First 22km run in 25 years

Distance 49.8km [total: minimalist 275.6km: Barefoot 2896.6km] Week 22

Wednesday, 30-May. 10km

A busy week kept me away from the until I managed to squeeze a run in this evening. Leaving work at 4pm and getting plenty of green lights on the way home meant I got to the beach at around 4.40pm, just over 30 minutes before sunset. It had been a warm late autumn day, 19C, they sky was clear and sunny always an inspiration to get out for a run. I ran along the road for most of the run and ran the last 3km along the beach where I did some interval sessions. I did 2 minutes slow and 2 minutes fast and managed to push my heart rate up to 150BPM. The sand was a little soft and well trodden to get any real speed up so I concentrated on leg speed. I need to do more of these type of workout to get my base speed up. I had a bit of a race with a runner on the outbound leg, he beat me but didn't gain much ground once he overtook, I think I would have wore him down over a longer distance.

Thursday, 31-May. 7km

A bit of shortened run as I was a bit later getting out today and so ran out of daylight. I still worked hard over the distance and was soaked in sweat by the time I got back to the car. My feet must be much tougher than they were a year ago as I don't seem to get any marks on them at all from running on the roads. I could feel a slight stiffness from the speed training yesterday but hardly noticeable. We have rain forecast from tomorrow through the weekend.

Saturday, 2nd-Jun. 22km + 6km

Well, I did it! for the first time in well over 20 years I ran over a half marathon distance and despite feeling a little tired after I was fine by the afternoon. The time was nothing spectacular at 2:07 but that included climbing over banks of sea weed and dodging around obstacles on the beach. I started to feel the chill breeze that picked up on the way back and was glad to get into the warmth of the car.
Later that day I had arranged to go and have some drinks with some ex work colleagues. I made it clear that I would be getting an early bus back and I wanted to be home before 10pm, but, as usual that never happened. After visiting 4 pubs and drinking 5-6 pints of beer I find that the time is 11.30pm, I've missed the last buses. I caught a taxi part way home, getting out where my friends got out. I don't think I had enough money for the full journey so I was going to have to run. I had 6km to get home, a heavy coat, jeans and feeling a bit the worst for wear due to the beer. But my feet didn't let me down and my barefoot style helped. I had my thin Vivo Barefoot shoes on and even though I couldn't stretch out due to wearing jeans I still managed a fast leg turnover. I'm not sure how long it took me to get home, it must have been over 30 minutes. My T-shirt was soaked in sweat when I got back, I had a quick shower then fell into bed.

Sunday, 3-Jun. 4.8km

The second meeting of the small barefoot running group, David and Jenny turned up at the meeting place at Semaphore. We ran a small part of my Saturday route which had a combination of surfaces such as bitumen, concrete, grass and sand. It was nice to take it easy and chat. I'd managed to shake off my tight head from too much alcohol the night before and reconnecting with the ground seemed to recharge me. I'll leave it up to David to pick the next running route for the first Sunday in July.

Neil

Rainy week

Distance 37.5km [total: minimalist 269.6km: Barefoot 2852.8km] Week 21

Monday, 21-May. 9.8km

A good run this evening. I got to my start point at 4.38pm and the sun was still up by the time I got to the turn around point of the local caravan park. The weather bureau had forecast cold and wet weather for the rest of the week, tonight would be the best of the days. Caught up with a friend running on the way back so took it a bit easier for the last few kilometres.

Saturday, 26-May. 19.5km

As predicted the weather was wet and cold this week. Yesterday the rain was thrashing down as I drove home, there was no way I would be running in that. On the Thursday it rained off and on through the day and I almost got changed into my running gear but decided against it at the last minute, luckily so as 30 minutes later the rain was hammering down again in the dark outside.
Today I broke a distance record for my barefoot running 19.5km. Ok it was mainly a beach run with a short section of road and grass but that is the longest distance I would have run in 25 years. I checked on the weather radar before I set off this morning and saw heavy rain approaching from the west. When I set off the sun was shining and it felt pleasantly warm and the running felt good. Out to the west I could see the approaching black clouds and rain across the sea. It was hard to work out how far away and how fast it was moving. As I approached the road at Semaphore the black cloud was almost upon me and it was raining lightly. I decided to cut the run short of the Jetty and add some extra distance on at the other end of my run if I didn't get a good soaking. I began back on the return journey and as I put more kilometres in I started to run past the black clouds that made land about 5km back from where I had come from. I even came back to running in the sun again. I ran to Henley jetty then carried on to the river outlet which normally makes up my 7km run. So today I did both my 7km run and my 12.5km run totalling 19.5km and now sitting here typing this I feel fine.
I downloaded an ebook called Running With The Kenyans a story from a sports magazine writer who went to live in Kenya for a year to see what he could learn about what makes the Kenyans such great runners.

