Running to not Grow Old

Ran 5 miles on my standard waterfront route with group from work. Unfortunately I had to wear shoes because my five fingers won't arrive until tomorrow (REI here was sold out - very popular in Seattle right now)

5.0 miles: Ran my usual waterfront route at lunchtime. Nice easy pace. Felt great except for pain in my right arch which has been bothering me on and off for a ling time.

 2.0 miles: When I got home from work my Vibram Five Fingers had arrived so I went on another run to test them out (I didn't have time to go out until about 10:00 pm). It felt great. I felt like a ninja.

I took off this morning in my five fingers with the goal of doing a 5 mile out and back, but then chickened out when my calves started burning a little, and cut it short. The rest of the day they weren't that sore, so I think I could have done the full five. I love the new shoes, I feel like I run a lot smoother.

Monday's run was an easy two miles on my usual waterfront route downtown Seattle. I ran with a friend who also ran in FiveFingers. It felt great, but my calves were still pretty tight, so we held it to two miles. Man, I learned that people are very passionate about the fact that your feet need supportive shoes. I got several comments as I ran through downtown, and the best was in the elevator on the way up to the showers. One guy asked if I really was running in those weird shoes, and when I said yes, he went off on why that's not a smart thing to do. Something about feet not designed to run on pavement. Anyway, it definitely makes the lunchtime runs more interesting.

Another easy run on the waterfront. I went four miles in FiveFingers at about a 7:30 pace, and it felt great. My calves loosened up and I focused a lot on using good form and fast cadence. I think it made a difference and I enjoyed the whole run. My calves are still pretty tight tonight, though, so I might give them a day off. I'm not sure if that will mean resting or running in shoes to take the pressure off the calves. The only problem is that running in my big-heel shoes sounds so clunky after the ninja-like experience I've been having in FiveFingers.

I didn't have time to go running until after the kids were in bed, so I headed out around 9:00 pm. Some kind of warm weather front had blown in, so it was 56 degrees. Ahh, coastal living. I wanted to work on my form, so I ran down the hill to an outdoor synthetic track, took off my FiveFingers (ff's from now on), and ran around the track barefoot. I did 5 laps and it felt really good. I think I learned a lot. I went to put my ff's back on, put my foot was still sore from where they rubbed me the other day. So I just ran the mile home barefoot. It felt really good and I noticed the subtle differences in my form. I think spending some time barefoot will definitely help the transition.

I ran the whole waterfront 5 mile route in my FiveFingers! This was the furthest I've gone yet in them, but I'm gaining a lot of confidence. My calves were not nearly as sore, I think that focusing on adjusting my form really helped. I still have some issues with rubbing under my right arch, but a band-aid helped. Also, my right arch is a little sore after the run, but I don't attribute that to barefooting. It has bothered me for a long time, and my diagnosis is plantar fascia stress probably caused by those darn shoes I used to wear! Barefooting isn't making the pain magically go away, but it isn't any worse, and I have hope that in the long run my arches will be healthier for it. 

Today I decided to do some trail time. I only had an hour available this morning, so I met a friend at the entrance to Discovery Park near our house, which has quite an awesome network of dirt trails to run. I didn't time it and the four miles is a rough estimate of how far we went, but what I do know for sure is that it was great fun. I really liked doing the dirt trails in FiveFingers, it was a nice change from the paved trails. Makes me want to do a trail race soon...

Ouch! I think I just sustained my first barefoot running injury. I felt a little twinge in my right foot when I ran on Saturday, but didn't think too much of it. I attributed it to altering my step slightly to take stress off a blister on my arch. Today I ran 5 miles on the waterfront and I started off with some tightness in the tendons near the front of that foot. I did the run at a semi-brisk pace, 7:20 per mile, and by the end I was feeling pain in the foot everytime it hit the ground. Now I can barely walk on it. I will ice it and take a couple days off, and then ease back onto it. Hopefully it's just a minor setback.

Easy trail run in shoes. My foot feels fine as long as I'm back in my old running shoes, but still feels tender when I barefoot.

5 miles on waterfront route wearing shoes. 7:20 average pace. I don't feel the tendon pain when wearing my shoes, but the arch pain that I had previously returns. My plan is to ease back out of my shoes slowly so that my foot can continue to heal/strengthen.

