me. It was a strange sensation - I was not out of breath at all, but my legs felt like lead, and there was a sick feeling in my stomach which wouldn't go away.

I have had many runs where I was pushing it as hard as I could and wanting to stop, but they always felt good in a twisted masochistic kind of way. This was different. It didn't feel healthy and I have been feeling pretty crappy in the 24 hours since, which is another first. I am glad I finished without stopping, but this run has made me think about what drives me to run and what I get out of it.

For starters, I will be going barefoot for all my running from now on. I just feel that the vibrams (or shoes in general), as awesome as they are, are aiding me to run faster than I am ready for. Although a few weeks ago I was definitely running faster, backing off a bit of late has meant I should have dropped my pace in the run accordingly. I think that's a benefit of going barefoot I hadn't previously considered - your feet toughen up at the same gradual pace that your fitness improves, and you can't really overdo it without getting blisters. So everything will hopefully stay in sync from this point onwards.

I have also realised that although it's fun to push yourself against the clock, I don't know that I'm really all that interested in posting personal bests any more. I get far more enjoyment out of our cruisy runs on the weekends, and I think I'm fit enough now to not be too concerned about times or miles. It feels like pushing it too hard in races is the ego talking, and unhealthy both in mind and body. That's not to say I won't be trying to improve my speed, but I think that will come naturally and gradually as my fitness improves, and the times can fall where they may.

It's a completely different philosophy of running compared to my approach so far, but one that I think will be a lot healthier and much more enjoyable.

Put the shoe on the other foot

A little while ago I was searching around for some info on barefooting and stumbled across a podiatry forum. Intrigued by what podiatrists might have to say about the subject, I had a look at some of the topics around the "barefoot running debate". Well my immediate impression was that there is some serious anger on both sides of this so-called debate!

I won't go into detail, but to summarise some of the posts I read, they didn't seem to be against barefooting, yet attacked barefooters with a zeal usually shown by David Koresh wannabes. I engaged a little with them and came to the conclusion that it was a natural defensive mechanism, as they feel that a lot of the "barefooting community" (I'm sure there are communities out there that are barefoot, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to label a few barefooters here and there as a community) attacks them personally, and that some skew the results of research to suit their own argument.

I'm not doubting this happens for a second, but it seems a little sad to me that we are reduced to such an unproductive "us vs them" mentality. Some remarked "bet the barefooters will hate this!" in response to some research which indicated certain people would benefit from motion-control shoes, and had nothing to do with barefooting at all. My problem with this (apart from the unjustified schadenfreude response) was not that the research may be incorrect, but that it merely addresses the symptoms.

I think this goes back to my rant last week. Instead of addressing the real issue (in this case it was people with over-pronating feet), the research attempted to establish the best corrective shoes for people who over-pronate. The obvious question goes unanswered - why the bloody hell are they over-pronating in the first place? Where is the research to determine if this is a natural state, or something that results from their footwear or other factors? Has anyone conducted any studies of children's feet at a young age to determine if a significant percentage of people naturally over-pronate, over-supinate, or are these occurences rare? Why do we make the assumption that there is something wrong with us?

Why not start from the other position - that nearly everyone is able to walk with a pain free gait, and that something else is causing high incidences of poor walking form? It seems to me that 2 millions years of evolution has gone into the way we walk and run, and that's it's a pretty stupid assumption to make that all of a sudden in the last century or so, a significant percentage of a species that relied on its mobility to survive now can't walk without motion correcting shoes or orthotic supports. I know that in some cases people will either be born with issues that require correction, or accidents may cause a loss of motion or mobility, but surely these are the exception.

Continuing with the theme of there probably being nothing wrong with us, I think I have found the cause of my occasional left knee pain. On our hump day run I made an extra effort to observe my running gait, and tried to detect any differences between the way my left and right legs moved. It paid off, and I discovered that I needed to make a slight adjustment. It immediately felt better, although it also felt quite strange, as it is something that I think has been ingrained in my running style for a long, long time.

Another win for going barefoot. I can't prove it, but I don't think I ever would have figured that one out while wearing shoes, or even the vibrams.

I think back to the problems I have had with my feet over the years. When I was a teenager I played a lot of golf. About the age of 16, I started getting real problems with flat feet, to the point where I could hardly finish a round due to the pain. My parents took me to a podiatrist, and they gave me some orthotics. These definitely alleviated the pain, and I was able to get moving again, albeit still with some discomfort at times. I wish I knew then what I know now - I could have saved years of intermittent achilles and plantar fascia problems, thousands of dollars on shoes, and a lot of the pain I experienced when I started running if I'd just gone au-naturale.

Treating the symptoms didn't resolve the underlying problem. It rarely does.

Call me Zola...

