10, 11, 12

Things haven't been great lately on the running front, as I seriously over did it trying to keep up with my wife. She wanted to do some speed work and wanted some company, so I went along for the ride. It was great while we were doing it, but in the following days I had quite a severe pain in my left foot / ankle. I visited my father in law for an inspection (he's an orthopedic surgeon, very handy to have in the family) and he determined that I had a mild case of tendinitis. Hmm, not cool. He advised taking a week off with regular anti-inflamatories and icing, which I did. I tried a short 20 minute run in my VFF's after that (this past Sunday), but it still wasn't feeling quite right, so I'm going to tone things back even further, unfortunately.

Along those lines, I went out last night and did about 25 minutes in my old running shoes, followed by 10 minutes  in my bare feet (yes, carrying my shoes... I'm sure I looked even more ridiculous than usual). It's very frustrating though.. in my shoes I feel incredibly clunky and slow (even though my pace was decent), and after a bit my right knee starts to hurt quite. Conversely, when I'm running in my bare feet or FiveFingers my knees are perfectly good, but my ankle and some tendons on the bottom of my feet can hurt. Ah well, I need to keep at it.. one way or another I'm going to make this work!

Oh, and I'm going to be getting another pair of FiveFingers (the Bikilas) as my parents are going down to the states for a week. I'll be ordering some shoes to their address and have them smuggle them back across the border for me.. :)

8 and 9

It's a two-fer! I was out of town on the weekend so I haven't had a chance to update until now. Otherwise all is well, but I have a feeling that summer is going to be over before I know if. Need to enjoy this weather while it lasts.. and get ready for the 10 km race in less than a month!

August 24, 2010

Distance: 6.18KM

Time: 29.13

Pace: 4:43

Footwear: Vibram Five Fingers - Sprint

Notes: A slightly shorter run than the last one, but this time at home. I was focused on keeping my time below 5:00 min/km and I managed to accomplish that with room to spare. One of my earlier runs in totally bare feet was along the same path (except a bit shorter) and it took me about 40 minutes... so my improving physical condition plus these new shoes is already making me much faster. Excellent. 

August 22, 2010

Distance: 6.7KM

Time: 32:10

Pace: 4:48

Footwear: Vibram Five Fingers - Sprint

Notes: Went for a run with my wife and brother in law. It was grueling for the first half as my wife was pushing her brother and I as hard we could go, but we managed to keep up. I think our pace was around 4:30 for that bit. Then she ran along and us two boys ran back home, with a definite decrease in pace. Even so it was my best pace to date.

7

There are forest fires up north, so the whole city is clouded in smoke. I was hesitant to go running, but the smoke made no difference in the end.. except the trails were all mine!

August 19, 2010

Distance: 10KM

Time: 55:30

Pace: 5:33

Footwear: Vibram Five Fingers - Sprint

Notes: I'll start off with the good news - this was my longest minimalist run to date (the previous one I thought was 10k.. yeah that was more like 8.5 or 9. Doh). And overall the run felt great, I'm sure I could have kept on trucking if I had wanted to.The bad news.. my feet are still not ready for running on gravel paths, even in my Five Fingers. Some of those rocks are wildly painful. I'm going to blame my terrible pace on the unavoidable sections of gravel on the path. It's too bad really, because the gravel trails are right in the beautiful river valley... hopefully with a bit more toughening up I'll have a better experience next time. Oh! Also at one point I had this terrible stabbing pain in my right foot, it felt like a tendon had ripped... but 30 seconds of walking and it was gone. Odd.

6

It may not look like I've been running all that much, but rest assured that I'm punishing my body at every opportunity. My last serious run was last Saturday, but on Sunday my wife and I went for a long walk and I of course put on my Five Finger's to continue strengthening my feet. Well an hour and forty minutes later and my feet were screaming in pain. Turns out that the parts of your feet that you use when running barefoot are not the same as the parts you use when walking. Ouch. Because of that I was forced to take Monday off of the physical activity.. but don't fear! Tuesday was the last Ultimate game of the season, and I was sure to give it everything I had in me. Then today I went for a run (see below) before having an intense squash match... as a result, I think I'm going to sleep well tonight. In my dreams I will plan my route for tomorrow!

August 18, 2010

Distance: ???

Time: About 25 minutes

Pace: ???

