Sunday, July 10, 2011

Good long run.

Distance 33.5km [total: minimalist 136.5km: Barefoot 1636.9km] Week 27

Thursday, 7-Jul. 10km
First day without rain before dusk. A chilly day with the daytime temp hitting a max of 13C. I got to the beach a bit later this afternoon and didn't start my run until 5pm, I only had 20 minutes of light left. The sun had set even before I got halfway.
I was trialling Barefoot Ken Bob's advice of bend the knees even more that you think you should and, well yes, there was an improvement. You are powering your legs internal springs. I would never have imagined running could be so easy.
The ground was dry, there was a cold southerly blowing, only 10C when I set off. I was happy to be on the return journey and have that wind at my back instead of in my face. I was running in full on darkness by the time I got to Henley Beach, not many people around now, a few runners, finishing off their exercise for the evening.

Saturday, 9-Jul. 18.5km. 
I arranged to meet up with one of the people who came out for the International Barefoot Running Day event, Andrew, to go for a run.
The threatened wet weather didn't arrive which was good. I intended to just do my usual 14.5km run, up along the beach then back along the road and trails.
It is definitely easier covering the distance when you have a distraction in the form of chatting to a fellow runner. We arrived at Semaphore jetty in what seemed like a blink of the eye.
I was wondering what the people walking along the foreshore path were thinking as now two people were running without shoes... a 100% increase in numbers.
We were both still feeling pretty good by the time we got back to the start point so decided to run to the next jetty and back to add a further 4km to the distance.
Andrew had a huge Garmin sports watch which did everything except cook breakfast I would say. It had a GPS and so could record the distance ran. It turned out that my Google measurements were pretty accurate, it was 18.5km.

Sunday, 10-Jul. 5km. 
I didn't get a call from Peter to go for a run today, I had prepared just in case. I had my breakfast early and would have been ready if he wanted to put in a 7km like last week. So, I could relax and have a lie in instead.
I cycled down to the gym and did a workout which included some hamstring deadlifts (I must be used to them now as I and no longer crippled the next day) and some back exercises.
In the afternoon I did a short 5km Interval training session. After warm-up I would walk 100m, jog 200m then sprint 300m then repeat. I managed to cycle my heart rate up to around 146 and down to 100.
It wasn't the best of training runs, it was cold at just over 12C and very windy, I was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt and the muscles felt a bit stiff.

I'm well over half way through reading Ken Bob's 'Barefoot Running Step by Step' and have already made notes on a few things to improve my running, curl the toes up being one. This stops any blistering caused by friction as the foot lands on the ground. I think I was already doing it but it is good to have confirmation of the technique.

Neil

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