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!
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Sunday, 9 September 2012
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.
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.
Friday, 7 September 2012
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)!
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)!
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