Long time no barefoot

Well it's been a pretty poor start to the year.  We were plagued with illness over the festive season, with my other half ending up in A&E with the start of pneumonia, and we all had coughs, flu, sickness etc etc.  Then we had the freezing weather, and running was hazardous to say the least.  Lastly, my mum's cancer returned with a vengeance and after a month of racing back and forth across the Severn Bridge, she finally lost her battle on Valentine's Day.

So running has taken somewhat of a backseat, though I have managed a few soul searching runs with my husband and dog.  For these runs I have stuck to trainers, simply because concentrating on something else seemed too much to deal with.

But over the last week I've taken to my old habit of removing my trainers for the last 0.3 miles of each run, and I haven't been disappointed.  Yes, my feet have softened up a bit, and the ground seems super prickly, but I don't think my form has suffered, and I've not had any worrying aches or pains.

So yesterday, I took the plunge and wore my Vivos for a 4 mile run.  I was a little dubious about this, because I'm very conscious that I've not put in the work in bare feet for a while, and the last time I made that mistake (ie running too far in minimalist shoes without the barefoot groundwork before it) I ended up with a stress fracture.

However, the run was absolutely great.  My feet felt very light (after wearing heavy trainers), I felt like I'd retained my barefoot form despite not having run barefoot for well over two months, and I really enjoyed it.  I did suffer a small developing blister on the top of my foot from the shoes - just another good reason to go without!

Today I did another 2 miles with the dog and wearing my Vivos.  For the last 0.3 miles I took the shoes off and let the dog carry one for me.  The blister formed by the Vivos developed and now I've lost a bit of skin on the top of my foot, but my soles are doing well and I'm definitely back in the game.  I hope that my mum is watching me from somewhere xx.

Barefoot Fun

On Sunday I repeated the route I did a few days ago through the country lanes and then across the M4 roundabout. A 4.5 mile run with 2.2 miles in bare feet all in.

This time though, I felt a bit braver, and I didn't avoid the staring eyes of all those folks waiting in their cars for the lights to change, wondering why on earth this woman was crossing a roundabout in running gear but with shoes in hand instead of on her feet.  Instead, I looked at their faces.

It was a great laugh, and my husband and I were thoroughly amused to see so many double takes and wide eyes.  For once, instead of feeling conspicuous and self conscious, I just enjoyed the moment.  It was a great feeling, and brightened my day.  I hope it brightened the day for those who saw me, running barefoot and laughing.

Gravel, twigs, stones and floods

After a mile or so in my Vivos yesterday, I came across a flood, going across the whole of the country lane I was running down.  I was at the point of taking off my shoes near there anyway, so it seemed as good a point as any.

It felt quite liberating to splash through the water - though I was quite wary of the fact that I had no idea what was under there, so my tread was very light.  The water was probably a couple of inches deep in places, and it felt very cold.

The remainder of the lane was quite difficult to negotiate.  As there had been water running across it, it was covered in debris - small stones, gravel, twigs, leaves, mud and even small branches.  It meant I needed to slow down the pace (even more than usual), but it certainly helped me concentrate on form.  Once out of the lane, I ran along a tarmac road, which I always find tougher if it's wet, but I continued on to the main road.

I considered putting my shoes back on, but with a bit of encouragement from my other half to just keep going, I did exactly that.  It wasn't that my feet hurt, just a mental barrier of running barefoot along a trunk route from the M4 into town.

The M4 rounadabout was a challenge.  It was made more pedestrian friendly just before the Ryder Cup in 2010, with the addition of small, firm gravel walkways between the numerous sets of lights.  In the past, I would not have even attempted these sections bare foot, but the stationary onlooking traffic is a great motivator, so I padded along and crossed over the roundabout in 3 places, avoiding looking directly at any of the drivers and passengers.

All in all, 2.2 miles in bare feet.  A triumph for me, not just because of the challenges of the terrain, but also overcoming the mental barrier of running in such close proximity to busy traffic and the public glare.

And my feet...  well, here they are:  A little muddy round the edges, but not a single scrape or cut.  Aren't feet brilliant??

Frosty, frosty, frosty

I woke up to a sharp frost today.  'Shoes it is' I said to myself.

Last night though, I read an article in the Barefoot Running magazine I receive via email.  It was about running barefoot in cold weather.  A few days ago, I went out in my VFFs with very cold feet, and it hurt.  My old stress fracture site ached, and my ankle just didn't feel right.  This article quotes Barefoot Ken as saying 'numb feet are dumb feet' - and this certainly rings true.

So, I opted for my Vivo Barefoot shoes this morning and set off.  After almost two miles, my feet were really toasty warm, so I took a route high up along some pretty country lanes, and I took my shoes off.

I intended to run around a mile or so, and put my shoes back on before hitting the main road again, but my feet felt great, plenty warm enough, my soles felt tough and strong, and so I kept them off all the way home.

I had a few odd glances, and my first ever look of complete disgust from a woman gardening, wrapped up in coat, hat, gloves and wellies.  But I'm really pleased, because I've just clocked my longest barefoot run (2 miles) and on the coldest day of the year so far.  Happy days.

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.