Footwear: Vibram Five Fingers - Sprint

Notes: I had a squash match tonight but really wanted to get a short run in before hand, so I went down to the club and tossed on my VFF's before hitting the squash court. I did a couple short hills, then a huge set of stairs before crossing the river, back down through some trails, and across another bridge before going back to the club for my match. It was a fairly short run but it felt great to get out again. I need to get out as much as possible to enjoy the nice weather we're having before it starts getting colder.

5

August 14, 2010

Distance: 8.96km

Time: 45:37

Pace: 5:05 mins / km

Footwear: Vibram Five Fingers - Sprint

Notes: First run with my new "shoes." It was an excellent feeling being able to focus on my form and my breathing instead of on where I was placing my feet. Will write more later!

4

Quote of the day: "Fuck yeah man! No shoes is hardcore!" *

August 12, 2010

Distance: 10km

Time: 48:39

Pace: 4.9 mins / km

Footwear: Bare feet

Notes: Beautiful run tonight. I mapped out a trail the other day that is almost exactly 10K (a trial course for the 10K I'm running in September) and I thought I would give it a shot in my bare feet. A storm had just passed through so the trail and the grass beside it were quite wet. It also meant I had a normally bustling trail almost all to myself. The path runs right beside the river and the storm clouds in the distance made for a great backdrop. Oh, and the run! I wasn't planning on doing the whole 10K tonight but things just felt great so I kept on going. I ran a combination of in the grass (which was a lot softer due to the rain compared with when it is dry) and on the pavement, although I did my best to run on the lines in the pavement. They aren't quite so tough on my unshod feet. Best of all, even after such a long run (easily my longest in bare feet to date) the soles of my feet really aren't all that bad... sure they are tender, but there are no new blisters or cracked & bleeding toes like I've had in the past. I know I'm going to need to get some Five Fingers before the race in Sept (it's quite a gravelly trail which would be awful), but if it takes another week or two to get that done I know I'll be fine running as is. 

*That's not a direct quote, but the guy watching me run by yelled something like that

3

Tried to buy some Vibram Fivefingers today but one store is sold out and the other one is on the wrong side of town. Grrr.

August 10, 2010

Distance: 3.5km

Time: 20:00

Pace: 5.7 mins / km

Footwear: Chaco sandals

Notes: Just a quick and easy run today as I'm leaving shortly for ultimate, where I'll be running around a whole bunch more. Half the run with my wife, half without. Wore my Chaco sandals as I want to give my feet a bit more time to heal.. it felt fine in general, but I really do like the feeling of bare feet. I'll probably go for another run au natural in a couple of days. 

2

It can be difficult to get out running, but I've been doing my best to make time (at least once my feet have recovered from their previous punishment) and I really have been enjoying it. The latest run was through the river valley on a beautiful warm summer evening, with my wife beside me. It really doesn't get a lot better than that!

August 8, 2010

Distance: 6.0km

Time: 32:00

Pace: 5.33 mins / km

Footwear: Bare feet

Notes: Distance is a bit of an estimate due to not being able to peg the exact turnaround location on Google Earth. Ran from the top of Mackinnon to about half way down river road. My feet are doing ok except for the second from smallest toe on my left foot, which is left cracked and bleeding after each run. This route was good for my tender feet though as there is lots of grass to run in as necessary, but it still definitely hurts a bit. Overheard a few people make comments about my bare feet :)

The beginning

My plan for this blog is to catalog my recently undertaken activity of running. I have no idea if this will end up being interesting to anyone else (doubtful), but I want to keep a record of how well I do with this whole running thing.. so feel free to follow along.

I'm going to share brief notes about every run I have, and interject witty observations now and again. Oh, and since I'm trying to get down with this whole 'minimalist' movement thing I'm going to include my type of footwear with the details for each run.

So here goes!

August 4, 2010

Distance: 6.63km

Time: 38:30
Pace: 5.8 mins / km
Footwear: Bare feet
Notes: This was easily my longest bare foot run to date, and I'm paying for it. I have two blood blisters on my left foot and one on my right, along with a bleeding toe. The sidewalks and streets I'm running on are tough on my toes, and I just don't have the calluses built up yet. Oops. Overall though the run felt great.. it was a very nice evening, and it feels so freeing to run without shoes on. I'm looking forward to picking up my pace as my legs get used to running without shoes, since today's run wasn't exactly taxing on my cardio system.. but that's to be expected. I have a feeling that my calves will be killing me in the morning, but for now I'm feeling good.