More km underfoot

Distance 23.5km [total: minimalist 128km: Barefoot 542km]

Just a quick summary of some of the running over the weekend.
The weather has shifted into Spring like temperatures, low 20's which is far more pleasant than the 15C we have been having for the last 3 months.
Friday the temperature got up to 21C and sunny, a perfect afternoon for a a run home from work.
I was a little worried that the distance might be a bit too much seeing as I have only been running 7km distances recently. I didn't want to overdo it and get injured again.

I ran through the city centre area with the Vibrams then removed them after 4km to run the rest of the distance barefoot.
It takes me about a kilometre or so to get into the rhythm when I do the switch as the Vibrams give the feet less feedback so you run with more force.
When you remove them, the ground feels hard because you have to re-adjust how you make contact with the ground.
I also tried out a little program on my Android phone called My Tracks a great little program that plots where you have run and gives statistics like average speed, distance, elevation.
The GPS is accurate to within 10m so that can give some strange off path movements but generally it is pretty good.
It told me the distance I ran was around 13.45km in around 1.5 hours. That sounds slow but I was not racing, I stopped plenty of times for a drink and to change out of shoes.
I did get a bit of pain in the lower calves but nothing came of it, it is usually a sign of bad running form.
The feet were a little sore after I got back but by the next day they were fine.

On the Saturday I ran a short 4km along the beach then back along the road as the very soft sand was quite tiring to run through.

On Monday, which was a public holiday, I ran a further 7km and felt pretty good, especially on the road section of the run. I even put on some good bursts of speed when I could hear the thud thud of some shod runners behind me.

If I can get my weekly distance up to around 30km by the end of the month I'll be well on my way to being able to complete the casual race on Christmas day.

Neil