Sunday, 27-May. 8.2km

Recovered pretty well from my long run yesterday ready for my easy run today. Quite a few rowers out on the lake as I made my way around along with one or two Dragon boats. That would be cold work in the middle of winter with the south wind whipping up the waves on the lake, I'll stick to the running. Only a few runners on the lake path today, it was quite chilly on the way back with a breeze from the south. I put in a good sprint at the end, about 19s slower than last week but I could have gone faster. After the run it was down to the gym for a session of chest and some leg extensions. I don't do much heavy lifting with the legs these days as it only slows me down with the running, I don't want to get bulky. Weight came in at around 70kg.

Neil

3000km before mid year?

Distance 43.3km [total: minimalist 269.6km: Barefoot 2815.3km] Week 20

Monday, 14-May. 9.8km

I'm leaving work earlier to try and catch as much light for my run as I can. I have a kind of race against the sunset to see how much distance I can cover before the sun dips below the horizon. I can get to the beach at about 4.45pm and I have around 40 minutes before the sun has disappeared into the southern ocean. Very good run tonight, felt quick and pushed my hear rate up into the 140's. I had a bit of a race with a younger runner, I lost out as he was going pretty fast, I couldn't see what his form was like or whether he was heel striking but he ended his run at a car park, I ran on a further 200m. It was hard to say if he could have kept up the speed or if he was just doing a bit of speedwork at the end when he passed me. So far I am not finding the ground too cold but that may be because it was a sunny day and the ground had soaked up the suns energy.

Wednesday, 16-May. 9.8km

Here I am back on the exact same run as on Monday, again nice warm day with a spectacular sunset. The chill sets in pretty quickly once the sun disappears below the horizon. Again a nice quick run but a bit more restrained than the Monday. Rain is due in on Thursday night, Friday morning so I wanted to get my runs in before the end of the week. It was quite dark by the time I gt back to the car. I take it a bit easier once the sun goes down and it's harder to pick out the ground in front of me, no point being a hero and standing on some unseen stone or other object.

Saturday, 19-May. 15.5km

The rain that was supposed to arrived on Thursday and Friday waited until Saturday, it wasn't all that bad though. It rained while I was eating my breakfast but by the time I headed out to the beach there was some sun around and after 7km I could feel plenty of warm sun. The beach sand was cold but I could feel a bit of warm on the wet bitumen path on the foreshore. On the way back I bumped into one of the barefoot runners from IBRD, Jenny, she was going in the opposite direction, as the weather was starting to turn dark again she decided to run back with me. By the time we got to the jetty drizzle was falling and I could see more rain down the beach. I left her at Grange so I could continue on to Henley but I quit before getting there as the cold had started to set into me and the rain was more persistent. It felt good to have a nice warm shower after getting back.

Sunday, 20-May. 8.2km

A late start for me today, it looked chilly out and a bit cloudy but by 10am the cloud had burned off and the sky was blue and there was some warm sun. This made my run far more enjoyable. I padded along my usual loop, observing the morning walkers along the lake path. Past the model boat enthusiasts at the top end of the lake as the intently use their radio controls to maneuver their scaled down sail boats in the calm waters of the lake. I decided to use the lap timer on my watch to see what time I could run the wide concrete path along Sportsmans Drive. It took me 6:10m, then using Google Earth to measure the distance I got 1.28km. That gave me a pace of  4:48/km (7:43m/mile), not too bad for a barefoot runner of 2.8 years.

