A.M. Ran with Daniel and Jeff. After the warm-up Jeff joined me for a portion of The Interval Tempo, while Daniel went on at an easy pace. I was still tired from the chess tournament on Saturday, so I adjusted the target pace accordingly. The plan was to warm up in 5:45, then 5:30 in the next mile, then hard in the last. Overall the tempo went better than I expected, but not quite according to plan. Jeff went only 2 miles to be cautious as his calfs were feeling tight. First 0.5 was 2:55, then Jeff pushed it and we hit the mile in 5:41 (84, 82 quarters). Then we ran the next mile in 5:23 (80.5, 80.5, 81,81). That was faster than planned, but it did not feel too bad. However, without Jeff I knew it would be hard to speed up or even maintain in the third mile. Third mile was difficult. 82,83,81,79 - 5:25, total time 5:25. In the first half HR was 162, then hit 166 in the third quarter, and all the way up to 169 in the last quarter. Slightly higher than normal at all paces, probably due to warmer weather. Cooled down with Jeff, got to 11.47 miles. Then we picked up Benjamin and ran 2 more miles in 15:28 with the last mile in 6:47. I ran that portion barefoot. Noticed that my HR was matching Jeff's when running barefoot. Normally mine is 15-20 bpm lower. Now I am remembering that Jack Daniels noticed the same things in his studies - barefoot economy is not very good. At least for runners with tender feet. In Five Fingers I hit normal HR for the pace. So my suspect is that when running barefoot you have to reduce friction forces until your feet get tough. And those friction forces are probably an important component of running economy. Again, for runners that are used to shoes. Long-time barefoot runners might not be relying on the friction as much. Another piece on info in the friction forces department. I noticed I have a very hard time running barefoot up a steep grade (going north under the 800 North bridge), and the problem is the friction becomes more than I can handle. Changing subjects, I found out that my performance in the chess tournament earned me a rating of 1288. Thanks to the emphasis on sports in the Russian culture there is a fairly decent way to compare performances in different sports. They have a system of rankings in each sport, including chess and running. So my chess performance is equivalent to about an 18 minute 5 K. P.M. 2 barefoot with Jenny in 17:48. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13:31.
| 