Cold feet

Distance 16km [total: minimalist 104km: Barefoot 429km]

A good week for getting out there and getting a few kilometres in.
On the Wednesday I did some drills on the field close to home.
There is not much light by the time I get home from work and by the time I have finished a 30 to 40 minute session it is dark.

I started with 3 warm up laps around the edge of the field and each time I would go around I would be harassed by two dogs being exercised by the owner who had no control of them. As soon as you turn on then and shout they run, dumb things.
I completed two sets of the Hops, pony and Change of Support with a short run in between each drill.
The grass felt freezing, at a guess I would say it would be about 8C but it felt colder and my feet were numb on the underside by the time I finished.
The reward is always after when you get back into the warm ans the life flows back into them.

On Thursday it was down to the beach before the few days of fine weather comes to an end later this evening.
I ran 7km, up to Grange jetty then back to the Torrens outlet then onto the road for the way back.
It was too dark to stay on the beach for the return journey as I can't see any obstacles in the low light.
I have no problem running on the hard surfaces now, in fact I quite enjoy the change of sensation of moving from the sand to the concrete.
I can hardly hear my footsteps on the ground as I move but I always hear the runners who 'pound the pavement' going my way or coming towards me.

The rain came later that night and it continued through the night and was still raining as I made my way to work.
I had to wear my old running shoes as I didn't want to get my Vivo Barefoot shoes wet as they are suede and not very waterproof.
Wow, the runners felt awful, heavy and with the high heel I felt clumsy and found walking in them awkward. How did I ever run in them I wondered.
I know now I can never go back to wearing shoes like that, maybe I can go for racing flats but I think I'll stick to the Vibrams on the wet days.

Saturday
Another beach run on a showery day.
I headed to to the beach via the hairdressers, it was dry and sunny when I went in but wet and cold when I came out.
Still I headed to the beach, the sun re-emerged. The tide was far out and there was plenty of flat sand to run on.
The sand was pretty cold though. After some quick warm ups I set off. By the time I'd covered about 3.5km my feet were numb on the underside and I always worry about them when I get no feedback. I found it easier running on the softer sand on the upper part of the beach than on the hard packed sand, there was less friction on my feet.
It began to rain, but once you are warm the rain is really not much of an inconvenience, it does stop you running on the hard surfaces though due to the wet feet being too soft.
You need harder dry feet to run barefoot.
It was a good satisfying run.

Neil