Neil

Keep up the winter distance

Distance 47.6km [total: minimalist 269.6km: Barefoot 2772km] Week 19

Monday, 7-May. 9.8km

A warm sunny day that faded into early evening cool as I put in a speedy run from the Grange sailing club to the caravan park. As usual at this time in the afternoon the tide is always high, I've not worked out why, I always thought the high tide moved forward by 25minutes each day, maybe it doesn't. As it was a full moon the waves were pounding the beaches, eating into more and more of the sand dunes. Some houses are only 20m from the sea now.
The feet seem to be toughening up more now that I am spending more time running on roads and pavements.

Thursday, 10-May. 11.5km

I'm having to deal with a bit of traffic chaos around the roads near me as there are major roadworks while they lay a new water pipe. I have to keep shifting my route to avoid the long traffic lines. The weather still has not broke yet and I'm happy about that. I parked further north tonight and added another 1.5km to my out an back run. The running is more and more enjoyable, I can get into the zone so easily now where as back in my shoe wearing days it was a run was becoming a chore I had to get out of the way. On the way back, as I'm running in close to dark I had an older gentleman on a bike asking me some questions regarding barefoot running, the conversation was a nice distraction near the end. He seemed to know quite a bit about the benefits but had not actually seen anybody out there practicing it. We had a good conversation before I came to my car and the end of my run.

Saturday, 12-May. 18.5km

The running engine was a bit slow to start today, lacking the inspiration of a bright sunny day, instead cool, breezy and rain showers. The way to overcome the body preferring to be somewhere warm you have to start off slow. The breakfast was also slowing me down in the early stages, I finished eating around an hour earlier. The sand was cold and it took my feet a good 7km to start to warm up. I started with a light jog, quick short steps and after a few kilometres began to stretch the stride a bit more. It took me around 47 minutes to run to the jetty at Semaphore, slow by my usual pace. The return journey was faster at 44 minutes. My longer distance is improving I noticed, where as I felt like collapsing at the 15km mark I now had plenty of fuel in the tank to run the last 3.5km, even going at sprint pace over the last kilomtere. An enjoyable run.

Sunday, 13-May. 7.8km

The Sunday lake loop. Again the weather was grey and cool with a strong breeze from the south. I need to start dressing for the cooler weather to keep the muscles warm so that I don't feel stiff from the cold. I was sheltered from the breeze on the west side of the lake but once I slowly made the turn I was running into the wind. The feet were a bit sensitive today, especially on the weathered concrete. I still managed a good sprint on the smooth footpath along the last kilometre. Just over another month and we hit the shortest day, I can then start counting the minutes as it gradually gets lighter again.

Neil

Return of the cold feet

Distance 49.5km [total: minimalist 269.6km: Barefoot 2724.4km] Week 18

Monday, 30-Apr. 7km

A nice evening, what little there is by the time I get out for my run. The sun is setting at around 5.30pm so I have around 50 minutes of light.

Thursday, 3-May. 10km

A cold windy day, not much of an inspiration to get out for a run, but as I have another 5 months of winter to come I better get used to it. Not that winter is much of an ordeal over here in Adelaide, we don't get deep snow or blizzards or many days where the temperature stays below 10C during the day, what am I complaining about. I ran mainly on the footpaths but did the last 600m on the beach where I really opened up and got some good speed in, or at least it felt that way, it feels like you are running faster when it is dark.

Friday, 4-May. 10km

Not the best of runs this evening, my tendons were a bit achy, maybe because of the sprinting yesterday, I'd describe the run as workman like rather than fun or inspirational. I thought I was going to get a soaking from the black rain clouds that loomed up in front of me. In my mind I said that I would run until I hit the rain then turn around, the wind would be behind me at that point and compensate for being wet. As it turned out the rain was further south than I thought, maybe another 2km from where I turned around. As I was approaching the halfway point the sun was setting in the west and the rays created a couple a beautiful rainbows in the direction I was running. On the way back I picked up the beach just after I crossed the river. As I wasn't feeling very springy this evening I opted for a softer surface, it was better but still the legs felt stiff. I was glad to get back in the car and turn on the heating to warm my feet up as I drove back home in the dark.

