Weekly outings

Distance 22km [total: minimalist 44km: Barefoot 214km] Week 3

My usual run on a Monday was postponed due to excessive temperature as the mercury tipped the 40C point. It is hard work running in that sort of temperature.

Wednesday, 12-Jan: 5km
My first run of the week was on Wednesday, they cool change had come in and the temp was a far more manageable 25C although that was accompanied by the wind blowing from the south once again.
I ran north first with a tailwind for about a kilometre which was easy then turned around to face into the wind and run the 2.5km to Henley jetty before once more turning around and letting the tailwind blow me back up the beach.
I did encounter some Achilles soreness towards the end but that was only temporary.

Thursday, 13-Jan: 4.5km
On Thursday my outing was on the rugby field next to my flat.
The weather was a pleasant 29C and a blue sky evening. I wanted to try a bit of faster running on the laps around the field.
I estimate that the field would be about 200m around the outside.
I would run steadily for 100m then push up the speed for the last 100m.

I read that in interval training that you use your heart rate as a monitor of fitness level. If that is the case then I need to do quite a lot of work.
I didn't actually measure my heart rate but the rule of thumb is to run the fast interval to push the heart rate up to about 170bpm then rest until the heart rate drops to about 120bpm before repeating the drill.
I doubt I managed to get my heart rate up that high, maybe 150bpm, by the time I did a lap I needed about 60s to recover. That is slow.
All this was done barefoot of course and it does feel great to be racing over the soft grass with your feet grasping at the soft grass under foot.
I ran just over 11 laps before calling it a day, the ankles and tendons were fine but I knew they would be stiff the next day.

Friday, 14-Jan: 12.5km
After wearing my flat Terra Plana shoes for most of the time over the last few months, putting my Asics on again does not feel good, they feel heavy and clumsy and run against the tendon at the back.
I wear the runners into work with the intention of leaving them there while I run back in the Vibrams.
The decision I had not made at that point was whether to wear them the entire way or go barefoot when out of the city centre.
Two things swayed my decision today, firstly the temp hit about 32C today so the surface temperatures would be hot secondly was an article I read regarding conditioning of the feet.
The article said only run barefoot on hard abrasive surfaces when the feet are dry and hard.
If you get your feet wet they will soften and be more susceptible to be worn away by the surface and will hurt.
As I had been at work most of the day with shoes and socks on the feet would be softer than if I had them in open air. Then putting the Vibrams on to run the 4km through the city, again they would be too soft for the hard surface.

As I was running past the brewery about 4km into the run there is a patch where I run past some factories, here the sun was beating down onto a brick pavement that was strewn with fragments of glass. The stretch was about 200m, the pavement was hot, I could feel the heat coming up through the shoes and my feet getting hotter and hotter.
The worry when your feet heat up is of course blisters, I wanted to avoid them at all costs. I got past this hot dangerous piece of pathway and found a nice shady spot to let the feet cool down before setting off again.
I'd put a liberal amount of anti-blister powder in my shoes before setting off and this soaked up most of the moisture generated as my feet heated up.
I felt pretty exhausted by the time I got back, mainly due to the temperature.
I was probably dehydrated as I only drank the 600ml of water I took with me.

Saturday, 15-Jan
I passed up on my run today as once again I was hobbling around shortly after getting up. It takes about 10 minutes of walking around before the tendons allow the feet to operate correctly.
I need to get some calf massage done to ease the tightness and release the pressure on the Achilles.
Thirty years of wearing incorrect footwear is not fixed in 4 months. I'm hoping I shall look back on this blog in another 6 months and try to remember what the problem was.

Neil