Shoes? You must be joking!

Last night I went out to a charity dinner/dance.  It was just down the road (0.3 miles to be precise) so naturally we walked.  Well, I say 'walked'.  It was more a case of stumbling awkwardly along clinging to my husband's arm with my toes crushed into the front of my very nice, very high, but very uncomfortable high heeled shoes.

It made me think how strange it is that people wonder why I would dare to run barefoot and risk a foot injury, when here were close to 50 women wearing shoes which were just as likely to cause pain and injury, worn for longer than any barefoot run I've done, and whilst dancing of all things!

During the evening I was introduced to another runner by a friend.  We got talking, and she asked me if I'd run the recent Cardiff half marathon.  I explained that I hadn't because I've been mainly running in bare feet.  She then exclaimed "Ahh - do you run through the lanes near me - I've seen you!!".  For a moment, I felt rather famous (or perhaps I should say infamous!).  We had a laugh about it, and I had the 'does it hurt' question, to which I replied "not nearly as much as wearing these shoes does!".

On the way home, I removed my shoes and walked barefoot along the pavements in the dark.  I was wearing tights, and as a testament to my new found form and delicate footfall, there is not a single run or ladder on the soles.

Further and further

I've managed to up my distance the past few days.

Yesterday, we ran through a local village, along a long and windy country lane.  I started in my TrekSports, and once we were on the lane, I took them off and ran barefoot.  My first experience of squishing in mud was encountered (rather nice), and we stopped to chat to a couple and their dogs, who acted like running barefoot was perfectly normal, and they didn't even acknowledge the shoes in my hand.

After 1.4 miles I rather relunctantly put my shoes back on for the main road, but I rather think I could have gone a bit further.  My feet had felt very comfortable without shoes.

Towards the end of the 6.5 mile run, I took them off once again, making a grand total of 1.95 miles in bare feet - a further to date.


Today we did a rainy 3 miler.  Again I started in my TrekSports, but they really rubbed in the rain, so taking them off was less of a risk than leaving them on.  In fact, it was a pleasure to remove them just under a mile before we got back, even though the ground was wet - something I usually find harder to run on.

Good progress then - it certainly helps having a supportive partner to encourage me to take off my shoes and not worry about what everyone thinks.

Fartleks

Over the past few months I've been working hard to build my form, improve my muscles and bone density, and generally develop my barefoot and minimalist running skills.  But as is the peril of many runners across the globe, there's always that need to do a little bit more - to improve on what's already there.

So now I want to start improving my speed.  I suppose I feel that if I don't push this aspect, I'll never improve my distance or my overall stamina, because I'm a great believer in the notion that if I'm concentrating on one particular element of my running, a lot of other elements improve without me noticing.  So far, I've concentrated on technique and I'm hoping that if I now concentrate on speed, the technique stuff will just fall into place without me thinking about it.

Today I went out - just for a short 2 miles as time was limited - and did some Fartlek work - running slowly followed by bursts of speed.  I wore my Garmin, and hit the lap button at every changeover, but I didn't set a goal pace, I just ran hard for 150 - 250 metres, then ran slow until I'd got my breath back for the next burst.

When I first took up running (shod), I followed pretty much the same pattern. Once I felt I'd got to grips with getting out the house and running for 3 miles or so without dying, I started to build in a variety of sessions - Fartleks, hill work, speed work and tempo runs.  It was only at that point that my running really improved.  Switching to barefoot and minimalist running took me back to those early running days, and now I've grasped the basics, I feel the need to do a bit more.

How did I get on?  Overall, I hit an average pace of 8.56 minute miles.  This is great because it means I should be able to hit my previous shod distance PBs with a bit of training.  In the short speedier bursts I managed to hit speeds of 8.05 minute miles - 8.30 minute miles.  Granted, these were really short distances, but the fact that my legs will move this quickly is great - it's something I've wondered about as my cadence has increased dramatically and I wasn't sure I'd be able to move my legs fast enough to get the speed.

What I need to do now is increase the speedy sections to up to 0.5 miles, so I think perhaps it's time to plug some training plans into my Garmin and push myself properly.  Doing this completely barefoot will need to wait until warmer days, I think winter training will be minimalist, with barefoot easy runs thrown in for good measure, and barefoot training will be a Spring challenge.

A lot going on

Well I've certainly made up for a poor start to the running week.  On Friday I went for my longest run for ages, wearing my Vibram TrekSports.  I did around 4 miles in them and they felt amazingly comfortable. I haven't worn these since February, and what I really noticed was that the soles are way thicker than my Classics.  I added 0.3 miles in bare feet at the end for good measure.  I think I'll be wearing these quite a lot in the colder weather.