I went for a well needed run at lunch time today, 4 days was too long a break. My knee was aching again this morning. I think it's channelling my sub-conscious and telling me to run Forrest, run. So it was 3 times around the tan or thereabouts for 12km. On the third time round a guy caught up and called me Zola. I'll take that as a compliment. I guess not many people see someone running barefoot around the tan. This was fairly evident from the countless quizzical looks I got from most people running the other way.

We got chatting and he is in training for a half-ironman in Hawaii in June. He did a full one in China last year and is now just getting back into it. So we were running together and chatting for about 10 minutes and I realised how much more quickly the time passes when you're running and chatting at the same time. Before I knew it Dave the Scot (I should have asked him how Annie Lennox is these days) was off back to work and I found myself around the other side of the tan.

Time to find a regular running partner on some of these longer runs. You out there Jack? Let's pick up the distance :)

Day 47. Oops!

Thanks to monsieur valentine, I completely forgot to run on Sunday. And then again yesterday. Not sure I can blame him but I will anyway. So my goal of running everyday is now shot to hell. Bah.

Will I continue anyway? Well I most definitely will continue running most days, but now that the bubble has burst I doubt I'll keep up the blog. Maybe just when something interesting happens.

I'll definitely be sticking to at least 2 big runs a week though, possibly 3.

Day 43. Is it even worth mentioning?

Another short run. I think I'll stop blogging these short runs unless I have a few thoughts to go with it. It takes longer to get the blog post up than the run itself...

They have put another layer of sandy gravel down on our local track which is good, as there were a few rough patches with sharp stones ready and willing to cause bruising.

Run Summary
Distance : 1.19km
Time : 5:33
Elevation : + / - 3m

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Day 42. Scaling back

I am scaling the running back. Not because I don't enjoy it, or because I am feeling injured or tired, but I am concerned that it may be causing me to lose too much weight. I am slim enough as it is and although I feel quite healthy now, I'm happy to drop the excess body fat, but I'm wary of overdoing it and dropping too much lean body mass along the way.

So I am going to drop to 1 long endurance run per week, and 1 speed / intervals session per week, along with twice weekly gym sessions. On the "non-running" days I will run no more than 2km at most, and do it barefoot to continue the adaptation. This may not be a permanent thing, but I will do it until I am comfortable that I'm able to meet all my body's nutritional needs first. Some reading probably required.

So tonight was a 1.25km run, 3 circuits around the aths track. I found it incredibly difficult to stop at this point! These short runs will be merely to maintain the discipline of daily running.

It was absolutely belting down tonight in melbourne, and it was a pleasure running in the rain. Heading out in the massive storm that hit earlier this afternoon would have been brilliant, but alas I had to satisfy myself with watching it from the office. Sigh.

Run Summary
Distance : 1.25km
Time : 5:51
Elevation : + / - 0

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Day 40. Summer Cruisin'

Another cruisy run tonight, keeping it (mostly) under the aerobic threshold. I need to start running in the mornings again. It's so hot at the moment. Some more random barefooting on paths and grass, and I'm getting the hang of the adjustment to the running style. It's a skill just like any other sport.

Run Summary
Distance : 4.03km
Time : 19:06
Elevation : +4.6 / -14.8

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Day 39. I want to get high...

On grass...

It occurred to me that I have been almost exclusively running on hard surfaces, so today I hit the grass as much as possible. There are a few parks around so I took advantage of them. It is definitely a nice feeling, and no chance of blistering up :)

3 easy runs in a row...I think it's time for a bit of speed work tomorrow. I enjoy the chilled out pace but I also love to get out there and thrash it until I feel like I can't go any more. That reminds me of a passage from Born to Run - most people do their slow runs too fast, and their fast runs too slow. It makes sense. You need to either be below your aerobic threshold and burning fat (and teaching your body to become better at that), or pushing it so hard you force a response from your body to become faster, through rebuilding bigger and better and more efficient, so that you have a higher top speed, and a higher cruising speed.

Anywhere in between and you're just burning sugar. That's fine for racing (if that's your thing), but it won't get you a hell of a lot fitter.

Forgot the heart rate monitor today - bad boy.

Run Summary
Distance : 3.69km
Time : 17:49
Elevation : +9.1 / -7.7

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Day 38. Baby I was born to run...

Read the book Born to Run for the second time this weekend. It's easily one of the best books I've ever read, and definitely the most inspiring for runners. I did read Once a Runner too recently which was a great read, but I definitely prefer Born to Run.