Saturday, 5-May. 18.5km

A bit more life in my legs today although the cool mornings make the muscles stiffer. It was about 12.5C when I hit the beach for my long run. I took it nice and easy and I don't think my heart rate went much over 130 for the entire run. I'm going to have to start dressing more for the winter conditions, get the leggings back on again to keep the wind from chilling me down. There was plenty of sun about and a low tide, if it was 10C warmer it would have been perfect. As it was it took me around 5km to get warm, my feet stayed cold as the sand is cold underfoot. It got gradually warmer as I got to the end of the run. I was feeling a bit tired in the last km and needed a drink and some food.

Sunday, 6-May. 4km

Chris, Jenny & David on IBRD 2012

Neil, Chris, Jenny & David on IBRD 2012

International Barefoot Running Day or IBRD for short. Would anyone turn up? At least the rain held off and it was a reasonable temperature. It seems like people are a little conservative here in S.A for barefoot running. The newsletter put out by SARRC that included a piece on IBRD didn't elicit one response. You would think that of 500+people who read the newsletter that there would have been a few inquiries. I got to the meeting point at 10am, there were plenty of people milling around, quite a few looking like they were about to go for a run, with no shoes. But when I approached they were all there for something else. The first to turn up was David, a runner who participated last year, next a new face with Jenny who had been running barefoot off and on for 18 months and finally a friend of mine Chris, that was it. We chatted for a while then when it was apparent that no more would be joining use the pioneering four set off and a nice easy talking pace. We all made it along the path to the next jetty, a 2km distance then we did a beach run back. We then retired to the beach cafe for a coffee and chat about running and tips that might help our progress.

Neil

Last week of April

Distance 52.6km [total: minimalist 269.6km: Barefoot 2674.9km] Week 17

Wednesday, 25-Apr. 18.5km

ANZAC Day holiday and I can hear the early morning rain, there to greet the people at the dawn services for the war remembrance. Wen eventually I got out of bed I was surprised to find it wasn't as cold as I was expecting as I collected something from the car.
I went out for my run at around 10am, the tide was low so plenty of nice flat beach to run on. I had a tailwind running from Grange to Semaphore and the running felt great. Maybe the extra days rest on the Monday helped. I covered the outbound distance in a time of 41:43. Coming back was much slower as I headed into the wind, I recorded a time of 58:17 but that included an extra 1.5km. For the first time since summer my feet felt cold as I ran, a sure sign that winter is on it's way and I have to put up with 6 months of cold feet.
I measured my leg turnover towards the end of my run (17km) to see if it had dropped significantly to give an indication of fatigue, I was surprised to find it was 88/min (single foot), only around 2 steps slower than the target of 90. I thing my stride length would have shortened, my hip flexors felt sore. Maybe more core training would help.
The SARRC (local running club) published the details of the IBRD in their newsletter, will anyone turn up? I have no idea.

Thursday, 26-Apr. 10km

Back to running close to sunset, well, when there is a sun to set. It was hidden behind clouds out to the west so it seemed quite dim when I started my run. The tide was coming in and fairly high this evening so I stuck to the pavement. The ground was cool, I couldn't detect much warmth from it but it must have been 15C or else my feet would have started to go numb. The last kilometre I ran on the beach, it gave me the opportunity to run fast in the lapping tide. I have to slow down running on the roads at dusk as I can't see the path too well. I'll have to pack in more miles at the weekend rather than after work.

Saturday, 28-Apr. 16.3km

A beautiful Saturday morning, clear blue sky, fresh cool air. If all winter mornings were like this I would be quite happy. I changed my usual Saturday run by running south to Glenelg as I had already done the northbound run midweek. This was mainly a beach run with a couple of km on the pavement. The tide was out so I had a vast expanse of beach to run on. I get so relaxed when I'm running that I feel like I could close my eyes and drift off to sleep at times, I'm sure that wouldn't end well though. At the end I did a short timed run between the jetties to see what time I could manage after running 14km. It wasn't too bad, I recorded 10:43 for the last 2km. I've not had any inquiries about the barefoot running day next week even though the SARRC placed a piece in their newsletter that went out to 500 people, I thought I might have got a few calls. I sent out emails to all the Australian members of the BRS to see who was still active, out of around 30 emails I had a bout 5 replies, most of those were interstate.

Sunday, 29-Apr. 7.8km.