Yesterday (Saturday) I dropped my son at his gymnastics class and got chatting to a fellow runner.  I told him I've been running almost exclusively barefoot or minimalist for some time, and he made my day by asking "Doesn't it hurt?" and "What if you step on dog poo?".  No-one has blatantly asked me these classic questions yet, so it made me chuckle.  When I got home, I tried my new Vivobarefoot Evo's for 0.8 miles, which I found really comfortable - just a slight bit of rubbing on the left big toe, but I think these will make a great substitute when barefoot's not an option, or for days when I'm keen to keep a low profile and look 'normal'!

Shortly after I had taken off my Evos off to run the last half mile barefoot, I was stopped by a passing driver who wanted directions.  I wondered if he wished he hadn't stopped me when he spotted my bare feet and shoes in hand, but to his credit he did not flinch or waver from his train of thought once.  To my own credit, I also did not flinch or look embarrased, but gave him clear directions to his destination and padded off.

Today (Sunday) I've run just over a mile without any footwear.  The weather is getting colder, and I thought it would be interesting to see how my feet fared on the cold pavement.  Air temperature just under 8 degrees Celcius, and the pavements were noticeably warmer on the sunny side of the road, but my feet coped admirably and have suffered no ill effects.  I did notice that the ground seemed more gravelly and ouchy today - I'm not sure if that was the cold or the fact that we've had lots of rain...

My OH graciously agreed to accompany me on this run, forfeiting his own pace to match my slower one, and I was very grateful for his company when a bus pulled up and offloaded it's passengers just as we ran past.  Pity there weren't any trees to hug I guess!

Bit of a lull?

The last few weeks have felt like a bit of a lull.  The weather is getting colder and wetter, and for some reason I've been feeling more self conscious - not the nervous excitement I started out with, more of just wanting to get on with it quietly on my own away from public comments and stares.  Not that I blame anyone, I would surely have stared and passed comment a year ago if I had seen someone mad enough to run in bare feet.

Anyway, on Friday, my OH persuaded me to go for a run with him, so I put on my VFF Classics and we did just over 3 miles together.  I pushed the pace to keep up with him in his trainers, so ended up with a respectable 5.8mph - not bad considering I haven't broken the 10 min mile pace on more than one occasion.

Today is Sunday, so I got up and out early (ish) to avoid too many people, and did a nice 1.3miles in bare feet - my further BF run to date.  Temperature was around 11 degrees C.  I kept it slow as I knew I wanted to increase my longest distance, so only 12 min miles, but I can report no aches and pains or sore feet of any kind, so I'm more than happy.

On the VFF note - what I did notice was that whilst my thighs burned whilst I was running (I've not done 3 miles for some time), I had no post run soreness, even the following day, so I'm convinced my step was light and my form was good. 

My OH has asked me to run a 10k with him in mid November, and I'm now toying with the idea of doing it in my Fives....  Just a thought at present, but it's been ages since I've worn trainers for running now!

The Sweet Spot

A fab run this morning, so I felt the need to blog it.

According to my (unwritten) schedule, I was to up the distance today to 0.8/0.9 miles, and this meant heading out towards the main road, away from the safety of the estate.  I was in a different mindset, that being "I want to do this, but I wish people wouldn't stare".  This is different to how I've felt before, when I've felt self conscious to the point of embarrassment, rather than annoyance.

Anyway, I set off, shouted a cheery good morning to the ex-policeman at the end of our road who was washing his car, and headed out.  My feet felt great.  Weather was a cool but sunny September morning.

At the start, I could feel my feet scuffing as they passed under my body (ie at the back), so I adjusted my form slightly, and that quickly disappeared.  Cadence felt good, not too fast but definitely close to 180 (if not faster).

The main road was fine - no encounters, and still my feet felt great as I turned back into the estate, just slowing a little over the very gravelly section by the bridge.  I ran past the old lady with the dog, who had shown great concern at my exploits several months back, and as I passed her I said "morning, it's the mad lady with the bare feet", and she said hello back and asked "aren't your feet cold this morning?".

Got back to the house feeling like I could easily have run further.  0.93 miles, with my fastest pace to date of 5.4mph (11.08min/mile).  I can only describe the pace here as finding the "sweet spot" where everything just seemed to click into place.  Lovely.

Back to the Classics

I was starting to get a bit twitchy from not running anything more than about half a mile, so this morning - a beautiful hot sunny day - I decided to get back in my VFF Classics and go a little bit further.

I ran 1.9 miles in these, and then 0.3 miles in bare feet at the end.

What I noticed was that since I've been running exclusively in bare feet for a few weeks, my VFF technique seemed better - shorter steps, faster cadence, and better foot position.  It was lovely to go a bit further, but towards the end I really wanted to take them off and 'free my feet' (sorry, sounding very hippy there!), so I did.  Interestingly, whilst I thought my VFF technique was pretty good, I instantly noticed that my heels were going doing more in bare feet - ie a ball of foot touch quickly followed by a pretty much flat foot, with toes and heels down together.  I also noticed my stride shorten instinctively.

I think not wearing VFFs for a few weeks has been good for developing my form, but I can certainly still go further (and feel way less self conscious) in them than in bare feet (at the moment)!