Every time I have doubts about my sanity for running barefoot, I just think back to this book and realise that it's insanity to put bit thick padding on our feet. I mean, if you started putting thick padded gloves on your kids any time they tried to use their hands and went around telling people, "it's ok, it's better for them because it's safer and corrects their poor hand usage technique", people would think you're crazy. And if a company started manufacturing such a product and told us we needed it, we'd think THEY were crazy. Yet that's exactly what the running shoe companies have conned us into doing with our feet. Ah, nothing like the sound of sheep bah-ing. The marvels of modern marketing.

But I digress. Two easy going runs in a row now, and I feel fighting fit again. I certainly could have kept going today, but it was a good distance to build up a light sweat and have me feeling good, and aching to get out there and ramp up some faster runs again. I trialled what I learned a few days ago with the barefooting to avoid causing friction on the mid foot, and it seems to be a winner. On occasions where my concentration went walkabout I definitely noticed a bit more friction, so it's something that I still need more practice at.

Basically for me I need to focus on a very slight "toe-poke" as I'm lifting my feet as if a ball were just in front of me and I want to lightly touch or kick it. It takes a bit of practice to do this while still keeping the legs relaxed, but I feel like I'm getting better at it. The pace feels the same, the amount of energy expended feels the same, but without the blister inducing lifting of my feet. It's only a very subtle change, but worth persisting with.

Run Summary
Distance : 5.19km
Time : 26:44
Elevation : +6.1 / -4.1

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Day 37. Some discipline of a different kind

Today was a deliberately sloooooooow run. It took discipline of a different kind to make sure I didn't break out into a faster pace, and that I kept the run to a minimum distance. I felt perfectly fine, but after feeling so fatigued at times this week I know my body needs some rest. Something I'm not necessarily good at.

So there ya have it. I can restrain myself after all. It sounds bizarre I know, but it was actually difficult to do.

Run Summary
Distance : 2.25km
Time : 12:39
Elevation : -

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Day 35. DOMS and the Machine

Have a good case of DOMS today from Touch Rugby on Tuesday night. The adductors were screaming all day, although they seemed to ease up when I got on the treadmill at the gym for my warmup. The run tonight was in place of running to work, which will be tomorrow morning assuming I don't sleep in.

Absolutely buggered today. 2 nights of little sleep in the heat, plus touch rugby, plus the concert last night (Florence and the Machine absolutely rock live, go you good things) and not getting home till late all adds up.

But the run tonight as usual has me feeling chipper. I dunno how it works, I just know it works. I wasn't feeling too keen on the commute tomorrow but now it's all systems go. I also found that making a small change in focus when my feet land and lift off seemed to reduce the friction on the balls of my feet. A bit of playing around with it and by the end of the run I think I might have solved the blisters problem. Time will tell but it felt right.

Run Summary
Distance : 5.67km
Time : 27:12
Elevation : +5.9 / -8.6

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Day 34. Sore!

I was feeling pretty sore and sorry for myself this morning after touch rugby last night. We always turn up intending to take it easy but we never do. We still sucked so badly we didn't win a game the whole season and got thrashed most games, but at least we finished it and scored at least one try every game :)

An easy barefoot conditioning run today. I am sticking with a plan of one hard day followed by a barefoot run for the next few weeks to see how everything feels. It was good to be able to knock out a few km's at a decent pace when feeling that bruised and tight, and a good stretch after was just what the doctor ordered.

Run Summary
Distance : 4.18km
Time : 18:39
Elevation : -8 / +2

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Day 33. On the verge

I went out for some intervals today, intending to do about 5 or 6. The hammies got very tight towards the end of the second interval though, so I called it a day early. Possibly a bit wussy, but I don't fancy getting an injury.

Run Summary
Distance : 6.66km
Time : 30:56
Elevation : +32 / -32

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Day 32. A new month

An easy barefoot conditioning run today. 4km around the aths track at a very slow pace. I can feel a bruise or something similar on the ball of my left foot's small toe. I am pretty sure it's nothing serious having broken enough bones before to know what that feels like. It was tender to start but seemed to ease up by the end of the run. Ironically I remember stepping on something while walking around at home which is the most likely cause of this.

Otherwise I just concentrated on light footfalls, trying not to make any sound landing, and it felt good. I suspect my heart rate monitor wasn't reading correctly at the end, since I stepped up the pace but it didn't seem to make any difference to my heart rate. Have to monitor the monitor...

Run Summary
Distance : 4.19km
Time : 21:19
Elevation : +0 / -0

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Day 31. Tan Time Trial

Jack was heading down to the tan so I joined him for a few laps of light jogging, with one time trial lap thrown in the middle. After getting around in 15:27 a few weeks ago, I wasn't sure how I would go this time, but was pleasantly surprised to just pip the 15 minute barrier at 14:59. Talk about scraping it in. So the next target is 14:30. Maybe by the end of February...