Another sunny morning greeted me, coaxing me out to run along the foot path surrounding the lake. The water was as still as glass as I slowly picked up speed  on my run. I felt very relaxed as I paced along the concrete path, my mind wandered onto a video I came across on youtube with a guy discussing barefoot running, coming across with authority saying that it's ok if you are running on the beach or grassy field but don't run on hard surfaces like pavements or concrete, what an idiot. There is nothing I like more than sprinting along the concrete stretch at the end of my run. I just kept pushing incrementally harder, the strides were longer but importantly the foot was still landing under the body and the cadence was still 180+. It seems the faster you run the lighter you feel until you almost get that floating feeling, that would have never happened to me wearing big clunky shoes fitted with stiff orthotics. There are a lot of people out there claiming to know all kinds of things about barefoot running when in reality they know very little at all.

Neil 

Cooling down

Distance 56.3km [total: minimalist 269.6km: Barefoot 2622.3km] Week 16

Monday, 16-Apr. 12.5km

Sunset is now at around 5.48pm, I got down to the beach at around 5.15pm, later than usual as I had to call into the shops to pick up some food. I thought it would be good to run up the beach as far as I could and turn back when the sun had fully set below the horizon. I put on a fast pace, the sand was good in places and also soft in places but I thought I could make it to the road at Semaphore. As the sun started to touch the horizon I could see the rocky breakwater up ahead, I thought I would make it my the time the last of the sun disappeared but no, it must have been further than I thought. I carried on running until I reached it around 4 minutes later. After a brief rest I set off back in the fading light. By half way along it was getting quite dark and I had to concentrate on the ground in front of me to make sure there were no rocks or holes. My feet also played their part in sensing the ground even though it was hard to see. With a couple of km to go I was on some nice flat sand and felt like I was flying along in the darkness, it is quite a strange experience, running but not being able to see the ground. I made it back to the jetty which was dark against the beach, only a few lights along the top giving it away. I did pass another runner in the dark, a girl, running in the same direction. I waited around to see if she made it to the jetty but she must have turned off as the beach was totally dark now.

Wednesday, 18-Apr. 10km

A 30C day today but the bite has gone by the time I begin my run at 5pm. I ran along the beach footpath from Grange to West Beach, my favourite 10km run. The legs felt great as did the feet. I put in a bit of extra speed when I thought I had some running competition trying to pass me, I eased up a gear, listening all the while for footsteps. The threat I was expecting never eventuated, they must have turned off when they realised I was outpacing them. I managed to push my heart rate up to 144 though so that was good. I always find the brick footpath on the way back, in the last couple of km hard going, mostly the unaligned edges that can dig into my feet if I land on a jutting brick

Thursday, 19-Apr.  11km

This was a lake path run but extended to run the length of Delfin Island, I can't recall running this route at all during the summer. It adds another 3.2km to my Sunday run distance. I ran the last km along the wide concrete path by the road but I was a bit tired by that time to put in much speed and as the light had faded I didn't want to end up landing on a small stone that I didn't see. I need to get to the gym again as all the running has made me drop fat and muscle in the upper body, I need to balance up again.

Saturday, 21-Apr. 15km

Well, the fine weather broke today. Rather than waking to blue sky like I have for most of the last 2 weeks it was an overcast sky, still fairly warm though. I went for my long beach run but I felt pretty flat today. The gym session yesterday had some leg presses and some calf raises in and they were stiff today even after I gave them a roll on my Thera roller before heading to the beach. Going up the beach wasn't too bad, I just didn't have the springiness though. I slowed right down coming back. The gym exercises left me with tired calves and sore backside. They should be ok tomorrow. I evaded the rain even though it rained on the way to the beach and stopped when I got there. The bulk of the rain started after midday and carried on until early evening. The forecast is for it to continue into next week.

Sunday, 22-Apr. 7.8km

A blowy morning but no rain for now. The legs still had some stiffness in from the gym on Friday which is expected as it takes around 3 days for the muscle fibres to recover. I had a bit of spring in my step but not the full amount. The feet were a bit tender too as the landing control is compromised when you have sore leg muscles. Still I managed to get a bit of a sprint in at the last km along the concrete footpath, running into the wind and rain that started up. After the run I headed for the gym where I did some weighted lunges as the only leg exercise, the rest was confined to back and core strength.

Neil