Pageviews from the past week

Wednesday 29 June 2011

My favourite run

This is my favourite place to run in Melbourne. Princes Park in Parkville is situated fairly close to where I live and is a 3.2 km loop that i regularly run laps around or incorporate into long runs. It's flat and a good place for budding minimalists/barefooters as the track offers gravel, grass or bitumen surfaces most of the way around.
Yesterday I ran here and there were a few milestones in my minimal journey that occurred on this run. The run was the first time in my transition that I had run on consecutive days; it was 40 minutes after 33 minutes the previous day. Hopefully I can go 3 days in a row today with my planned 30 minute lunch run. I also ran my biggest distance in minimals, 6.82 km, and passed the 100 km milestone. June really has been my end-of-the- beginning month for me. By the end of the day I will have run over 70 km for the month and hopefully I can continue strongly in the ensuing months. My focus now is really building a base and not worry too much about how fast I am going.
Just as an afterthought, it appears that my calves are now adapting and recovering faster. But it does seem that my right calf is just slightly slower than my left in getting stronger. Curious.

Monday 27 June 2011

This morning I did something that I haven't done in over 6 years. Normally if I'm waking up at 5:30 am I'll get in the car and drive to my gym for a workout, but because I am now back running regularly I decided that I would go for a run. Because it's winter here in Melbourne, it is still dark at that time of the morning and running in the dark is the thing that I haven't done in years. I decided to stick to a busy road for my route as I would still be quite apprehensive running down quiet, poorly lit streets in the dark. It was cold enough that my breath was clearly visible and cars were covered in dew but my run was good after warming up and managed 5.33 km in just over 30 minutes. Last night I saw a you-tube video featuring the barefoot running coach Lee Saxby talking about barefoot form, in particular posture. Because of this, I focused on staying upright during my run today and it seemed to make things feel a little easier. I also didn't notice my calves so much during the run and hopefully their adaptation is continuing. I need to start doing some more core and strengthening work as I have been neglecting this of late and now I am experiencing a little flare up on my right-lower back which is fine provided I am maintaining a good posture.

Saturday 25 June 2011

Sunday Morning

It seems that during my transition to minimalism I reach certain points of frustration. I'm talking about calves being constantly sore, pace not getting quicker, distances not getting longer, and everything just taking longer to adapt. Over the last couple of months there have been several of these moments and each time I have one I always start to doubt whether I can make the full transition to minimalism. And then I have days like today. After having a couple of rest days nursing a sore calf from my last run, I woke up with no pain and I decided I would head out and see if I could just run for at least as long as 35 minutes (this being my longest in VFF), and maybe get to 40 minutes. I made a conscious decision to not look at my garmin and just concentrate on form and enjoy the beautiful weather. It turns out I had my best minimalist run yet (6.66 km in 40 minutes) and I actually felt like a runner again instead of some experimental runner. Today really made me think that I will be able to this.
My great morning continued and I even taught my daughter how to ride a bike.

Thursday 23 June 2011

Treadmills

It had been over 3 days since my sunday run and the only way I was gonna get a run in yesterday was to go to my gym and run on a treadmill.
What I learnt: 1) Five Fingers running doesn't suit treadmill running because the heat on the treadmill belt still gets through the rubber and creates hotspots on my feet. 2) The evenness of treadmills and the lack of breeze creates a more difficult environment to run. Running simply feels harder on a treadmill now. 3) Because you are in control of the speed and incline, it is actually more difficult for me to run by feel. The thoughts running through my head are "am I running as fast or as slow as i should be? Why does this feel harder/faster than outdoor? Is the treadmill actually calibrated correctly? i.e. am I actually running faster than 10.5 km per hour?".
In the end my run was cut short by 8 minutes because of a twinge in my left calf.

Monday 20 June 2011

Weighty Issues

It is with some apprehension that I enter my first official week of training for my goal 5k race. It's mainly due to the extra soreness I've experienced in my injured knee. It has been fine during runs but since my last run on Sunday (6k), it has been more tender than normal. I am just hoping that I can withstand the pain enough to keep training through to February next year when I can have arthroscopic surgery to repair it. I do need to stress that had it not been for minimalist running, my knee would not have allowed me to run at all. The couple of runs i had in my Brooks Adrenalines after i hurt my knee were extremely painful.
On another note, I have been very slack with my diet of late and need to pick up my game if I want to make any improvement in my running, I need to get lighter. At the beginning of June i weighed 93 kg and when I weigh myself at the beginning of July my hope is that I'm a little lighter due to the extra running I've been doing. If this is not the case, my diet will be a heavy focus in July. I'm guessing being lioghter might also be better for my knee as well. On a positive note my Australian Rules Football team is going great. Go Blues!!

Thursday 16 June 2011

I decided to change things up today and wear my Merrell Trail Gloves today instead of the Five Fingers.
In keeping with the spirit of mixing it up, I ran a completely different route and at a different time of day than my regular time. It was thirty minutes, 5.13 km and one of my first minimalist runs where i relaxed enough that I didn't think my calves would snap at any moment. It's definitely the strongest I've felt during my transition and also the first week where I have been able to string 3 consecutive runs together with only one day between. Despite the good run today, I still prefer the Vibrams overall due to their superior ground feel.
Feeling good.
This Sunday marks 16 weeks until the 5k race on Melbourne Marathon day. I'm using the Run Coach Pro app for i-phone to generate a program and I would highly recommend this to anyone. Anyway, what this means is that next week (my first official training week), I will have my first attempt at consecutive day runs. I am excited at my current progress. My calves seem to be recovering a lot better after runs now.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Sunday 12 June 2011

Imaginings

Today presented me with a public holiday, beautiful weather and an opportunity to run at my favorite course, Princes Park in inner north Melbourne. I have now gotten to a point where I'm managing a run every other day and the soreness in my calves seems to now be recovering quicker. I'm hopeful that at this rate I'll soon be able to run on consecutive days. For now my early training for the Melbourne Marathon 5 k is 4 days per week. So far the furthest I've been is 6.21km in 35 minutes at today's fartlek session. My long runs will eventually build to 90 minutes and that's pretty hard to imagine, but I know that a month ago I was finding hard to imagine I could run what I ran today. When I have a chance I'll be less lazy and link some of the references I make in my posts, just in case anyone is reading.

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Firsts

My last couple of runs have seen me reach and pass the psychological barrier of 5km. This is a big deal for me because a few months ago I would never have dreamt I could do this as a minimalist lwt alone with an injury thrown in.
This blog will make for some interesting reading in a few months time. Hopefully over the coming weeks i'll be passing lots of barriers.
I'm a little nervous about my scheduled run of 40 minutes on Sunday and about my first back to back runs as a minimalist scheduled tomorrow. This whole process is about firsts for me.


I have just completed my 50th barefoot/minimalist kilometer.

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Barefoot Angie Bee: Skillz, a challenge, and perspective in the news

Barefoot Angie Bee: Skillz, a challenge, and perspective in the news: " If I were to ask you if you have running skill would you answer yes or no? Or are you the kind of person who would call bullshit and say ..."

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Beautiful Day

I ran for 20 minutes yesterday in the most glorious weather Melbourne can produce at this time of year. Incidentally, this was my longest continuous run in minimalist shoes (VFF) so far and I have also noticed that my calves are recovering a bit faster and are also less painful. I am still amazed at how little, if any, pain my knee is in during and after the run. In fact I think it is actually improving overall. Hopefully it continues (knocks on wood). My next run will be 30 minutes on Saturday and I am really looking forward to it.