It was getting warm out there even by 9 in the morning, so I'm glad we went early. This arvo would have been a killer. Although I completed about 14-15km in total, I'm just going to list the time trial run here, as I can't be bothered uploading all the other run details. Our last 1 and a half laps were done barefoot at a pretty easy pace. I had to call an end on the second trip up Anderson St as it was generating a bit too much friction even at a slower pace.

Although the tan is not the fastest track - apart from being hilly, it's a bit slower running on the sand / gravel than sealed surfaces - I think I'll make it my end of month time trial for any month where I haven't got a race coming up in the next week. The hills make me want to spew and I feel like stopping most of the way after I reach about 2km in, but that's why it's so good to do :)

So that's it for January! A summary post is on the way.

Run Summary - Tan Time Trial
Distance : 3.83km
Time : 14:59
Elevation : +41.8 / -40.0

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Day 28. Can't help myself....Bad Habits...

It's time to concede I'm overdoing the barefoot. 30 odd years of wearing shoes and the resulting soft-as-butter soles can't be overcome in a month. I went against my better judgement today and decided to try to commute home barefoot. Partly because I was curious, partly because I forgot to take the VFF's to work :)

So I set out intending to take it easy, and I did, which definitely helped, but a week of barefooting distances beyond my feet's current capabilities finally caught up with me. I made it half way home before I had to call it a day. I could have kept going but may not have been able to run the next few days, so I took the smart option for once.

I have to drop 2 of the frequency, distance or speed of my barefoot runs. You can't always get what you want...so perhaps my plan to run the R4TK barefoot is a bit too optimistic. I haven't given up all hope but it looks doubtful at this stage. Anyway, learn from your mistakes :)

Run Summary
Distance : 8.08km
Time : 42:39
Elevation : +79.0 / -57.8

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Day 27. The return of the hump day runners

Joined the gang again for hump day running, including running to & from the city. Just a gentle run today. I have slightly overdone the barefooting (too much too soon, as is typical for me) and the feet are a little tender. There are blisters which are not overly painful but enough to feel and have forced me to slow a little. I'll give them a couple of days to recover. My plan to run to work barefoot tomorrow to work has been placed on hold. I'll get the VFF's out and run home as far as is comfortable, but no further. No point in exacerbating the problem.

While looking for info on blister prevention, I found a good website on making the transition from shod to unshod running. It's the Barefoot Running University! I guess I'm hoping to be a graduate without the degree...It mentions some common sense stuff, like if you develop blisters, you're doing too much too soon (mental note to self: duh!).

Left my watch in the office so I'll have to update the run details tomorrow.

Run Summary - Part 1

Distance : 2.53km

Time : 11:30

Elevation : +56.6 / -25.5

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Run Summary - Part 2

Distance : 2.30km

Time : 11:49

Elevation : +29.9 / -67.7

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Run Summary - Part 3

Distance : 1.09km

Time : 5:26

Elevation : +14.0 / -17.4

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Day 26. Easy does it

Just a quick jog around the aths track today. First 3km's at aerobic threshold, followed by a 250 odd metre faster pace interval to finish with and give the feet a trial at a higher pace. Could feel a little friction in the balls of the feet, but nothing blister inducing. A few of those everyday should do the trick.

Run Summary
Distance : 3.28km
Time : 14:55
Elevation : +0 / -0

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Day 25. Longest. Barefoot. Run. Ever

Today's run was the longest I've ever run completely barefoot. On my first ever barefoot run I set out to be sensible and just give it a trial, but loved it so much I ended up running 8km and gaining 9 blisters in the process. Since then I've gotten a little less dumb about it and started building up slowly. So today's run was the first time I've gone further than that initial kamikaze style outing. Some observations:

• At the end of the run I could feel my feet muscles tiring a little. Is good! I haven't felt that for a while, so they must be reaching a new level of fitness.
• I could also feel the adductors tiring. Again a new experience. I think my running style is becoming more compact, and I'm starting to use the bigger leg muscles in different proportions which is causing slight changes in how things feel.
• I think my feet have really toughened up - there were a few points on the run where there was pretty rough bitumen and I had to place extra focus on light footfalls, but other than that I never really noticed any discomfort.

Based on my progress so far I am aiming to do the run for the kids barefoot. At the moment I see a few problems I need to overcome to make this happen:

1. I need to be able to attach the timing chip to my feet/ankles somehow! I'll have to experiment with this when the kit arrives :)
2. I still can't run at high speeds. To combat this, I might try some short 100-250m faster pace intervals initially and build up to some 1km intervals.

I'll probably still end up wearing the VFF's just for the comfort factor, but it's a good goal to shoot for.

Run Summary
Distance : 9.01km
Time : 40:38
Elevation : +30.2 / -32.7

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