2 miles today on waterfront trail. This was my first attempt out of shoes since the injury, and it still was kind of tender. I think that I really pounded too hard on the Seattle pavement with weak feet. So, I'm planning to take a step back and run in shoes until there is no more pain in that foot. 

8 miles at 7:30 average pace on the waterfront path today. I started out to do 5, but it was a beautiful sunny 48 degree days, and so I just kept going. My shoes seem to keep my forefoot from moving much while I run, because my injured foot was not a problem. Hey, if I can run while my foot recovers, great!

I decided today to do some running in my five fingers on a dirt track near my house. My hope was that by running on a softer surface in a more controlled environment, and without the pressure of my shoe-wearing peers I usually run with during the week, that I could control my form enough to run without pain in my right foot. I went slower than I usually do, about 8:30 mile pace, for four miles around the track, with about a half mile run from my house to the track. I loved it, and it felt pretty good in general at the time, but my foot has been sore again all day since the run.

This is pretty frustrating. Is it possible that my right foot is just whacked and needs the support of shoes to run successfully? I kind of doubt that. But I am planning to run most of the time in shoes for a while, as I ramp my mileage up in preparation for my 30 mile run on my birthday. If I back off the barefooting and then slowly ease back into it, maybe I can strengthen my feet enough to avoid a similar injury and make a full transition. 

5 miles easy on my downtown waterfront route during lunch. I got really busy at work the last couple of days and missed my runs. I think was actually a victory however as my foot is feeling much better, and probably needed the days off. The run felt great today despite the frigid (27 degree) temperature.

Another 5 miles during lunch. Beautiful sunny day. Not much else interesting to write about.

Today I put a theory to the test: my foot injury occurred because I ran too fast with a crowd of shoe-wearers, which caused my form to get sloppy. If I ran slowly and focused on using good form, then doing a long run in my fivefingers would be ok, even though I'm kind of still recovering.

 I decided this was sound logic, and against Jenni's urgings not to, I took off for a long run in my fivefingers. I started off with 3.5 miles around the top of Queen Anne hill. My foot was a little stiff to start out, but it loosened up and actually felt better after a few miles. I stayed right at an 8:00 pace, which allowed me to focus on using good form. I was feeling great at this point, but I didn't want to push it, so I ran down to a dirt track and did 4 miles on the track. I figured this would be a little easier on the feet than the pavement. I still felt great after that, so I kept going and did another 3 miles around the hill.

This run really felt like a breakthrough for me. Lessons learned: don't try to go too fast before you've learned good form, and sometimes running can work the kinks out of a sore foot. I am actually writing this entry the day after, and my foot feels better than it has in weeks. So, needless to say I am very excited once again about my fivefingers.

I ran 5 miles easy today during lunch. This was my first run since my foot injury on my downtown route. I was super cautious because when I run with my friends at work it's hard to run slowly. But I managed to convince two guys to run at about an 8:20 pace with me, and it felt pretty good. I can't wait until I strengthen my feet and learn the form enough to run fast, confidently, in the ff's. 

So, GREAT run on Wednesday! First some background. I watched video on You-Tube the night before of Abebe Bikila winning the 1960 Rome marathon barefoot for inspiration. I've been trying to figure out if running in minimalist shoes will limit me to running slowly, because if so then it might not be worth the hard work for me. So I watched Bikila run because he was running sub-5 minute miles barefoot, so it must be possible to go fast with barefeet. I noticed that he looked super smooth, and not at all like he was shuffling or running with form that was dramatically different than the other runners. 

I headed out during lunch at work to do 5 miles. I tried to relax and run at a more natural pace for me. I felt like I was able to maintain the key points of my good form, fast cadence and engaging the whole foot, while loosening up my form and running a little more naturally at the same time.  It felt really good and I ended up doing the 5 miles at 7:38 pace. My feet felt great, in fact I think better than any previous run. To add to the fun it was raining and windy on the way back, and me and my friends were drafting off each other to break the wind. That added a fun element of excitement to it. I was on a high the rest of the day, and couldn't believe that my feet felt so good!

So, this run really hurt. I ran with a friend, and for some reason this always seems to throw my form off. It was also rainy, so my feet got wet, and this led to several blisters that bled through the ff's (I'll attach photo when I figure out how :). I was planning on going 14, but cut it short. Man, tough learning curve, I guess.